Letters to the Editor: Kevin McCarthy is the stuff dictatorships are made of
January 21, 2022
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy at a news conference on Capitol Hill in June 2020. (Associated Press)
To the editor: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield), about whom columnist Robin Abcarian writes so tellingly, is a poster boy for the first law of dictatorial government.
That law is that the first loyalty is not to good government, to a constitution or to the people, but rather to the “dear leader” — in this case former President Trump. It is now evident that not just McCarthy but also the entire Republican Party has adopted this practice and is no longer a political party in the American tradition.
We should understand these facts if we are to save our democracy come voting time.
Thomas Alden, Palm Desert-
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To the editor: McCarthy will never be speaker of the House. He committed the cardinal sin of speaking against the former Oval Office occupant and then sought atonement.
The problem is that the former occupant has a long memory and never forgives a slight. Indeed, he obsesses about how he can get revenge.
If — and here I don’t concede anything — the party out of power is restored in 2022, look for Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), the current House minority whip, to get the blessing. He lurks in the corners like a reptile waiting to strike its oblivious prey.
McCarthy, with his blind ambition, doesn’t see the danger.
Melissa Verdugo, Rancho Palos Verdes
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To the editor: My thanks to Abcarian for calling out McCarthy as a spineless liar. But what’s the point? You can’t shame someone who has no sense of shame.
He and a majority of his Republican colleagues have embraced former Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway’s world of “alternative facts.” They are making voting harder for people they don’t like, and making sure the votes are counted by people they do like.
I believe American democracy is in for a rough patch.
Kirsten Powers: Everyone needs to take a breath: It’s been one year. These headlines could just as easily read, “Joe Biden Fails to Fix Every Problem in the World in 365 days.”
What drives much of the “presidency in peril” coverage is Biden’s approval ratings. CNN’s poll of polls, released Thursday, found that 41% of Americans approve of the way Joe Biden is handling his job while 54% disapprove.
Low approval ratings are used as a proxy by various political and ideological factions to argue that the president needs to do more of what they want and if he doesn’t, he won’t get reelected. (Spoiler alert: nobody will cast their vote in three years based on how they feel today about Biden). Progressives argue ratings are low because Biden is not progressive enough and moderates and “Never Trump” Republicans argue it’s because Biden is too liberal. It’s become conventional wisdom in the media that Biden’s approval ratings started dropping because of how he handled the Afghanistan withdrawal. But Gallup’s senior editor Jeff Jones told Politico in November that his declining poll numbers began before that, during the Delta Covid-19 variant surge. The fact is, approval ratings are most closely tied to how people feel about their day-to-day lives. Americans are understandably fatigued as we enter the third year of the pandemic and, until the US gets back to some semblance of normal, we should expect Biden’s approval ratings to reflect that frustration. Moreover, gas prices are high and research has shown that presidential approval ratings often track with gas prices, even though the president’s power over these prices is limited. The economic news is mostly good for Biden — unemployment is down and wages are up — but inflation is high and rising. Taken together, this means the day-to-day life of many Americans feels really hard.
It doesn’t help that the media reinforce the idea that Biden is somehow failing because he hasn’t solved issues that have bedeviled his predecessors over longer periods of time. The New York Times dinged Biden this week, noting that, “The president has not yet succeeded in meeting his own goals for combating climate change,…[hasn’t] delivered on his broader promise for a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented Americans” and has failed “on the central promise he made during the 2020 campaign — to ‘shut down’ the pandemic…”This is bananas, but it’s a fairly typical roundup of the disconnected-from-reality analysis of Biden’s first year.No president has been able to achieve a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, including presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, who were not able to accomplish immigration reform over an eight-year period each. Biden should not be expected to do what they couldn’t, in a single year, in the middle of a global pandemic.Speaking of the pandemic, it’s hard to shut it down when conservative leaders across the country are committed to making sure that doesn’t happen. Biden, for his part, signed into law the historic $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan to ensure broad distribution of vaccines. But he can’t force people to get vaccinated. He did issue vaccination and testing mandates for businesses, but those were rebuked by the Supreme Court. He also isn’t responsible for conservative disinformation and efforts to thwart measures to protect people from Covid by Republican elected officials, which is the primary reason the US is still struggling with the virus in a way that some other industrialized countries aren’t.
