Some might argue that the mass shooting that killed 11 people in California somehow proves gun restrictions don’t work. After all, California has the toughest gun-control laws in America. But even a cursory look at the data finds that tragedies like this are the exceptions that underscore the rule.
California has among the lowest gun-death rates in the country, as do Illinois and other states with strong laws. Largely unregulated states like Missouri, meanwhile, consistently have among the highest death rates. What the California tragedy shows is that, in a nation with open state borders and the world’s biggest civilian stockpile of guns, only strong national gun restrictions can ultimately address this national crisis.
Police say Huu Can Tran, 72, killed 11 people in a dance studio in Monterey Park, California, east of Los Angeles, then entered a second dance studio where patrons disarmed him before he could shoot. Tran later killed himself in a van as police closed in. It’s still unclear whether the guns themselves were purchased legally, but the 30-round extended magazine on the gun that patrons wrestled from him is illegal in California. State law limits gun magazines to 10 rounds.
