As Long Angeles crime spirals out of control, even some of the city's wealthiest residents have flocked to Beverly Hills' only gun store to buy firearms to protect themselves and their belongings.

Beverly Hills Guns first opened by appointment only in July 2020, and has seen upscale residents from Santa Monica to the Hollywood Hills increasingly in a panic following some high-profile smash and grabs and violent home invasions in recent weeks, Los Angeles Magazine reports. 

Many are self-proclaimed progressives who've never even held a gun before, but who've been so spooked by soaring crime in the famously wealthy enclave that they've decided to arm themselves.