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New study suggests Arizona gun laws may play role in shootings involving police officers

12News learned several of the suspects involved in those shootings were legally prohibited from possessing a firearm.

PHOENIX — Phoenix police rank first in the country for police shootings, a new gun violence study commissioned by the Arizona Public Health Association found.

The study, to be released Thursday, comes as the Phoenix Police Department has been involved in nine shootings since the start of the year. Of those, seven suspects died on scene.

“It’s not just a Phoenix thing. It’s an Arizona thing,” said Will Humble, former Arizona public health director who commissioned the study.

The recent spike in shootings can be attributed to the state’s gun laws, the study found. It ranked the strength of Arizona’s gun laws 42 out of the 50 states.

The study also concluded the Phoenix police department had the highest rate of police shootings among the ten largest U.S. cities from 2015 to 2021. Tucson and Mesa had similar rates, the report said.

The study found that approximately 36% of Arizona’s households owned a gun in 2016, a drop from 62% in 1989.

Giffords Law Center, which ranks every state on the strength of their gun laws, gave Arizona an "F," the report noted. States with the strongest laws received an "A."

“It speaks to the level of violence that the officers are facing,” said Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell about the spike in shootings involving officers. “There is a very high correlation between felons who are illegally in possession of firearms and those that later get involved in shootouts with police.”

12News learned several suspects involved in those shootings were legally prohibited from possessing a firearm.

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