The Chinese New Year Shooting in California & Asian Hate Narrative

What happened: Ten people were killed and another 10 were injured on Saturday when a gunman opened fire on a dance studio in a majority Asian city near Los Angeles. The shooting took place on the eve of the Chinese New Year.

The suspect, Huu Can Tran, a 72-year-old Chinese immigrant, was found dead on Sunday after he shot himself following a standoff with police. Authorities say that individuals at the ballroom “wrestled the firearm away from him.” Can Tran may have been mentally ill, having recently claimed that his family was trying to poison him.

The media narrative: Early reports quickly portrayed the shooting as an Asian "hate crime,” despite reports now showing that the suspect was a part of the Asian community he targeted. The media took a similarly misleading angle after the 2021 Atlanta spa shootings, claiming the shootings were a targeted attack on the Asian community when they were not.

Regarding Asian hate: Over 180,000 attacks on Asians were recorded in America in 2018. But the problem isn't rooted in white supremacy, as liberal advocates would suggest. These attacks are perpetrated by a diverse group of thugs in cities, who are disproportionately black.

Regarding gun laws: California has the strictest gun laws in the nation; it has banned "assault weapons" and was the first state to enact a red-flag law in 2016. It is also one of the most challenging states to obtain a wear-and-carry permit. These restrictions weren't enough to stop the shooting, and according to early reports, the "magazine-fed semiautomatic assault pistol” found at the scene was likely illegal in California.