By Nancy Skinner and Cecilia Aguiar-Curry
Still reeling from the deaths this weekend in Monterey Park, we are hit with the news of two more mass shootings in Half Moon Bay and in Oakland, bringing the number of mass shootings in the U.S. so far this month up to seven, this the first month of 2023. These most recent shootings — Monterey Park, Half Moon Bay and Oakland — put California on record with three mass shootings in just three 
days.
In Half Moon Bay, seven people are now dead and another one injured. In Oakland, eight people are reported as shot, one dead, seven injured.
Living in our country should not be a high-risk activity. Guns make it so.
Our hearts go out to the families and loved ones of those killed and injured. We wish our thoughts could provide all of those impacted some relief from their pain. Such grief is immeasurable. A grief none of us wants to experience.
Yet the gut-wrenching reality is: To live in America today is to live in fear that you or your loved ones are next.
The competing gut wrenching reality is: Americans are not more violent. Americans just have more guns.
When will enough blood be spilled for each of us, and our country, to act with the courage and speed that this demands?
We say: Now. Enough.
California Legislative Women’s Caucus Chair Senator Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, and Vice Chair Assemblymember, Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, D-Winter
