Standing outside Monterey Park City Hall on Monday, April 24, state and local officials trumpeted three proposed state bills they say are aimed at reducing the number of guns among those not allowed to have them and at getting timely messages out in languages other than English if a threat exists.
The bills were publicly supported three months after a shooting at Monterey Park’s Star Ballroom Dance Studio killed 11 people and injured nine as patrons celebrated Lunar New Year.
Huu Can Tran, 72, fired 42 rounds at the dance hall from a semi-automatic pistol that night, officials have said. He later died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound during a traffic stop in Torrance as police closed in on his white van, they said. The gun was purchased in San Gabriel, authorities said, but was not registered in California.
Now, three months later, the bills’ author, Assemblymember Mike Fong (D-Alhambra), whose district includes Monterey Park, gathered to gain support for them with Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, Monterey Park Mayor Jose Sanchez and Cristine Soto DeBerry, founder of the Prosecutors Alliance of California.
The bills:
- AB 732 would require convicted felons to relinquish their firearms before their criminal case is closed. Current state law requires them to give up their firearms within five days of conviction.
- AB 733 would prohibit law enforcement agencies from selling any firearms, ammunition or body armor to the public.
- AB 1638 would require a public agency to provide translation services in emergency situations should 10% or more of a city or county’s population speak a primary language other than English.
Fong said the state, as of January 2023, had a backlog of nearly 24,000 cases in which convicted felons had not yet relinquished their firearms.
COMPLETE COVERAGE: Monterey Park mass shooting
“Our current system, for removing firearms at the time of conviction, lacks enforcement mechanisms,” Fong said. “AB 732 will…
Read the full article here
