Tony Gao emerges from a gun store in the City of Industry with something he could have never gotten in his native China: a handgun license.
He passed the firearm safety test on his third try — he says the store’s Chinese translation of the test is a little off — but still, he’s a little nervous.
“Are you sure police won’t try to get me?” Gao, 58, asks.
Private gun ownership is generally banned in China. So when Chinese immigrants arrive in the U.S., many are curious about owning firearms.
In Los Angeles, Chinese immigrants frequent Gun Effects, a firearms store housed in a City of Industry strip mall that includes a boba tea spot, a massage parlor and a dinosaur-themed Taiwanese restaurant.
On a recent weekday, a line formed at a bilingual English and Chinese sign-in sheet as Tom Petty crooned over the store speakers. A few customers puzzled over a Chinese translation of the handgun test beneath an empty wall where the store once displayed assault weapons — all of which were snapped up before California’s tough new gun controlmeasurestake effect Jan. 1. The legislation was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in July in the wake of simmering outrage over mass shootings in San Bernardino and Orlando, Fla.
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Kai Kang, 48, of Irvine, lined up to purchase a scope for one of his guns. He remembers being curious about owning a gun when he came to America about a decade ago. In China he was in the military, but he never thought about owning a gun for his personal use.
Once he had his green card, he decided to try it out. Gun collecting eventually became a hobby. He goes to shooting ranges with his friends and keeps guns in his house for protection.
“I have short guns, long guns, handguns, AR-15s, rifles. I bought one, then I just kept buying more,” Kang said.
Gun Effects’ popularity with Chinese customers could have something to do with its Chinese ownership and bilingual services. The store’s owner, Dennis Lin, was born in Guangdong, China, to a dim sum chef and his wife. He came to the U.S. when he was 3 years old.
------
Business was slow at first. He placed online advertisements, but they failed to increase demand. Still, about a year ago, Chinese customers began to show up in large numbers.
“I don’t even know how this happened, really,” Lin said. “In the past, most of our business has been with non-Chinese customers.”
Now about 40 percent of customers are Chinese, Lin said. He hired two Chinese-speaking employees and ramped up his study of Mandarin. He also travels to China several times a year to learn more about Chinese culture, which he never had much connection to as a kid.
In China, he’s careful never to say that he sells guns for a living.
“They do get nervous,” Lin said. “It’s like a taboo.”
Chinese customers often have questions about legality and safety, said Queenie Yang, one of the store’s Chinese-speaking employees. And many of them need time to get comfortable with even holding a gun.
Tony Gao emerges from a gun store in the City of Industry with something he could have never gotten in his native China: a handgun license.
He passed the firearm safety test on his third try — he says the store’s Chinese translation of the test is a little off — but still, he’s a little nervous.
“Are you sure police won’t try to get me?” Gao, 58, asks.
Private gun ownership is generally banned in China. So when Chinese immigrants arrive in the U.S., many are curious about owning firearms.
In Los Angeles, Chinese immigrants frequent Gun Effects, a firearms store housed in a City of Industry strip mall that includes a boba tea spot, a massage parlor and a dinosaur-themed Taiwanese restaurant.
On a recent weekday, a line formed at a bilingual English and Chinese sign-in sheet as Tom Petty crooned over the store speakers. A few customers puzzled over a Chinese translation of the handgun test beneath an empty wall where the store once displayed assault weapons — all of which were snapped up before California’s tough new gun controlmeasurestake effect Jan. 1. The legislation was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in July in the wake of simmering outrage over mass shootings in San Bernardino and Orlando, Fla.
----
Kai Kang, 48, of Irvine, lined up to purchase a scope for one of his guns. He remembers being curious about owning a gun when he came to America about a decade ago. In China he was in the military, but he never thought about owning a gun for his personal use.
Once he had his green card, he decided to try it out. Gun collecting eventually became a hobby. He goes to shooting ranges with his friends and keeps guns in his house for protection.
“I have short guns, long guns, handguns, AR-15s, rifles. I bought one, then I just kept buying more,” Kang said.
Gun Effects’ popularity with Chinese customers could have something to do with its Chinese ownership and bilingual services. The store’s owner, Dennis Lin, was born in Guangdong, China, to a dim sum chef and his wife. He came to the U.S. when he was 3 years old.
------
Business was slow at first. He placed online advertisements, but they failed to increase demand. Still, about a year ago, Chinese customers began to show up in large numbers.
“I don’t even know how this happened, really,” Lin said. “In the past, most of our business has been with non-Chinese customers.”
