Report by gun-control group ranks states based on homicides of one woman by one man

Violence Policy Center, a nonprofit that advocates gun control, has released its annual report, "When Men Murder Women," which ranks states based on homicides of women by men. The report uses data from the Supplementary Homicide Report submitted to the FBI for 2014, the most recent year available. It only counts incidents involving one male attacker against one woman, which it says is the scenario pro-gun campaigns use to promote female gun ownership. All the murders were not by gun, but the study says guns are the most widely used weapon when men murder women. The victims do not necessarily know the attackers, so not all cases are the result of intimate-partner violence.

Alaska, which had 11 reported instances of a man murdering a woman in 2014, tops the list with a homicide rate of 3.15 per 100,000 people. Louisiana is second (2.15), followed by Nevada (1.98), Oklahoma (1.94), South Carolina (1.73), New Mexico (1.71), South Dakota (1.65), Georgia (1.62), Tennessee (1.58) and Texas (1.44). Texas had the most overall deaths, at 195. California was second (178), followed by Georgia (84), Pennsylvania (72), Michigan (67) and New York (63).

The report confirmed that the murder trend has declined in recent years, dropping from a national average of 1.57 murders per every 100,000 women in 1996 to 1.08 per 100,000 in 2014, a drop of 31 percent. (Instances of a man murdering a woman from 1996-2014)