Before their latest round of anti-gun measures was signed into law on Friday, California already had among the strictest gun-control laws in the nation. They must be working pretty well if the state’s lawmakers and governor agreed to make them even stricter, right?
Not so fast. According to SFGate.com, crime in California last year was actually up, in contrast to the continued trend of falling crime most everywhere else. In 2015, murders rose an average of 10 percent across the state. The murder rate in L.A. has increased 13 percent since 2013, while in San Francisco—a wealthy area typically insulated from sharp increases in crime—murder rose nearly 16 percent last year alone. Statewide, property crimes and hate crimes showed increases of 8 percent and 10 percent respectively.
While a 29-percent decrease in felony arrests last year surely didn’t help, criminals’ growing awareness that they’re unlikely to meet resistance might be the true culprit behind the spike. Unfortunately, with Californians now even less able to defend themselves, we’re likely to see these trends continue.
