I don't think you know what you are talking about. California is experiencing the lowest level of gang violence ever. Oakland, LA, and San Francisco are seeing lowest homicide rates in decades. SF just had 35 homicides last year, compared to nearly 100 in 2007. Oakland had 75 last year, compared to close to 200 in the 90s.
Based on data and stats, 3 things are true
1. CA has no gang problem
2. As South and Central population in CA has gone up, homicides have dramatically dropped
3. As more gun laws are introduced gun violence has radically reduced
I don't disagree that California is safer now than ever. However, in the heydays of gang violence in CA, CA still had restrictive gun laws. They seem uncorrelated.
I don’t think there’s profit to be made there so I haven’t given it much attention. But the patterns of reasons you’re using match the just-so stories that are common in these discussions that make facile models of the world. In my experience these models are generally wrong. So I’m content walking away without adjusting my priors because the work/reward is low.