Now about 40 percent of customers are Chinese, Lin said. He hired two Chinese-speaking employees and ramped up his study of Mandarin. He also travels to China several times a year to learn more about Chinese culture, which he never had much connection to as a kid.
In China, he’s careful never to say that he sells guns for a living.
“They do get nervous,” Lin said. “It’s like a taboo.”
Chinese customers often have questions about legality and safety, said Queenie Yang, one of the store’s Chinese-speaking employees. And many of them need time to get comfortable with even holding a gun.
Same thing with the Korean business owners in L.A. during the Rodney King riots. They were armed to protect their businesses. Something they couldn't do in Korea.
Tony Gao emerges from a gun store in the City of Industry with something he could have never gotten in his native China: a handgun license.
He passed the firearm safety test on his third try — he says the store’s Chinese translation of the test is a little off — but still, he’s a little nervous.
“Are you sure police won’t try to get me?” Gao, 58, asks.
Private gun ownership is generally banned in China. So when Chinese immigrants arrive in the U.S., many are curious about owning firearms.
In Los Angeles, Chinese immigrants frequent Gun Effects, a firearms store housed in a City of Industry strip mall that includes a boba tea spot, a massage parlor and a dinosaur-themed Taiwanese restaurant.
On a recent weekday, a line formed at a bilingual English and Chinese sign-in sheet as Tom Petty crooned over the store speakers. A few customers puzzled over a Chinese translation of the handgun test beneath an empty wall where the store once displayed assault weapons — all of which were snapped up before California’s tough new gun controlmeasurestake effect Jan. 1. The legislation was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in July in the wake of simmering outrage over mass shootings in San Bernardino and Orlando, Fla.
----
Kai Kang, 48, of Irvine, lined up to purchase a scope for one of his guns. He remembers being curious about owning a gun when he came to America about a decade ago. In China he was in the military, but he never thought about owning a gun for his personal use.
Once he had his green card, he decided to try it out. Gun collecting eventually became a hobby. He goes to shooting ranges with his friends and keeps guns in his house for protection.
“I have short guns, long guns, handguns, AR-15s, rifles. I bought one, then I just kept buying more,” Kang said.
Gun Effects’ popularity with Chinese customers could have something to do with its Chinese ownership and bilingual services. The store’s owner, Dennis Lin, was born in Guangdong, China, to a dim sum chef and his wife. He came to the U.S. when he was 3 years old.
------
Business was slow at first. He placed online advertisements, but they failed to increase demand. Still, about a year ago, Chinese customers began to show up in large numbers.
“I don’t even know how this happened, really,” Lin said. “In the past, most of our business has been with non-Chinese customers.”
Now about 40 percent of customers are Chinese, Lin said. He hired two Chinese-speaking employees and ramped up his study of Mandarin. He also travels to China several times a year to learn more about Chinese culture, which he never had much connection to as a kid.
In China, he’s careful never to say that he sells guns for a living.
“They do get nervous,” Lin said. “It’s like a taboo.”
Chinese customers often have questions about legality and safety, said Queenie Yang, one of the store’s Chinese-speaking employees. And many of them need time to get comfortable with even holding a gun.
Same thing with the Korean business owners in L.A. during the Rodney King riots. They were armed to protect their businesses. Something they couldn't do in Korea.
Tony Gao emerges from a gun store in the City of Industry with something he could have never gotten in his native China: a handgun license.
He passed the firearm safety test on his third try — he says the store’s Chinese translation of the test is a little off — but still, he’s a little nervous.
“Are you sure police won’t try to get me?” Gao, 58, asks.
Private gun ownership is generally banned in China. So when Chinese immigrants arrive in the U.S., many are curious about owning firearms.
In Los Angeles, Chinese immigrants frequent Gun Effects, a firearms store housed in a City of Industry strip mall that includes a boba tea spot, a massage parlor and a dinosaur-themed Taiwanese restaurant.
On a recent weekday, a line formed at a bilingual English and Chinese sign-in sheet as Tom Petty crooned over the store speakers. A few customers puzzled over a Chinese translation of the handgun test beneath an empty wall where the store once displayed assault weapons — all of which were snapped up before California’s tough new gun controlmeasurestake effect Jan. 1. The legislation was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in July in the wake of simmering outrage over mass shootings in San Bernardino and Orlando, Fla.
----
Kai Kang, 48, of Irvine, lined up to purchase a scope for one of his guns. He remembers being curious about owning a gun when he came to America about a decade ago. In China he was in the military, but he never thought about owning a gun for his personal use.
Once he had his green card, he decided to try it out. Gun collecting eventually became a hobby. He goes to shooting ranges with his friends and keeps guns in his house for protection.
