California has seen increases in the use of firearms in homicides and aggravated assaults in recent years despite relatively strong gun safety laws, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The number of homicides using firearms and assaults with firearms increased in California in 2020 and 2021, the Times reported.
Although the totals went down a bit in 2022, the rates remain noticeably higher than pre-pandemic figures.
The Times reported that guns were used in 71.2% of homicides and 21.8% of assaults in 2022, compared with 68% and 16.9%, respectively, in 2019.
This year, the gun issue in California has been highlighted by a spate of mass shootings, including killings at a dance hall in Monterey Park, a mushroom farm in Half Moon Bay, and a Trabuco Canyon bar.
"It is particularly in the last few years that we have seen an increase in violent crime involving firearms," said Magnus Lofstrom, policy director of criminal justice and a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California, the Times reported.
Lofstrom said that the last time firearms were involved in such a high percentage of violent crimes was "at the peak of our violent crime wave" in the early 1990s, when the rate of gun use was similar but far more crimes were committed.
Department of Justice data showed that violent crime and property crime in California were up slightly year over year in 2022, the Times said. The homicide rate, though down 5% from 2021, was up nearly 24% from 2017.
The Public Policy Institute of California showed that San Joaquin and Alameda counties had the highest rates of gun violence among major counties, with Orange, San Diego, and San Mateo counties had the lowest.
Nearly 40% of violent crimes in San Joaquin and Alameda counties involved firearms in 2022. The rate was 14% in Orange and San Diego counties.
Los Angeles County had a rate of 27% violent crimes involving firearms.
These higher rates come as California officials push to tighten gun laws that are already among the most stringent in the country, the Times reported.
"California has the strongest gun safety laws in the nation and has been a trailblazer for gun safety reform for the past 30 years," according to the Giffords Law Center, an anti-gun-violence organization.