Testimony against other top aides those are your headlines stay with us the inside story. They are images dominating u. S. Airwaves since the shooting at a Florida High School young protesters vowing never again most werent even born when Congress Passed its last gun control law but can they help bring change now this is inside story. Hello and welcome to the program. For americans few issues are as divisive as the debate over guns and its never more heated that in the direct aftermath of a mass shooting time after time tears turned to anger and demands for tougher laws which come to nothing the Second Amendment to the u. S. Constitution allows americans to bear arms but it also adds they must be part of a well regulated militia the last time Congress Passed a major firearms control legislation was in one thousand nine hundred ninety four and the most significant part of that measure has since expired but in the wake of the School Shooting spree in florida earlier this month that killed seventeen students and staff many believe or hope that this time is different teenagers including survivors of the attack have launched whats become a National Movement theyre organizing protests walking out of classes and blanketing social media platforms they vowed to keep the pressure on President Donald Trump and fellow politicians until they do more to control guns. Teenagers are relentless they dont give up and i am interested to see who has the longer stamina between them or the politicians because i can guarantee you if the politicians try and stick it out theyre going to retire. Well get to our guests in just a moment but First White House correspondent Kimberly Hawke it takes us through the latest developments from washington d. C. Arming teachers in the classroom is a controversy ally dia being promoted by President Donald Trump prevent School Shootings if you harden the sights youre not going to have this problem because these guys who lack courage will never go into those schools he says he wants to encourage educators to become comfortable with a gun even offering bonuses for those with firearms skills i want my schools protected just like my banks are protected trump made the comments on thursday at another white house listening session following the shootings in parkland florida that left seventeen people dead most of them teenagers. Since the School Shooting fellow students have made their voices heard and brought pressure to bear on trump and other right of center politicians to tighten gun restrictions Arming Teachers is not what they have in mind thats their plan anyway mark barden lost his son in two thousand and twelve when the sandy hook School ShootingSchool Teachers have more than enough responsibilities right now. Then to have to have the awesome responsibility of lethal force to take a life on twitter trump attempted to clarify his position and floated other proposals such as background checks for those buying a gun raising the legal purchasing age to twenty one and again suggesting the end of the sale of socalled bump stocks that increase a weapons fire power not zero but some of those ideas are at odds with the biggest Gun Rights Group in the United States with National Rifle association or n. R. A. Pushing back against any effort to limit gun ownership the elites dont care not one whit about Americas School system for them its not a safety issue its a political issue they care more about control. And more of that gun owners agree they were right to protect ourselves protect our children so if theyre properly trained why not be able to use that i think that it would send a message across the nation that we are taking it this into our own hands were fighting back and we will be the first line of defense and while there is support for at least some of Donald Trumps proposals even the most basic limits on gun ownership will require congressional approval and accomplishment that in the past has proved difficult can really help get aljazeera washington. All right lets bring in our guests in new york paul barrett adjunct professor of law at New York University and author of the book glock the rise of americas gun from rindge in the u. S. State of New HampshireRichard Feldman a former regional political director at the National Rifle association he joins us on skype and in birmingham in the u. K. Scott lucas professor of american politics at the university of birmingham thank you all for joining us now scott i want to start with you the reactions to other Mass Shootings in the past seem to follow almost script you would have the shock and horror and grief you would then have politicians offering thoughts and prayers to the families of the victims and the wounded you would have demands for action but then ultimately no action looking at this from the outside things seem different this time is that the case. Certainly as from my perspective i mean if youd asked me a week ago just after the shootings in portland florida at this high school i would have said its going to groundhog day that wont go through grief well go through regret will go through statements that something must be done and then a month maybe even two weeks from now there be a mass shooting and it starts all over but for me its been different this time and i think its the conjunction of two things i think the first is social media and what it can do in terms of a message threading very quickly and then secondly and more importantly this group of survivors from Douglass High School these students who chose not to remain silent but amidst their tragedy and trauma to speak out and Say Something must be done something must be done by politicians and that its incumbent upon all americans to call for action and the spread of that message coupled with the silence for the white house for several days about gun control it meant that all of a sudden we had this groundswell which is not just rhetoric but i think a demand and culminating on wednesday night in the town hall in florida an event which i think is overshadowed donald trump statements at that town hall where students teachers and Law Enforcement officers really challenge both politicians and the n. R. A. I think this is the most pressure that those politicians and the n. R. A. Have faced probably since the one nine hundred ninety s. Look something must be done not just about the shooters but about the supply of guns as well big any was semiautomatic weapons richard whats your reaction to what scott just said do you believe that these demonstrations that these protests that these impassioned pleas could actually lead to legislation on gun control this. Well we certainly been here many times before i hope that it does lead to Action Action thats focused directly on the problem not just action that talks about the issues surrounding the problem i am somewhat hopeful this time that we actually are discussing gun violence restraining orders which in this case and several others might well of prevented the incident and if we talk about solutions that are actual doable and related to the problem we may actually get somewhere that would be a good thing paul i want to ask you specifically about the Second Amendment in your view does the Second Amendment protect assault