DOWNLOAD ASM. BONTA’S FLOOR SPEECH VIDEO
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Today, Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D-Oakland) took to the Assembly Floor ahead of Friday's National Gun Violence Awareness Day, also known as Wear Orange Day, to honor the lives lost to gun violence in her district and across California, and to call on the state and nation to treat gun violence as the public health crisis it is.
Assemblymember Bonta named Oakland residents lost to gun violence in 2026 and drew a direct line between those losses and the urgent need for action. She highlighted the economic and human toll of inaction, noting that gun violence costs Oakland taxpayers nearly one billion dollars a year, and highlighted the locally driven progress.
Assemblymember Bonta’s Remarks:
“Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and members. I rise today in strong support of ACR 191… on behalf of the beautiful people of Oakland, Alameda, and Emeryville in strong support. June 5th is National Gun Violence Awareness Day. We wear orange. We remember those we’ve lost. This is an issue that is painfully close to my district. Just this year we have lost: Farhad Farsi, Derrick Hubbard, Isaanae Morton, Latetia "Teesh" Bobo, Markise "Kise" Martin, Matthew Pierce, Jimmy “Jimbo” Mullins, Miguel Ramirez Rivera, Edward Williams, Tariq Roddy Figueroa. These are teachers, fathers, loved ones, friends, pillars of our community. And too often these stories boil down to ghost guns, guns not safely stored, an illegally modified fully automatic pistol, guns in the hands of people who should’ve never had them in the first place. I’ve gone to too many funerals. Too many candlelight vigils. Our youth have had to walk out of class too many times begging for safety, to stop seeing their peers dying. It is time this country treats gun violence as what it is: a public health crisis. Not a talking point. A crisis.
“The human cost is far too great. If that doesn’t move us perhaps an economic argument might move some. The National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform calculated that a single fatal shooting in Oakland costs taxpayers over three million dollars from the costs associated with: crime scenes, hospitals, courts, incarceration, and lost revenue. In my district alone along with the human life lost, gun violence costs nearly one billion dollars a year. That is the price of inaction as federal legislation and people who refuse to act block common sense reform. But I want to highlight the results we are seeing from local action. I was incredibly to proud to ensured that we had the creation of the Office of Gun Violence Prevention within the Department of Justice and just this year it was announced California has achieved its lowest rates of firearm death, firearm suicide, and firearm homicide on record, driven in part by historic investments in gun violence prevention strategies. Oakland ended 2025 with 67 homicides, the lowest in twenty-five years. The Ceasefire program is working. Community investment is working. Groups like Youth Alive, East Bay Asian Youth Center, and Urban Peace Movement, they are saving lives right now, even as the Trump administration has moved to cut $811 million in federal funding for violence prevention programs nationwide, including millions from Oakland organizations doing this work every single day. Progress is not permission to stop. And orange is not just a color, it is a commitment. A commitment to save lives. The best time to do something was yesterday, was in 2012 after Sandy Hook, but the next best time is now. I urge an aye vote. Thank you.”
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Assemblymember Mia Bonta represents California’s 18th Assembly District encompassing the East Bay including Oakland, Alameda, and Emeryville. She also serves as chair of the Assembly Health Committee and the California Legislative Children’s Caucus.
Courtesy photos can be found HERE.