INSTITUTE INDEX: Charleston church massacre puts spotlight on South Carolina's gun violence problem

By Sue Sturgis / June 26, 2015

South Carolina, where last week a white supremacist gunned down nine African Americans in church, has one of the highest gun murder rates in the nation. Yet state lawmakers are eager to further weaken its already lax gun regulations. (Graphic from the Center for American Progress.)

Number of people killed by gun violence in South Carolina from 2001 to 2010 alone: 5,991

Percent by which that exceeds all U.S. combat deaths in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined: 15

Rank of South Carolina among all states for aggravated assaults with a firearm: 2

For the rate of women murdered by guns: 4

For the rate of law-enforcement officers feloniously killed with guns: 4

For gun homicides overall: 7

Percent by which South Carolina's rate of gun murders exceeds the national average: 39

Of 100 possible points on a curved grading system, number earned by South Carolina in the latest state gun law scorecard from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence: 15

Rank that puts South Carolina among the states: 34

Number of background checks South Carolina requires for private gun sales: 0

Number of proposals currently making their way through the South Carolina legislature that would change the state's gun laws: 16

Of those, number that would roll back gun laws even further: 12

Month in which a Republican state senator from South Carolina introduced a bill to make every "able-bodied citizen" over the age of 17 part of South Carolina's "unorganized militia": 3/2015

Month in which the South Carolina House of Representatives approved a bill to abolish the requirement for concealed-carry applicants to undergo background checks: 4/2015

Year in which the South Carolina Senate plans to take up that legislation after deciding more hearings were needed: 2016

(Click on figure to go to source. Facing South intern Aidan Coleman provided reporting assistance.)

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