“I have short guns, long guns, handguns, AR-15s, rifles. I bought one, then I just kept buying more,” Kang said.
Gun Effects’ popularity with Chinese customers could have something to do with its Chinese ownership and bilingual services. The store’s owner, Dennis Lin, was born in Guangdong, China, to a dim sum chef and his wife. He came to the U.S. when he was 3 years old.
------
Business was slow at first. He placed online advertisements, but they failed to increase demand. Still, about a year ago, Chinese customers began to show up in large numbers.
“I don’t even know how this happened, really,” Lin said. “In the past, most of our business has been with non-Chinese customers.”
Now about 40 percent of customers are Chinese, Lin said. He hired two Chinese-speaking employees and ramped up his study of Mandarin. He also travels to China several times a year to learn more about Chinese culture, which he never had much connection to as a kid.
In China, he’s careful never to say that he sells guns for a living.
“They do get nervous,” Lin said. “It’s like a taboo.”
Chinese customers often have questions about legality and safety, said Queenie Yang, one of the store’s Chinese-speaking employees. And many of them need time to get comfortable with even holding a gun.
Same thing with the Korean business owners in L.A. during the Rodney King riots. They were armed to protect their businesses. Something they couldn't do in Korea.
Moron...one of the worst mass shooters in history was a South Korean police officer who went off the rails.......moron.....he killed 56 people with a gun....you are really stupid...
Tony Gao emerges from a gun store in the City of Industry with something he could have never gotten in his native China: a handgun license.
He passed the firearm safety test on his third try — he says the store’s Chinese translation of the test is a little off — but still, he’s a little nervous.
“Are you sure police won’t try to get me?” Gao, 58, asks.
Private gun ownership is generally banned in China. So when Chinese immigrants arrive in the U.S., many are curious about owning firearms.
In Los Angeles, Chinese immigrants frequent Gun Effects, a firearms store housed in a City of Industry strip mall that includes a boba tea spot, a massage parlor and a dinosaur-themed Taiwanese restaurant.
On a recent weekday, a line formed at a bilingual English and Chinese sign-in sheet as Tom Petty crooned over the store speakers. A few customers puzzled over a Chinese translation of the handgun test beneath an empty wall where the store once displayed assault weapons — all of which were snapped up before California’s tough new gun controlmeasurestake effect Jan. 1. The legislation was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in July in the wake of simmering outrage over mass shootings in San Bernardino and Orlando, Fla.
----
Kai Kang, 48, of Irvine, lined up to purchase a scope for one of his guns. He remembers being curious about owning a gun when he came to America about a decade ago. In China he was in the military, but he never thought about owning a gun for his personal use.
Once he had his green card, he decided to try it out. Gun collecting eventually became a hobby. He goes to shooting ranges with his friends and keeps guns in his house for protection.
“I have short guns, long guns, handguns, AR-15s, rifles. I bought one, then I just kept buying more,” Kang said.
Gun Effects’ popularity with Chinese customers could have something to do with its Chinese ownership and bilingual services. The store’s owner, Dennis Lin, was born in Guangdong, China, to a dim sum chef and his wife. He came to the U.S. when he was 3 years old.
------
Business was slow at first. He placed online advertisements, but they failed to increase demand. Still, about a year ago, Chinese customers began to show up in large numbers.
“I don’t even know how this happened, really,” Lin said. “In the past, most of our business has been with non-Chinese customers.”
Now about 40 percent of customers are Chinese, Lin said. He hired two Chinese-speaking employees and ramped up his study of Mandarin. He also travels to China several times a year to learn more about Chinese culture, which he never had much connection to as a kid.
In China, he’s careful never to say that he sells guns for a living.
“They do get nervous,” Lin said. “It’s like a taboo.”
Chinese customers often have questions about legality and safety, said Queenie Yang, one of the store’s Chinese-speaking employees. And many of them need time to get comfortable with even holding a gun.
Same thing with the Korean business owners in L.A. during the Rodney King riots. They were armed to protect their businesses. Something they couldn't do in Korea.
Tony Gao emerges from a gun store in the City of Industry with something he could have never gotten in his native China: a handgun license.
He passed the firearm safety test on his third try — he says the store’s Chinese translation of the test is a little off — but still, he’s a little nervous.
“Are you sure police won’t try to get me?” Gao, 58, asks.
Private gun ownership is generally banned in China. So when Chinese immigrants arrive in the U.S., many are curious about owning firearms.
In Los Angeles, Chinese immigrants frequent Gun Effects, a firearms store housed in a City of Industry strip mall that includes a boba tea spot, a massage parlor and a dinosaur-themed Taiwanese restaurant.
