Saturday's tragedy to speak to a former f.b.i. About how the government has to confront growing quite violent. And how this weekend's mass shootings will impact the debate over guns in America as the n.r.a. . All that is coming out. To Democracy Now Democracy Now dot org The War and Peace Report I mean the good men at least 29 people were killed as 2 mass murders shook the country over the weekend and El Paso Texas a white supremacist gunman opened fire at a Walmart near a mall Saturday the mass murder is believed to be Patrick Cruciatus a 21 year old white man now in police custody the gunman posted a racist anti immigrant manifesto online in which he said he was quote defending my country from cultural and ethnic replacement brought on by an invasion unquote going the language used by President Trump to describe migrants the El Paso attack came just days after another white male shooter attacked the Gilroy Garlic Festival in California killing 3 people including a 6 year old boy just before that shooting the gunmen promoted an anti immigrant manifesto on line it also came days after a Wal-Mart worker in Mississippi shot and killed 2 fellow employees and wounded 2 others nationwide calls are growing for Wal-Mart to stop selling guns and ammunition the paso massacre is being treated as an act of domestic terrorism this is u.s. Attorney John bashing the key factor here is it appears to be an attempt to quash or to the civilian population that's live here. That we know the public record certainly appears to be to that it is a little bit which is really delicious you were treated. As of this the terrorism case El Paso's district attorney said he's charging the shooter with capital murder which carries a possible death penalty he could also face federal hate crime charges which also can result in a capital punishment sentence for a jerk Brenin the founder of the website 8 Chan has called for his site to be shut down following the massacre in El Paso the shooter posted about the attack shortly before it happened on an 8 Chan message board at least 3 recent mass shootings have been announced on the site including the massacre at 2 mosques in Christ Church New Zealand that killed 15 Muslims in March 8th Chan's network provider Cloud Flare drop the site following the shooting Mexican foreign minister Marcello or Broward called the attack a terrorist act against innocent Mexicans Mexican president and various Manuel Lopez Obrador who said 7 Mexican nationals were among the 20 killed said Mexico is considering measures to protect Mexicans who are in the u.s. He also said Mexico may charge the shooter in Mexican courts u.s. Democratic lawmakers are calling for the Senate to return from recess to vote on 2 gun safety bills recently passed in the house hours after 0 passes horrific attack in the early hours of Sunday morning a gunman opened fire with a high caliber rifle outside a bar in a popular downtown entertainment district in Dayton Ohio killing 9 people and wounding dozens of others all under a minute police killed the suspect at the scene he was identified as 24 year old white male Connor Betts is a history of threatening women and former classmates saying he had a kill list and a rape blessed in high school the victims were mostly in their twenty's. And thirty's most of them were African-American one of the tech Dems Meghan Betts was the gunman's sister at a vigil Sunday crowds interrupted a speech by Ohio's Republican governor Mike De Wine with shouts of make a change and do something and of course is still there I'm here representing all of you that it will. Come here's you know I. Was. Also on Sunday the captain of the Philadelphia Union soccer team soccer star 100 but boy grabbed a field microphone after he scored a goal and demanded Congress take action following the 2 shootings going through something. That was a 100 but boy he said Congress do something now and gun violence he lives just 15 minutes from the park one massacre in Florida in Hong Kong a general strike has paralyzed the city's transportation and shut down many businesses and large parts of the service industry as pro-democracy protesters escalate their demands hundreds of flights have also been canceled demonstrators took to the streets over the weekend blocking major roads with riot police firing tear gas at crowds and arresting at least 80 people the popular uprising started 9 weeks ago to demand the withdrawal of an extradition bill that would have sent people from Hong Kong to mainland China to face charges but demands quickly grew for the resignation of Hong Kong Leader Kerry Lamb an investigation into violence against demonstrators and pro independence reforms carry. On economy is being pushed to the verge of a very dangerous situation India announced its revoking Kashmir special status as tensions with Pakistan over the disputed region have been rising over recent days the move which is expected to be challenged in court means Hindu Indians from outside Kashmir could start buying land and settling in the region among other actions that will shift the demographic makeup of the Indian administered Muslim majority state critics and many Cush Mary's say this would threaten the state's autonomy further consolidating it into Indian rule India's governing b.j. Party promised during election campaigning this year it would rescind Kashmir special status India's home minister also said it would split the state into 2 thread really ruled territories India has sent 10000 additional troops to the region over the past week and shut down schools evacuated tourists and cut off the Internet access Kashmir leaders have also been placed under house arrest in February tension. Between India and Pakistan ratcheted up over the