Shootings in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay Highlight Need for Gun Industry Accountability

It’s been a devastating couple of days in America — especially in California where two horrific mass shootings have taken place in just 36 hours, killing 18 people and wounding at least 10 others. Both of these tragedies impacted AAPI communities in unimaginable ways, and were fueled by a gun industry that continues to put all Americans at risk.

We still have more to learn about the tragedies in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay, but it’s impossible to deny how they were made deadlier by a gun industry that has only made its products more dangerous over the years.  While California has strong gun laws, including prohibiting the purchase of assault weapons and extended magazines, the gun industry is all too ready to flood neighboring states with deadly weapons — highlighting the need for accountability of the firearms industry at a national level.

The industry refuses to acknowledge the devastation its own products have caused. Between 2017 and 2021, law enforcement recovered and successfully traced over 1.4 million crime guns, but, even though gun makers are usually contacted by the ATF as a part of the tracing process, there is no evidence that they cut ties with dealers who willfully violate the law and transfer firearms to criminals. As the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) held the gun industry’s annual trade show last week in Las Vegas, mayors from 31 cities came together in Washington, D.C. to call out the gun industry’s worst actors and reveal that Glock is the number one seller of crime guns in their cities, with over 10,500 guns recovered in crimes in 2021 alone.

Everytown Law is working to hold the gun industry accountable in the courts by representing gun violence survivors and cities in lawsuits against gun sellers and manufacturers, including survivors from the shootings in Highland Park, and Uvalde to elevate their stories and shed light on the gun industry’s role in our nation’s gun violence epidemic.

As the LA Times Editorial Board wrote last night:

“The United States is the only society with such a powerful gun lobby. That lobby and the manufacturers who profit from the sale of millions of weapons systematically injected right-wing politics with an ideology that equates gun proliferation with liberty, and even modest, common-sense controls with government oppression.”

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to speak with an Everytown expert about the role that the firearms industry plays in exacerbating our gun violence epidemic.