Missouri has the fourth highest gun death rate in the country and ranks in the bottom 10 for its gun laws, according to a recent report from Everytown for Gun Safety.
The gun safety nonprofit developed a scoring guide for each state based on its gun laws and gun violence rates. States with tougher gun laws see less violence, Everytown found, while 13 states including Missouri without gun safety policies experience far more gun deaths.
Kansas City has had exceptionally high homicide numbers over the past two years. In 2021, 157 people were killed in Kansas City, Missouri, making it the second deadliest year in the city's recorded history, following a record 182 killings in 2020.
