The Corsair, Special Edition Gun Issue

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021 | VOLUME 122 ISSUE 1 | SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

THE GUN ISSUE

SP ECI AL EDITIO N

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EDITORIAL STAFF Maxim Elramsisy | Photo Editor Aja Marshall | Managing Editor Michael Goldsmith | Copy Editor

CORSAIR STAFF Carolyn Burt | Citlalli Chávez-Nava | Ashley Cox | Jorge Devotto | Aminata Diop | Josh Hogan | Jaime Leon | Vincent Marcel | Brooke Matteson | Neil O'Loughlin | Marco Pallotti | Guadalupe Perez | William Phelps | Jonathan Putman | Naomi Ruiz | Willow Sando-McCall | Alex Serbowicz | Ayanna Smith | Morgan Spillman | Paige Strickland | Kevin Tidmore | Deven Townsel | Evelyn Tucker | Brad Wilhite

FACULTY ADVISORS Ashanti Blaize-Hopkins | Journalism Adviser Gerard Burkhart | Photo Adviser

CONTACT Editor in Chief | Ashley Cox corsair.editorinchief@gmail.com

SOCIAL MEDIA Instagram | corsairnews Twitter | the_corsair Facebook | thecorsairnews YouTube | thecorsaironline

WEBSITE www.thecorsaironline.com

FRONT COVER Participants in the American Legion Open Range event at the Oak Tree Gun Club in Santa Clarita, Calif., on May 29, 2021. The American Legion teamed up with local Student Veterans of America chapters, including Santa Monica College's, to put on the event.

(Maxim Elramsisy | The Corsair)

INSIDE COVER Spent ammunition casings litter the ground at the Oak Tree Gun Club in Santa Clarita, Calif., on May 29, 2021. (Neil O'Loughlin | The Corsair)

BACK COVER A target is littered with dozens of holes after a round of shooting at the Oak Tree Gun Club. Many members of Santa Monica College's Student Veterans' Association attended the event, which drew shooters of all levels.

(Neil O'Loughlin | The Corsair)

CO N T E N TS

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Santa Monica College Student Veterans’ Association Vice President Ryan Anderson fires his Sig Sauer 1911 during a shooting competition at the Oak Tree Gun Club in Santa Clarita, Calif., on May 29, 2021.

(Neil O'Loughlin | The Corsair)

The Gun Issue

The Golden State Gun Rush

The Second Amendment

A Feudal System of Regulation

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Page 5

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GoldiGlocks: Californians Loaded for Bear

Ready, Aim, Action: Gun Culture and the Media

Staring Down the Barrel

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Page 17

Page 19

Advocates Aim for Change Page 21

Lining Up the Sights Page 24

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SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

The Golden State

Gun Rush

Maxim Elramsisy | Photo Editor

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worldwide pandemic, nationwide civil unrest, and a presidential election made 2020 a historic year. Individually each of these events would drive an increase in gun sales — cumulatively they were unprecedented. Despite having some of the most restrictive gun control laws in the country, California followed the national trend.

According to legal filings by the California Department of Justice, 1.17 million new firearms were registered in 2020, a 56% increase over 2019; and the most since 2016, when 1.28 million were registered. The state also disclosed that 369,511 new names were run through the Dealer Record of Sale entry system last year — almost all of whom were first-time buyers.

The trend of gun sales is continuing this year — from January to March 12 of this year, more than 180,000 background checks were run for firearm transactions in California. Although spikes in firearm sales have existed in the past, this period of prolonged gun buying is unique because of the prevalence of first-time gun buyers.

Some firearm retailers are waiting months for new inventory because of accumulated backorders. In many parts of the country, ammunition is also in short supply, as reflected in a sharp price surge.

As more Americans gain access to firearms, some experts worry about the possible long-term effects of having more guns in society.

