Half Moon Bay farmworker advocate travels to White House for gun control executive order

Half Moon Bay nonprofit founder Belinda Hernandez Arriaga was among hundreds of leaders who attended the signing of a gun violence executive order by President Joe Biden at the White House Thursday afternoon.

The order creates an “Emerging Firearms Threats Task Force” to target machine-gun conversion devices and untraceable, 3D-printed firearms. It also directs federal agencies to provide schools with guidance on active shooter drills to reduce potential psychological harm to students.

Arriaga was invited by the White House in recognition of her work supporting survivors of the tragic Half Moon Bay mass shooting in 2023, which left seven people dead and one severely injured after a disgruntled worker opened fire at two separate mushroom farms. She said she wanted to attend the White House event with other victims of gun violence to represent the voices of the Half Moon Bay mass shooting victims.

“It was emotional meeting all the other victims from around the country,” Arriaga said. “I felt like crying, knowing that this isn’t about me, it’s about the families who have been suffering so much.”

Arriaga and ALAS (Ayudando Latinos a Soñar), the nonprofit she founded, have provided emotional and material support to families affected by the mass shooting, through advocating for gun violence prevention and farmworker rights. According to the organization’s website, its broader goals include “uplifting and empowering” Latino communities in Half Moon Bay and nearby areas in coastal San Mateo County.

Over a year after the massacre, Arriaga said survivors and community members affected by the violence are “continuing to work on healing.”

“This is going to be a long process, a long journey — emotional, psychological healing — and many of them are still just in the very early stages of it,” she said. “So we need to have continued support for victims services and mental health. They need continued care. And then at the same time, housing is a big issue.”

The shootings unveiled substandard living conditions of farmworkers in coastal San Mateo County. But the push for more farmworker housing projects has been met with resistance by some residents who say they are concerned about overdevelopment in their city.

Despite those concerns, San Mateo County earlier this year revised their housing plan to prioritize more units for agricultural workers. Meanwhile, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill earlier this week that would make it easier to build farmworker housing in Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties.

Upon arriving at the White House, Arriaga said she called survivor Pedro Perez to let him know their voices were being heard at the White House.

“I told him, ‘Pedro, you are here in this moment, and I want you to know we are not going to forget,'” Arriaga said.

Perez lost his brother in the shooting.

“I also called other families in Half Moon Bay that have suffered beyond our farmworker shooting, and we have to remember,” she said.

The new firearms executive order comes a year after Biden announced that Vice President Kamala Harris, now the Democratic presidential nominee, would oversee the nation’s first federal gun-violence prevention office.

“More background checks (are now required) for firearms sold at gun shows,” Biden said.

Still, mass shootings continue to happen with regularity.

In the past month alone, four people were killed in a mass shooting in Winder, Georgia, and another four in Birmingham, Alabama.

According to gunviolencearchive.org, there have been 406 mass shootings so far this year.

“The trauma from this epidemic (of gun violence) is both immediate and long-lasting,” said Harris, who took time off the campaign trail to attend the signing of the executive order. “If we don’t take the visible and unseen injuries seriously, it will continue to linger for a lifetime.”

While Arriaga is hopeful this is a step in the right direction, she believes it’s still incumbent on the public to hold officials accountable for their promises on preventing gun violence.

“We need to ensure those we elect are committed to stopping gun violence, removing weapons from the streets and finding creative solutions,” Arriaga said. “It’s crucial to hold our elected officials accountable by meeting with them and sharing stories. Ultimately, they make the laws and have the power to bring about change.”