Gun Control Laws in California

The United States of America is spilt in most of all politics. The South east generally sides with the republican party, and the North West generally sides with the democratic party. These statistics mean that North Western states will have harsher gun laws than the South Eastern states. An example of one of these states with strict gun laws is California. According to an article done by Findlaw, “California gun control laws are among the most restrictive in the country”. In California, a person must ten days before being able to buy a firearm. Also according to the website, “rifles may not be shorter than sixteen inches and prospective handgun buyers must have a valid Handgun Safety Certificate.” California also has in place restrictions that make it harder to purchase ammunition, and these also restrict the size of some magazines.  On top of all these restrictions, if a person is caught with an illegal firearm in the state of California, they will face felony charges. After looking at all the laws in place, one might think California has a low gun homicide rate. However, this is not the case. According to a chart done by the CDC, there are about 3,184-gun murders in California per year. These numbers seem considerably high especially due to the fact California has strict gun laws.  These numbers show exactly why gun control laws in a state are bad. Criminals will still take part in criminal activity, regardless of what the law says. So this takes protection out of law-abiding citizens hands, and puts the lethal weapons into the hands of a criminal.