You can divide the country in "half" by area, by number of states, or by
population. Unless you know the murder rate per capita under the two sets of
laws, you can be misled by statistics like this.

Statistics are only usefull to law makers trying promote
thier own agenda, which in most cases is not in the best interest
of the average citizen. Unfortunatly most people will ignore
truth in favor of statistics that support the illusion of saftey
provided by laws.

Best Regards
Tom.