Dr. Sae Takada, an Assistant Professor in Residence at the University of California, Los Angeles, who has published multiple research articles focusing on gun violence, said, “I think that the best examples to correlate [for gun violence] are places internationally...and we see in terms of homicides and suicides [that Americans experience] an order of magnitude difference. [They experience] higher rates of firearm related deaths, compared to countries that don’t have civilian access to firearms...That’s a pretty clear indicator that more firearms are correlated to more firearm injuries and deaths.”

According to screening data released June 2, 2021 from the nonprofit Mental Health America, “the number of people looking for help with anxiety and depression has skyrocketed.” From January to September 2020 the organization found that screenings for depression had already increased by 62% from the previous years total, while those for anxiety rose by 93%. A stressful year of lockdowns, disease, and tough economic conditions appears to be taking a toll on Americans, and they are even “more pronounced in young people” under the age of 25.

As Americans struggle from within, violence has escalated steeply.

As of September 6, 482 mass shootings have occurred nationally in 2021, approaching the 2020 record of 611, according to the Gun Violence Archive. Locally, the number of shooting victims has risen more than 33% in Los Angeles compared to 2020, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

Given that there are now more firearms in more hands than ever, it is ever so important to examine America’s gun laws and their origins, gun buyers and their influences, and gun users and their targets.

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A line forms in front of Martin B. Retting, a firearms retailer in Culver City, Calif., on March 16, 2020. Sales of some specific items, including guns, food, and cleaning products, skyrocketed in anticipation of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Stay at Home Order. (Maxim Elramsisy | The Corsair)

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"A well regulated Militia, being neces the right of the people to keep and b

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ssary to the security of a free State, bear Arms shall not be infringed."

-Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

Springfield Armory M1A, Sig Sauer P228 (Brad Wilhite | The Corsair)

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A Feudal System of Regulation Michael Goldsmith | Staff Writer

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Springfield Armory M1A (Brad Wilhite | The Corsair)

irearm regulation has long been a hot-button issue in American politics. It is also a topic frequently misunderstood by the general public.

“There's a lot of things that people misunderstand about the Second Amendment,” said Adam Winkler, a constitutional law expert and professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). “For instance, most people think that the Second Amendment outlaws many forms of gun control. But the courts have never used the Second Amendment to strike down significant numbers — or loss of — gun laws.”

Even the concise 27-word text of the Second Amendment has frequently been cut down or altered for political or financial purposes.

“The Second Amendment provides that, ‘A well regulated Militia, being necessary for the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed,’” said Winkler, who currently presides as the Connell Professor of law at UCLA. “And of course that language has caused some debate in America — over whether it protects an individual’s right to bear arms, or a right of states to be free of some kind of federal [government] interference.”

At the heart of gun policy in America lies the originalism-living constitutionalism debate. Originalists argue that the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, including the Second Amendment, should be viewed through the eyes of the framers as they wrote it — the idea of original intent. Those who prescribe to living constitutionalism, on the other hand, argue that the Founding Fathers intended for the interpretation of their work to change and adapt over time as societal views and norms shifted.

Despite constant attention regularly given to the Second Amendment and the legislative branch across gun culture, the media, and American politics, many scholars like Winkler argue that the branch of government with the most impact on gun policy in modern America has been the judicial. Two separate Supreme Court decisions have fundamentally shaped federal and state gun policy in 21st century America.

The 1939 U.S. Supreme Court case of United States v. Miller established “that Congress could regulate a sawed-off shotgun that had moved in interstate commerce under the National Firearms Act of 1934 because the evidence did not suggest that the shotgun ‘has some reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well regulated militia’,’' according to Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute. “The Court then explained that the Framers included the Second Amendment to ensure the effectiveness of the military.”

The high court issued another landmark decision

“If you repeal the Second Amendment today, it wouldn't make any real difference on the ground — there’d still be all those guns.”

-Adam Winkler

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Mossberg shotgun, Magnum revolver, Ruger pistol, Soviet-era rifle (William Phelps | The Corsair)

roughly 70 years later, in the 2008 case District of Columbia v. Heller. By a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court “proclaimed that the Second Amendment established an individual right for U.S. citizens to possess firearms,” according to the Cornell. “Further, the Court suggested that the United States Constitution would not disallow regulations prohibiting criminals and the mentally ill from firearm possession.”

