About
AAPI Against Gun Violence is a national coalition of Asian American and Pacific Islander organizations, advocates, survivors, and gun violence prevention leaders working together to address the impact of gun violence on AAPI communities - and all communities.
We were formed in response to rising gun violence and anti-AAPI hate, and to the longstanding reality that the experiences, needs, and leadership of AAPI communities are often overlooked in the national gun violence prevention movement. Our coalition exists to ensure that AAPI communities are visible, supported, and engaged in shaping solutions.
Who We Are
We envision a world where Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders - and all people - have the freedom to be safe in their communities: at home, at school, at work, in places of worship, and everywhere.
Safety for us means more than the absence of violence. It means dignity, belonging, and access to resources that allow individuals and communities to thrive.
Our Vision
Our mission is to prevent gun violence through policy advocacy, community education, coordinated action, and the elevation of AAPI voices - working in solidarity with all communities impacted by gun violence.
We believe that effective gun violence prevention must be rooted in community leadership, culturally responsive approaches, and collective action across movements.
Our Mission
Steering Committee
Christine Chen is a co-Founder and Executive Director of Asian Pacific Islander American Vote (APIAVote), the nation’s leading national, nonpartisan organization to engage, educate, and empower Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) to strengthen their voices and create impact. APIAVote’s mission is to work with local and state community based organizations (CBOs) to mobilize AAPI communities in electoral and civic engagement. Since 2007, APIAVote has been building power in AAPI communities by investing in their capacity and infrastructure to mobilize voters. This investment, as well as proactively training and resourcing community leaders across the country, paid off in the 2020 election cycle and Census.
Christine Chen
Po Murray is a co-founder and chairwoman of the Newtown Action Alliance (NAA). NAA (501c4) is a national grassroots gun violence prevention organization formed after the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, to bring about legislative and cultural changes to reduce all forms of gun deaths and injuries in America.
Po has lived in Sandy Hook for over 26 years and her four children are graduates of Sandy Hook Elementary School. Po joined the gun violence prevention movement after her neighbor used an AR15 to hunt and kill 20 children and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012. Many of her neighbors lost their children on that tragic day.
Po is also a board member of GVPedia and Guns Down for America. She is a board advisor for Survivors Empowered and Kaiser Permanente Center for Gun Violence Research and Education. She is a steering committee member of the newly established Global Coalition for WHO Action on Firearm Violence. She recently vacated her board position on Leader We Deserve. She served as a board member of States United to Prevent Gun Violence.
Po Murray
Thu Nguyen serves OCA National as its Executive Director. A graduate from Rice University with degrees in Chemistry and Sociology, Thu entered the nonprofit sector through organizing on campus and bridging partnerships between student groups and local organizations. Previously, she freelanced for non-profits and Asian-owned start-ups to do outreach and marketing. Thu oversees storytelling, relationships, and operations for OCA. As a daughter of Vietnamese-refugees and proud Houstonian, she is passionate about creating spaces that bring people together through food and art.
Thu Nguyen
Gloria Pan is a public interest advocate, campaign and communications strategist, and community organizer. She has led the gun control program for MomsRising.org since 2013, in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting, and is a co-founder of the AAPI Coalition Against Violence. For many years, she was MomsRising’s senior vice president for cross-organizational campaign innovation, campaign tools, national member engagement, and rapid response.
Prior to MomsRising, Gloria was principal for internet communications strategy at Turner Strategies, where she helped launch the Moms Clean Air Force, a project of the Environmental Defense Fund. Gloria conceived and helped found the influential 2009 Fem2.0 conference and the Fem2.0 online community. As communications director for the media futures think tank, the Institute for the Connected Society (iFOCOS), she helped launch the We Media conferences and was a driving force in building it into a must-attend event for the media vanguard.
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, Gloria resided in Tokyo, Japan, for nine years, where she was international editor for The Nippon Foundation. Prior to that, she was a foreign exchange trader for JP Morgan.
Gloria Pan
Andy Wong is the Managing Director of Advocacy at Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA), a founding partner of Stop AAPI Hate, the national coalition working to address anti-AAPI racism. In this role, he leads high-impact campaigns for racial justice and works to build an AAPI movement rooted in cross-racial solidarity for social change.
Previously, he advocated for education equity at The Education Trust-West, gun violence prevention at Giffords, and LGBTQ equality as the founder of API Equality (now Lavender Phoenix). Andy has also managed congressional races in the Sierra Nevada and Silicon Valley and served on President Obama’s re-election campaign.
He is the son of working-class, Chinese immigrants and holds degrees from Swarthmore College and Princeton University.