Arizona and the deadliest gun states: Michigan isn't top 10!

You're five times more likely to die from a gun in Arizona than you are in Hawaii, the Daily Beast reports.  I can believe it, mister. I've lived in Arizona and it can be a frightening place to call home, especially Phoenix, a city teeming with pistol-wielding felons, meth heads,  hillbillys, and NRA, Joe-Arpaio-adoring mooks. I've never owned a gun. Hate 'em, in fact. But I did shoot a machine gun once out in the desert with some meth maniac on disability for injuries incurred at a nuke plant.  He'd stop in the middle of cutting a saguaro in half to repack his nose and then he'd yell "FUUUUUCK!" straight up to the sky, refocus his aim and continue killing things. Most his guns were absolutely legal. It's Arizona! I've had pistols pointed at my skull numerous times in Phoenix.  For what? Weighing in at scarecrow-ready 125 pounds? It's happened in the street, at a convenience store, outside a club, in a car, at someone's house and while strolling down the street at night. Pretty lucky to be alive. Yeah, guns scare the shit outta me, almost as much as the gimps who legally get their hands on them. Now I live in the city of Detroit (not the suburbs)  and I can honestly say that I'm much safer here than I ever was there. Nine-year-old Christina Greene and her family, cousins, uncles and siblings can't say they were safe. Miss Greene will never be able to perfect her ballerina moves. She'll never again taste Girl Scout cookies. She'll never develop crushes on boys. And her family's blown apart. What about them? What about the other innocents gunned down? What about Arizona Congresswoman Giffords, that rising star of a political force who took the  bullet through the head? I''m told by a pal of mine who happens to be her friend and neighbor that she's an incredibly intelligent woman, kind and generous to those around her.  He said Giffords just breathes compassion. Christ. About any moron can get a gun in Arizona. The state apparently likes it like that. Jared Loughner is an emotional gimp, and he purchased a gun. And Tucson is that state's liberal stronghold. Well the Daily Beast reports in its "Deadliest Gun States"  survey that Arizona is ranked No. 2 of 50 states with its annual number of  gun deaths; 15 per 100,000 people. Of course Arizona has the country's most permissive gun laws.  Michigan ranks 24th on the list with 10.9 deaths per 100,000 folks. We have the 39th most permissive gun laws of the 50 states.  Mississippi hits N0. 1, 18.3 deaths per 100,000 and the 4th most permissive gun laws. The Beast measured gun deaths per capita in each state, "using the most recent data available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention," which accounted for 75 percent of the stats. The other 25 percent was "derived from the Legal Community Against Violence's state-by-state comparison of firearm laws, which ranks all 50 states by their relative severity, incorporating everything from policies on mental-health background checks to whether loaded guns are allowed in bars." Here are the top 24 deadliest states gun states:

1. Mississippi Gun deaths per 100,000: 18.3 Permissive gun laws: 4th out of 50

2. Arizona Gun deaths per 100,000: 15 Permissive gun laws: 1st out of 50

3. Alaska Gun deaths per 100,000: 17.6 Permissive gun laws: 11th out of 50

4. Arkansas Gun deaths per 100,000: 15.1 Permissive gun laws: 7th out of 50

5. Louisiana Gun deaths per 100,000: 19.9 Permissive gun laws: 23rd out of 50

6. New Mexico Gun deaths per 100,000: 15 Permissive gun laws: 6th out of 50

7. Alabama Gun deaths per 100,000: 17.6 Permissive gun laws: 27th out of 50

8. Nevada Gun deaths per 100,000: 16.2 Permissive gun laws: 22nd out of 50

9. Montana Gun deaths per 100,000: 14.5 Permissive gun laws: 10th out of 50

10. Wyoming Gun deaths per 100,000: 14.5 Permissive gun laws: 8th out of 50

11. Kentucky Gun deaths per 100,000: 14.4 Permissive gun laws: 5th out of 50

12. West Virginia Gun deaths per 100,000: 14.8 Permissive gun laws: 25th out of 50

13. Tennessee Gun deaths per 100,000: 15 Permissive gun laws: 31st out of 50

14. Oklahoma Gun deaths per 100,000: 13.4 Permissive gun laws: 17th out of 50

15. Idaho Gun deaths per 100,000: 12.5 Permissive gun laws: 2nd out of 50

16. Georgia Gun deaths per 100,000: 13.1 Permissive gun laws: 13th out of 50

17. Missouri Gun deaths per 100,000: 12.9 Permissive gun laws: 12th out of 50

18. South Carolina Gun deaths per 100,000: 13.4 Permissive gun laws: 20th out of 50

19. North Carolina Gun deaths per 100,000: 12.3 Permissive gun laws: 28th out of 50

20. Florida Gun deaths per 100,000: 12.5 Permissive gun laws: 41st out of 50

21. Kansas Gun deaths per 100,000: 10.5 Permissive gun laws: 14th out of 50

22. Indiana Gun deaths per 100,000: 10.6 Permissive gun laws: 21st out of 50

23. Texas Gun deaths per 100,000: 10.7 Permissive gun laws: 32nd out of 50

24. Michigan Gun deaths per 100,000: 10.9 Permissive gun laws: 39th out of 50