Nearly 500 lives are lost every year due to gun violence in Kansas, making it one of the states with a lower ranking in terms of gun legislation, as reported by a yearly ranking.
Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a national gun safety nonprofit, has graded Kansas with an F for its gun regulation in its yearly scorecard assessing the strength of firearm laws across the 50 states.
Kansas’ gun laws are ranked 42nd in the country, making them among the weakest in terms of strength.
According to Emma Brown, executive director of the center, Kansas received an F grade this year due to its weak gun violence laws.
According to her, gun violence has become the leading cause of death among children in the United States, which she finds completely unacceptable.
The report highlighted several areas in which Kansas falls short, including the absence of universal background checks, insufficient legislation on gun industry accountability, and a lack of violence intervention programs. Additionally, it recommended that the Legislature should consider repealing the “stand your ground” laws, which grant individuals the right to use deadly force if they perceive it as self-defense.
Kansas stands out for its exceptional performance in the area of mental health reporting, as highlighted by the center. State authorities diligently comply with the mandatory mental health record reporting regulations, which play a vital role in assessing firearm transfers. In many cases, mental health information is shared with a national database when courts mandate treatment or involuntary commitment to a psychiatric facility.
According to the center, there is a clear link between lax gun laws and the rise in gun-related fatalities nationwide. In Kansas, for instance, the state witnesses an alarming rate of nearly 17 gun deaths for every 100,000 individuals, resulting in approximately 473 deaths each year. The highest rate can be observed in Mississippi, with 29 gun deaths per 100,000 people, while Massachusetts boasts the lowest rate at around 4 gun deaths per 100,000 individuals.
A deadly shooting occurred in February during a Kansas City parade that was held to celebrate the win of the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. This incident has prompted lawmakers in both Missouri and Kansas to consider either tightening or loosening state gun laws.
According to a report by the center, 88 gun safety laws were passed in 2024, across 28 states. This brings the total number of new gun safety laws since the Sandy Hook massacre in 2012 to over 700.
Kansas did not fall into the category of states that met the criteria.