What about Biden’s alleged lack of success in solving the climate change issue in a single year? Biden has taken many steps that are within his authority on climate change such as rejoining the Paris climate accord, canceling the Keystone XL pipeline and undoing many Trump-era anti-climate executive orders. He has pushed climate priorities in his Build Back Better bill which anyone who is sentient knows hasn’t passed because Biden enjoys the slimmest of majorities in the Senate and he couldn’t win over Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia. There is also the fact that Republicans have zero interest in this bill. Republican obstructionism is not Biden’s fault. Biden is not a magician; he is president. He can’t shout “abracadabra” and produce 50 Democratic senators who will support every element of his agenda. There aren’t 10 GOP senators to pull out of a hat to back common sense and patriotic priorities like protecting voting rights. “But he didn’t end the filibuster for voting rights,” is the complaint. Right, because he doesn’t have the votes.
This doesn’t mean that Biden couldn’t have done some things better in his first year. The administration was caught flat-footed by the Omicron variant and failed to deliver on promises to make testing easier and more available to Americans. Biden should have called Sen. Manchin’s bluff on Build Back Better a long time ago and struck a deal if there was one to be had (which is debatable). If Manchin wouldn’t strike a deal, Biden should have moved on to something more achievable like breaking the bill into smaller parts (something he said in his press conference this week he is open to doing).Get our free weekly newsletter
Ultimately, we need to remember that Biden entered the White House during one of the most difficult periods this country has ever faced. “The worst pandemic in 100 years. The worst economic crisis since the Great Depression,” he said during his campaign. “The most compelling call for racial justice since the 60’s. And the undeniable realities and accelerating threats of climate change.” We can now add to that list an attack on democracy by one of the two major political parties. It seems that whatever Biden’s flaws, the country is in a better place than it was when he took office, something that was not a given considering the challenges he was up against. Like all presidents, he is clearly absorbing the lessons of the first year and recalibrating for the next.
Opinion: What authoritarianism would look like in America
Jim Chrisinger January 9, 2022
Donald Trump and Republicans are shoving America toward authoritarianism. That’s why many of us are shouting about a threat to democracy.
Many Americans don’t fear a potential slide into authoritarianism because they have no basis for doing so. Our oceans and hegemony have coddled us; we take democracy for granted. But democracy and the rule of law are not the normal state of governments, certainly not historically.
Authoritarianism wouldn’t happen overnight, but authoritarian regimes have shown us a road map. Here’s a picture of what it would look like here.
If Trump and his enablers get their way, how you experience your life would depend on whether you identified — and were identified — as a Trump Republican.
Identified as a Trump Republican by your bumper sticker, you would be more likely to get a warning instead of speeding ticket. You would gain the inside track for government jobs, grants, and needed permits. Decisions about government benefits, like unemployment and disability, would be more likely to go your way. Your children would be more likely to win scholarships and admission to their chosen schools. You would get more favorable loan and mortgage treatment and better access to scarce goods, the best tickets.
Regulations would be interpreted in your favor, or maybe just ignored. You could rely on the criminal justice and judicial systems to go easy on you, if not help you out.
If, instead, you were perceived as a Democrat, or just an insufficiently Trump Republican, you would experience the reverse of what’s above. Tax auditors would focus on you. You would be more likely to be hassled by police, even jailed if you were too troublesome. Nasty graffiti might appear on your business or home. You would be accused of being un-American, a traitor. You would learn to keep your head down and be careful about what you said to whom.
Former President Donald Trump, on Saturday, Oct. 9, 2021, at a rally in Des Moines, Iowa.
Science would be interpreted or even suppressed to suit Trump Republican needs. History would be whitewashed to celebrate the regime and its version of events. School curricula and texts would similarly conform.
LBGTQ folks would closet themselves again. Fewer women would lead in government, business, or society. People who want to marginalize and discriminate against people of color, non-Christians, and immigrants would find cover to do so. Abortion and birth control would be illegal. Public education would wither as religious schools claimed more and more public funding. Air and water quality would suffer. Climate change would go unaddressed. The military could be used to put down dissent.
Again, not all of this would happen instantly, and we can’t predict how far the Trump Republicans would go. But this is the path that they are on.
So if you are a Trump Republican, perhaps all this sounds great. Finally, justice for my many grievances. Maybe that’s the country in which you want to live.
