A recent study says Americans in non-urban areas are at higher risk of dying by firearms than Americans living in big cities, because of the high per-capita rates of suicide in many rural areas. The rate of firearm deaths in Kansas is 24 percent higher than the National average. But it’s not because of homicides, those are below average. It’s because Kansans die by firearm suicides at a rate nearly 50% higher than the Nation, overall.
The report from Rand, a public policy and health issues research group, found similar rates in other largely rural great plains states, too. Rand estimates that changing some Kansas gun laws, such as requiring a waiting period before buying a gun and raising the minimum purchasing age to 20, could prevent dozens of firearm deaths in the state each year.