region India carried out air strikes inside Pakistan following an attack against Indian soldiers and Kashmir by a militant separatist group based in Pakistan Pakistan's prime minister and son who recently met with Trump at the White House tweeted President Trump offered to mediate on Kashmir this is the time to do so a situation deteriorates there this has the potential to blow up into a regional crisis the prime minister said Iran said Sunday it seized another foreign oil tanker the Revolutionary Guard said the vessel was from Iraq and carrying smuggled diesel fuel through the Persian Gulf Iraq has denied the accusations saying it quote does not export diesel to the international market unquote This is the 3rd vessel seized by Iran in recent weeks including the British and Piro which is still being held after it was captured in the Strait of Hormuz last month that followed Britain seizure of an Iranian tanker off the coast of 2 brawl to which Britain accused of breaching international sanctions in more news from Iran government officials confirm reports that Iran turned down an invitation for Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to visit the White House for talks last month the invitation preceded the imposition of u.s. Sanctions on serif the trumpet ministration branded a propaganda minister Iran has accused the United States of shutting down any possibility for talks between the 2 countries by sanctioning its top diplomat in Russia at least 800 people were arrested Saturday as protesters took to the streets of Moscow again to call out the barring of opposition candidates an upcoming Moscow city council elections videos of police beating protesters with baton spread on social media over the weekend police also reportedly made arrests before the protests even started Meanwhile opposition leader Alexina Valmy who is. Arrested last month ahead of mass protest is being investigated for the money laundering the Vollies anti corruption group has worked to expose top Russian officials he was hospitalized last week when his doctor said Nibali appeared to have symptoms of poisoning but in a volley has since been returned to jail Sudan's transitional military council in leaders from the protest movement signed a constitutional declaration Sunday that they say will usher in a transition to civilian rule months of unrest and deadly protests have followed the April overthrow of Sudan's former authoritarian president Omar al Bashir after a mass popular uprising the 2 sides agreed to a power sharing deal last month but talks have been repeatedly to rail due to violent incidents including most recently a deadly attack by security forces on teenage students protesting military rule in Mexico journalists and press freedom advocates are calling for the government of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to take meaningful action after 3 more journalists were killed all within a week or Hayward was fatally shot in his home in the state of 8 a cruise on Friday just days before he was to testify about death threats he said originated from his mayor of his town he accused the mayor of corruption last year and the state of good adult and girl dared to Nava the publish to publish local stories on a Facebook page was also shot dead Friday now over reported on local government as well as crime and journalist for Hellyeah about a gun was found dead in the trunk of a car earlier last week in the state of Modell us both but I got on and cited safety concerns due to their work the 3 recent murders bring the total number of journalists killed in Mexico this year to 10 Reporters Without Borders calls Mexico one of the world's deadliest countries for the media and Puerto Rico Pedro pier Luis he was sworn in as the. New governor after his disgraced predecessor Ricardo Rajjo officially stepped down Friday following weeks of mass protest however the Puerto Rican Senate has not yet voted to approve Pir Louis c. As the new governor leaving many Puerto Rican to question his legitimacy. But Pedro Pirro race they did was a coup d'etat he understands he's not the governor himself noticed that he said we would have to go to the Senate well if he needs to go to the Senate then whose job is it to governorship is the justice secretary's want of ask was this job someone to us to swear in in the dark over there and later say I've already been sworn in obviously knows he's not doing things properly here Louis c. Previously served as Puerto Rico's resident commissioner or non-voting representative in Congress from 2009 to 2017 he was one of the key advocates behind the creation of the Puerto Rico oversight management and economic stability Act known as per mass which created an unelected federally appointed control board with sweeping powers to run Puerto Rico's economy San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulian Cruz is filing a lawsuit today over peer Louis Seize appointment as governor u.s. Federal prosecutors have accused time during President wonderland there and then this of conspiring with his brother another top political figures to protect drug traffickers in exchange for campaign contributions Tony unended is the president's brother was arrested last year in the United States for drug trafficking and weapon offenses former president pro feeding a Lobo who came to power following a u.s. Backed coup in 2009 is also accused of participating in the scheme prosecutors say President as used one and a half $1000000.00 in drug trafficking money to help him win the 2013 presidency went to London and as has denied the accusations mass protests have been taking place for months against the un and as government which earned during say is ruled by corruption as well as his plans to privatized