weapons different courts in the u. S. Have ruled differently on this issue what do you say well i mean i think whats important is what the you know United StatesSupreme Court says and in the relevant two thousand and eight decision. Then Justice Scalia wrote for the majority that. A ruling that up held the right to keep a fire a firearm at home did not necessarily preclude other forms of gun control i think that law or remains the case today and i think that it would be a very close case before the Supreme Court as to whether a restriction on semiautomatic military style weapons would be upheld but i dont think were going to get that far because i dont think theres going to be a federal law passed restricting socalled assault weapons scott a moment ago you spoke about just how brave these traumatized students have been in their actions in raising their voices in confronting politicians from from house members to senators to even the president something quite disturbing has happened in the wake of the shooting youve had far right wing Media Outlets youve had people on social media attacking some of these students calling them Crisis Actors really trading in these conspiracy theories about them do you believe that that is because these students are such a force that that there is a fear that they will be able to accomplish what so many generations before them were not able to do and start a mass movement. That absolutely social media cuts both ways it gave a platform for these students teachers to have a voice which was then picked up by the mainstream but social media of course is a platform for other groups all trite groups some hardline gun owners and even some members of the n. R. A. To try to whip up these conspiracy theories because they need to delegitimize these voices these legitimate voices they need to say that somehow theyre manipulative or dangerous and so we get this type of tactic which tries to push them to the side now the n. R. A. Dana loesch on the one hand other night on wednesday night said oh of course you know we recognize your voices are legitimate we recognize you know we dont associate ourselves with these the times you have the very next day wayne la pierre the head of the n. R. A. And dana loesch go in and they attack the media and they try to portray the fact that this is all of power cation that the media are taking advantage not only of these students but of crying white moms and dana loesch as words and i think what it shows is is that the n. R. A. Has rattled the trumpet ministration is rattled but at the same time they will fight they will fight hard against even limited measures let alone the ban on semiautomatic weapons so if as i think this case continues unlike others all the way up until the elections in november it is going to be a very divisive fight or at least the n. R. A. And its supporters will try to make it a very divisive fight ok richard building on what scott just said because he mentioned dana loesch is remarks now i want to pause for a moment i want to play a portion of in our a spokesperson dana loesch speech at the conservative Political Action conference on thursday. Now im going to Say Something that some people are going to say is controversial so ill say it really slowly so all the people on the platform in the back can hear me loud and clear. Many in legacy media love Mass Shootings. You guys are loving. Now im not saying that you love the tragedy but i am saying that you love the ratings crying white mothers are ratings gold to you and many in the legacy media and the back. Rich what do you think of that rhetoric and also after hearing that do you think that the in our a at this point would be willing to make any concessions based on what some members of the Republican Party are suggesting well everyone almost makes in this state when they talk about the n. R. A. As though that some monolithic organization. Politicians would be very wise to limit when they accuse or speak of the n. R. A. Are they talking about the n. R. A. Senior leadership are they talking about the vast membership im an n. R. A. Member i dont see them talking about me but yet when they say the n. R. A. They are talking about me this plays right into n. R. A. Leaderships ans the more their n. R. A. Is accused of being a bad actor the more they are the bogeyman in this thing the better off it is for an hour raise recruitment and mobilization in this years election frankly up until this incident the gun issue was so quiescent that it wouldnt have played any role for politicians to think having gone through the last thirty five years or so on this issue that seven eight months out from the election the energy thats being generated now is the wind at their back on the gun control side is to completely misread history if anything its just the opposite it will energize the progun forces while the gun control forces eight months from now will still give lip service but they will not vote for or against candidates on the basis of this issue one hundred twenty million gun owners what some percentage of them its certainly will paul what do you think do you believe that these remarks were hearing from the leaders of the n. R. A. In the wake of the parklane shooting will ultimately you know hurt or help the art well first of all say that in terms of my opinion i thought those remarks were despicable saw ill say that flatly. Second i think richard points to an important truth which is that the structure of the gun debate in United States is uneven its not. Straight across in terms of the degree of Passion Energy and organizational. Will that each side has the progun side the libertarian side anti regulation. For them for many of them this is their premier issue for its very rare on the pro regulation side for guns to be actually peoples top issue and after some time passes i think the print my prediction would be that this keeps the n. R. A. Activated keeps its its followers activated and more politically liberal pro regulation people will tend to get distracted by other issues come election time scott in the last few days weve heard President Trump indicate that he is actively searching for some type of middle ground that would satisfy his base but also those demanding change and some form of gun control now he said that he favors raising the age at which someone can buy semiautomatic rifles from eighteen to twenty one that he potentially wants to expand background checks that hes ready to prohibit bump fires talks which can effectively make semiautomatic weapons into automatic weapons do you believe this can actually be done in such a polarized landscape. Well let me say first of all that this isnt a search for a central ground of the white houses belated reaction through donald trump is trying to divert to a completely different place rather than taking on central issues you taught for example about dealing with dumb staats which while they were responsible for the loss of a good shooting have not been responsible for most Mass Shootings let alone the tens of thousands of deaths across the u. S. You talk about expanding background checks when in fact the trumpet ministration has actually rolled back checks for example on those who might have mental conditions