WHAT THEY’RE SEEING: Georgia AAPI Leaders Raise Concerns on Growing Threat of Gun Violence

Georgians across the state are hearing from local Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) leaders as they raise concerns about the growing threat of gun violence. During a press conference last week, AAPI leaders joined the families of victims of the March 2021 mass shooting targeting Asian American women in the Atlanta area to discuss concerns about Brian Kemp’s new permit-less carry law, which threatens public safety and increases the risk of gun violence in Georgia. Here’s what Georgians are seeing: 

WALB in Albany:

• WALB Anchor: “Today, Georgia, Asian American and Pacific Islander leaders held a press conference where they raised concerns about the growing threat of gun violence. Two members who both lost a loved one in the spa shooting in Atlanta last March had this to say.”

• Robert Peterson: “As gun violence is rising across the country and in Georgia, it’s an absolute necessity and paramount to our safety that we ensure there are checks and accountability when it comes to who is carrying firearms in our community. Permitless carry is moving Georgia backwards on gun safety.” 

• Michael Webb: “I’m a gun owner and I’m a hunter. Furthermore, I support our rights to own a firearm. But I also support common sense gun control and gun safety. The young man who executed my daughter’s mother and seven other innocent people did so within hours of purchasing a gun here in Georgia. The young man who killed 21 people in Texas did so after purchasing two assault rifles within days of his 18th birthday. Now, I’m not a liberal or a Democrat. Imagine for a moment what those parents of those nineteen little schoolchildren in Texas are going through right now. We cannot remain silent just because the vocal minority will attempt to drown out those of us who speak out about guns. Stop already with the moments of silence and the thoughts and prayers after each massacre. Quit making this political. Stop trading lives for votes.”

• WALB Anchor: “Now, states that have been weakening their power and permitting system saw a 15% increase in violent crime. George already has the 17th highest rate of gun deaths in the nation, and this rate of gun deaths increased 41% from 2011 to 2020, according to Everytown.org.”

11Alive in Atlanta:

• 11Alive Anchor: “Tonight, Georgia AAPI leaders gathered just days after the tragedy in Texas to make a plea for better gun control laws in Georgia. Last year, Atlanta was the site of a gunman fatally shooting eight people who were mostly members of the Asian community. Family members of the spa shooting victims spoke at today’s meeting to advocate for action across the state.” 

• Robert Peterson: “And as gun violence is rising across the country and in Georgia, it’s an absolute necessity and paramount to our safety that we ensure there are checks and accountability when it comes to who is carrying firearms in our community.” 

• 11Alive Anchor: “They said change begins by holding Georgia officials accountable.”

• Michael Webb: “Stop already with the moments of silence and the thoughts and prayers after each massacre. Governor Kemp, Georgia leaders, do something. Quit making this political. Stop trading lives for votes.”

• 11Alive Anchor: “The family members criticized Governor Kemp’s recent permitless carry law – they said it increases the threat to the general safety.”

WSAV in Savannah:

• WSAV Anchor: “The issue of gun control is surfacing once again around the country, including here in Georgia. Democratic lawmakers are battling to try to pass common-sense gun laws and are blasting Governor Brian Kemp at the same time. They also blasted Governor Kemp for pushing the bill that allows people to openly carry a gun without a permit.”

• State Sen. Michelle Au: “Despite Georgia Democrats dropping a number of common sense gun safety bills since 2021, including universal background checks, mandatory waiting periods and safe storage laws, the GOP majority legislature and Governor Kemp have not lifted a finger to make our community safer from gun violence.”

Fox 5 in Atlanta:

• Fox 5 Anchor: “Five Democratic Asian American state lawmakers and relatives of two of the victims of last year’s spa shootings want tighter gun restrictions. They complain Governor Brian Kemp and Georgia Republicans have made it easier for criminals to carry in public. And they say that’s putting fuel on the fire of the gun epidemic. This is what the son of one of the victims of the Atlanta spa shootings had to say.”