health care pensions and education . A 32 year old man from the door died Thursday the New Mexico immigration jail Marvin's Antonio Gonzales had traveled to the United States with his young daughter his daughter is now being held by u.s. Immigration authorities the cause of death has yet to be determined this is a. Father speaking in El Salvador as he was he. He said he wanted to go he could no longer stay in the property or what he could get a job in the United States that he could rise up from poverty that was his intention that was his idea for growing at least 15 asylum seekers have died while in u.s. Custody since September of last year 7 of them were children President Trump said Friday he will not nominate Texas Congress member John Radcliffe to replace Dan Coats as director of National Intelligence Trump blamed the quote lame stream media for treating Radcliff unfairly as reports emerged over the past week of bipartisan concerns over reckless qualifications for the role namely that he exaggerated his accomplishments as a former federal prosecutor in East Texas claiming he had lots of experience jailing terrorists and helping form George w. Bush's counterterrorism policy according to former coworkers there were no major national security prosecutions during his tenure or tenure Meanwhile Trump is reportedly planning to block deputy director of National Intelligence Sue Gordon from becoming acting director when Dan Coats steps down later this month possibly by ousting her from her current position critics say the move would fall within the administration's pattern of prioritizing political picks over career staffers and in New York City an administrative judge for the New York Police Department recommended Friday that Daniel plant Alayo the officer who killed Eric Garner in 2014 by using an illegal chokehold the judge recommended he be fired to Layo held garner an unarmed African-American man in the choke hold until he dropped to the ground despite gasping I can't be. 11 times to lay was suspended following the recommendation but New York Police Department Commissioner James O'Neill will make the final decision on whether or not to fire him has remained on the police force on desk duty since the murder a New York grand jury decided in 2014 not to charge him and last month the Justice Department said he would also not face federal charges and Eric Garner starter Emerald Garner Snipes spoke out after the judge's recommendation was made public this is been a long battle 5 years will all and finally somebody has to say that there is some information that this cop has done something wrong we waited 5 years to see RB has made the recommendation commissioner O'Neal it's a Leo. And those are some of the headlines This is Democracy Now Democracy Now dot org The War and Peace Report I mean the Goodman It was a deadly weekend in America over the span of 13 hours the country was rocked by 2 mass shootings at around 1030 Saturday morning a heavily armed gunmen opened fire inside a crowded Wal-Mart in El Paso Texas authorities say 20 people were shot dead the victims were predominantly Latino including 7 Mexican nationals at least 2 dozen people were injured then just after 1 am on Sunday a gunman in Dayton Ohio shot dead 9 people outside a bar in the city's historic or a been destroyed the dead included the gunman's own sister most of the dead were African-Americans police are still investigating the motive of the Dayton gunman male named Connor Betts according to news reports the 24 year old had been suspended from high school after compiling lists of girls he wanted to rape and kill Meanwhile federal authorities are treating the old Paso attack as an act of domestic terrorism the suspected El Paso gunman has been identified as 21 year old white male named Patrick Cruciatus who have 600 miles away in a suburb of Dallas shortly before the attack in El Paso the gunman posted an anti immigrant manifesto on the far right message board a chant which had also been used by the gunman who attacked 2 mosques in New Zealand and killed 50 Muslims and the gunman who attacked a San Diego synagogue on Sunday the founder of 8 Chan cold for the site to be taken down some of the language in the manifesto echoed remarks by President Trump including his use of the word invasion to describe immigrants crossing the southern border. Sunday President Trump briefly spoke about the shootings in El Paso in Dayton but did not refer to guns domestic terrorism or white nationalism or supremacy and his remarks President Trump is scheduled to address the nation today at 10 am on the presidential campaign trail a number of Democratic candidates linked the shooting in El Paso to Trump's anti immigrant rhetoric former congressman better work who is from El Paso accuse Trump of stoking racism South Bend Mayor Pete booted judge said Trump is not helping to stop what he described as a quote lethal violent white nationalist terrorism Meanwhile Senator Bernie Sanders called on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to hold a special session of the Senate to pass a gun safety bill passed so attack came just days after a white male shooter attacked the Gilroy Garlic Festival in Northern California killing 3 people the gunman in Gilroy promoted an anti immigrant manifesto on line just hours before the shooting according to The New York Times white extremist shooters have killed at least 63 people in the United States over the past 18 months we go now to El Paso where we're joined by 2 guests Ceasar Blanco is a Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives Fernando Garcia is the founding director of the Border Network for Human Rights an advocacy group a snow past so we welcome you both to Democracy