Manjusha Kulkarni, a co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate, has said that a report by the group co-written with AARP in 2022 found that 98 percent of Asian elders said the U.S. was a more dangerous place for them.
“When we are looking at 18 people who have lost their lives, the conversation needs to be about gun violence prevention, because we don’t know the motives of the Asian shooters and we may never know them,” she told Newsweek.
“We’ve tracked how experiencing hate has had a toll on AAPIs, but nothing we’ve documented suggests that it has turned any into perpetrators.”
Gun sales to Asian Americans have soared since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Those who experienced racial discrimination were more likely to purchase a gun and ammunition during the pandemic, according to a 2022 study from the University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University.
