Mayoral Candidates Talk Guns, Housing And Policing

By Robert J. Hansen | OBSERVER Staff Writer Former state senator Richard Pan, left, Assemblymember Kevin McCarty, center, and former city council member Steve Hansen participate at a mayoral candidate forum at the Greater Sacramento Urban League Jan. 30. Seth Patterson, OBSERVER Credit: Seth Patterson The six candidates vying to be Sacramento’s next mayor fielded questions about homelessness, gun violence and police accountability Jan. 30 at a candidate forum held at the Greater Sacramento Urban League in Del Paso Heights. The League of Women Voters of Sacramento County and the Sacramento chapter of the Black American Political Association of California welcomed Assemblymember Kevin McCarty, former state Sen. Richard Pan, epidemiologist Flojuan Cofer, former Councilmember Steve Hansen, Marine Corps Reserve Captain Jose Avina and asset protection officer Julius Engel. Grant Union High School student body president Leah Nelson began the forum discussing gun violence in schools. A 17-year-old classmate had been shot by a 14-year-old student earlier that day. She said gun violence in schools is a problem throughout the country, not just at Grant High or in Sacramento. “I feel pain for my school and my community that all of our students knew what to do because it’s normal,” Nelson...