Now 1st of all condolences on the horror that has taken place in your community and El Paso. We want to begin with assess our Blanco if you could talk about what you're tell us about your community and El Paso and then tell us what you're demanding right now. Well thank you Amy. A warm welcome mean. By national community located on the Us Mexico border our sister city to the south of us in Mexico as we are a community that is very tight knit we are a community that opens its arms to immigrants and welcomes immigrants so this community is a community of immigrants my father is an immigrant from the state of Chihuahua Mexico. This is tragic and it's horrible that we're seen these type of acts of violence and murder. Tied to white supremacy occurring here in our in our communities. We need to see action we need the words of the president have been harmful and it's unfortunate that this president has not condemned this white national violent acts here in our communities and other communities across the country. And it's horrible that the United States Senate has not taken any action in terms of gun reform. To not allow these type of weapons to reach the hands of these individuals who want to who create havoc and fear in our communities crime for us what you understand took place on Saturday morning at that Wal-Mart. About $10.00 to $30.00 there were calls 911 calls to police. A gunman began firing in the parking lot of Wal-Mart. Here in El Paso and he entered. The store and began shooting and firing at individuals of this community is majority Latino He drove in 600 miles to perform these acts of violence against our community we have seen in his manifesto the level of hate toward our community and toward immigrants in this country and clearly looks like it was an intentional act. Throughout the day families of been waiting to hear news they set up a family reunification center in the elementary school that I attended as a kid. Allow families to wait to hear either the good news or the bad news unfortunately for many the bad news was that their family members were killed by this individual turned out Garcia founding director of the Border Network for Human Rights Can you talk about the reports that some survivors were afraid to get help. Maybe they were injured but if frayed because of their status right now their immigration status. Actually today we had calls from. That were afraid of actually going into the hospitals and clinics because the mean the Border Patrol personnel and vehicles when they were actually not reporting the injuries they were actually going to the hospitals and clinics on their own so they call us and what we did is we called our congresswoman. Because we wanted the Border Patrol and I actually issued a statement that they would not enforce immigration laws these days and I think people are afraid of that because he didn't before this this shouldn't happen people were afraid already. Force and so I think little by little people is getting I live with more calm to war usually but is going to take a little bit more than. We are still receiving calls of people being afraid of reporting their injuries to the hospitals and authorities because of the fear that they have. Do you believe that Latino's were targeted I mean clearly in this so-called manifesto I mean right before the gunman opened fire at the Wal-Mart in El Paso he posted this anti immigrant screed apparently attributed to him period online the manifesto is titled The inconvenient truth about me it reads in part quote I support the Christ Church should her and its manifesto this attack as a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas they are the instigators not me I am simply defending my country from cultural not like replacement brought on by an invasion of spandex will take control of the local and state government of my beloved Texas changing policy to better suit their needs they will turn Texas into an instrument of a political coup which will hasten the destruction of our country the manifesto read it also cites the great replacement theory the white nationalist right wing conspiracy theory which was also evoked during the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville in Virginia in 2017 when the neo nazis chanted Jules will not replace us the author of the paso manifesto claims his views quote predate Trump and his campaign but the manifesto borrows a number of Trump's popular slogans including send them back and fake news which Trump also repeated fake news Trump did not refer to the Latinos who were killed who were targeted he said today's he tweeted very little and spoke little this weekend about El Paso and Dayton but did tweet today shooting in El Paso Texas will not only tragic was an act of cowardice I know that I stand with everyone in this country to condemn today's hateful lot there are no reasons or excuses that will ever justify killing innocent people do you like better or Roark and Senator Sanders and others believe that Trump is partially responsible for what took place let me protect when you listen. Let me tell you that what we saw was an attack against a symbol. Has become a symbol over. All of what Trump represents every Friday that he implemented the border is that it be possible in our community to react in our community with the separation of children returning refused to make children die. For our community has shown resilience to these aggressive agenda of this president but also our community has refused we have opened our hormones. To refuse any negroes in the scenes that we were punished because of that we need to call it what e.d.s. You know of a few months ago we had the. Malicious. Bustle region. And we. In there were what they were saying at that