Fear of guns highest among Asian Americans
Even before last month’s mass shootings in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay — where most of the people shot were Asian or Asian American — Asian residents in California were much more worried about becoming victims of gun violence compared to other racial and ethnic groups, according to a report released Tuesday by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and AAPI Data, a research organization focused on Asian American and Pacific Islanders.
Two-thirds of Asians, and a similar percentage of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders, said they were “very worried” or “somewhat worried” about being a victim of gun violence — significantly higher than the 43% average of Californians of all races who said the same thing, according to the report. The report cited results from the 2021 California Health Interview
Survey, an annual UCLA survey that interviewed more than 20,000 California households.
By comparison, 49% of Hispanic respondents, 45% of Black respondents and 30% of white respondents said they were “very worried” or “somewhat worried” about becoming victims of gun violence, the survey found. Results for the 2022 survey are not yet available.
It’s not clear whether this level of concern about gun violence felt among Asians is higher or lower than sentiments felt in this community historically because 2021 was the first year the survey asked this question, said Karthick Ramakrishnan, founder of AAPI Data and a professor of public policy at UC Riverside.
Within the Asian demographic, people of Korean origin reported the highest level of fear of gun violence, with 70% saying they were very worried or somewhat worried about it, according to the survey. This was followed by 66% of people of Filipino and Chinese origin, and 62% of people of Vietnamese origin, according to the survey. The Asian subgroup with the lowest level of fear was people of Japanese origin, at 49%.
Several factors likely contribute to Asians’ higher level of fear of gun violence victimization, including reports of hate crimes and hate incidents against Asian residents during the pandemic — which range from being harassed and called names to being violently attacked, Ramakrishnan said. The spate of mass shootings in schools, movie theaters and other public settings over the last several years may have also contributed to the heightened sense of fear, he said.
He surmised that if the same survey were conducted today, an even higher proportion of Asians would report being worried about gun violence, given the two recent mass shootings in the AAPI community.
Previous research done by AAPI Data shows that Asian Americans tend to be the strongest supporters of gun control, more so than the national average, he said.
“Gun control is an Asian American issue, it has not gotten the recognition it deserves,” Ramakrishnan said. “With Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay, hopefully we can enter into a conversation about how Asian Americans need to be part of that conversation. It also means gun control advocacy organizations need to pay attention and invest in Asian American communities.”