Forum on gun control at Long Beach City Hall turns raucous, contentious

In the wake the mass shooting June 12 in Orlando that left 49 people dead, more than 100 people – including Mayor Robert Garcia and those on both sides of the gun-control debate – attended a community forum on gun violence prevention Wednesday night at City Hall.

The forum hosted by Rep. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, tued raucous at times, with adversaries yelling at each other.

“There is no longer any domestic tranquility in the United States and Congress had da-well (begin) to deal with it,” said Lowenthal, who participated with dozens of other Democrats in a sit-in June 22 in the House of Representatives.

The forum was part of a “national day of action” called by Democratic lawmakers seeking more restrictive gun laws after the nation’s worst mass shooting in mode history, when Omar Mateen pledged allegiance to ISIS while killing 49 people at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando. He was killed in a shootout with police.

“We are at a time when if we don’t have the attention of the American public, we will never have the attention of the American public, to really talk about this,” Lowenthal said.

The forum tued contentious at times. After Lownthal was applauded several times, one man in the audience shouted out “morons,” and was told by some in the crowd to “shut up.”

Tensions rose when 7th District Councilman Roberto Uranga said the Second Amendment is a foundation of the country, but “old,” and weapons have evolved and “become more dangerous.”

Uranga then cited Orlando, and one man shouted “How do we protect ourselves?”

The crowd erupted again, and Uranga shouted at the man to not shout him down “because I have the podium right now,” and the man would have a platform, during open Idea.

Dean Cilva, a San Pedro resident, said those advocating for more gun laws are uneducated about what assault weapons are.

“Without the Second Amendment, we don’t have a First Amendment,” Cilva said.

Lowenthal, a member of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, is a among 128 lawkmaers, almost all of them Democrats, who co-sponsored H.R.1076, the Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2015. Co-authored by Rep. Peter King, R-New York, it’s the proposed “no fly, no buy” legislation baing those on federal terror watch lists from purchasing firearms, and one of the bills Democrats touted during their sit-in, with the hashtag #NoFlyNoBuy.

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The Long Beach City Council in January passed a resolution in support of President Barack Obama’s executive actions on the sale of firearms, which followed the Dec. 2 terror attack in San Beardino that left 14 people dead.

“Long Beach, we support the congressman’s efforts, and we support the effort to regulate and to have sensible, responsible gun laws in this country,” Mayor Robert Garcia said. “For me, it’s unimaginable what is happening today as part of our Congresssional debate. What the congressman and many other members of Congress are asking for are sensible, moderate responsible gun-reform legislation.”

Also speaking at the forum Wednesday were representatives from gun-control advocacy groups Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, and Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense In America.

Deborah Heandez, who launched the Orange County chapter of Moms Demand Action, said she was inspired to join the cause after 20 first-graders were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Coecticut in 2012.

After rattling off cities where mass shootings have occurred, including Seal Beach, Heandez said the “slim majority” of Republicans in Congress have tued a blind eye to a major threat to public safety, and have refused to vote on “popularly supported” gun safety measures,

“We need to remember in November — get to the polls and vote those people out,” she said.