Winkler believes that many Americans don’t understand the legal limits of the Second Amendment. “I think people blame the Second Amendment too much for America's gun problems,” said Winkler, who specializes in the Supreme Court and gun policy. “The courts have not struck down a lot of gun laws on the basis of the Second Amendment. The reason why America has so many guns, and has such loose gun laws, is because gun rights advocates are very strong as a political force.”

Winkler cautioned those who anticipate rapid change in gun policy legislation. “[Anti-firearm regulation advocates] get laws passed that make it easy to carry guns on the street. They get laws passed that allow you to buy military-style assault rifles, or many other kinds of weapons that might otherwise be regulated,” he said. “So if you repeal the Second Amendment today, it wouldn't make any real difference on the ground — there’d still be all those guns.”

Firearm regulation in the Golden State continues to evolve, highlighted by a recent ruling that overturned California’s ban on many types of assault weapons.

U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez ruled that the state’s 30-year-old regulations on what type of assault weapons are legal — which have changed over time — are unconstitutional. Benitez, who was appointed to the bench in 2003 by then-President George W. Bush, has a history of rulings against many aspects of the state’s rules on guns, including a voter-approved law requiring background checks on firearm ammunition purchases.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals subsequently overturned Benitez’s ruling, setting the stage for a possible Supreme Court showdown in the coming years.

America’s long and complex history of gun policy has seen its share of ebbs and flows. Former two-term Republican President Ronald Reagan, who also served two terms as California’s governor before reaching the White House, advocated for stricter firearm regulations in a 1991 New York Times opinion piece. Reagan, who had been shot and nearly killed in an assassination attempt ten years earlier, wrote that, “I was lucky.

The bullet that hit me bounced off a rib and lodged in my lung, an inch from my heart...Still, four lives were changed forever, and all by a Saturday-night special — a cheaply made .22 caliber pistol — purchased in a Dallas pawnshop by a young man with a history of mental disturbance. This nightmare might never have happened if legislation that is before Congress now — the Brady bill — had been law back in 1981.”

The father of modern American conservatism continued, stating, “Critics claim...that criminals just go to nearby states that lack such laws to buy their weapons.

True enough, and all the more reason to have a Federal law that fills the gaps...The effect would be a uniform standard across the country.”

The intent behind governmental gun restrictions has also changed significantly over time. “The Founding Fathers had racist gun laws. The Founding Fathers restricted African Americans from possessing firearms or carrying a concealed [firearm]. We've had racist gun laws in the South and in other places, where Blacks after the Civil War were specifically prohibited from possessing firearms,” said Winkler. “I don't think that today's gun laws are racist, or intended to discriminate against minorities. But some of the gun laws that we have may have a disparate impact on minorities.”

One local example of regulatory discrimination was the Mulford Act, a 1967 bill that has effectively outlawed the public carrying of loaded firearms in California to this day. Historians like Winkler have noted how the bill was created with the intent to disarm certain political and racial groups, including the Black Panther Party.

Winkler sees changes in technology as another ma-

jor hurdle for future gun legislation. “I think in some ways that gun laws haven't kept up with changes in technology. [Now] we're seeing the rise of ghost guns — guns that are able to be manufactured at home without a serial number, and not traceable.”

According to a public report put out by David Nisleit, Chief of Police for the San Diego Police Department (SDPD), “The vast majority of ghost guns recovered by the SDPD are seized from people who cannot pass state or federal background checks because of a criminal conviction involving a felony or violent misdemeanor, and from persons prohibited from possessing firearms due to mental illness.”

Nisleit also highlighted that while “federal law generally governs all firearms, [it] does not specifically regulate or prohibit ghost guns because they do not meet the federal definition of a firearm.”

