Los Angeles, Calif. Today, the LA County Board of Supervisors voted to pass two motions by Supervisor Hilda L. Solis and Chair Janice Hahn on supporting three Assembly Bills (AB) by California State Assemblymember Mike Fong in response to the Monterey Park mass shooting that took the lives of 11 residents and injured another nine.

The first motion put forward was to support AB 732 and AB 733.

AB 732 would strengthen the current process and increase coordination between the State Department of Justice and local agencies to address the backlog of people who still possess firearms despite being prohibited from doing so. As of January 2022, the State’s “Armed and Prohibited Persons System” database had 24,509 people, and at least 5,000 additional names are added every year. When this database was reviewed, individuals were only removed due to passing away or because their prohibition expired; what was lacking was the state and local agencies actively reviewing this list to ensure firearms were removed from those prohibited from possessing them.

“Just as we need responsible gun ownership, we also need to strengthen processes to ensure state and local agencies utilize the systems that are in place as intended,” said Supervisor Solis. “I am committed to doing everything possible to ensure we don’t have another Monterey Park mass shooting.”

AB 733 was motivated by a motion Supervisor Solis put forward on January 24, 2023, in response to the county’s probation department’s attempt to auction off surplus department-issued firearms. The motion instituted a countywide policy to ensure that departments were not able to auction guns unless legally exempt. AB 733 would prohibit state and local agencies from selling firearms, firearm parts, ammunition, and body armor.

“State or local governments should not be in the business of putting more guns on the street—that is not public safety,” added Supervisor Solis.

The second motion put forward was to support AB 1638.

Much of the information provided after the Monterey Park mass shooting was not in a language that the impacted community, family members, victims, survivors, and their families utilized or preferred, as the vast majority spoke Mandarin, Cantonese, and Vietnamese. As a result, there was a lot of misinformation and confusion. In response, Assemblymember Fong introduced AB 1638 to require, in the event of an emergency in a jurisdiction where ten percent of the population or more primarily speak a language other than English, that the local public agency provide information related to the emergency in both English and the other language primarily spoken by that segment of the population.

“Given how large and diverse LA County is, it is incumbent on leaders and first responders to be culturally competent and linguistically inclusive,” said Supervisor Solis. “There is much more work to be done to achieve cultural and linguistic accessibility, but supporting AB 1638 is one more step in ensuring that both the County and State are aligned when it comes to providing our diverse communities with information in a language they prefer and understand, especially in times of emergencies.”

As a County, we are committed to doing everything we can to prevent gun violence and protect our communities to the best of our abilities in the event of a mass shooting,” said Chair Hahn. “Our partners in Sacramento have put forward bills that we think will help. If passed, these bills would help get guns out of the hands of dangerous people, stem the flow of some guns into our communities, and ensure jurisdictions can act quickly to protect our residents in the event of a mass shooting or other dangerous emergency, no matter what language they speak.”

“I am grateful to Supervisor Hilda Solis for bringing forth items on the agenda to support my bills on gun safety and translation during emergencies,” said Assemblymember Fong. “Building safer communities requires cooperation at all levels of government, and having the support of our county leaders shows that AB 732, AB 733, and AB 1638 offer common-sense solutions to prevent and prepare for gun violence and similar emergencies.”

The motions approved today direct the Chief Executive Office, through the Legislative Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations Branch, to support AB 732, AB 733, and AB 1638.

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