On a recent weekday, a line formed at a bilingual English and Chinese sign-in sheet as Tom Petty crooned over the store speakers. A few customers puzzled over a Chinese translation of the handgun test beneath an empty wall where the store once displayed assault weapons — all of which were snapped up before California’s tough new gun controlmeasurestake effect Jan. 1. The legislation was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in July in the wake of simmering outrage over mass shootings in San Bernardino and Orlando, Fla.
----
Kai Kang, 48, of Irvine, lined up to purchase a scope for one of his guns. He remembers being curious about owning a gun when he came to America about a decade ago. In China he was in the military, but he never thought about owning a gun for his personal use.
Once he had his green card, he decided to try it out. Gun collecting eventually became a hobby. He goes to shooting ranges with his friends and keeps guns in his house for protection.
“I have short guns, long guns, handguns, AR-15s, rifles. I bought one, then I just kept buying more,” Kang said.
Gun Effects’ popularity with Chinese customers could have something to do with its Chinese ownership and bilingual services. The store’s owner, Dennis Lin, was born in Guangdong, China, to a dim sum chef and his wife. He came to the U.S. when he was 3 years old.
------
Business was slow at first. He placed online advertisements, but they failed to increase demand. Still, about a year ago, Chinese customers began to show up in large numbers.
“I don’t even know how this happened, really,” Lin said. “In the past, most of our business has been with non-Chinese customers.”
Now about 40 percent of customers are Chinese, Lin said. He hired two Chinese-speaking employees and ramped up his study of Mandarin. He also travels to China several times a year to learn more about Chinese culture, which he never had much connection to as a kid.
In China, he’s careful never to say that he sells guns for a living.
“They do get nervous,” Lin said. “It’s like a taboo.”
Chinese customers often have questions about legality and safety, said Queenie Yang, one of the store’s Chinese-speaking employees. And many of them need time to get comfortable with even holding a gun.
Same thing with the Korean business owners in L.A. during the Rodney King riots. They were armed to protect their businesses. Something they couldn't do in Korea.
Tony Gao emerges from a gun store in the City of Industry with something he could have never gotten in his native China: a handgun license.
He passed the firearm safety test on his third try — he says the store’s Chinese translation of the test is a little off — but still, he’s a little nervous.
“Are you sure police won’t try to get me?” Gao, 58, asks.
Private gun ownership is generally banned in China. So when Chinese immigrants arrive in the U.S., many are curious about owning firearms.
In Los Angeles, Chinese immigrants frequent Gun Effects, a firearms store housed in a City of Industry strip mall that includes a boba tea spot, a massage parlor and a dinosaur-themed Taiwanese restaurant.
On a recent weekday, a line formed at a bilingual English and Chinese sign-in sheet as Tom Petty crooned over the store speakers. A few customers puzzled over a Chinese translation of the handgun test beneath an empty wall where the store once displayed assault weapons — all of which were snapped up before California’s tough new gun controlmeasurestake effect Jan. 1. The legislation was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in July in the wake of simmering outrage over mass shootings in San Bernardino and Orlando, Fla.
----
Kai Kang, 48, of Irvine, lined up to purchase a scope for one of his guns. He remembers being curious about owning a gun when he came to America about a decade ago. In China he was in the military, but he never thought about owning a gun for his personal use.
Once he had his green card, he decided to try it out. Gun collecting eventually became a hobby. He goes to shooting ranges with his friends and keeps guns in his house for protection.
“I have short guns, long guns, handguns, AR-15s, rifles. I bought one, then I just kept buying more,” Kang said.
Gun Effects’ popularity with Chinese customers could have something to do with its Chinese ownership and bilingual services. The store’s owner, Dennis Lin, was born in Guangdong, China, to a dim sum chef and his wife. He came to the U.S. when he was 3 years old.
------
Business was slow at first. He placed online advertisements, but they failed to increase demand. Still, about a year ago, Chinese customers began to show up in large numbers.
“I don’t even know how this happened, really,” Lin said. “In the past, most of our business has been with non-Chinese customers.”
Now about 40 percent of customers are Chinese, Lin said. He hired two Chinese-speaking employees and ramped up his study of Mandarin. He also travels to China several times a year to learn more about Chinese culture, which he never had much connection to as a kid.
In China, he’s careful never to say that he sells guns for a living.
“They do get nervous,” Lin said. “It’s like a taboo.”
Chinese customers often have questions about legality and safety, said Queenie Yang, one of the store’s Chinese-speaking employees. And many of them need time to get comfortable with even holding a gun.
