Why California’s strict gun control laws didn’t stop the Monterey Park shooter

The shooting in Monterey Park, California has led to new calls to tighten Califonia’s gun laws. The gun used in the Saturday attack was likely illegal to possess in California, however, and it’s not clear whether the gunman obtained it by legal means.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said in a press conference on Sunday that the shooter opened fire at a dance studio, leaving 11 dead and another nine injured, using a magazine-fed semiautomatic assault pistol with an extended high-capacity magazine attached. Police recovered the weapon after the operator of a second dance studio in Alhambra, a city roughly two miles north of Monterey Park, disarmed the gunman when he walked in the door, apparently with the intention of shooting more people.