time is that they were responding to Trump's call to action to come to the border to protect the border from the. Criminals or Usually the. Children or if you use and mothers so we need to call these what it is this was there was a trial racist idea and. He makes it I mean we're going to I mean we cannot in your get away in believe it is very cynical today that. He's calling these shooting or he's labeling. Issue you need to once again he needs to respond to what he has done. Matter today prompts war killed past ones earlier this year President Trump travel to. Panama City Beach in Florida span handle for a campaign rally where he laughed an approval when an audience member shouted that migrants crossing into the United States should be shot the interaction came as Trump was praising border security workers we don't let them and we can't let them use weapons we kid other countries do we kid I would never do this but how do you stop these people you care. That's only in the panhandle you can get away with that so the audience member shouted Shoot them and he said only in the Panhandle he said Can you repeat that I'd like to turn to Democratic presidential candidate New Jersey Senator Cory Booker and in an interview on C.N.N.'s State of the Union Sunday he said President Trump's responsible for the mass shootings I turned my attention to the person who is leading this country who is in my opinion this moral moment who is failing and I think that at the end of the day especially because this was a white supremacist manifesto that I want to say with more moral clarity that Donald Trump is responsible for this he's responsible because he is still king fears and hatred and bigotry he is responsible because he's failing to condemn white supremacy and see it as it is which is responsible for such a significant amount of the terrorist attacks he's responsible because he's president United States and has failed to do anything significant to stop the mass of ill ability of weapons to people who intend to do harm so that was Cory Booker I also want to turn to Fox and Friends to turn to Texas lieutenant governor Dan Patrick who said it's the video game industry that was. Sponsible for the rise in mass shootings how long are we going to let for example and ignore at the federal level particularly where they can do something about the video game industry you know in this manifesto that we believe is from the shooter this manifesto he talks about living out his Super Soldier fantasy. Call of Duty we know that the video game industry is bigger the movie industry the music industry. But there have been studies that say it impacts people in studies it's. A look at the common denominators as a 67 year old father a grandfather myself what's changed in this country we've always had dogs we've always had evil but what's change we see this rush of shooting. And I see a video game industry that teachers young people to kill. Idiot and House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy made a similar claim later on Sunday in an interview on Fox but the idea of these video games to be as individuals to have a game of shooting individuals and others I've always felt that as a problem for future generations and others we've watched those studies show before of what it does to individuals. When you look at these photos of how it took place you can see the actions with the video games others so you have the Republican leaders you have president refusing to talk about both guns and white supremacy I want to put this question to pass so representative Blanco the issue of guns Texas your state is an open carry state explain what that means and now a number of Democrats are demanding that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell call a special session of the Senate so they can pass gun control legislation even the extremely conservative New York Post in New York it's calling for Weapons Ban Can you respond to the state of your state in Texas. Where they're stuck place and Mississippi Wal-Mart a few days before where workers were killed both sell weapons what are your demands . Sure it will obviously Texas is a state that has an infatuation. With weapons and these are weapons that are readily available in our communities. You know I want to respond to to go enters a statement that. This is about video games you know video games didn't kill 20 people in our community video games did not. Main 26 additional people who are fighting for their lives in the hospital who was a white supremacist with a high powered automatic assault rifle that killed those individuals not a video game and for politicians to skirt around the truth. To I don't know if I the problem instead and implement policies that address this issue is shameful we must do more. As a state representative I have authored legislation that bans. Style magazines to be sold in our state never received a hearing I have also authored legislation to eliminate the online loopholes were people can purchase. Weapons without background checks we need major gun reform now but we also need to identify that there is a spread of white nationalism throughout this country that is now accompanied by acts of violence these are domestic terrorists in our country and we should treat them no different from al Qaeda we should treat them no different from the those individuals who have attacked us in the past you look at other countries such as Japan and South Korea has a very large gaming community and industry video games we don't see those these. Of acts of violence in their countries so to blame video games is irresponsible I call on both Republicans and Democrats alike to make meaning bold reforms not only on assault weapons but also to condemn these