ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. — Following the Laguna Woods mass shooting earlier this year that killed one and injured five others in a Taiwanese presbyterian church, public safety has become a major concern in Orange County.
Voters in California’s 40th Congressional District have two very different choices for who will represent them in Congress.
Incumbent Congresswoman Young Kim says public safety is central to her platform.
“Public safety is not just reacting to crimes,” said Kim. “We need to make sure that our local law enforcement, local sheriffs, police departments and personnel have the necessary tools and resources to keep up with the 21st century.”
Kim believes that increased law enforcement and prevention tactics are the answer to stopping mass shootings. She recently helped secure $3.5 million in funding for the Orange County Intelligence Assessment Center.
It’s an operation that uses data from law enforcement and intelligence groups to stop crimes before they happen.
“It will bring the information together to prevent the crimes from happening in the future,” Kim said.
The Orange County Intelligence Assessment Center, also known as a Fusion Center, uses law enforcement's best technology to monitor and track suspicious behavior.
Kim was also clear that gun reform is not a part of her public safety platform. She said that guns are not a part of the public safety problem in Southern California.
In regards to mass shootings, Kim believes that focusing on mental health legislation is more imperative than tightening gun laws.
Dr. Asif Mahmoud, who’s running against Rep. Kim, has a very different perspective. Public safety is one of his top issues as well, but he believes that the best way to prevent mass shootings and crime is to enact what he calls common sense gun reform.
“I am completely respectful of and an advocate of the Second Amendment,” said Mahmoud. “But at the same time we need to add common sense to this, so that people are safe and everybody can go to a school, church, mosque, park safe and secure.”
Mahmood plans to work on raising the legal age of purchase for firearms to 21, increasing red flag laws and implementing a more strict background check process.
“All these measures need to be done,” said Mahmoud. “And my opponent has opposed all of these things that I just talked about.”
Two varying approaches to an issue that will be on the minds of voters as they gear up to hit the polls this election season.