This AANHPI Heritage Month, we’re facing a painful truth: gun violence and anti-AAPI hate are converging, and silence is not an option.
Just this week, a man opened fire at a shopping center in a Koreatown neighborhood in a suburb north of Dallas, killing two people and wounding five. It’s another stark reminder that gun violence doesn’t just kill and maim — it shatters neighborhoods, traumatizes survivors and witnesses, and leaves lasting scars on our communities’ mental health.
In recent years, we’ve watched communities ripped apart: eight people killed at spas in Atlanta; eight killed at a mall in Allen, Texas; the Lunar New Year celebration in Monterey Park; and days later, shootings in Half Moon Bay. These attacks expose a deadly intersection of firearms, racism, and mounting fear across Asian and Pacific Islander communities.
Over the last five-and-a-half years, more than 44% of Asian American adults under 40 report knowing someone who was attacked or harassed because of their race.
At the same time, rising anti-Asian violence has driven more people to buy guns, no matter the risks to themselves and others around them.
Giffords, a partner in the movement to end gun violence in America, recently reported the data and human toll of this epidemic on Asian and Pacific Islander communities.
The report finds that roughly 570 Asian Americans and 60 Pacific Islanders are killed in acts of gun violence each year. Nationally, the majority of these deaths are suicides, and homicides make up over a third.
Although gun deaths have historically been lower among AAPIs, rates have risen sharply from 2019 to 2023: total firearm-related deaths went up 20%, with homicides up 16%, and suicides up 28%.
Gun violence is complex, and there’s no single solution. But we know that when we work and take action together, we make progress and save lives. This work is expensive, but we have the wins to prove it’s effective.
Thank you for standing with Asian and Pacific Islander communities and for turning tragedy and grief into action.
Sam
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