In Monterey Park, site of mass shooting that killed 11, lawmakers urge support for gun control bills

Lawmakers and community leaders gathered Monday morning at Monterey Park City Hall to call for support for legislation aimed at reducing guns on the streets, months after a mass shooting on Lunar New Year’s Eve in the city claimed the lives of 11 people.

The lawmakers and gun-control supporters called for adoption of three state bills — AB 732, AB 733 and AB 1638— introduced earlier this year by Assemblymember Mike Fong (D-Alhambra), whose district includes Monterey Park. All three bills are currently in committee in Sacramento.

“Hours after the mass shooting on Lunar New Year’s Eve, I stood alongside our then-Mayor Henry Lo, Monterey Park City Council and community leaders in front of a shattered community,” Fong said at the news conference. “We lost 11 beautiful lives. Loved ones who enjoyed dancing, living life to the fullest, just going about a night on the town.”

As of Jan. 1, there are nearly 24,000 people who are prohibited from possessing a firearm in California but still have a firearm registered to their name, according to the California Department of Justice.

The legislation also comes in the wake of news reports of alleged gunmen who were able to buy guns and go on to kill their victims, despite being under restraining orders that prohibit them from doing so.

AB 732 would increase the roles of the court, probation and prosecuting attorneys to ensure that guns are relinquished during a conviction, meaning that the court won’t be able to close a case until the firearm has been handed over. The bill would also require someone to be designated to receive updates on armed prohibited people in their area and to report to the California Department of Justice their efforts to get those firearms relinquished.

AB 733 would prohibit local and state agencies from selling firearms, firearm parts, body armor and ammunition.

In the event of an emergency in an area in which 10% of the population speak a language other than English, AB 1638 would require that the local agency provide information in the other language spoken by that population.

Monterey Park, a largely Asian enclave, was the site of a Jan. 21 shooting that left 11 people dead and nine wounded at a local dance studio. The suspected shooter, 72-year-old Hemet resident Huu Can Tran, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Torrance the following day.

“If guns made us safer, we’d already be the safest country in the planet,” Prosecutors Alliance Executive Director Cristine Soto Deberry said at the news conference in support of the legislation. “In this nation, we have more guns than people, but we do not have safety.”

“Monterey Park, in light of the recent tragedies has been transformed,” said Monterey Park Mayor Jose Sanchez at the conference. “And that has become today, an agent of change. The change our community wishes to see is a society that is free of gun violence.”

LaNaisha Edwards, the member engagement associate for Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice, also spoke at the news conference about how she lost her two younger brothers to gun violence.

“Unfortunately, my family is not alone in being victims of American gun violence epidemic,” she said. “Gun violence has become a horrifying fixture in our communities.”