Are Arizona's loose gun laws contributing to more police shootings?

So we learn that there are more police shootings in Phoenix, with a population of about 2 million, than New York City and its almost 14 million inhabitants.

According to The Republic, a person is shot every five days in Arizona. In 2018 “Phoenix police officers fired at more people than law-enforcement officers did in any other city in the United States. Forty-four times. New York police officers fired 23 times. Philadelphia police fired 12 times. Dallas police fired four times.”

Of course, with the recent controversies, some have concluded that the Phoenix Police Department officers might be a little trigger happy. Or prejudiced. Or both.

Some might be. But come on, as a force, these men and women do a job few of us can or want to do. And the vast, vast majority perform their work with bravery and integrity.

Big differences between Arizona, gun-restrictive NY

At the same time, their union has gone on the defensive, failing to even come close to admitting that, well, maybe there are some officers who should not be on the force.

But what if there’s another reason our officers use their weapons so often? What if our laws lead to that?

Specifically, our Wild West gun laws.

Comparing us to New York, which has among the most restrictive gun laws, you’d find some huge differences. New York in 2016 had 4 gun deaths per 100,000 residents; Arizona, 15 per 100,000.

In a state more than twice as populous as Arizona, New York had only 87 more gun-related homicides in 2016.

And 2016 is not an outlier. Look at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or FBI statistics, and you see that 2016 is part of a larger pattern.

Arizona has much higher gun-related homicides

According to a Washington Post database, in 2016, Arizona had 50 police shootings; New York, 17. That represents 7.43 shooting per million residents in Arizona, 0.86 per million in N.Y. 

New York state has a population of almost 20 million;  Arizona, almost 7 million.

A state with three times the population has one third the number of police shootings. And the database shows that discrepancy year after year.

There are, no doubt, a variety of factors for that.  But one of them is the number of guns in circulation in each state, and another is the difference in gun laws.

Look at our gun laws in Arizona: we can carry a concealed weapon without a permit or even training or even any kind of screening at all. In fact, we have no restrictions on gun laws beyond the federal ones.

Thirty-two percent of us own guns, compared to 10 percent of New Yorkers. New York has 3.8 guns per 1,000 residents. Arizona has 26 per per 1,000, according to the ATF.

New Yorkers face restrictions on guns, own fewer

Meanwhile, New York for almost seven years has operated under the provisions of its SAFE Act. These include restrictions on who can own guns, how long it takes to clear a background check, restrictions on the size of magazines, mental health professionals required to report patients they feel might be a danger or themselves or others, and that handgun owners must reapply for their permit every five years.

So police officers in New York face a population less likely to carry guns, which make the officers less likely to confront someone with one. Which makes them less likely to use their weapons.

Imagine being an Arizona police officer with its lax Wild West gun laws and with a higher than the national average for violent crime. In a sense, it’s surprising our officers don’t use their guns more often, given the danger they are surrounded by, thanks in part to our NRA owned legislators, who refuse to even hold hearings about the lightest of restrictions.

This is not to excuse horrific decisions by rogue police who see color when they confront a suspect, and they should not be in uniform. I’ll bet the vast majority don’t, though, and instead are there simply to protect and serve all of us, regardless of race or ethnicity.

But maybe we should hear what officers around our state think of our gun laws, ones that allow practically anyone to own anything at anytime.

Mike McClellan is a retired Mesa Public Schools teacher and a Gilbert resident. Reach him at mmcclellan3141@msn.com.