acts of violence by white supremacists our president I think as a leader I agree with Senator Cory Booker's Commons our presidents historically have united our country and for this president to stoke fear and Stoke. The acts of violence in a message and joking about it in his political rallies is unpresidential So we need our politicians to act swiftly they need to have the moral courage to do what's right and really that's at the end of the day that's that's what's missing in this conversation is the lack of of strength and courage for elected officials to do the right thing because they're afraid of the n.r.a. They're afraid of their racist base and it's unfortunate that they're not speaking out against this and he's on American values that have. Have come to hurt our communities I want to thank you both for being with us Bernie Sanders recently tweeted there are more than 5000000 assault weapons out on the streets of America which is more than the u.s. Military has that isn't saying we must ban the sale distribution and transfer of assault weapons and he goes on from there and there are more weapons in the United States than people I want to thank you both for being with us from our past which is something like 80 percent Latino and one of the safest cities and the country Fernando Garcia of Border Network for Human Rights and says are Blanco Texas House of Representatives Representatives thank you both for being there this is Democracy Now when we come. Back white supremacist see white supremacist violence that's what we're going to talk about and then the implosion of the n.r.a. What is holding back even Democratic politicians from demanding at this moment then son assault weapons and other gun regulations stay with us you could be the. Could be the. We could be. The. Spear a flower This is Democracy Now I mean you could miss we continue discuss with mashed should ng in El Paso Texas where an anti immigrant white supremacist gunman shot dead 20 people mostly Latino in a crowded Wal-Mart according to The New York Times white extremist shooters have now killed at least 63 people in the United States over the past 18 months last month f.b.i. Director Christopher Ray told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee that cry. I'm driven by racism and white supremacy is on the rise compared to the previous year and that his agency recorded around 100 arrests for domestic terrorism in the past 9 months a majority of the. Domestic terrorism. Cases that we've investigated or motivated by version of what you might call white supremacist but former f.b.i. Agents say there's reluctance within the agency to tackle white nationalist violence in part due to President Trump's rhetoric former f.b.i. Supervisor Dave Gomez told The Washington Post quote there's some reluctance among agents to bring forth an investigation that targets what the president perceives as his base it's a no win situation for the f.b.i. Agent or supervisor he said joining us now is Mike German fellow at Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School He's the author of the forthcoming book disrupt discredit and divide how the new f.b.i. Damages democracy from 1908 to 2004 Mike Sherman served as an f.b.i. Agent specializing in domestic counterterrorism So we have this weekend of horror from El Paso to Dayton we don't know exactly the motives of the Dayton the shooter at this point killed 9 people mainly African-American he also killed his sister and that mass slaughter and we do know however what's being attributed to a manifesto to the El Paso shooter who is in custody and apparently talking to. The authorities when he went into one of the most Latino Walmart's in America and just started shooting Can you respond to what's taken place and talk about. The words the president does not want to use right supremacy right nationalism and how that affects investigations in this country. Suppressant Trump from the time he was 1st announcing is candidacy was was using very deceptive rhetoric that fit very well into the white nationalist ideology and identifying the targets. Were the the that we needed to protect us for all and those had. Immigrant communities and. I think that gave white nationalist bit of comfort that their ideas had permeated into the mainstream and we saw a lot of these white nationalist become part of the mainstream conversation when when mainstream media started interviewing them about the candidacy of Donald Trump So unfortunately as we've seen the violence increased from these public rallies and riots. And we haven't seen a law enforcement response that would that would dissuade this kind of violence so there's this idea that the bios is sanctioned and that that's when it becomes very dangerous when when the D.'s white supremacist groups believe that the government actually approves of their conduct it is encouraging them to act and that's what I think is very dangerous right now and unfortunately that federal government has not reacted in a way to dissuade this kind of violence you know like the day before. Or testifying and all the attention on Mahler Christopher a testified before the Senate and he raised this issue of domestic terrorism of white supremacy he's a trump a care for head of the f.b.i. That got very little attention so what does the government understand that it's not investigating what reports been suppressed around the rise of white supremacy domestic terrorism. So I appreciated director a statements that white supremacy presents a persistent threat in the United States but unfortunately their policies have actually masked how they use their domestic terrorism resources to make it harder for the Congress to understand. How many of those resources are going toward white