I hope and pray that the great majority of Americans will reject it.
Jim Chrisinger is a retired public servant living in Ankeny. He worked for both Republican and Democratic officials at multiple levels of government.
Coronavirus FAQ: What’s the risk of catching omicron outdoors?
Sheila Mulrooney January 21, 2022
This German snowman wears a protective mask over its banana nose and mouth, but experts say the risk of catching COVID outdoors is slim.Peter Kneffel
Studies conducted prior to omicron show that being outside greatly reduces your risk of infection with the coronavirus. One review of studies concluded that the odds of indoor transmission is almost 19 times higher than outdoor transmission. And in a study of 64 college football games during the 2020 season involving 1,190 athletes, researchers at Texas A&M University found zero spread of COVID during game play based on three postgame PCR tests over the course of a week — likely because of the outdoor setting and short duration of close contact, experts say. (Of course, football games have been postponed this season because of COVID outbreaks, but the study’s authors believe that players were more likely spreading it in locker rooms and other shared indoor spaces.)
Outdoor airflow has done a good job dispersing pathogens.Article continues after sponsor message
But does omicron play by the same rules?
“From a virus standpoint, there’s no indication that omicron is behaving differently [in outdoor settings],” says Dr. Preeti Malani, an infectious disease professor at the University of Michigan who co-authored an editorial on the research on football teams.
“That doesn’t mean [transmission is] impossible if you’re packed together in a place that’s only sort of open air and if people are sharing food or kissing or drinking. But if it’s a casual interaction outside, even if it’s relatively crowded, I’m comfortable not having a mask on. And at this stage of the pandemic, we have to find ways to do things that are meaningful to us. It’s nice to see people’s expressions and feel a sense of normalcy.”
And playing outdoors, Malani notes, is great for kids — building snow structures and sledding in parts of the country that are now shivering in winter temperatures.
Of course, omicron is the most transmissible variant yet. That, combined with the sheer volume of cases, could mean that there could be more cases of outdoor transmission, says Dr. Jill Weatherhead, assistant professor of adult and pediatric infectious diseases at Baylor College of Medicine. So some people may want to mask up in certain outdoor situations. But that shouldn’t cause you to lose sight of the advantages of socializing outdoors, she adds.
“Being outdoors continues to provide another layer of protection because of the ventilation,” Weatherhead explains. (The other layers are vaccination, masks and physical distancing.)
“So the safest place you can be [with other people] is still going to be outdoors,” she says.
If your own risk tolerance is low, certain outdoor situations could call for masking up. Earlier studies showed that the fewer cases of outdoor transmission almost always occurred during prolonged, close contact. For example, talking face-to-face with someone who is unmasked and very, very close to you is risky no matter where you are, especially if it’s for a prolonged period of time.
“It can happen outside,” says Dr. Don Milton, an infectious disease aerobiologist at the University of Maryland School of Public Health.
Still, he says, you have to be close to the infected person or downwind of them. “That gentle breeze outdoors is generally safer” than indoors, he says. “The air movement [outdoors] is more random and the virus won’t build up.”
And yes, that holds true for omicron, he believes. Although it makes sense that people would worry about getting a more contagious variant outdoors, it’s likely that the current surge in cases doesn’t have anything to do with outdoor spread.
Preliminary research, including a small study by Milton’s lab, suggests that people infected with omicron don’t breathe out higher viral loads than people infected with delta. And people who are vaccinated likely carry less infectious virus particles than people who are not.
So if you find yourself worrying about not being able to distance yourself in a crowded outdoor situation with people of unknown vaccination status, slip a mask on.
Just keep in mind that risk is a continuum.
“Slipping on the ice or getting in an accident on the way [to an outdoor rendezvous] is probably more likely than getting COVID outside,” Malani says.
However, if you live in a cold locale as she does, you may want to leave your mask on for warmth. Not only does it keep your cheeks warm, but who wants to take their gloves off to fuss with a mask in sub-freezing temps?
Sheila Mulrooney Eldred is a freelance health journalist in Minneapolis. She has written about COVID-19 for many publications, including The New York Times, Kaiser Health News, Medscape and The Washington Post.
