The Monterey Park community took to the streets to welcome President Joe Biden on Tuesday, March 14, who was is in the neighborhood to visit families of victims of the January mass shooting and to promote gun control laws and a new executive order.
While leaders and gun control advocates crowded inside the Boys & Girls Club of the San Gabriel Valley, many others lined streets outside to catch a glimpse of the president’s motorcade, and take in a presidential visit in the wake of the Jan. 21 tragedy.
And for that visit, people expressed gratitude.
“He was very aware of the situation that happened here in Monterey Park,” said Bryun Sakaye, whose family spoke with Biden.
Sakaye’s mother-in-law, Maria Liang, owns Star Ballroom Dance Studio, the site of the Lunar New Year Eve’s shooting that claimed 11 lives.
Liang ran the studio with Ming Wei Ma, her dance and business partner of 13 years, who was killed in the shooting.
Liang’s brother was also injured in the bloodshed, she said.
“It was such a nice thing” for Biden to come out here and show his support for the Asian community, Sakaye said.
As early as 9 a.m., a small crowd started to gather near the Boys & Girls’ Club, where Biden was due to speak in the early afternoon.
People huddled under umbrellas of different colors and stood outside the police line. The varying colors provided a strong contrast with the grey and overcast sky.
Among those in the crowd was Joceyln Freitas, who brought her daughters, 7-year-old Hazel and 9-year-old Azalea, to catch a glimpse of the president.
As someone who has lived in the neighborhood for around seven years, Freitas found the shooting “really upsetting.”
“This is such a safe community. We really feel safe here. We feel very sad for the families,” she said, adding that Monterey Park has been a vibrant hub of activities, hosting events such as fireworks on July 4th, Halloween festival and Farmers’ Market.
“I think something like that (mass shooting) really affects you,” she said. “It’s hard to recover from something like that. I personally never visited the dance hall before this happened, so I didn’t feel like I was in danger, but it does make you think twice about going places and being aware of your surroundings.”
The violence renewed debate about gun violence and prompted many Democratic lawmakers to call for stricter gun control.
During his visit, Biden announced an executive order that aims to increase background checks to buy guns, encourage safe storage of firearms and address the loss and theft of guns during shipping, among other things.
Gun control would be pretty popular in this area, said Liam Wright, a 17-year-old student at South Pasadena High School, who was in the crowd with a group of his classmates.
The students said proudly that they skipped AP Government class “to see the government in action.”
“I think it’s interesting to see him come to our area. There is not a lot of election stuff usually going on here, California is not that competitive,” Wright said.
He said the gun control measures that Biden announced “are going to help a little bit” and would not be as useful as a national rifle ban.
Wright’s classmate, Anika Evvert, 16, agreed. “Why should we have more public access if they are doing more harm than good?” she asked in reference to the Second Amendments.
“We have this entire mindset that we need to be more involved with the country and here we are not. We need something radical,” she said, adding, “I think the country is too polarized to do anything that people remotely agree with,” she said.
Even many in the Asian community that reside in Monterey Park, who are still struggling to grapple with the shock of the tragedy, remain divided over the issue.
Jessica Yang, who stopped by Boys & Girls’ Club after dropping her two grandchildren at home, said she still gets chills walking past the dance studio at night. Gun control is important for the safety of community members, she said.
Robert Guo, a Chinese immigrant who has lived in Monterey Park for a year and half, said that guns will always be an issue in this country, no matter who is the president.
He used to think that guns need to be regulated, however, his opinion on them has changed over the years as violence and hate crimes against Asian increased.
“When you look at it from a different angle, it’s an effective way to protect yourself and your loved ones,” he said.
A woman was talking over the phone with a family member while waiting for the president’s motorcade to roll by. She repeatedly reassured the other person her safety, who was worried that a shooting might happen again.
“Everything is going to be OK. We are safe here,” she told the caller in Mandarin, “the shooting was a targeted attack.”
Dennis, a pro-gun activist who didn’t give his last name, was at the event to protest the Democratic president’s handling of the gun issue.
He argued that strengthening background check is not going to solve the problem, because the Monterey Park shooter had no criminal record, Dennis said.
Authorities said that Huu Can Tran, a 72-year-old man from Riverside County, had a limited criminal record – only a 1990 arrest for unlawful possession of a firearm.
Instead, politicians should focus on providing more mental health resources, especially for the elderly population in the Asian community, the man said.
