California Crime Drops As Gun Sales Surge

Los Angeles officials recently lauded their gun buyback program on Wednesday that bribed gun owners with a Ralph’s gift card worth either $100 or $200, depending on the type of gun they turned in. On Wednesday, the LAPD collected 2,037 guns including handguns, rifles, “assault” weapons and one rocket launcher. In total, these buybacks have pulled in about 10,000 California guns since the program began in 2009. While officials are celebrating these programs and saying that these events will make California streets safer, gun sales there have shot up significantly in the past 10 years. In 2002, 350,000 guns were sold in California, but last year, over 600,000 were sold. So a couple thousand guns were turned in last week, but that’s nothing compared to the hundreds of thousands bought last year alone. What’s also telling is the overall drop in crime that corresponded to the increase in gun sales:

 “Gun deaths and injuries have dropped sharply in California, even as the number of guns sold in the state has risen, according to new state data…. During that same period, the number of California hospitalizations due to gun injuries declined from about 4,000 annually to 2,800, a roughly 25 percent drop, according to hospital records collected by the California Department of Public Health. Firearm-related deaths fell from about 3,200 annually to about 2,800, an 11 percent drop, state health figures show. Most of the drop in firearm-related injuries and deaths can be explained by a well-documented, nationwide drop in violent crime. The number of California injuries and deaths attributed to accidental discharge of firearms also has fallen. The number of suicide deaths involving firearms has remained roughly constant.”