supremacist violence Senator Durbin back in 2017 introduced a bill that Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act that would have required the f.b.i. To document how many incidents in state Halliday's were a result of each type each category of domestic terrorism in the best terrorism program and then how many investigations and and prosecutions occurred in each category which I believe would have shown. Disproportionate investigations against groups that were not nearly as violent as white supremacists instead of producing that bad at what what the f.b.i. Did was change the way they collect that data so they grouped. Anarchists with anti-government militias under a category of anti-government they group what had been a white supremacist category with what they had previously called black identity extremists so that it would be harder to discern how many whether appropriate resources are going to where they're actually in violent acts attributable could be Scroope So this is a problem that's longstanding then we Justice Department as a matter of policy in practice has deep prioritized the investigation it's premises and we talk about a rise in white supremacist violence but the truth is we don't know whether there's a rise because nobody actually accounts for this violence the federal government today doesn't know how many white supremacist killed people each year and they haven't been keeping these records even. As counterterrorism became its number one priority so what they need to do is change these policies recently some former and current Justice Department officials have been arguing that they need new laws that there aren't sufficient laws Well I work these cases in the 1990 s. And nobody suggested we didn't have enough law in fact there are plenty of laws and we wrote a report of the Brennan Center last year wrong priorities on fighting terrorism to show the scope of the loss not just 52 terrorism laws that apply to domestic terrorism. But 5 federal hate crime statutes that dress in the kind of crimes that white supremacists often commit organized crime statutes that would prevent the organized groups that act violently and persist because their members can replace one another but and also other conspiracy statutes so there are plenty of laws it's a matter of policy and as a matter of policy the Justice Department. Takes. Hate crimes and defers them to state local prosecution and only 12 percent of police departments across the country even report hate crime so we know that the state and local laws aren't are responding to this appropriately at the federal government just 1st just to them speaking to Fox News Texas lieutenant governor Dan Patrick were the anti fascist anti racist movement and teeth to stay out of Texas following Saturday's match at the El Paso Wal-Mart. You know I was. Looking at a story recently but just all of the last couple of days or and he thought there's ousting you know they want to come out so if you attend takes each. Other message to people to get out of the. State of Texas been quickly but we don't need them coming in on September 1st we don't need a particular point in time but I would I would say didn't. Scratch took too long from out that don't come in so I mean here is. The lieutenant governor of Texas is being asked about the alleged gunman and he targets and teeth President Trump is also target and he recently said the anti fascist movement should be considered a terrorist organization my term and can you respond yeah it's troubling because this is bubbling up from days far right white supremacist websites into the mainstream not just in the media but now from government officials so it's quite troubling that there is this distraction. And cheap a.m.d. Fascist and the racist groups there are no faith Halliday's the United States resulting from these groups for at least a couple of decades so why we're even talking about that in a counterterrorism context when you have groups that are killing it all and we're not responding to those groups in a way that's comprehensive and helps us really understand the problem so we can address that work properly. In fact today I mean this is all so horrifying I think . Paso and Dayton were something like the 250th and 251st mass shootings this year and then going back years I mean just today August 5th is the 7th anniversary of the creek mass shooting at a 6th temple in Wisconsin and which $66.00 were killed. Absolutely and it's troubling because they've had this tacit support from the government they've had this laxity in law enforcement following up on when they commit public clients that I believe they've been able to recruit in a way that bed wasn't possible in 99 days when I worked this this issue so I'm concerned that typically if you look through history you tend to see a lot more political violence around elections and because they've had this base to recruit and this tacit support from the government that they can become much more dangerous and unless the government starts responding very differently very soon I'm afraid that we're only going to see more of this and I want to thank you very much for being with us Mike Sherman fellow Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School author of the forthcoming book disrupt discredit and divide how the new f.b.i. Damages democracy and on that issue of this being the 7th anniversary of the sick temple massacre and which 6 people were killed the shooter was a white supremacist inventor and he died by suicide that day This is Democracy Now when we come back what are the Democrats afraid of as the n.r.a. The National Rifle Association implodes Stay with us. Down. Big dreams and. Go. Oh it is. So clear. So. You grew up in. Connecticut