CNN
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Kris He walked into Arcadia Firearm & Safety in Arcadia, California, three days after his gun license became official.
The 22-year-old immigrant from mainland China walked past a Trump flag, past the rifles, and headed to the glass case displaying handguns. He didn’t grow up around guns, but after seeing the gun store’s website in Chinese, he hoped owner David Liu would answer some of his questions.
“I speak Mandarin and Cantonese. They can use their mother tongue and talk to me. I will try to explain to them about the law and about the safety of firearms,” said Liu.
Liu opened Arcadia Firearm & Safety in 2016, hoping to reach the growing Asian American population in the suburban sprawl east of Los Angeles. The store sits above a Chinese restaurant, just a few minutes’ drive from Monterey Park. The mass shooting in that majority-Asian community last month is the reason why He sought to get a gun license.
In the wake of the mass shootings in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay, a growing number of Asian Americans are buying, or considering buying, guns for protection. Gun safety activists say this trend is in response to increased racial tensions across the country exacerbated by the pandemic and a nationwide gun violence epidemic.
“I’m afraid in my house,” said He. One of He’s friends lost his aunt in the Monterey Park shooting that killed 11 people, mostly Asian. He, who is not a native English speaker, said, “I think if you have gun, I have gun. I afraid you, you afraid me. So, it’s safe.”
Liu unlocked his glass case and gave He a handgun to hold, bluntly explaining, in Mandarin, how a new gun owner should train and safely live…
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