The state of California is pretty proud of their gun control policy. Progressives throughout the nation look at the state’s laws as a model of what we need on a national level. They argue that such gun laws would reduce crime and make all of us just that much safer.

Of course, anti-gunners always say that their policy proposals would make us safer, even if they wouldn’t.

Take California’s gun laws, for example. So far, they’re not doing much to stop the rise of violent crime in Los Angeles.

Police Chief Michel Moore called for calm in the streets Friday after what he called a spasm of gun violence in South Los Angeles killed four and wounded 19 wounded in the past six days as the city has recorded nearly 40 more homicides so far this year than last year.

“This is a pace of shooting and violence that we’ve not seen in years,” Moore said as he and community leaders condemned the crimes. “I fear, given the velocity, where is the lid on this?”

…

Moore blamed the COVID-19 pandemic for fueling the violence because of the economic turmoil it has caused while also giving people few outlets for social contact.

He was accompanied by a group that included two city councilmembers, clergy and other leaders who called on community members to lay down their arms, come together and not be afraid to speak out if they have witnessed a crime.

“We have so many of our young people that are dying for no reason at all,” Bishop Grover Durham of the Good Citizen Deeds Foundation said. “This has got to stop. … This is a call for a cease fire.”

Moore, who has had his department’s budget modestly trimmed as a result of the defund police movement, urged the City Council to continue to invest in the department.

That’s disheartening. I’m curious what gun control laws the state of California has repealed recently.

What’s that? None? They’ve repealed absolutely no gun control laws?

Well, that’s interesting. It’s almost like the presence of those gun control laws has done absolutely nothing to prevent this spike in violence in the City of Angels.

Probably because they don’t.

See, violence is complex. There’s no single cause to violence or violent crime. However, what we do know is that solutions as simplistic as gun control are rarely the answer.

After all, the people carrying out these crimes are rarely people buying guns lawfully. Instead, they’re typically convicted felons who purchase guns from black market dealers, typically firearms stolen from law-abiding citizens or purchased through fraudulent methods. Gun control laws aren’t going to stop that kind of thing.

Instead, there are better options. For all the bad press it got, broken window policing did wonders for New York and can do the same for places like Los Angeles. Step up the efforts there and watch a lot of the problems disappear.

More gun control won’t solve the issue, but that’s likely where anti-gun lawmakers in the state will try to step up their efforts and claim it’s to combat this growing violent crime issue. If anything, though, they should be going the other direction with their gun laws. If criminals are getting guns no matter what, it’s past time to stop making it difficult for law-abiding citizens to obtain firearms themselves.

Until the police can get the matter in hand, citizens should be able to at least protect themselves without the state making life difficult.