Bob Collins
In a lot of Minnesota — northern Minnesota, primarily — it’s a lot easier to find a gun store than it is to find knowledge, or so the Washington Post characterizes the situation.
On its Wonkblog, it has plotted out the number of gun stories in every county in the country vs. the number of museums and libraries.
By mousing over the map (you’ll have to go to the website, the images above is static), the data is revealed.
In Cass County alone, there are 28 gun retailers, but only nine museums and libraries.
That 3-to-1 ratio is generally the same in the most gun-heavy counties, with one exception: Sherburne County, where there are only four museums and libraries, but 28 stores to sell you a gun.
Somewhat surprisingly, the “knowledge heavy” counties are mostly not in the metro. Yellow Medicine County, for example, has a 3-to-1 ratio of museums to gun stores. Rock County has 4 museums, just one gun store. Counties along the Iowa border are decidedly library and museum friendly.
The most gun-heavy county in the country is Deschutes County in Oregon, which has almost 7 gun stores for every library or museum.
Only 13 states have more museums and libraries than gun stores. Minnesota is not one of them.
