When we think “gun crime” we think Deep South and toothless, pickup-truck driving yokels who'll shoot you for even looking at their property.

Stereotype.

We're wrong, because California, the self-obsessed, yoga-centric, surf-'em-if-you-got-'em state is also the capital of shoot-'em-up homicides. The UK's Guardian newspaper breaks down the numbers:

California had the highest number of gun murders last year – 1,257, which is 69% of all murders that year and equivalent to 3.37 per 100,000 people in the state. Big as that figure is, it's still down by 8% on the previous year.

A lot of people come to Hollywood to make a killing, but this is ridiculous.

At least our per-capita, gun-play rate isn't king, according the Guardian. No, that would, in fact, bring us back to the south, where assaults involving guns were tops in Tennessee and South Carolina.

Places for the top gun-related murder rates were Washington, D.C, Louisiana and Missouri.

So be thankful, Californians. We're not the absolute worst place in the nation for at least one thing.

[@dennisjromero/djromero@laweekly.com]

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