Congress’ lack of action has continued to stymie gun regulation legislation, according to Winkler. “I also think that the [Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives], the main federal law enforcement agency that’s responsible for enforcing our gun laws, is underfunded and still operating under outdated rules and regulations,” said Winkler. “So part of the problem with our gun laws is that we don't enforce them very well, because the main enforcement agency is very weak, and it's been hobbled by the [National Rifle Association] and others.”

As to the effectiveness of America’s gun policies, Winkler responded, “I think that our current state of gun laws doesn't do enough, that's for sure. We lead our peer nations in gun violence and suicide; in gun violence and criminal misuse of guns; and gun violence for mass shootings. So we're clearly not doing something that we should be doing.”

The last time substantive gun legislation was enacted was 1994, when the Federal Assault Weapons Ban was passed into law by a bipartisan majority of Congress, and signed into law by then-President Bill Clinton. The ban expired in 2004.

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David Datsomor at his Los Angeles home on May 17, 2021. Datsomor recently bought his first firearm as a means to protect his home and family. (Maxim Elramsisy | The Corsair)

GoldiGlocks: Californians Loaded for Bear Michael Goldsmith | Staff Writer

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he surge in gun sales across America is largely being fueled by those purchasing guns for the first time. Roughly 40% of all firearm sales from January to April of 2020 were from first-time buyers, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

Santa Monica College sophomore David Datsomor is among those first-time buyers. “Growing up in South Central [Los Angeles], I've been exposed to a lot of violence,” said the 21-year-old nursing student. “Seeing people get robbed, people get killed, stabbed — all sorts of things.”

Those childhood experiences helped shape Datsomor’s view of the world, particularly when it comes to personal safety. “[There was] a lot of gang activity, specifically where I live in the Rollin’ 60s neighborhood,” he said. “So when I was growing up, I felt that I needed to protect myself in some way. I've always wanted to get a firearm.”

Datsomor — who currently serves in the United States Army Reserve as a Combat Medic Specialist — initially planned on buying an assault weapon before purchasing his Glock 19 handgun earlier this year. “Right

now a lot of people are buying up weapons,” he said. “It was hard to get a Glock [with such high demand], but I lucked out.”

The South Los Angeles resident views his firearm as personal protection against credible threats of violence in his community. “There's a lot of people doing crazy things right now. People are getting robbed. People are getting shot from the freeway. A few weeks ago there was a guy who was driving around just killing people randomly,” said Datsomor, who has also applied for a Carrying a Concealed Weapon License in Los Angeles County.

“With everything I've seen and gone through, I felt that it was [finally] time for me to have something to defend myself.”

One person who is intimately familiar with the recent increase in local first-time gun buyers is Jonathan Solomon, co-owner of Redstone Firearms, a local Federal Firearms Licensed (FFL) dealer operating out of Burbank and Ontario, California. “[Gun sales this past year] just exploded. We had never made a profit up until the pandemic,” said Solomon, who along with his wife Geneva started the business five years ago. “I would say close to 85-90% were first-time buyers, [compared with the usual] 10-20%.”

An increase in demand from firearm novices has been

apparent. “We had a lady [come in the store and] put her finger on the trigger — just swinging the gun around, pointing it at people,” the longtime firearms instructor said. “I’m like, ‘[Lady] you got to go.’”

Roughly three million more firearms were sold during the spring and early summer of 2020 than expected, according to the Brookings Institution, a nonprofit public policy think tank. An increase in FBI background checks on gun purchases during those same months further suggests an increase in gun sales. Although imperfect, background check numbers remain the best measure of gauging gun sales across the country, due to the nonexistence of any centralized government database of firearm purchases.

Solomon attributes the increase in firearm sales to uncertainty and angst in modern America — from a once-ina-century pandemic, extreme political divisiveness, and sustained civil unrest. “People [just want to know] how to protect themselves,” said Solomon, who also works as a school safety officer for the Inglewood Unified School District.