Intel is investing $20 billion in a new computer chip facility in Ohio, amid a global shortage of microprocessors used in everything from phones and cars to video games. The 1,000-acre location will initially host to two chip factories, and is expected to create 3,000 company jobs and 7,000 construction jobs. Additionally, the factories will support tens of thousands of additional jobs for suppliers and partners, the company and local and state officials announced Friday. Construction is reportedly due to kick off this year, with the site becoming operational in 2025. In an interview with Time, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said the company expects the site to become “the largest silicon manufacturing location on the planet,” adding that it could eventually expand to 2,000 acres with eight fabs. The news comes as the demand for computer chips continues to grow.
Billionaire Mark Cuban Opens Online Pharmacy To Provide Affordable Generic Drugs
Lisa Kim, Forbes Staff Jauuary 20, 2022
TOPLINE
Billionaire investor Mark Cuban launched an online pharmacy Thursday that offers more than 100 generic drugs at an affordable price with a goal of being “radically transparent” in its price negotiations with drug companies.
Mark Cuban attends the 2019 NBA Awards at Barker Hangar on June 24, 2019 in Santa Monica, … [+] GETTY IMAGES
KEY FACTS
The Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs Company (MCCPDC) is a registered pharmaceutical wholesaler and purchases drugs directly from manufacturers, bypassing middlemen to lower the price of more than 100 medications, it said in a statement.
For example, the leukemia drug imatinib is priced at $47 a month on MCCPDC compared to the $9,657 retail price.
The online pharmacy’s prices for generics factor in a 15% margin on top of actual manufacturer prices and a $3 pharmacist fee, the statement said.
The markup on generics average “at least” 100%, the MCCPDC said, while the Wall Street Journal reports in some cases it exceeds 1,000%.
The company doesn’t process insurance claims and requires customers to pay for their medications out of pocket, noting its drugs cost less than most insurance plans’ deductible and copay requirements.
Customers have to request a new prescription from their provider to place an order for medications on the MCCPDC website.
KEY BACKGROUND
MCCPDC CEO Alex Oshmyansky reached out to Cuban with an idea for a low-cost generic drug company in a cold email. It was launched in January last year. They were motivated in part by “Pharma Bro” Martin Shrkeli’s outrage-producing price hike of the lifesaving drug Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 per tablet while Shrkeli was CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals. Cuban toldForbes last year the pricing for generic drugs was “ridiculous.” He said he decided to put his name on the company to “show capitalism can be compassionate and to send the message I am all in.” It’s not clear how much he had invested in the company.
TANGENT
The company aims to complete the construction of an $11 million pharmaceutical factory in Dallas that spans roughly 22,000 square feet by the end of this year.
BIG NUMBER
$4.5 billion. That’s how much Forbes estimates Cuban, the owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, is worth, as of Thursday.
Cory Booker, Tim Scott spar over comparing voting restrictions to Jim Crow laws
Catherine Garcia,Night editor – January 20, 2022
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.). Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Things got heated on the Senate floor Wednesday during debate on a voting rights bill, with Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) at odds over whether the strict voting restrictions being put in place by Republican-led state legislatures can compare to Jim Crow laws.
Jim Crow laws were first enacted in the late 1800s in order to segregate and disenfranchise Black people, especially in the South. Poll taxes and literacy tests, plus intimidation, were deployed to stop Black Americans from voting. The landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act outlawed discriminatory voting practices, which in turned increased voter registration and turnout.
Democrats have been trying to pass voting rights legislation that would, among other things, reinstate parts of the 1965 law, make Election Day a national holiday, and ensure access to early voting and mail-in ballots.
Scott, the Senate’s only Black Republican, stated that when Democrats refer to these state laws as “Jim Crow 2.0,” they are putting forward “a negative, false narrative of what is happening in America.” The comparison is “offensive not just to me or Southern Americans, but offensive to millions of Americans who fought, bled, and died for the right to vote,” he said.
Scott noted that he defeated the son of late GOP segregationist Sen. Strom Thurmond when he first won a House seat, and referring to himself and Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), said it’s “hard to deny progress” when two of three sitting Black senators “come from the Southern states that people say are places where African American votes are being suppressed. Not to mention the fact that 2020 was a banner year for minority participation.”
