By Jessica Flores, Reporter
Sep 26, 2024
President Joe Biden speaks before signing an executive order that aims to help schools create active shooter drills that are less traumatic for students yet still effective, on Thursday.
Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press
President Biden signed an executive order Thursday that tackles gun violence, and a Bay Area mental health advocate attended the White House signing ceremony on behalf of the victims of the 2023 Half Moon Bay mass shooter who killed seven farmworkers.
Belinda Hernandez-Arriaga, founder of Ayudando Latinos A Soñar, a Half Moon Bay nonprofit that provides resources to farmworkers, was invited to attend the event where Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris spoke of gun violence.
Biden’s executive order directs White House staff to develop school-based active shooter drills that prevent students and teachers from experiencing trauma. The order also establishes a task force consisting of federal leaders who are responsible for creating a report within 90 days with a plan on how to combat emerging technologies that create firearms.
“We just have to do better and can do better,” Biden said. “Never thought I’d have to sign something like this, but we do.”
Hernandez-Arriaga, whose nonprofit provided mental health and financial resources to the Half Moon Bay farmworkers who survived the mass shooting said of the event: “There was a lot of emotion in the room.” Victims of gun violence and community leaders joined political leaders for the signing, she said.
“It’s not about me being here, but it’s about the families of the coastside, the farm workers, other families that have been affected from the coastside related to gun violence, and really being able to carry their spirit here,” she added.
In January, the Half Moon Bay community commemorated the one-year anniversary of the mass shooting that killed seven farmworkers on Jan. 23, 2023. Authorities said suspect Chunli Zhao carried out the first shooting at California Terra Garden, where he worked, and killed four people there and three others at another farm after an alleged dispute with a supervisor about a $100 forklift repair bill.
Zhao was charged with several felonies, including seven counts of first-degree murder and one attempted murder. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges. Zhao is set to appear in court on Dec. 17 for a pretrial conference, said San Mateo County District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe.
Hernandez-Arriaga said many of the survivors are still “trying to put their lives back together” while navigating the psychological and emotional trauma they endured.
“They miss their loved ones,” she said.
During Thursday’s announcement at the White House, Harris said she believes the right to be safe is a civil right and that the American people have a right to “live, work, worship and learn without fear of violence, including gun violence.”
“It is a false choice to suggest you are either in favor of the Second Amendment, or you want to take everyone’s guns away,” Harris said. “I am in favor of the Second Amendment and I believe we need to reinstate the assault weapons ban.”
Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, oversees the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention. Created last year, the office aims to reduce gun violence, connect communities who have been impacted by gun violence to resources and coordinate a federal response.
For Hernandez-Arriaga, the executive order marked “another moment in our United States history of taking a stand against gun violence and committing to reform in a new way.”
She said it was another reminder for voters that politicians “are the ones that can make this change.”
“We need to make sure that our elected officials stand on the side of doing the right thing on gun violence,” she added.
Reach Jessica Flores: Jessica.Flores@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @jesssmflores
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