LOS ANGELES—Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón called for stricter gun control in Los Angeles this week after a series of mass shootings occurred over the weekend in Milwaukee, Buffalo, and Laguna Woods.
“We are in this position today because we have leaders in our country who are willing to disregard public safety, sell assault rifles to 18-year-olds, [and] spread racist hate if it helps them win elections,” Gascón claimed during a May 18 press conference.
To attempt to prevent mass shootings in Los Angeles, Gascón said his office would fight for “reasonable gun control” measures.
“People should not have access to military style, assault rifles, and ghost guns,” he said.
Gascón also said his office will work to reduce the number of guns on the street, many of which are ghost guns, or guns without traceable serial numbers. The Los Angeles Police Department has noted a 400 percent increase in ghost gun apprehensions since 2017.
“These guns are untraceable and difficult to monitor or control,” he said.
Gascón, elected in 2020, said his office would also focus on reinvesting in “struggling communities” and address issues like homelessness, economic disparities, and poverty in Los Angeles through more funding for after-school programs, employment and income assistance, and violence interruption programs to reduce gun violence.
Last year, the district attorney’s office established a “community violence reduction division” to embed prosecutors into communities that are experiencing poverty to build trust and relationships to reduce crime, Gascón said, which will be expanded to include additional public health practitioners.
He also praised the Bureau of Victim Services’ Mass Victimization Crisis Response Teams, which support victims of mass shootings and their families. Previously, the teams have helped victims of mass shootings at Saugus High School in 2019, the Thousand Oaks Borderline Bar and Grill shooting in 2018, and the Las Vegas music festival massacre in 2017.
But Gascón’s critics have a different view of his strategies to address crime in Los Angeles County. Elected on a promise to reform the criminal justice system, opponents say Gascón’s policies are too lenient, leading to an uptick in crime.
As a result, the district attorney may be facing a recall election this year if organizers reach the needed signature threshold by July 6.
“It is either delusional or pure gaslighting for Gascón to suggest he’s doing everything within his power to address this issue,” Recall George Gascón campaign spokesperson Tim Lineberger told The Epoch Times.
“If George Gascón were serious about stopping gun violence or getting illegal guns off the streets, he would actually charge gun enhancements and prosecute crime—instead, he refuses to enforce the law and allows criminals who use guns during the commission of a crime to get off easy.”
The Association of Deputy District Attorneys, representing more than 800 district attorneys in the county, which supports the recall effort, said in a statement that Gascón’s press conference was an “exploitation” of the tragedies that occurred over the weekend.
“California’s gun laws are the strictest in the nation. Yet, for some inexplicable reason, Gascón refuses to enforce them. Now he has the audacity to lecture the rest of the country about the danger of gun violence,” vice president of the district attorney association Eric Siddall said.