Democrats have argued that the higher minority participation is exactly why Republican-led state legislatures have enacted voting restrictions since the 2020 election. “Don’t lecture me on Jim Crow,” Booker said, speaking after Scott. “I know this is not 1965. That’s what makes me so outraged — it’s 2022 and they’re blatantly removing more polling places from the counties where Blacks and Latinos are overrepresented. I’m not making that up. That is a fact.”
Booker also said data shows that on average, Black voters have to wait in line at polling places twice as long as white voters. “In the United States today, it is more difficult for the average African American to vote than the average white American,” he stated. “That is not rhetoric, that is fact.”
Home prices rose faster than ever in 2021. The typical home gained $50,000 in value
Chris Arnold January 20, 2022
New homes under construction in Mebane, N.C., earlier this month. A historic shortage of homes for sale has been pushing prices sharply higher. So builders are trying to ramp up projects.Gerry Broome/AP
Home values rose faster than ever in 2021. The median sales price for an existing home was $346,900, up a whopping 17% from the prior year.
That made things tough for people looking to buy a house for the first time.
But for those who already own the roof over their head, the typical American homeowner saw a gain of $50,200 in home equity, or housing wealth, in just a single year.
“The price increase is a record,” says Lawrence Yun the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors which just came out with the new numbers. He adds that the rise in home values is “even stronger than the days of subprime lending.”
Yun is referring to the ruinous lending practices that fueled the housing bubble and led to the financial crisis 15 years ago. Back then prices were getting artificially boosted because people were paying more than they could actually afford.
But Yun says reforms put in place by Congress since then insure that people can afford the home loans they get. So something very different is happening now.
“We are facing a major housing shortage,” Yun says. “In December, we saw record low inventory, an all time low, there’s simply not enough homes available for sale.”
Meanwhile, during the pandemic, millions of people working from home have wanted more space and have been trying to buy homes. Record low supply, coupled with strong demand, has pushed prices up quickly and dramatically. But Yun expects price gains to moderate this year, perhaps to around 4% to 5%.
“The price gains will begin to normalize,” he says. “And people should not anticipate another year of this double digit rate of appreciation.”
Still, the housing market will remain out of balance so long as the supply of homes is so constricted. After the financial crisis, many homebuilders went out of business, and for a decade the builders that were left did not build enough homes given population growth.
In fact, estimates are that the U.S. is short several million homes. And building more won’t happen overnight.
Homebuilders say they are facing major headwinds including, in many places, a lack of available land, labor, building materials, and overly restrictive zoning.
“Policymakers could help by reducing lumber tariffs,” says Robert Dietz, the chief economist of the National Association of Homebuilders. He says local and state governments could also help get more affordable homes built by, “enacting zoning reform to allow builders to build with greater density.”
He says workforce development programs to train construction workers are needed too.
At this point in the pandemic, you’ve likely spent a hefty chunk of time over the past 22 months (!!) researching the best face masks and scrolling through sites such as Amazon to purchase the recommended pick(s). And with the varying guidance (i.e. first cloth masks were okay and now they’re not), odds are your wallet’s gotten quite the workout. But soon you should be able to give your bank account a bit of a break while still securing those much-needed face coverings.
On Wednesday, the Biden administration announced that it will make 400 million nonsurgical N95 masks available free of charge to Americans starting late next week. “This is the largest deployment of personal protective equipment in U.S. history,” a White House official told CNN, adding that the program will be “fully up and running by early February.”
The N95 masks will come from the government’s Strategic National Stockpile — essentially a federal repository or warehouse of drugs and supplies ready for deployment in the case of a national emergency — and will be given out at local pharmacies and community health centers nationwide. But don’t expect to leave distribution locations with a tote bag full of masks. There are only three masks available per adult. As for children? “We anticipate making additional, high-quality masks for children available in the near future,” an official told The Washington Post.
The administration’s announcement comes as the highly-transmissible Omicron variant continues to sweep the country and just days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidelines for face masks. While the agency continues to recommend that you “wear the most protective mask you can that fits well and that you will wear consistently,” it now notes that certain masks and respirators (e.g. N95s approved by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health or NIOSH) provide “the highest level of protection” against COVID-19 compared to cloth coverings. (Related: Here’s the Latest CDC Mask Guidance for COVID-19)
So, How Do You Get Your Free N95 Masks?
