The "conventional wisdom" on firearm deaths is that the rates are higher in urban areas. In California, the conventional wisdom is wrong.
The Violence Prevention Research Program at the University of California-Davis studied firearm deaths--homicide and suicide--from 2000 to 2015.
The overall rate of firearm homicide dropped 30% over that time... almost all of it in urban areas. Rural areas have seen no such decline. Researchers Veronica Pear and Garen Wintemute of the VPRP share details in a visit with The Exchange.