• Robert Peterson: “Gun violence is the reason my mother and seven other victims I’m not here with us today to enjoy their lives and families. It’s why people in my community no longer feel safe going to work, school to the grocery store, writing MARTA, going about our daily lives. The gunman who murdered my mother was able to obtain a gun the same day he decided to carry out his crime across two counties in Georgia.”

K News Atlanta: Family of Atlanta shooting victims outraged, “Are you trading lives for votes?” 

WABE in Atlanta:

• WABE’s Sam Gringlas: “The debate about gun safety is already shaping the 2022 election in Georgia, just days after the massacre at an elementary school in Texas. The conversation is personal for many in Atlanta’s Asian American and Pacific Islander community.”

• WABE’s Sam Gringlas: “Robert Peterson’s mom, Yong Ae Yue was one of eight people — mostly women of Asian descent — killed in the spa mass shootings a little more than a year ago.”

• Robert Peterson: “Gun violence is the reason my mother and seven other victims are not here today to enjoy their lives and families. It’s why people in my community no longer feel safe going to school, work, the grocery store, riding MARTA or going about our daily lives.”
• WABE’s Sam Gringlas: “Republican Governor Brian Kemp has since expanded access to guns. He signed legislation this year allowing Georgians to carry handguns without a permit. Democratic State Senator Michelle Au says Kemp and Republican lawmakers have to answer for their inaction on gun safety.”

• Senator Michelle Au: “How would you feel if those were your kids? Your spouse? Your parent? What would you want done? And how will you explain to your own kids what you did in this moment? And if that answer continues to be nothing, ask yourselves why you deserve to serve Georgia.”

• WABE’s Sam Gringlas: “Georgia Democrats are already making guns a central issue in this year’s election, especially as Democrat Stacey Abrams tries to unseat Kemp.”

AJC: Spa shooting victims’ relatives, AAPI legislators renew gun control push

• Asian American state legislators and relatives of two of the victims of last year’s metro Atlanta spa shootings called for tighter gun restrictions Friday in the wake of this week’s mass shooting at a Texas elementary school.

• “I’m a gun owner and I’m a hunter,” said Michael Webb, the ex-husband of Xiaojie Tan, one of the people killed March 16, 2021, at three local spas. “I support our rights to own a firearm. But I also support common sense gun control and gun safety. The young man who executed my daughter’s mother and seven other innocent people did so within hours of purchasing a gun here in Georgia.”

• “I’m not a liberal or a Democrat,” Webb said. “I’m just a father, grandfather and victim of gun violence.”

• Webb said his 18-year-old son died by suicide in 1999, using a shotgun his grandparents left loaded and unsecured.
• State Sen. Michelle Au (D-Johns Creek) and state Rep. Sam Park (D-Lawrenceville) panned state Republicans, especially Gov. Brian Kemp, for enacting a permitless carry law last month.

• “Instead of honoring those victims by doing everything possible to try and ensure nothing similar happens again, Brian Kemp and Georgia Republicans have decided to make it even easier for criminals to carry weapons of war in public,” Park said, adding, “They’ve exacerbated the gun epidemic. They’ve been pouring fuel on the fire.”

• Senate Bill 319, which Kemp signed last month, eliminates the requirement that Georgians apply for a license and a background check, get fingerprinted and pay a $75 fee to carry a concealed handgun. 

• About 70% of Georgia voters polled earlier this year by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution did not believe state residents should be allowed to carry a concealed weapon without a license. More than half of the poll respondents who identified as Republican or conservative were opposed to allowing handguns to be carried without a permit.

• “Kemp has put communities at risk by allowing people to bypass that crucial check and carry deadly weapons out in public,” [Robert] Peterson [whose mother Yong Ae Yue was killed in the spa shootings] said. “Permitless carry is moving Georgia backwards on gun safety.”

11Alive: Relatives of Atlanta spa shooting victims, Georgia lawmakers call for action after Texas shooting

• Two relatives of victims of the 2021 spa shootings in metro Atlanta and Democratic lawmakers on Friday called for Georgia to reverse its recent trend toward looser gun restrictions and enact stricter measures in the wake of the shooting at an elementary school in Texas.