Unlike with the free COVID-19 tests (which you can order online), in order to actually get your free masks, you’ll have to pick them up in person at a federal community health center or pharmacy, according to The Washington Post. Although specifics on exact distribution locations are still TBD, it appears that Walgreens is part of the program. “We are pleased to partner with the administration to make N95 masks in varying sizes available free of charge at select Walgreens locations nationwide while supplies last,” a company spokesperson told NBC News Chicago. (Related: Can An N95 Mask Actually Protect You From the Coronavirus?)
As for when exactly you’ll be able to pick up your three N95s? That’s also somewhat TBD. U.S. officials are starting to ship masks at the end of this week, meaning they’ll likely be available at your local pharmacy and health center late next week, reports The Washington Post. But the keyword here is “likely,” as, again, a concrete timeline has not been made available to the public.
Officials also haven’t addressed how (if at all) they’re going to prevent someone from visiting pharmacies frequently and getting masks as each visit. But please don’t get any ideas — just be a good citizen and stick to your allotted three free masks, as there should be more than enough to go around. After all, the 400 million nonsurgical N95s being distributed amount to more than half of the 750 million stored in the Stockpile, according to CNN. Plus, special surgical N95 masks will be reserved for health care workers and not given out alongside the nonsurgical respirators, so know that these pandemic warriors (and, TBH, heroes) are getting ample PPE, too.
What If You Need More N95 Masks or Need One ASAP?
While the opportunity to receive three respirators free of charge is undeniably exciting, there are some limitations. For starters, N95 masks are meant to be single-use. That being said, each covering can be used more than once if necessary but no more than five times, according to the CDC. Given this info, odds are you’re going to still need to purchase additional masks to ensure optimal protection (research suggests that performance and efficacy decrease with use of the masks) as this pandemic continues.
And then, of course, there’s the possibility that you need to restock your face covering collection now and, thus, can’t wait for the government’s rollout. If this is the case, know that there are plenty of options available for purchase online and in stores. But buyer beware: There’s an increasing number of fake N95 and KN95 masks out there, so you want to be sure you know what to look for when shopping for PPE. (Related: How to Spot Fake COVID Test Kits)
Before whipping out your wallet, make sure the N95s in your cart have been tested and certified by NIOSH. Both the mask and its packaging should be labeled as “NIOSH-approved,” meaning they meet a specific set of criteria to guarantee a certain level of protection and performance, Stella Hines, M.D., associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, told USA Today. You can also refer to the NIOSH-Certified Equipment List on the CDC’s website to see if your N95 mask’s manufacturer and approval number (both of which should be on the respirator).
The information in this story is accurate as of press time. As updates about coronavirus COVID-19 continue to evolve, it’s possible that some information and recommendations in this story have changed since initial publication. We encourage you to check in regularly with resources such as the CDC, the WHO, and your local public health department for the most up-to-date data and recommendations.
States with looser gun restrictions have higher number of homicides, suicides: study
January 20, 2022
States with more relaxed gun laws have higher rates of firearm-related homicides and suicides, according to a new study from the nonprofit advocacy organization Everytown for Gun Safety.
California, Hawaii, New York and Massachusetts were all among the eight states with the tightest gun laws and the lowest rate of gun-related deaths. California came in the number one spot for restrictive gun laws, and Hawaii and Massachusetts reported the lowest number of gun deaths.
On the other end of the spectrum, the study listed 13 states as falling significantly below the national average on both gun deaths and restrictive gun laws. Louisiana, Missouri, Wyoming and Mississippi were rated as the states with the highest rate of deaths caused by gun violence. Mississippi was rated as the top state for both the weakest gun laws and the highest death rate.
Everytown said they compiled the study by analyzing the 50 most important policies in each state and categorizing those laws from the highest level of impact to the lowest. They also analyzed figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for Health Statistics and WONDER Online Database.
“What this project does, is show what we’ve been saying for years: Gun laws save lives,” Nick Suplina, senior vice president of law and policy at Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, told CNN. “We think this is going to be a really important tool for lawmakers, reporters and advocates that have been looking for the kind of visual tool that can make that case clearly.”
The study also notes that even states that have highly restrictive gun laws are seeing firearm deaths going up due to guns coming across state lines. It notes that when guns from another state are found at crime scene, four out of five come from states with weak background check laws.
The study comes after the United States reported over 20,000 gun deaths in 2021, making it one of the deadliest years on record, according to investigate organization
