He also creates a new term that I do not see elsewhere in the literature “assault deaths”. I do not see it defined.
He mentions New Hampshire, Minnesota, and Maine as having the lowest rate of “assualt deaths”. I assume that he means murders and manslaughters.
But North Dakota has had a lower rate for decades (recently bumped up by the oil boom), and Utah, in the “Far West” has also been as low or lower than Maine in many years.
Perhaps he’s omitting suicides. Is is possible that those numbers are higher in the areas he wants to lower?