  Significant deviations from Standard Model (SM) predictions have been
observed in $ b \to s \mu^+ \mu^-$ decays and in the muon $g-2$. Scalar
leptoquark extensions of the SM are known to be able to address these
anomalies, but generically give rise to lepton flavor violation (LFV) or even
proton decay. We propose new muon flavored gauge symmetries as a guiding
principle for leptoquark models that preserve the global symmetries of the SM
and explain the non-observation of LFV. A minimal model is shown to easily
accommodate the anomalies without encountering other experimental constraints.
This talk is mainly based on Ref. [1].
