In 2018, the National Review published a piece on which state’s safe deposit boxes are the safest, citing a recent poll that found that “in a few states, like New Jersey, where gun ownership is the norm, gun violence is the lowest it’s been since at least the 1970s.”
The piece concluded: “New Jersey, New York, and California are also among the safest states in the country, but we should note that these states have very different laws than we do.”
It’s a sentiment shared by gun violence prevention groups across the country.
But what exactly is the safe deposit in each state?
The good news is that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has compiled a comprehensive list of the states with the most safe depositboxes.
The bad news is there is no one national database that can track each state’s safes.
That’s why the NRA created its own.
The NRA’s SAFE FAST index, which is compiled by the NRA-ILA and its affiliates, tracks all types of gun and ammunition safes and safes in general.
The gun safes, for example, are categorized as safe by the ATF, while the ammunition safers are categorized with “restricted” status.
So, while there are no state-by-state lists of the safest safes anywhere, the NRA’s Safer FAST lists every safe and ammunition safe in the United States.
The most recent version of the list can be found here.
And here are the top 10 safest states.
We know the safest cities are New York and Chicago, but who’s next?
1.
New York City 2.
New Jersey 3.
California 4.
Nevada 5.
Virginia 6.
Arizona 7.
New Mexico 8.
Massachusetts 9.
Illinois 10.
Florida ___________________________ In 2018 alone, the gun violence crisis killed more than 27,000 people.
And, as of August 2019, the CDC estimates that there are 1.6 million gun deaths in the US.
While the NRA is proud of its list of safe deposit zones, we can’t help but wonder whether the safest places in America actually are.
Are there safe deposit zones in every state?
Of course not.
Some states have gun-friendly policies and laws.
Some are just a little safer than others.
But even the safest gun safe in each community is not guaranteed to be safe.
And if there’s one thing the NRA can be sure of, it’s that gun violence won’t stop until all gun-owning Americans feel safe to own their guns.
