In the aftermath of the shooting in Monterey Park that has now killed 11 people at a dance studio, legislators and the Asian American community in Sacramento came together to demand better gun control.
The vigil took place on the steps of the Capitol and lawmakers from the Asian and Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus spoke about the impact the shooting has had on the communities they represent. Not all the victims have been identified, but Monterey Park is a majority Asian city, and many said the timing of it happening over the Lunar New Year weekend shook residents.
“The Asian Pacific Islander community is not immune from senseless firearm violence and the additional hardship that this takes, and the tone is that culturally for Lunar New Year, on this day, members of the community do not talk about bad things,” said Assembly member Evan Low (D-San Jose).
All legislators present said they would be making it a priority to strengthen the state’s gun laws, including looking at how to better regulate ghost guns and guns purchased in neighboring states.
Stop AAPI Hate, the national nonprofit tracking hate crimes against Asian Americans said it believes race was a factor in this shooting, even if it “may not be a hate crime in the traditional sense.” The organization has recorded over 11,000 hate crimes against Asian Americans since the start of the pandemic, with the majority of these incidents happening against women and those aged 60 years of age and older.
“Anti-Asian hate doesn’t always come from the outside, it can happen from within our own communities,” said co-founder Manjusha Kulkarni. “But no matter the why or the who, we know that Asian Americans are hurting and the shooting has exacerbated the collective hurt and the trauma that our communities have been experiencing for the past few years.”
Assembly member Mike Fong, who represents Monterey Park, the city where the shooting occurred, said he was at a Lunar New Year…
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