David Codrea: Party Differences Highlighted in G&A Rankings

David hits another out of the park with this article.  It is worth reading it all.

In an analysis published Thursday, Guns & Ammo magazine has ranked the states for 2014 to determine which are best and worst for gun owners. The magazine based its assessment on five categories: Right to Carry; Modern Sporting Rifles; NFA (National Firearms Act items including machine guns, suppressors, etc.); Castle Doctrine; and a “catch-all” Miscellaneous category that includes state protections, citizen attitudes and the like.

What is immediately apparent is the division between people and their political preferences as exemplified by the “best” and worst”-ranked states. To illustrate, this column will look at the top and bottom 10, starting with the worst.

Coming in at 51 is Washington D.C. The mayor is a Democrat, as are 11 of the 13 City Council positions (with two “Independents”) as are all federal representatives. Presidential Electoral College votes went to the Obama/Biden ticket.

The next nine states listed, with “worst” listed first, are New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Hawaii, California, Connecticut, Maryland, Rhode Island and Delaware, Democrat strongholds all. And while there are notable (and rare) exceptions, such as Republican Chris Christie in New Jersey, the governor, who occasionally gets things right, more often does not, and in very destructive ways against the right to keep and bear arms.

On the other side of the equation, the “best” state is Arizona, slightly edging out Alaska. The “top 10,” going down the list, include Georgia, Utah, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Montana, Kansas and Florida. Again, there are some splits, as in Kentucky, Montana and Florida, but in all those states, the influence of Democrats has been tempered by Republicans. See “Political party strength in U.S. states” for a breakdown.

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