Same thing with the Korean business owners in L.A. during the Rodney King riots. They were armed to protect their businesses. Something they couldn't do in Korea.
Calls for more stringent regulations on guns are mounting in the wake of four shooting incidents within a month in a nation that many believed to be free from the dangers of firearms.
On Tuesday, a 42-year-old man shot a 38-year-old man who had an affair with his wife with an air gun in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province. He had held the weapon for years to fend off wild animals.
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The three other cases involved unauthorized guns. On the previous day, a man in his 30s armed with two guns that had been converted from imitation weapons went on a shooting spree and wielded a knife in a residential area in Daegu.
A female university student was shot in the face and two policemen were injured in the ensuing struggle.
Police said the guns held by the suspect were not lethal but still dangerous enough to cause serious wounds.
Last Friday, a man in his 50s in Seoul attempted suicide with an unregistered J-22 pistol manufactured by Jennings in 1989 or 1990.
The deadly ware is not used by the police, nor are civilians allowed to possess it.
On March 24 also in Cheonan, a rapist who abducted a woman shot at police with a stolen shotgun. The ex-convict was allegedly planning to kill a person close to the female victim with the gun.
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As of last year, around 187,000 firearms including handguns, rifles and shotguns were legally held by civilians.
In 2011, 416 crimes involving guns occurred in Korea. According to the Korea Customs Service, 141 illegal firearms were seized in 2012, 160 in 2011, 177 in 2010, 392 in 2009 and 80 in 2008.
Though the number of illegally smuggled guns is thought to have decreased in recent years, experts say that there are still people in possession of illegal weapons.
In addition, more cases in which gangs are armed with guns are being reported to the police, according to experts.
So....when you disarm law abiding people....criminals still get guns...even convicted rapists who get illegal shotguns....
Tony Gao emerges from a gun store in the City of Industry with something he could have never gotten in his native China: a handgun license.
He passed the firearm safety test on his third try — he says the store’s Chinese translation of the test is a little off — but still, he’s a little nervous.
“Are you sure police won’t try to get me?” Gao, 58, asks.
Private gun ownership is generally banned in China. So when Chinese immigrants arrive in the U.S., many are curious about owning firearms.
In Los Angeles, Chinese immigrants frequent Gun Effects, a firearms store housed in a City of Industry strip mall that includes a boba tea spot, a massage parlor and a dinosaur-themed Taiwanese restaurant.
On a recent weekday, a line formed at a bilingual English and Chinese sign-in sheet as Tom Petty crooned over the store speakers. A few customers puzzled over a Chinese translation of the handgun test beneath an empty wall where the store once displayed assault weapons — all of which were snapped up before California’s tough new gun controlmeasurestake effect Jan. 1. The legislation was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in July in the wake of simmering outrage over mass shootings in San Bernardino and Orlando, Fla.
----
Kai Kang, 48, of Irvine, lined up to purchase a scope for one of his guns. He remembers being curious about owning a gun when he came to America about a decade ago. In China he was in the military, but he never thought about owning a gun for his personal use.
Once he had his green card, he decided to try it out. Gun collecting eventually became a hobby. He goes to shooting ranges with his friends and keeps guns in his house for protection.
“I have short guns, long guns, handguns, AR-15s, rifles. I bought one, then I just kept buying more,” Kang said.
Gun Effects’ popularity with Chinese customers could have something to do with its Chinese ownership and bilingual services. The store’s owner, Dennis Lin, was born in Guangdong, China, to a dim sum chef and his wife. He came to the U.S. when he was 3 years old.
------
Business was slow at first. He placed online advertisements, but they failed to increase demand. Still, about a year ago, Chinese customers began to show up in large numbers.
“I don’t even know how this happened, really,” Lin said. “In the past, most of our business has been with non-Chinese customers.”
Now about 40 percent of customers are Chinese, Lin said. He hired two Chinese-speaking employees and ramped up his study of Mandarin. He also travels to China several times a year to learn more about Chinese culture, which he never had much connection to as a kid.
In China, he’s careful never to say that he sells guns for a living.
“They do get nervous,” Lin said. “It’s like a taboo.”
Chinese customers often have questions about legality and safety, said Queenie Yang, one of the store’s Chinese-speaking employees. And many of them need time to get comfortable with even holding a gun.
Same thing with the Korean business owners in L.A. during the Rodney King riots. They were armed to protect their businesses. Something they couldn't do in Korea.
Well, this doesn't change the fact that Koreans were armed to protect themselves during the riots, does it? I doubt if Korea has such a large population of Black people to deal with either, and Blacks are more prone to crime than other races, you know.
