Megan Finnerty

The Republic | azcentral.com

From 2009 to 2012, gun-related deaths outstripped motor vehicle-related deaths in Arizona according to a Republic analysis.

Nationally, car accidents kill 92 people daily, compared to 87 daily gun-related deaths.

Ninety percent of U.S. households own a car while just over one third of U.S. households own a gun.

Arizona is consistently one of the states in which more people die from gunshots than from motor-vehicle accidents.

From 2009 to 2012, gun-related deaths outstripped vehicle-related deaths in Arizona, according to an Arizona Republic analysis of the most recent years for which statistics were available from the state departments of transportation and health services.

On Tuesday, the Violence Policy Center, a Washington, D.C.-based organization working to stop gun deaths and injuries, issued a survey comparing these modes of death in 2011, the most recent year for which comprehensive U.S. data is available, to make the point that firearms should be regulated like other consumer products.

Arizona had the third-highest per capita gun deaths, just behind Alaska and Louisiana, according to the council's analysis of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Ohio had the highest raw number of gun deaths compared with automobile fatalities among 14 states and the District of Columbia.

The numbers are significant because Americans are much more likely to be exposed to a car than a gun. Ninety percent of U.S. households own a car, while just over one-third of U.S. households own a gun.

Arizona's numbers also stand out because they buck national motor-vehicle fatality trends.

Car accidents kill 92 people daily in the U.S., according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, compared with 87 daily gun-related deaths, according to the CDC.

Arizona saw 964 gun deaths and 872 automobile deaths in 2011. It had 931 gun deaths and 795 vehicle deaths in 2010; and 856 gun deaths and 809 vehicle deaths in 2009.