• Michael Webb, whose wife Xiaojie Tan was among the six women of Asian descent killed in the shooting spree across two counties, described himself as “not a liberal or a Democrat” but “a father, grandfather and victim of gun violence.” Webb said he himself is a gun owner, and hunter and supports “our rights to own a firearm” but also supports laws that would place higher barriers to gun ownership.

• This year, Gov. Brian Kemp made a successful push to remove the need for a permit to carry a legally purchased gun in Georgia. That relaxation of the state’s gun laws was under scrutiny in the forum on Friday.

• Webb framed the law eliminating the need for a permit to carry weapons as one that will “risk lives.” He also said he supports laws that would establish a waiting period to complete a gun purchase – noting that the shooter in Atlanta bought his gun the same day he committed the killings.

• Robert Peterson, whose mother Yong Ae Yue also died in the March 2021 shootings, said “gun violence is a personal issue for me.” 

• “Gun violence is the reason my mother and seven other victims are not here with us today, to enjoy their lives and families,” he said. “It’s why people in my community no longer feel safe going to work, to school, to the grocery store, riding MARTA or going about their daily lives.” He said he felt the permitless carry law would result in “making us all less safe.”

• The lawmakers, state Sen. Dr. Michelle Au and state Rep. Sam Park, expressed frustration with past failed efforts to introduce gun regulations in the Georgia General Assembly. 

• Au said such bills are usually blocked before even being given a hearing in the state legislature. Park said the issue “should not be partisan, should not be political, it’s about public safety.”

• Au said Democrats in the legislature would nonetheless continue to introduce gun measures, offering universal background checks, waiting periods and safe storage rules as examples of policies they would push for.

Georgia Recorder: Democratic state lawmakers decry eased Georgia’s gun laws after Texas school shooting

• Mass shootings, many targeting members of racial minority groups, have rocked communities across the nation in recent years. About two weeks before Uvalde, a man opened fire in a Buffalo grocery store in an apparent attempt to murder Black people. Just over a year ago, another shooter attacked Asian American-owned spas in the Atlanta area, killing eight.

• Georgia Democrats on Friday blistered the Republican-led Legislature and Gov. Brian Kemp for what they called inaction on gun safety reforms.

• “Despite Georgia Democrats dropping a number of common sense gun safety bills since 2021, including universal background checks, mandatory waiting periods and safe storage laws, the GOP majority legislature and Governor Kemp have not lifted a finger to make our community safer from gun violence,” said Sen. Michelle Au, an Atlanta Democrat, during a virtual press conference for Asian American and Pacific Islander leaders hosted by the Democratic Party of Georgia. “Not only that, but this year, Gov. Kemp actively pushed as his flagship piece of legislation a bill removing all restrictions from carrying loaded weapons in public.”

• Last month, Kemp signed a new law ending state requirements to carry a concealed handgun. Gun rights supporters call the new law a win for the Second Amendment and Georgians’ right to defend themselves, but Lawrenceville Democratic state Rep. Sam Park said the law contributes to the culture of mass shootings.

• “Georgia Republicans, they haven’t been doing nothing when it comes to the gun epidemic in America, they’ve exacerbated it,” he said. “They’ve been pouring fuel on the fire by allowing it to be easier to carry a gun without a permit and has have really fostered the proliferation of guns, whether it was legislation to allow guns everywhere in the state of Georgia, whether it was allowing folks from out of state to bring their gun into into Georgia, which is legislation that they passed this year, whether it was to try and allow guns in churches, which I think nearly every single Republican in the state of Georgia voted yes, thankfully, it wasn’t signed into law.”

Capitol Beat: Asian-American Georgia lawmakers call for gun reforms after recent mass shootings

• America is facing an “epidemic of gun violence,” state Sen. Michelle Au, D-Johns Creek, said Friday at a press conference called by the Democratic Party of Georgia in response to the recent mass shootings.

