INSTITUTE INDEX: How Southern states' weak gun laws jeopardize the nation

Number of gun-related murders that take place on the average day in the United States: 30

Of the 10 states with the highest gun death rates, number in the South: 4¹

Of the 10 states with the lowest gun death rates, number in the South: 0

Percentage of states with gun death rates above the national average whose gun laws received grades of D or F in a scorecard released last year by the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence: 95.6

Of the six states with the strongest gun laws² as rated by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, number in the South: 0

Rank among the states of North Carolina, which has the South's strongest gun laws: 12th

Of the 31 states with the weakest gun laws, number in the South: 10³

Factor by which the export of crime guns in the 31 states with the weakest gun laws exceeds that of the six states with the strongest laws: 9

Of the 10 states with weak guns laws that are disproportionately the top sources of guns recovered in out-of-state crimes, number in the South: 7⁴

Percentage of all gun sales that can be completed without background checks because federal law doesn't require checks for sales between private parties: 40

According to a 2012 survey conducted for Mayors Against Illegal Guns, percentage of gun owners who support criminal background checks for anyone purchasing a gun: 87

Date on which New York enacted strict new gun control measures, becoming the first state to take legislative action on guns since the Dec. 14 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Connecticut: 1/15/2013

Of the states considering new gun restrictions in the wake of Sandy Hook, number in the South: 0

Date on which President Obama announced a federal initiative to curb gun violence, including reinstating a ban on military-style assault weapons, outlawing high-capacity magazines, closing the background-check loophole, and toughening gun-trafficking laws: 1/16/2013

Date on which Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant and House Speaker Philip Gunn said they would block any federal measures limiting the right to bear and possess guns from being enforced in their state: 1/16/2013

Date on which Tennessee state Rep. Joe Carr said he planned to introduce legislation making it illegal for federal authorities to enforce any new federal gun restrictions in his state: 1/16/2013

Date on which a sheriff in Alabama said he would refuse to enforce new federal gun laws if he feels they're unconstitutional: 1/16/2013

1. Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee

2. California, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut and Hawaii

3. Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas, West Virginia, Florida, Kentucky and Louisiana

4. Mississippi, West Virginia, Kentucky, Alabama, South Carolina, Virginia and Georgia

(Click on figure to go to source.)