The firearms dealer has resorted to bartering with other FFLs across the country to meet the increased customer demand. “It had gotten to the point where I was trading weapons that we didn’t need, with dealers out of

SEPTEMBER 8, 2021

Jorge Devotto | The Corsair

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“I grew up in South LA…[and] Palmdale...So if I wasn't running from the Bloods, I was running from the Crips. And if I wasn't running from them, I was running from the skinheads.”

-Jonathan Solomon

Merchandise at Redstone Firearms. (Maxim Elramsisy | The Corsair)

state that had stuff we needed," Solomon said. "We have clients that are in Chicago — they have a plethora of guns, but they don't have a single bullet. They don't have any ammo. We have a ton of ammo, but no guns.”

Solomon doesn’t foresee any slowdown in sales over the next year. “We're just now getting backorders [of firearms] that we ordered last May — that's how bad it is,” he said. “We still have about 20 pages of backorders that [we] haven't even been able to fulfill.”

Industry trends continue to point to more guns across the state. From January through May of this year, gun sales in California increased by 9% over last year’s record-breaking numbers, according to data from the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System. If that rate continues, the Golden State will surpass 1.7 million new gun sale background checks for the 2021 calendar year — a new record high.

Firearm dealers like the Solomons will continue doing their best to keep up with the increasing local demand for guns in the Los Angeles area.

Jonathan Solomon, co-owner of Redstone Firearms, in his Burbank, Calif., store on May 14, 2021. Solomon and his wife Geneva serve as California State Directors for the National African American Gun Association, something he describes as "a brotherhood and sisterhood of like minded folks — you want to learn how to protect yourself, your family, and you want to do it responsibly." (Maxim Elramsisy | The Corsair)

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“I was a NRA [National Rifle A ber. I'm an NRA certified instr the NRA is that I feel like the cized. And it's no longer about competition — now it's fear mo ‘They're coming for our guns!’

It's [about] safe regulation. It’s ple that should have them can responsibly — and have a duty doesn't smear the name

Top Left: Robin Hinkle holding a Smith & Wesson M&P15 assault rifle in the kitchen of her Marina del Rey, Calif., home on May 7, 2021. Hinkle — who owns more than a dozen firearms, including handguns, rifles, and shotguns — grew up in a military family, and has been shooting since she was a young child. Bottom Left: Hinkle holds her .44 Magnum revolver. Right: Hinkle demonstrates how to perform a function check on one of her semi-automatic pistols. "As soon as I shot a revolver for the first time, [I thought] ‘Oooh, I love that!’," said Hinkle. "I have friends in the shooting community who challenged me to a [Glock handgun] tournament...and I won it. And then I thought, ‘Oh ok — I like those handguns too, now that I won.’” (Marco Pall.tti | The Corsair)

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Association] lifetime memructor...The problem with ey have become too politit sport, it's no longer about ongering and trying to say Nobody’s coming for guns. s making sure that the peon have them — have them y to use them in a way that e for the rest of us.”

-Robin Hinkle

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Top Left: Bel Jacob, Santa Monica College (SMC) alumni and former SMC Student Veterans' Association President, sits in his Pomona, Calif., backyard on June 4, 2021. Jacob holds his favorite firearm — a custom made rifle. (Neil O'Loughlin | The Corsair) Bottom Left: Jacob runs a multi-station shooting course at the Oak Tree Gun Club in Santa Clarita, Calif., on May 29, 2021. "You can really tell the difference between somebody who says that they're a gun person, versus somebody who's actually a gun person, just by the quality of the stuff that they buy,” said the U.S. Navy veteran. (Maxim Elramsisy | The Corsair) Right: Jacob looks down the sights of his Mossberg 500 shotgun in the backyard of his home on June 4, 2021. He believes that the Second Amendment "has a basis in the [idea that the] average citizen has a certain level of responsibility.” (Neil O'Loughlin | The Corsair)

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“The first time I ever shot [a firearm] was when I went to boot camp...It's been a developed hobby — I actually shoot more now than I did when I was in the military, ironically enough.”

