Story by Damian Trujillo
• 1mo • 2 min read
AHalf Moon Bay community leader is returning home after attending a White House gun violence prevention summit where President Joe Biden signed an executive order targeting untraceable 3D-printed guns and machine gun conversion kits.
The move comes nearly two years after a mass shooting in Half Moon Bay that left seven dead and one other severely injured. The massacre brought the community together and put a spotlight on gun violence.
"It's been such a heartbreak," said Dr. Belinda Hernandez Arriaga, who was invited by the president to attend the White House event. "It takes a long time for wounds to heal."
Arriaga is also the founder of Ayudando Latinos A Soñar or ALAS, which was instrumental in bringing support and comfort to the farmworker families impacted by the Half Moon Bay mass shooting.
"This is a great move by the president," Arriaga said of Biden signing the executive order. "Something needs to be done. This can't happen in another community again."
Arriaga has been a champion of gun violence prevention since the mass shooting in her community and a champion of farmworker rights.
Half Moon Bay community leader Rocio Avila said it is an honor to see Arriaga in the White House giving a voice to the Latino community.
Arriaga said during her time at the White House she spoke for those who were silenced in the Half Moon Bay shooting and for those who might still feel like they do not have a voice.
"We're going to keep fighting," she said. "We need to keep the forgotten communities in mind."
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