\n<\/p>\n
An anecdote told by California Gov. Gavin Newsom at a press conference on the mass shooting in Half Moon Bay<\/a>\u2014the second such appearance he made in two days, following another deadly shooting in Monterey Park<\/a>\u2014encapsulated the United States’ twin crises of economic injustice and rampant gun violence, said advocates on Monday.<\/p>\n The Democratic governor told the press that while visiting a man who’d been injured in the shooting at two farms in the Bay Area city, the victim said he was hoping to leave the hospital quickly to avoid high medical bills.<\/p>\n “He said, ‘Hey, Governor, thanks for being here but when am I gonna get the hell out of here?'” Newsom said<\/a>. “His leg was shattered by the gunfire. He goes, ‘I can’t afford to spend any more time here, I don’t have the money.” <\/p>\n “How many people are shot and then face massive medical debt? How much revenue and profit do hospitals generate via shootings? Perversity through and through.”<\/p>\n The man’s mother and son later arrived and told Newsom they were “worried he’s going to lose his job at a warehouse the next day unless he can go back to work.”<\/p>\n Politico <\/em>reporter Lara Korte relayed the governor’s comments on social media, eliciting numerous responses in which critics\u2014including advocates for Medicare for All and strict gun control\u2014said the post represented “the United States of America in one tweet.”<\/p>\n