States with more guns have higher rates of fatal police shootings  

US states with high levels of household gun ownership have higher rates of fatal shootings of civilians by police, even after adjusting for rates of violent crime, poverty, urbanization and racial composition.  The relationship between gun levels and police killings was strongest for rates of police shootings of victims who were armed with guns.  The rate of fatal police shootings in the high-gun states was 3.6 times greater than in the low gun states.  The National Institute of Justice funded article, “Variation in rates of fatal police shootings across US states: the role of firearm availability by David Hemenway, Deborah Azrael, Andrew Conner and Matthew Miller appears in the Journal of Urban Health 2019 96:63-73.