The firing of a gun from a moving vehicle, called "drive-by shooting", is responsible for the death and maiming of innocent people and for an acute sense of insecurity in many neighbourhoods that are often not otherwise visibly touched by criminal activities. Drive-by shootings are not necessarily related to gang warfare or any other previously recognized form of organized crime. They are often random and unpredictable, thus increasing the fear they inspire.
There were 3500 drive-by shootings in Los Angeles in 1992. In southern California increasing attention is being given to the design of buildings, such as public schools, so as to make them less vulnerable to drive-by shootings.