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].