As of Feb. 6, 2023, there have been 60 gun related incidents according to the Gun Violence Archive. Photo by David Levêque curtesy of Unsplash.
By Aliyah Brown, Staff Reporter
Last June the Supreme Court ruled that the 2nd Amendment, the right to bear arms, overrules California laws that restrict who is allowed to carry a weapon in public.
Just last month, there were three mass shootings within the span of 44 hours – all in California. In response to the tragedies that were felt throughout the Golden State, Gov. Gavin Newsom, Attorney General Rob Bonta, and Sen. Anthony Portantino (D-Burbank) announced new gun safety legislation, Senate Bill 2, to strengthen California’s public carry laws.
“Only in America do we see the kind of carnage and chaos of gun violence that destroys our communities and our sense of safety and belonging,” Newsom said in a statement. “America is number 1 in gun ownership and we far surpass every developed nation on Earth in gun deaths – it’s not complicated. In California, we’ve passed common sense gun safety laws and they work: we have a 37% lower gun death rate than the national average. We’re doubling down on gun safety and strengthening our public carry law to protect it from radical Republican attacks.”
America is not new to gun violence. In fact, the nation continues to go through a cycle of grief as more folks lose their lives in gun-related violence.
Last month, during a Lunar New Year celebration, a gunman opened fire at a dance studio in Monterey Park, killing eleven individuals and wounding ten more.
In 2012, the nation witnessed children being removed from their schools and parents mourning at the Sandy Hook primary school. A 20-year-old used a .22-caliber Savage Mark II rifle to murder his 52-year-old mother before traveling to Sandy Hook Elementary. Twenty children and six adults sadly lost their lives that day.
Nikolas Cruz, 19 years old at the time, opened fire on students and faculty in 2018. As 17 students were murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, frightened classmates recorded cell phone footage of themselves hiding and being trapped in their classrooms.
In 2019 alone, there were at least eleven school shootings in the United States. Last year, there were 647 mass shootings. In the United States, there have been 1,230 gun-related deaths so far in 2023, including at least 69 mass shootings.
SB 2 is designed to enhance California’s gun restrictions by updating the current gun licensing system, setting the minimum age requirement to 21 years old to obtain a concealed carry weapon license, and adding stronger training requirements.
In a statement, Bonta said,
“The mass shooting incidents we have seen over recent weeks bring to light the need for stronger protections for our communities. The fact is, individuals who are not law-abiding, responsible citizens simply shouldn’t possess firearms — and they especially shouldn’t be allowed to carry concealed weapons in public. When a gun is placed in the wrong hands, it is deadly. The Second Amendment is not a regulatory straightjacket — we must protect our communities. The time for thoughts and prayers has long passed, we need brave and immediate action by our leaders – here in California and beyond. We owe our community stronger protections. I urge our state leaders to quickly adopt SB 2. We can’t afford to wait even one minute more.”