-Bel Jacob

“I'm not a huge fan of Trump, so a lot of that stuff [during his presidency] was really, really scary. If anything in the government goes wrong, it's up to the citizens to kind of take over. And I know a lot of other people feel that same way. Maybe not the same [political] views, but at the end of the day the whole concept of ‘We the People’ — people have power, and [gun access] is adding to that.”

-Bel Jacob

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Ready, Aim, Action: Gun Culture and the Media

Aja Marshall | Managing Editor Deven Townsel | Staff Writer

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he portrayal of guns in entertainment media has normalized the use of firearms in society — even more so for children. “[My kids] didn’t even have to go to a toy store to see [guns] and get the idea that they're fun and exciting, and something to play pretend games with,” said Lisa Jackson, a mother of four from Venice, California, who has witnessed the direct effect of

guns in the media on her children.

“I grew up hunting. But all of our guns were always in the safe. Always. We were never allowed to play with toy guns,” she said.

Jackson taught her children to do the same but the media sent a different message. “I think that in movies and TV, guns are...everywhere [and] they’re normalized,” said Jackson. “Because they're

Top: Santa Monica resident Chris aims at electronic targets inside the Santa Monica Pier arcade in Santa Monica, Calif., on May 9, 2021. (Jon Putman | The Corsair) Bottom: Toy firearms marketed to children sit atop shelves at a local store in Santa Monica, Calif., on May 9, 2021. (Jon Putman | The Corsair)

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everywhere, they're attractive to kids, and the fact that they're in the store, kids are going to want [them].” She recalled a time when her son owned a toy gun that he bought with his allowance after Jackson refused to buy it for him.

Jackson’s children are not the only adolescents affected by guns in the media — including movies, television, and video games. Since the year 2000, an increase of gun portrayals in entertainment media correlated with an increase in gun violence amongst adolescents in real life, according to a study by the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy

Center published in March 2021.

Annenberg researchers Patrick Jamieson and Daniel Romer highlighted that gun use in entertainment media is not the direct cause of gun violence. While there are other factors involved, it does however normalize guns in society.

“Not many of us have seen an actual shooting, but we think that we have, because it's all over the media. And I think that does play a role in desensitizing us to violence,” said Lydon Stambler, a communication professor at Santa Monica College. “The more you watch television, the more you think the world is really like

that.”

Guns are shown on a variety of media platforms; including video games, social media, news, and music. One of the most popular is “Grand Theft Auto,” a top selling video game series. Data from The NDP Group, an American market research company, shows that “Grand Theft Auto V” was the top selling game between 2011 and 2020.

In the series, players take control of a criminal who completes a variety of missions. It has earned its notoriety by its arsenal of real weapons portrayed throughout the game. This is one of many factors

A woman takes aim at targets inside the Santa Monica Pier arcade in Santa Monica, Calif., on May 9, 2021. (Jon Putman | The Corsair)

that led to its “M” for mature rating, which recommends that only adolescents 17 years and older buy and play the game.

While no scientific evidence has proven that video game violence leads to violent behavior, the findings of the Anenberg study suggest that children are the most susceptible to being influenced by guns in the media — however, all individuals who consume content can be affected. As more guns hit the streets and homes of local communities, the cycle will continue of the media influencing American gun culture.

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Above: Santa Monica College (SMC) Library Faculty Chair Bren Antrim poses in front of the library. Right: Sitting next to a plaque dedicated to Carlos Franco and his daughter, SMC student Marcela Franco, on campus in Santa Monica, Calif., on May 18, 2021. The Francos were killed during the 2013 Santa Monica College shooting. (Maxim Elramsisy | The Corsair)

Staring Down the Barrel

Allie Leeds | News Editor

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n the early afternoon of June 7, 2013, a young man opened fire on the main campus of Santa Monica College (SMC) and surrounding streets, minutes after fatally shooting his father and brother and setting their house ablaze. Six people in total died that day, including the shooter — a former SMC student named John Zawahri — who law enforcement killed in the lobby of the campus library.

