Colorado is one of 10 states where more deaths were related to firearms than automobile accidents, according to a state-by-state analysis of government data done by the Washington D.C.-based Violence Policy Center.

The 2009 data was the most recent year for which state-level data was available, the center said.

In Colorado, there were 583 gun deaths in 2009, while there were 565 motor vehicle deaths.

The other nine states in which gun deaths outpaced motor vehicle deaths where: Alaska, Arizona, Indiana, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Virginia and Washington.

Nationally, there were 31,236 firearm deaths in 2009 and 36,361 motor vehicle deaths according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.

The Violence Policy Center aims to stop gun death and injury. Its staffers say motor vehicle deaths are on the decline because of a successful decades-long public health-based injury prevention strategy. That includes making changes to vehicles and highway designs to make them safer.

Firearms, meanwhile, are the only consumer product not regulated by the federal government for health and safety, the center said.

“The idea that gun deaths exceed motor vehicle deaths in 10 states is stunning when one considers that 90 percent of American households own a car while fewer than a third own firearms,” said the center’s legislative director Kristen Rand.

Rocky Mountain Gun Owners’ Executive Director Dudley Brown said today he didn’t know how the policy center did its analysis.

“But I suspect their statistics will link a gun-death to virtually anything,” hesaid.

The Violence Policy Center, Brown adds, says it is for responsible gun control, but actually advocates for the elimination of all guns in America. “They will keep coming back to the idea that the presence of any firearms in any form — for hunting for anything — is a negative,” he said.

Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com