high school student Tyler Jenkins written as part of the March for a live student movement against gun violence this is Democracy Now I mean you get minutes we continue to look at the this weekend's deadly gun violence in this country over the span of 13 hours. The country was shaken by 2 match against an anti immigrant white supremacist gunman shot dead 20 people overwhelming lot Teano and a crowded Wal-Mart and El Paso Texas 13 hours later a gunman who had a history of threatening women shot dead 9 people including his own sister outside a bar and taken most of the victims were African-American President Trump briefly spoke of the killings Sunday didn't mention guns domestic terror or white nationalism Senator Bernie Sanders and other Democratic lawmakers calling on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told a special Senate special session of the Senate to vote on 2 gun safety bills recently passed in the house this all comes as the n.r.a. The National Rifle Association is imploding We're joined now by Alex your blunt I reporter at the trace a news outlet devoted to gun related news his most recent piece headlined mass shootings are just trying our sense of public space Alex thanks for being with us and thank you for your news organization for the trace start off we talked a lot about a past so what do we know about date and about the killings that took place I mean hours after what happened in El Paso so in contrast to the old Paso shooting the Dayton shooting does not appear to be ideologically motivated in. It's more in line with past machinations we've seen where a young man has a history of antisocial and threatening behavior young young white man who then lashes out in public it emerged that he was suspended from high school after compiling a kill list rape list of young women that were in his in the school that's the kind of thing that in a state with a red flag was which is a procedure that allows a judge to order a seizure of someone's guns even if they're legally own and if you can demonstrate that that person presents an imminent threat to themselves or others that could have been the basis for a red flag seizure complaint but Ohio does not have a red flag law though Governor Mike De Wine Republican actually backs one so right now aside from the the actual act itself there doesn't appear to be any kind of ideological tie to nations also in this case and you often have this in these cases. Whether white supremacists or not these white young men often have a link to in addition to white supremacy violence against women this one is just very clear with his killing of his own sister who was at the area and Dayton with a friend massaging is a really clear link between so many mass shootings that we've seen one of the biggest warning signs or risk factors for mass shootings or any other kind of shooting is a past history of threats or violent behavior and the way that violent individuals behave they grew through patterns of escalation and it usually starts with those closest to them either family members dating partners spouses or classmates so it's . Not surprising at all unfortunately to see that the suspect and date have this history of of intimidating and threatening people to do. I want to get to what seems to have held back so many democratic and maybe Republican legislators at state level and in Congress and that is the power of the n.r.a. Pouring money into elections apparently they poured less money and in November then you know the gun control groups but now also are going through a massive spasm a kind of implosion Can you talk about what happened at the n.r.a. Sure so the n.r.a. Isn't very deep crisis it went from the apogee of its powers in 2016 when it spent more than any other single special interest group to back President Trump and congressional Republicans election efforts to a deep fiscal crisis accusations of profound corruption at the top of the organization and self dealing not to mention just run of the mill financial mismanagement. Long time figures in the group like Chris Cox who is the top lobbyist and was largely was widely seen as the likely next. Leader of the group were forced out as well as a number of board members So basically this all stems from some reporting by my colleague Mike Spears and many other reporters that found that for a long time the group has had an unusually close relationship with the top vendor which is an ad firm called Ackerman McQueen that has worked with the n.r.a. Since the late eighty's basically as long as Wayne La Pierre has been in charge and it's very difficult to say where where the n.r.a. Began and where the end. Ari And it anathema to the queen. And after the queen began a lot of figures who were sort of the some of the most well known public faces of the n.r.a. Such as Dana lash were actually Ackerman McLean employees who worked on behalf of the n.r.a. Through projects like an r. e t V which is now shut down basically. The group's accountants and some board members found out that there was no due diligence being performed on these contracts option gone to. $40000000.00 a year. We have 20 seconds and those who have raised concerns about it have been forced out of the organization. We're going to do part to this conversation put on line of Democracy Now dot org But this seems to be a key moment for gun control groups I mean you even have the New York Post front page today as you were coming here at the markets now you might have seen Ben weapons of war and we're going to talk more about that Democracy Now dot org out Alex your blunder Forder the traces most recent case will lead to mass shootings are destroying our sense of public space time Amy Goodman thanks so much for joining us. RINGBACK