Bren Antrim, a SMC librarian, was working their usual shift that Friday when they heard strange noises coming from the downstairs lobby. “I was in my office, and I heard what sounded like screaming and thumping,” said Antrim, describing the chaotic scene that unfolded as Zawahri began firing dozens of rounds into the walls and ceiling of the library.

“And I thought, okay — I’m going back to my office.”

Antrim and fellow coworkers sheltered in an office on the second floor of the library as the shooter emptied one high-capacity 30-round magazine after another. The sound of gunshots eventually stopped, followed

by SWAT members giving those huddled in fear the clearance that it was safe to exit. “The shots that I had heard had gone into the ceiling — which was below the offices [we were hiding in],” said Antrim.

After the shooter set his family’s home on fire, he carjacked and kidnapped a nearby motorist and drove to the Pearl St. entrance of SMC’s main campus. Zawahri, who had previously been committed to a mental health facility and deemed ineligible to own firearms by the Department of Justice, began shooting at fellow motorists and pedestrians as he made his way through the streets of Santa Monica.

Despite being ineligible to purchase and own a firearm, Zawahri was able to legally purchase the necessary parts separately and assemble them together to craft the assault rifle.

Carlos Franco — a long-time groundskeeper at SMC — and his 26-yearold daughter Marcela were driving to campus to pick up books for her upcoming summer classes when their paths crossed that of the shooter’s, less than a block from campus. Both father and daughter were struck by .223 rounds from Zawahri’s assault rifle near the intersection of 20th and Pearl St., when the shooter opened fire on the red Ford Explorer they were driving in. Carlos died on the scene, with Marcela passing away from her injuries two days later. Law enforcement eventually concluded that aside from his father and brother, all of the shooter’s victims had been chosen at random.

Carlos and Marcela were the brother-in-law and niece of Dr. Marga-

ret Quiñones-Perez, a current Santa Monica Community College District Board of Trustees member and SMC alumna. “Even to this day, I have not been able to go back to the library, where the other shootings [occurred],” said Quiñones-Perez. “I go every year to where the car crashed...We go there, and we commemorate the loss of their lives.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there were 39,707 firearm deaths in the U.S. in 2019. Gun violence — including suicide, homicide, mass shootings, and accidental gun deaths — accounts for tens of thousands of fatalities each year in America.

Despite homicides typically receiving more media attention, roughly 60% of gun deaths result from suicide, according to the CDC. Research from the University of California, San Francisco found that access to a firearm almost triples the risk of suicide.

Accidental gun deaths also account for a substantial percentage of firearm fatalities. Organizations like End Family Fire argue that accidental gun deaths can be reduced if gun owners take proper steps to secure their firearms. According to their website, an average of eight American children die each day from accidental gun deaths, often caused by the improper storage of firearms.

Antrim, who served as an Air Force officer before becoming a librarian, believes that guns don’t belong in the hands of civilians. “I don’t believe that [the] constitutional right to bear arms has anything to do with individuals owning guns,” said Antrim, whose father also served in the military. “It has everything to do with raising a militia…if we ever get invaded. Which is what the Founding Fathers meant. They didn’t mean everyone gets their own AR-15 — that’s just crazy.”

The impact of gun violence can be traumatic and life changing to victims and their loved ones. “Two of our staff members ended up retiring early because of trauma from that incident,” said Antrim, who still grapples to make sense of the events of that day.

Antrim believes the tragedy that unfolded that afternoon could have been much worse. “I believe what he was trying to do was commit suicide by cop, because he had the opportunity to kill a lot more people than he did. He shot high in the hallways when he walked through the doors. He shot up into the ceiling in the library. He shot high along the wall. Even when he was shooting through the wall — where he knew people were ­— he shot high.”

Gun violence is something that never leaves the individuals who have experienced it — a trauma they must learn to live with.

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“Some people think that if they just enforce the laws that are on the books that people will be safe...I don't believe that, because the laws that are on the books vary from state to state; too many people have guns illegally, and they are too easy to get; and too many lives are being wasted because people who should not have access to weapons...have that access.”

