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Dear John,
2023 has been a transformative year for our community. A year beginning with profound loss and grief also came with new and unexpected growth and change.
Our year started as tragedy struck during Lunar New Year celebrations when we lost 11 community members to senseless gun violence in Monterey Park. While our community continues to experience and work to heal from the collective trauma, I have been so impressed with how we have also risen to take care of each other and move forward. Federal, state, and local leaders have worked tirelessly across the community to ensure that support gets to those who need it.
Our community experienced what people across our country experience daily – the devastating impacts of our national epidemic of gun violence. As your representative in Congress, I have worked tirelessly to pass legislation that protects our communities from guns.
This year, following the tragedy in Monterey Park, I introduced the FLAG Act and the Language Access Act to expand assistance for families and loved ones of those at a higher risk of committing gun violence. Filing extreme risk protection orders that trigger red flags is cumbersome and exclusionary for those without legal and translation support. The FLAG Act and Language Access Act close those gaps. I will never stop pushing to expand gun violence prevention initiatives.
Beyond this tragedy and its aftermath, I have also proudly worked beside Senator Alex Padilla to expand protections for the San Gabriel Mountains and continued my ongoing commitment to protecting women’s reproductive rights and bringing funding home for our community projects!
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