Sport Shooting in Blue States Could Provide Pushback for Gun Control Agenda

Shooting sports are hardly limited to taking a foursome to the local shooting range to take on another team on a Saturday, but a look at the number of shooting ranges per capita in each state probably gives indication that South Dakotans throw clays and hit targets a lot more than Californians.

It will be interesting to see if blue gun states like Vermont, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, and Iowa join West Virginia (which boasts the No. 1 ranked NCAA Rifle Team) in becoming more red as their recreation is taken away. Certainly there are much bigger issues in the Administrations push for gun control than whether or not TCU retains its National Rifle Title against WVU, or if Kentucky can repeat the rare back to back National championships in Rifle and Basketball.

But as we were reminded in the most recent election, voters are often focused on the day-to-day things they like to do, and for many Americans that is shooting. If shooting ranges are any indication, many residents who enjoy shooting – no matter how competitive – may become an issue in Vermont (#2 at one shooting range for every 21,736 residents), No. 6 New Hampshire, No. 8 Wisconsin, No. 11 Iowa and No. 12 Pennsylvania.

Rnk	State	Population	Shooting Ranges	Pop./Range
1	South Dakota	819,761	39	21,020
2	Vermont	630,337	29	21,736
3	Wyoming	568,300	25	22,732
4	Montana	994,416	43	23,126
5	North Dakota	675,905	23	29,387
6	New Hampshire	1,321,445	43	30,731
7	Idaho	1,573,499	45	34,967
8	Wisconsin	5,698,230	158	36,065
9	Alaska	721,523	19	37,975
10	West Virginia	1,859,815	45	41,329
11	Iowa	3,053,787	69	44,258
12	Pennsylvania	12,734,905	287	44,372
13	Kansas	2,863,813	63	45,457
14	Maine	1,333,074	28	47,610
15	Connecticut	3,581,628	73	49,063
16	Minnesota	5,314,879	105	50,618
17	Nebraska	1,831,825	35	52,338
18	Kentucky	4,350,606	75	58,008
19	Arkansas	2,926,229	46	63,614
20	Rhode Island	1,055,247	16	65,953
21	Colorado	5,044,930	75	67,266
22	Michigan	9,911,626	143	69,312
23	Washington	6,753,369	93	72,617
24	Indiana	6,501,582	88	73,882
25	Massachusetts	6,559,644	88	74,541
26	New York	19,421,055	251	77,375
27	Oregon	3,848,606	49	78,543
28	Utah	2,770,765	35	79,165
29	Missouri	6,011,478	75	80,153
30	South Carolina	4,645,975	57	81,508
31	Delaware	900,877	11	81,898
32	New Mexico	2,067,273	25	82,691
33	Oklahoma	3,764,882	43	87,555
34	Ohio	11,568,495	130	88,988
35	Alabama	4,802,982	53	90,622
36	Tennessee	6,375,431	67	95,156
37	Illinois	12,864,380	133	96,725
38	Georgia	9,727,566	95	102,395
39	Louisiana	4,553,962	44	103,499
40	Virginia	8,037,736	75	107,170
41	North Carolina	9,565,781	86	111,230
42	Mississippi	2,978,240	25	119,130
43	Maryland	5,789,929	43	134,650
44	Texas	25,268,418	180	140,380
45	New Jersey	8,807,501	59	149,280
46	Nevada	2,709,432	18	150,524
47	Hawaii	1,366,862	9	151,874
48	Arizona	6,412,700	32	200,397
49	Florida	18,900,773	90	210,009
50	California	37,341,989	172	217,105