Growing up in El Sereno in the 90s and early 2000s, gun violence was a frequent part of life. It has taken years of community-driven efforts — organizations like Homeboy Industries among them — to root out that violence and build something safer in its place.

Gun violence is a public health crisis — one that disproportionately harms working-class communities and communities of color, and leaves too many families living with fear and trauma.

I support common-sense gun safety laws: universal background checks, red flag laws to keep firearms out of the hands of people in crisis, safe storage requirements to protect children, and banning military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines designed for mass harm.

But keeping people safe from violence — whether it comes from an unauthorized weapon on the street or an unnecessary escalation by an armed authority — means rethinking what public safety actually looks like. Too often, armed police officers are sent to situations that call for a mental health clinician, a social worker, or a trained mediator instead. In Los Angeles, many residents don't feel safe calling the police, especially in Black, Brown, and immigrant communities, because of a long history of overreach and racial bias. That trust has to be earned back.

As State Senator, I will:

• Expand non-police crisis response. Build out unarmed mental health, substance use, domestic violence, and homelessness outreach teams so the right professional responds to the right call — reducing unnecessary arrests and violent encounters for everyone involved, including officers.

• Invest in the community-based models that work. Fund violence interruption programs and organizations like Homeboy Industries that have spent decades doing the hard work of getting people out of cycles of violence, along with youth and reentry services that stop harm before it starts.

• Re-evaluate how public safety dollars are spent, ensuring resources also reach schools, mental health services, and youth programs — the conditions that actually create lasting safety.

• Strengthen accountability and oversight, including transparency requirements, independent review of misconduct, and clear limits on the use of force, so communities can trust the systems meant to protect them.

Real public safety isn't measured by the number of weapons on our streets or the size of a police budget — it's measured by whether every family feels safe in their home, their school, and their neighborhood.