BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — The crime spike in Los Angeles has turned into a booming business for the lone gun store in Beverly Hills. Some of the areas wealthiest residents are buying guns to protect themselves and many have never owned a gun before according to the Daily Mail.
According to Los Angeles Magazine, Beverly Hills Guns first opened by appointment only in July 2020, and residents from Santa Monica to the Hollywood Hills are purchasing guns at a dramatic rate. Much of the fear has been driven by high-profile smash and grabs and violent home invasions in recent weeks.
Most buyers are self-proclaimed progressives who’ve never even held a gun before, but now that is changing.
Celebrities continue to be victims of crime and additional security measures such as armored cars, safe rooms and bulletproof glass are being introduced in homes and cars.
Jacqueline Avant, 81, a philanthropist and the wife of music legend Clarence Avant, was also killed in a home invasion robbery and shooting earlier this month.
A $500,000 Richard Mille watch was also stolen at gunpoint from a diner at the Il Pastaio restaurant last March.
High profile smash-and-grab lootings are continuing with the Los Angeles Police Department arresting 14 suspects alleged to have been involved in 11 recent smash-and-grab robberies at stores last month, where nearly $340,000 worth of merchandise was stolen in strikes on an LA Nordstrom, a Lululemon in Studio City, a Fairfax district store, and a CVS pharmacy in South LA last month.
Hollywood’s total violent crime rate increased 25 percent with its homicide rate doubling, robberies up 41.6 percent and shootings up 54.2 percent over last year, Los Angeles Police Department shows.
That is higher than the crime rate in the rest of the city, which saw homicides climb 12 percent over last year, robberies up 5.3 percent and shootings up 14.8 percent.