so now this is a diversion now in terms of what happens next let me just take up the points that paul and richard make either quite interesting i want to sort of remarks to them the first is absolutely when we talk about the n. R. A. And talk about the politics here were talking about the n. R. A. Leadership but i think theres a challenge out there to the many many members of the n. R. A. Which is whether they just simply accept this now or whether they make their own response and say that our leaders dont necessarily speak for all of us we too are searching for a way forward and then the second thing i want to talk about is we may be in a different place now im not sure we are but we may be and that is you know youve got three older guys talking about this issue here what youre saying this past week is a Younger Generation embodied in those parklane students and they may not play politics by the rules that weve grown accustomed to they may keep this up they may march they may rally and if those younger folks many of whom will be of voting age for the first time in november keep themselves mobilized and keep challenging the politicians we may have to accept that the way things have happened in the past thirty five years may not be the way that they shake out in the next year or two years five years. Richard so many members of the International Community simply cannot understand why guns are so important to americans why there are so Many Americans to say that guns are essential to protecting their liberties why is it is it is it simply the Second Amendment or is it much more than that its actually much deeper than that guns are a potent symbolic issue and people who identify on the progun side really see their relationship with this government of ours as a matter of trust if the Government Trust me with the guns ive known for thirty forty fifty years and never misuse on some level theyre worthy of my trust in them but if all of a sudden that same government says well somebody misused a gun therefore you are no longer eligible worthy to own them the government is saying they dont trust us when the government doesnt trust the people the people feel the government is no longer worthy of their trust and in that sense one can understand begin to understand the incredible potency that the gun rights debate has in american politics its far more than about guns per se although clearly it is about guns as well paul there are now renewed calls for instituting red flag laws could you explain to our viewers what exactly those laws are and what they would prohibit when it comes to gun control. Yeah richard referred to these laws earlier by a different label but basically a red flag laws allow a persons family or Law Enforcement to go to a state court and petition the court to issue an order that a person who is disturbed and there has to be evidence of that should for some limited period of time at least sacrifice their ability to possess firearms so that if the court finds in favor of the petitioners Law Enforcement would go to the persons home and literally take away their guns for some period of time until the person was deemed mentally fit this is not a brand new idea but it is sort of emerging. On many fronts youve seen laws like this passed in Washington State in oregon and its being examined in a large number of other states and that was actually even before the parkland shootings and i think this is one example of a gun control approach accomplished at the state level that may well catch on and gain additional momentum as a result of the florida shootings richard youve argued in the past that there needs to be a lot more included in discussions on gun control and gun laws in the u. S. What do you think needs to be included in the debate in the discussion. Well i think in some ways were headed there this is an example. Where in a change in the law allowing these gun violence restraining orders would have stopped several of the last shooters from obtaining the guns that they actually use now what we never can say is might they have gotten a gun from some other source an illegal source but we can always focus on one issue would have time and do the best we can heretofore weve had this circus like approach that whenever an instance like this happens everythings on the table and we start getting talking about assault weapons magazine capacity eliminating the Second Amendment once that debate starts and we lose any focus nothings going to happen so far this debate has kept some focus i think this is a partial answer the gun violence restraining orders and i endorse im scott i want to be a last word here very quickly does the fact that these kinds of shootings continue to happen in the u. S. Affect the credibility of the United States in the eyes of the rest of the world and if so how i think it does for many people you know you have a country which proclaims the rights of the individual that weve heard about there which proclaims you know the achievements of the u. S. But when you get the rights of the individual almost trying to wish away the fact that you have not just these mass killings but the tens of thousands of killings that occur and dont make headlines. When you have politicians that will use diversions to avoid talking about this when you have discussions that only talk about and they should talk about for example restraining orders but dont talk about the fundamental which is the ability to have a weapon of war the ability to have an Assault Rifle something which there is no justification for the hands of the individual citizen then i think people put their hands up and said look america it is time to put some type of meaning to where your mouth is it is time to listen to the cries that youve had in the past week from those who have suffered from violence because it cannot go on it is damaging in American Society and it is damaging the example that American Society has tried to offer the world in recent decades all right gentlemen were going to have to leave it there for now thanks to all our guests paul barrett Richard Feldman and scott lucas and thank you too for watching you can see the program again any time by visiting our website aljazeera dot com and for further discussion go to our Facebook Page thats facebook dot com forward slash a. J. Inside story you can also join the conversation on twitter our handle is at a. J. Inside story for me and the entire team here bye for now. Once held in one of australias toughest Detention Centers now a world renowned surgeon one of when his followers dr moon. Has returns to his hometown baghdad to give amputees the hope of walking again at this time on aljazeera one of the really special things that working proud is here is that even as a camera woman i get to have so much empathy and contribution to a story as well we cover this region better than anyone else would be for us as you know is that he chose to live out of it but the good because you have a lot of people that are divided on political issues we are we the people we live to tell the real stories just mended is to deliver indepth generalism we dont feel inferior to the audience across the globe. March on aljazeera. 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