Leftist residents in Beverly Hills, California, are arming themselves as crime rates in the area continue to rise, according to the New York Post.
“I’ve always been anti-gun,” Debbie Mizrahie, a Beverly Hills resident, told the outlet. “But I am right now in the process of getting myself shooting lessons because I now understand that there may be a need for me to know how to defend myself and my family. We’re living in fear.”
Mizrahie said she watched rioters attack her neighbor’s home with Molotov cocktails during the summer of 2020, and since then it’s “only gotten worse.”
“My kids were outside and they saw a huge explosion,” she said. “[The neighbor’s] backyard went up in smoke. Trees burned down,” she recalled. “Beverly Hills has been targeted.”
Shirley Reitman, who also lives in the area, confirmed that crime has gotten out of control in the ritzy Los Angeles neighborhood.
“It’s gotten to a point where residents feel insecure even going from their door to their car,” she said. “A lot of residents are applying for a concealed carry weapon permit, even though that’s a great challenge in LA County.”
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alejandro Villanueva said his department has received 8,105 concealed carry applications since he took office in December 2018. His predecessor only issued 194 permits in four years, he added.
Villanueva also vowed to approve permit applications as quickly as possible.
“We’re recognizing that a threat to the residents is increasing, so we’re responding accordingly,” he said.
Steve Robinson, a police officer in Los Angeles, said crime is spreading to wealthy neighborhoods because city officials have refused to crack down on it in other places.
“What you’re seeing is the spillover into these communities of crime and violence,” he said.
“Before, you would never hear of a robbery or a shooting [In Beverly Hills], or if you did, it was once or twice a year,” he said. “In 2020, the Beverly Hills Police Department pulled 18 guns off Rodeo Drive. You go back any year before that, and it may have been zero to one or two.”