-Bren Antrim

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Advocates Aim for Change Ayanna Smith | Staff Writer

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his fall, the Supreme Court of the United States will hear two cases with direct potential implications on California’s gun laws.

State limits on magazines will be challenged in the case of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs Inc. v. Grewal. Currently, it is illegal to purchase, possess, manufacture, import, or sell any large-capacity magazine in California.

New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Corlett will review the constitutionality of state restrictions on concealed carry permits and the right to carry firearms outside of a home. Currently, Californians are not permitted to carry loaded firearms in public.

Adam Winkler, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles and Second Amendment expert, weighed in on the case. “If the Supreme Court says you have a right to carry guns in public, it could mean that cities like Los Angeles...will see a lot more guns on the streets,” Winkler said. “Los Angeles County, for instance, has 10 million residents and fewer than 400 concealed carry permit holders. And obviously, that number would skyrocket if California was allowed to give [a concealed carry permit] to more people.”

A rifle with a bipod and a telescopic optic at the Oak Tree Gun Club in Santa Clarita, Calif., on May 29, 2021. (Maxim Elramsisy | The Corsair)

Pistol, shotgun, and rifle rounds in ammunition boxes at the Oak Tree Gun Club in Santa Clarita, Calif., on May 29, 2021. (Maxim Elramsisy | The Corsair)

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Above: Pheobe Wong participates in a competition on her first day shooting a gun at the Oak Tree Gun Club in Santa Clarita, Calif., on May 29, 2021. High capacity magazines like the one she is using are illegal to buy and sell in California, a regulation that will be reviewed by the Supreme Court during their current session. (Maxim Elramsisy | The Corsair)

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A man sweeps up spent shell casings in preparation for the next round of shooting at the Oak Tree Gun Club in Santa Clarita, Calif., on May 29, 2021. (Neil O'Loughlin | The Corsair)

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SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

Michael Goldsmith | Staff Writer

T

Lining Up the Sights

he Golden State’s surge in gun sales shows no sign of slowing.

According to the FBI, 2021 firearm background checks are set to surpass 2020’s recording breaking numbers. Over one million firearm sale background checks have been initiated through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System this year alone in California.

Gun violence has also seen a recent uptick, both nationally and at the local level. More than 30,000 people in the U.S. have died from gun violence since the beginning of the year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. Those killed since January include 1,068 children, 42 members of law enforcement, and over 16,000 victims of suicide.

California has not been spared from the national trend — this despite the Golden State having the 7th lowest firearm mortality rate in the country, according to 2019 data from the Centers for Disease Control

and Prevention. As Los Angeles Police Department Chief Michel Moore told the Police Executive Research Forum earlier this year, “We made 35% more gun arrests this last year [than in 2019]. We saw a 58% increase in the number of guns recovered from vehicle stops, even though we had a 25% overall reduction in vehicle stops. That tells me there are a lot of people out there with a lot of guns.”

The mixed and murky patchwork of gun regulations across the country may change significantly in the coming years. Future Supreme Court decisions could weaken or altogether eliminate critical provisions in many of California’s gun laws, which are considered among the strictest in the nation by the Gifford’s Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

The nine-seat Supreme Court is currently composed of three liberals and six conservatives — the most ideologically lopsided the court has been in over a generation. Former President Donald Trump appointed three of those six Republican-appointed Justices during his single four-year term in office.

Supreme Court Justices have lifetime appointments to the bench.

“There’s a lot of major cities in America where people can very easily carry guns, and lots of people have guns on the streets,” said Adam Winkler, a constitutional law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. “Dallas, or Houston, or Atlanta, or Phoenix — all of those places [and others]...have very liberal concealed carry laws, of the sort that California might be forced to” adopt if the Supreme Court rules against a state’s right to regulate firearms.

Winkler believes that the current hodgepodge of federal and state restrictions will continue. “We've always had gun laws in America, as long as we've had gun rights,” he said. “The Second Amendment and gun control can coexist.”

The question of how America gun culture evolves may ultimately have more impact than any future High Court decision.

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