• In March of last year, eight people, including six Asian-American women, were killed in an attack on spas in metro Atlanta. Au said the attack “rocked the nation’s Asian-American community to its core.”

• Michael Webb’s former wife, Xiaojie Tan, was one of the women killed. Webb – who said he is a gun owner and not a liberal or even a Democrat – called for “common-sense gun control and gun safety” measures like waiting periods to take possession of a firearm after purchase.

• Robert Peterson, the youngest son of another woman killed in the attack, Yong Ae Yue, criticized Georgia’s new permit-less carry law, which Gov. Brian Kemp signed last month. 

• The new law “makes us all less safe,” Peterson said.  “It removes the crucial step of needing to pass a background check before being allowed to carry a concealed gun in public.”

• Au, a doctor who also holds a master’s degree in public health, argued that gun violence should be treated as a public health issue that requires layered, multifocal solutions.

• State Rep. Sam Park, D-Lawrenceville, echoed Au’s perspective, saying, “This should not be a partisan issue. This should not be a political issue. This is a public safety issue.” The frequent mass shootings are the results of policy choices, Park said.

• Au expressed frustration at how Republican leaders in the Georgia General Assembly have prevented discussion of gun law reforms. “Not only have the bills not passed and been signed into law, they’ve been blocked to the point that they haven’t even been given the courtesy of being heard in committee,” Au said. “They won’t even let us discuss the bills.”

WSAV: Mass shooting in Texas spurs some Georgia democrats to call for ‘common sense’ gun control

• [F]ollowing a mass shooting at a school in Texas, several democratic lawmakers said common sense gun measures are still needed in the Peach State and they will try again to bring up the issue in the next legislative session.

• “One of the sad things is I didn’t have to prepare much for remarks for this (press) event because the fact is we’ve been here many times before,” said State Sen. Michelle Au who is also a physician. “And today we’re talking about the very American epidemic of gun violence again. We’re talking about innocent lives lost in this brutally efficient way that results from easy access to guns.”

• Au was joined by another democratic lawmaker, State Rep. Sam Park and two men who spoke first hand about the effects of mass shootings. Both lost loved ones in the shooting that killed 8 women at a massage parlor in Atlanta in March 2021.

• “So, gun violence is a personal issue for me,” said Robert Petersen. “Gun violence is the reason my mother and 7 other victims are not here with us today to enjoy their lives and families. The gunman who murdered my mother was able to obtain a gun the same day he decided to carry out his crime across two counties.”

• “Let me be clear, I’m a gun owner and I’m a hunter, I support our rights to own a firearm, but I also support common sense gun control and gun safety,” [Michael] Webb [who was married to and shares a child with one of the victims of the March 2021 shooting] said.

• “We cannot remain silent just because the vocal minority will attempt to drown out those of us who speak out about guns,” said Webb. “Stop already with the thoughts and prayers after each massacre. Gov. Kemp and Georgia leaders need to do something.”

• Au says in the wake of the Atlanta shooting that it’s appropriate to ask what Kemp has done to protect Georgians. “Absolutely nothing,” she said.

• Democrats are blasting Kemp for signing the law that allows Georgians to carry a concealed handgun in public without a permit. “So the governor signed this bill into law despite opposition from 70% of Georgians,” Au said.

Mera Sangeet: Virtual Press Conference Held by the Georgia Asian American and Pacific Islander Leaders, on the Growing Threat of Gun Violence

• The Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) leaders held a virtual press conference raising concerns about the growing threat of gun violence, on Friday, 27th May.

• State Senator Dr. Michelle Au, State Representative Sam Park and State Committee Member, Democratic Party of Georgia, Kannan Udayarajan addressed the conference.

• Robert Peterson, whose mother, Yong Ae Yue, was murdered in the March 2021 mass shooting targeting Asian American women, was also present. Michael Webb, who said he is a gun owner and a hunter, shared his views during the conference. He is the husband of Xiaojie Tan, who was murdered in the March 2021 mass shooting targeting Asian American women. 

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