In city scarred by January mass shooting, California Senate candidates push for tighter gun laws

U.S. Senate candidates Rep. Katie Porter, Rep. Barbara Lee, Rep. Adam Schiff and Lexi Reese attend a gun control forum Friday at East L.A. College Just few miles from the site of the fatal mass shooting in Monterey Park, four top Democratic candidates running for Dianne Feinstein’s Senate seat told a youthful crowd Friday that making progress on the national scourge of gun violence will require changes in Congress. David Hogg, who was among the students who survived the Parkland school shooting and is the co-founder of March For Our Lives, said he wanted to see “a bold gun-safety policy platform that speaks to us and involves us in the process, and that will safeguard the future.” All four candidates are running to replace Feinstein, who has been a fierce advocate for tightening the nation’s gun laws since first being elected to the Senate in 1992. He also has co- After Schiff’s comments, a lone audience member shouted that none of his ideas would work “in the real world.” Reese, the only candidate at the town hall who has not held elected office, said she is running for the Senate to reduce gun violence. Lee said she wanted to see more investment in community organizing, mental healthcare services and violence intervention workers, telling the crowd: “The people closest to the pain should be closer to the power.” Senate candidate Lexi Reese poses students from San Gabriel High School at the gun control town hall.