A new study is giving the state of Michigan an improving grade for how it is addressing gun violence.
Firearms resulted in 48,204 deaths in the U.S. in 2022, according to a study by the Center for Gun Violence Prevention at Northwell Health in New York.
Researchers looked at state gun laws and correlated their effects with homicide and suicide rates.
Researchers give Michigan’s gun laws a B-minus. Michigan’s rating is actually an improvement for the state, though Michigan is still ranks near the middle of the pack.
“There is obviously more work to be done, but Michigan it does look like it is on the up and up. That is good news,” said researcher Emma Cornell.
Cornell said the research shows stronger gun laws can be especially effective in reducing suicides involving firearms.
A different recent study found adolescents who died using a firearm to commit suicide were far more likely to have lived in a household with unlocked firearms than were adolescents who died by non-firearm suicide methods
The research shows not only are stronger gun laws are linked with fewer firearm suicides, but socio-economic factors also play a role in reducing violence, said Cornell.
“We have to address other root causes of violence, which include access to education, improved health care access, and those other kind of more systemic what we call social determinants of health … that really kind of help support and make a healthy society,” said Cornell.
The study appears in JAMA Network Open, published by the American Medical Association.
