In the wake of the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School Connecticut passed gun safety legislation, including an assault weapons ban.

These new laws have resulted in the fastest drop in violent crime of any state over the last four years.

Connecticut is now one of the states with the strictest gun safety laws and has one of the lowest rates of gun deaths.

Conversely, states with the most lax laws, including Alabama, Alaska and Louisiana, have the highest rates of gun deaths.

R.I. lags behind our neighbors as well as other like-minded states in banning assault weapons. As of February 2018, the following states ban assault weapons: