School. That day i put my boys on the bus and my friend was calling and she said nick ole, its a shooting and its at our school. It was the day after thanksgiving i was in my familys home in chicago. My son was with his father in florid florida. I picked up the phone and there was just this dead silence and i said where is jordan . What happened to jordan . And thats when Jordans Dad said jordan has been shot. Youre 25 times more likely to die from Gun Violence in the united states of america than any other developed nation in the world. What does this say about us as americans . Were just willing to let people die because were afraid of The Nra . There is no other single issue in the lobby in the united states that had as much success against the wishes of the majority of the country. Gun Vie Lepsolence is taking at a historic rate. Its only getting worse and worse and were focused on the right to bear arms and not the right to live. The nra had managed to convince millions of America Cc cans when people get killed, thats The Price Of Freedom. Why has that happened . We have to start unpacking their myths. David keen. Im dave keen. I was president of the national Rifle Association from 2011 to 2013. I continue to serve on the Nra Board as i have since 2000. Ive been in politics in washington and nationally for more than 40 years. Ive been involved in One Way or another over every major battle in Gun Violence. At The Nra what you have to do is try to every Day Advance and protect the rights of Gun Owners. No. You shall not take the Freedoms Beq Bequeathed to us from us. We will go to the ballot box. Well demonstrate and organization and do everything necessary to. To protect those rights. Americans came to this country, survived on the frontier and protected their families. They knew if they got into trouble, help was probably not going to come and so they developed this selfreliance. Gun control is not simply about guns. Its about App Assault on values and an image of america that believers in the second amendment hold dear. It apn attack on them and their lifestyle. Its an attack on the Kourn Trt Country and values. George washington said every citizen should be armed. Country and values. George washington said every citizen should be armed. The nra wants you to believe a fantasy about our founding in which our founding fathers believed there should be no regulation of firearms. That couldnt be further from the truth. It is absolutely clear that our founding fathers loved Gun Control. They, in fact, had loads of it. From our very earliest days in the 1600s through the 20th century, there were literally thousands of Gun Laws and they were Gun Laws of every imaginable variety. We had rules who could own a weapon and who couldnt. You had to register your web. You had to register your gun powder. You kocouldnt bring your weapo certain places. When we think about the american west, you think of it has a lawless period where everyone carried guns and guns won the west and thats really not the story of the west at all. The norm was strict Regulation And Prohibition of gun carrying. Thats why in recent years even just scalia, very conservative member made very clear the second amendment wasnt an unlimited right. How far does that go limitations To Keep And Bear Arms are permissible because there were some that were acknowledged at the time. We think today of that Gun Battle with rights and stronger Gun Rights but in the first 30 ocho0 years of history, thats not how it was. When The Nra was founded in 1871 they took no position on Gun Control whatsoever because they saw no needs. I started covering the national Rifle Association in 1994. The national Rifle Association was founded in order to deal with future possible threats involving european military forces. They organize nid shooting competitions to be applied to the battle field. The marksmenship is map taned is a result of the Rifle Association. That remained their main Focus Rivalry and hunting to expand the Shooting Sports for over a century. Before The Nra changed. It will be a matter of minutes before he arrives at the mark. It appears as though something has happened in the motorcade. President kennedy has been assassinated. Its official now. The 1960s is a decade in which the gun comes to symbolize the Chaos And Disunity the nation is experiencing as a whole. For the first time you get signs there is going to be a push for racial equality. You get signs there will be a push to say women have equal rights and see at the same time this incredible dramatic Gun Violence up surge. The sassassination of John F kennedy to malcolm x, Martin Luther King. There is also a Mass Shooting at the university of Texas Austin in 1966 that begins the age of Mass Shootings. Its a decade Thats Police Vio violence. Most of the unrest is tied to shootings. The true understanding of what Give Up violence does was when Martin Luther King junior was assassinated. I distinctly remember watching my father be so distraught and my mother sobbing because he represented freedom. Its not a coincidence the assassinations of the 1960s are of people representing progress. Every time it seems that there is some group that is going to rise up and say we americans too and we deserve the same rights as everyone else. Thats the point at which violence breaks out. The up surge in violence shocks the country and calls for stronger Gun Laws. I call upon the congress In The Name Of the sanity to give america the Gun Control Law America needs. Nra members and Gun Rights Activists Air rose from the 1960s not just in response to the rising tide of support for Gun Control but in response to the political and social movements of that time. Those movements threatened the status of a lot of white men. It wasnt until now the Culture Wars broke out back then that Gun Ownership and the second amendment became a matter of controversy. Restrictive legislation is the step to the takeover of this coup tri. At that Point A Fight took place at the national Rifle Association. You had one element focused on Shooting Sports and they were not interested in politics. You had another element of The Nra who is starting to raise the alarm about Gun Rights. Some Nra Members believed the goal was to abolish firearms in the united states. They realize unless you do something you dont have the right to own a firearm. We see millions of people in america who like to shoot. These new voices in The Nra are led by a map named carter. We bereave that the right To Keep And Bear Arms is a part of the america n tradition. Carter believed that every Gun Control measure violated true American Identity and principles of individual and freedom and began organizing Nra Mem members. The nra has been curtailing against Gun Laws. We have sent a letter to our entire membership. Sending instructions how members were to write their congressman, The Nra launched a very effective lobbying campaign. Carter wanted to take the activities The Nra were supporting in over a Accentury D put it into the Gun Rights agenda. The nation and sportsmen have been subjected to a massive Publicity Campaign against this bill. This Cam Pipe misled thousands of our citizens. It is a responsibilities to think not only of our own convenience but the tragedy of sudden death. The national Rifle Association of america is under siege today. High profile political assass assassinations, when you see The Nra that is responsible for preventing regulations on guns. Under pressure The Nra came around to support the Gun Control act of 1968. We come here to sign a comprehensive Gun Control law ever signed in this nations history. The Gun Control act of 1968 was a measure that for the first time created categories of prohibited purchasers. [ applause ] there were leaders in The Nra who didnt have a significant problem with that law and thought the organization had strayed too far from its original intattempt of marksmenship. They gutted its lobbying shop, fired about 16 individuals. This was Field Guard and they were interested in moving the Nra Out Of Washington to shift the focus of The Nra away from politics completely. Carter left The Nra and accused The Nra of betrayal. He truly believed that Gun Rights was the most important issue facing america. There is a deeper history that goes back to a murder he committed when he was just 17 years old. He had killed a Young Mexican Named Ramon In An Act of vigilante which hell be convicted of murder and had the sentence vacated by a judge that felt the jury had not been properly advised about selfdefense. Carter changed the vowel in his first name from harlan to harlon and kept his Murder Conviction Quiet for 50 years. In the 1950s, he had been a Border Patrol Officer and the Border Patrol Chief using measures. Youre talking, harlon about being able to carry a handgun around in your belt and youre saying that say liberty i depend at the expense of 25,000 lives per year. The price of those lives i put up ajgainst my right to the presumption of innocence and my right against selfincrimination and the right of Due Process under the fifth amendment that the Government Cant seize my property without Due Process. Those are worth all the lives youll pay for. This man, this former convicted murderer and advocated positions as a Border Patrol Chief, this man believed that Give Up rights are more important than violence. I respectfully submit to you if we can ever embark upon the principle because a liberty might be abused, the government can restrict it, restrain it or abolish it, ladies and gentlemen, you have lost everything. [ applause ] the national Rifle Association convention in cincinnati went into over time a stormy all night session. Harlon carter plotted and organized to take over The Nra. Back then, The Nra elections were contradicted in person at the annual meetings. And he managed to get more than 500 of his supporters to travel to cincinnati for this meeting. If you take my rifles, my shotgun, my pistols away from me, what do you do after that . Take the pocket knives, Hunting Knives . Where is the Stopping Point . You had a Convention Floor that was rowdy. Carter had deployed his followers in the audience equipped with walkietalkies so that he could give his lieutenants the orders about which way they needed to vote. The Old Guard was caught completely unaware and ill prepared and they ended up firing the Old Guard every one of them one by one. Getting themselves elected as the new leaders of The Nra. This is the founding of the Mod D modern nra. Any national Gun Law no matter how innocent in appearance, no matter how simple it might be, presupposes a still further growth in a centralized, computerized Gun Control bureaucracy in washington d. C. The nra in 77 implemented a practice of total control. The entire organization was restructured so everything went up the chain of command. Indep indepen de pendent voices would allowed because they wanted to make sure everything they did supported this agenda. Nra membership really exp exploded. It grew by 300 . Heavyily staffed, Well Funde and geared for action. The nra began to use the second amendment as the bedrock for arguing against Gun Control measures. Theyre going to wrap any argument in the american flag. Here are the Organizations Cop Convention there are Pamphlets Part of the Lobbying Effort against Gun Control legislation. The nra started hiring paid scholars to start Writing Articles in Law Journals to shift the way the America Cap System of jurisprudence and the courts look at the second am amen amendment. The second amendment is not about hunting ring rabbits. Its about Selfdefense And Selfreliance and all the things the founders care about. Here is a threat to the second amendment. Our members know when they hear that, they rise up. Harlom karmcart ericer recog potential, an organization that can E Mass a great deal of power. The main sponsor of the Gun Control act of 68 was Senator Joe tightings. He was supposed to be a Slam Dunk Candidate for reelection. All of a sudden, he found he was being attacked by all these Gun Owners. Joe lost because of the Give Up issue. That was the first political scalp on the wall. That served as a Wakeup Call to the political community because the difference between Gun Owners and others is that gun openers actually vote. My name is matt. Im currently unpacking why The Nras members are so politically activity. I collected about 80 years of the magazines. The American Rifleman of The Nras journal, the most widely circulated magazine of the united states. I digitized those and used a tool called structural topic modelling, a fancy Computer Algorithm to take the documents and group them together into topics. It was a topic that was clearly related to the second amendment. Also a topic called american and guns, there is also clearly a topic related to crime. I was then able to plot the substantive ideas that The Nra pushed over time. The nra has played a singular and important role in cultivating an identity around Gun Ownership, which guns are not simply tools a lot of folks use but instead symbols of who they are and what they value and how they view their place in the world. Nra has this identity around Gun Ownership and politically weaponized it. We see The Nra portraying Gun Control as threats to who its members and supporters are. When peoples identities feel threatened, theyre much more likely to take action. This Gun Centric Ideology enabled The Nra to align with the Republican Party when the time was right. David king, southern coordinator for reagan last year. What do you think the Republican Party needs to do to resuscitate itself . It should be based on an opposition to Government Interference with the family and individual life. Ronald reagan emerged as a hero to most people on the right and certainly to most Gun Owners. He was of course, an outdoorsman himself and Gun Owner and recognized these things. Tales of wild west men and women are into our youth. You know what they are, words like selfreliaselfreliance, p initiative. Those bedrock values that made america great. It is not surprising that the first president ial candidate that The Nra endorsed was Ronald Reagan who came from hollywood, starred in many cowboy movies. You wanted Law And Order in this town, you got it. Ill shoot the first man that starts for those steps. He personified this myth that The Nra told that the country is built on individual List M and those nose those notions were rooted in Gun Ownership. We want to preserve our heritage and american right. Its an appreciative crowd that heard president Ronald Reagan reendorse their philosophy. We will never disarm any american that seeks to protect his family from fear and harm. [ applause ] the story of regan and The Nra really goes back to 1967. Regan had been governor of california during the passage of the mulfred act. It criminalized the open carry of firearms and designed specifically to disenfranchise and disarm members of the black Panther Party for selfdefense because they were demonstrating openly to shed a spotlight on Police Violence against black and brown people in california. You have no right to take my gun from me. There is no reason why on the Street Today civilians should be carrying a loaded weapon. Throughout our history, the fear that africanamericans could have access to firearms and use those firearms to the detriment of whites is pervasive. So what you see from the very beginning in American History are very stringent laws to prevent the ownership of firearms by people of color like the black codes. And this is going to be a theme that will run all the way up until the 1960s when we get the mulfred act. The nra helped draft the legislation itself to make sure those new laws were passed. Ultimately the motivation boils down to race. Many argue this isnt really App Attempt to deal with the issue of guns than Scapegoat Communities of color for the violence over taking the nation in that moment. Its all Part And Parcel of a longer ark of The Nras support for the criminalization of certain Populations Access to firearms. In the 1980s, this fear over takes the Nation And Regan will campaign successfully on this idea that americans arent safe, that you need to reinvest in Law And Order. Guns dont make criminals. Hard core criminals use guns and locking them up the hard core criminals up and throwing away the key is the best Give Up Control Law we could ever have. Nra spokesman acknowledges part of the membership comes not from sportsmen, traditional members but people worried about crime. Crime is the important thing i think thats what the people are interested in. Gun rights activists concerned about crime always decouple that conversation from the poverty that accompanies the decline of american cities. Industry is moving out of the in Inner City to the suburbs, people have less space and competing for fewer resources and fewer jobs and it creates a Powder Keg in american cities. Where you see Gun Violence thats most ram ed, root causes are most rammpet. Cannot be at every black male between 18 and 25 belongs to a gang and yet, when you see an arrest thats what you see infarbly. The 80s And 90s showed us you cant meet a crisis with Law Enforcement strategies and expect them spo work. In current times we start with how do we manage a threat versus how do we save lives of those who are most impacted . Right now black youth are 14 times more likely to be shot or killed by firearms than white youth in america. And as a survivor of Gun Violence, ive seen that people in our communities are the ones paying the price for this Quote Unquote Freedom that advocates from The Nra are talking about. It is Christmas Eve in New York and the Talk Of The Town is not peace of earth but the violence among us in the subways this time where vigilante and his gun brought terror this past weekend. There are a number of cases that are instrumental in the believes of the modern nra. One is the barnard shooting. A passenger on the subway, a white man said four black Teenagers Welding Crew drivers pressed him for 4. They shot him in the Spinal Cord paralyzing him for life. The Nra Defielded mr. Gets as a way of putting their own stamp on Gun Rights through his case. The national Rifle Association today began Running Ads in new York City newspapers, ads that say lawabiding citizens have the right to protect themselves because the city no longer does. The greatest single deterrent to crime is an armed citizen. Hailed as a hero and lost in that conversation is the Fact Bernie gets was carrying that gun illegally. Four blacks wounded by a white gunman and the Cheering Hasnt stopped. We try ired of being pushed around. People see him as a vigilante who had enough and is going to fight back, guns down fourteen agers including famously saying to one of them after he shot him, you dont look like youre hurt too bad. Here is another one. I remember how i felt going into the city after that and it felt like it was open season. You had to think differently about the way that you showed up in public places. It was clear in the way that people talked about that case what the line of demarcation was and it was the fact that bernie gets who was white shot four black teenagers. Society bought the narrative promoted by The Nra that armed white men could solve the problems of america and go on out and kill the bad guys. In that moment, bernie gets his conviction because he argues bernie gets acted in selfdefense. Firearm has a legitimate Selfdefense Purpose when a criminal is trying to rape, Rob Or Injury the victim. Wayne La Pierre was hired by carter as a lobbiest. He wasnt a diehard Gun Rights guy. He wasnt the guy that wore the Nra Patch on his sleeve. He was a mild mannered, educated guy who could walk into a room and present an argument for Gun Rights issues without being intimidating and bombastic and flamed bo flamboyant. Im a Gun Rightse Eadvocate D ive been in the Firearms Industry for a little over 20 years. The gun community, we talk about gaining ground one of the things Wayne La Pierre did effectively is make it much easier to get a concealed permit. Tomorrow sweeping new State Laws take effect to make it easier for people in florida to obtain permits to carry concealed weapons. The first state that allowed concealed carry was florida. Then Wayne La Pierre said lets get concealed carry across the down i country. Texans given the right to carry concealed hand gun. Applications. Applications will come into sheriffs offices. Over the last several decades, weve seen a shift from most states not issuing a license to carry a concealed firearm, now to every state. Right to carry sweeping across the land. It became a concealed carry revol revolution. To get a concealed Carry License requires training you have to undergo. You have to pass a test, but now we have 21 states that dont require any form of license to carry a firearm. While anybody in kansas can carry a concealed Weapon And Wont need at training to buy the gun. Thats called constitutional carry. Its a great piece of branding by The Nra to take a concept like permitless carry and say well call that constitutional carry. Texas seasonnators have pass constitutional carry. You wouldnt have to get a license, no training required and there would no longer be a test. Were going to take a notion of no regulation whatsoever and call that constitutional. One of the most rigorous recent studies that investigated what happened when these laws changed found that violent crime increased by between 13 and 15 . If you suggested to Harlom Carter by 2020 Carry Laws of one form or another would be in effect in all 50 states, he would have said youre crazy. But they are. Because of the work that The Nra has done, we have a huge number of people who now have guns in their everyday lives. Its not just Saturday Afternoon at the competition. It not just hunting season. Youre literally carrying a gun around on earth every day to work, to the store, dropping your kids off at school with the idea that youre going to be able to use it to defend yourself or other people in an emergency. The nra has managed to p promote this ideal of guns everywhere that more guns are going to provide more safety. The nra then begins pushing for legislation that would encourage people not only to be able to carry but to be able to use guns to defend their lives without fear of being prosecuted. If you look at stand your Ground Laws, any person who feels themselves under threat can use lethal violence. Stand your Ground Laws have proliferated across 33 states. The national Rifle Association was a key element in the passage of those laws. In all states where stand your Ground Laws have been passed, weve seen Gun Related Deaths and homicides increase. This violence continues to rage forward and were watching individuals in our community being slain. Very compassionate and very sensitive. He had a lot of wisdom and great deal of understanding and trying to figure out the world around him. The man who murdered my son was claiming that he feared for his life. That my son had a Gun Or Stick and he needed to defend himself and the stand your Ground Law gave him the ability to be able to do that. Oh my god. Somebody is shooting. Jordan davis was shot and killed here during an argument over loud music. Dun admitted to firing the weapon but said he did it in selfdefense after being Threat Pe Ed by the teens. No Give Up was found in the teens suv. That man was using his implicit Bias And Racism as a means to act out his violent tendencies towards my son and his friends. Because you can shoot to kill and ask questions later based on a perception of threat under stand your ground. Having just watched the same scenario with trayvon martin, i even had discussions with jordan about trayvons murder. And jordan said mom, why did that man, why did he kill trayvon . Trayvon wasnt doing anything wrong. And i remember saying to him, baby, youve got to be careful. As a young black man, somebody will take out a Give Up and shoot you. And there the very discussion i had with my child became our reality. Every single moment that we ignore whats happening in our streets with our laws, people d die. I william Jefferson Clinton do solemnly swear that i will fatefully execute the office of president of the united states. In the early 19 90s the democrats have control of congress and decide to pursue gun regulations. Whats the point of being president if you Cant Help improve the lives and futures of people . Laws can help. Thats why i want to take these Assault Weapons off the street to regulate how we deal with this craziness of violence. The 90s were a time of turmoil because of the Clinton Administrations assault on firearms rights. I thought we werent asking for that much. Clinton introduced a couple pieces of legislation, one was the 1993 Brady Bill he established Background Checks named after Reagans Press Secretary jim Brady Shot with Ronald Reagan. The Brady Law could be a Turning Point in the fight against Gun Vie Leolence in ame. 87 of Gun Owners support this legislation and you wonder who then does the national Rifle Association represent . Next bill clinton. Weapons signed for the purpose of killing people should be banned except for military personnel. When i was growing up, all we had was hunting and fishing. This is our Culture And Part of my political base when i was elected president was Working Class whites. I thought we can fix this without interfering with hunting and selfprotection. We have taken this important part of the life of millions of americans and turned it into an instrument of maintaining madness. Public support for an Assault Weapon Ban is overwhelming as much as 70 in some polls. The trick is traps nslating tha into votes on the house floor. La Pea Ierre was elected to e over as the highest paid executive and try to defeat any efforts to pass Gun Reform. This is a campaign for eliminating the Second Amendment Entire entirely, unless we fight it, thats americas future and it starts with a simple step like a simple Gun Ban that too many are too cowardly to fight. La pierre started talking about a slippery slope. That even the most seemingly benign form of Give Up control would e ventually lead toward greater Gun Control and ultimately disarmament. The assault Weapons Ban of 1994 is the indicator that oh, if we dont stand up and really assert ourselves, if we dont really do something about this, were going to potentially lose everything. Wayne La Pierre began putting incredibly insending communications to Nra Members. Mr. La Pierre Talks about this Administration Theyll Stop at nothing, even murder federal agents wearingabiding citizens. The nra was too much for people and then in the gop including Ronald Reagan. I support the Brady Bill and encourage congress to enact. Former President George Bush senior resigned his Nra Membership in response to La Pierres rhetoric. Regan Carter And Ford signed a Letter Urging House Members to vote for the assault Weapons Ban. No good member of the house or senate, no republican or democrat, no legislator should ever fear losing their seat for voting for this bill. The yays are 216, the nays are 214. The bill is passed. They passed the Brady Law of 1993 and then they pasted as part of a broader came package the assault Weapons Ban of 19 94. It waswas an assault on the entire part of the population on their vision of what america is. Thats why the Nras Job is to ring a bell. Come november these traitors are defeated and humiliated at the polls and never serve in public office again. In this election cycle, The Nra perfected their well oiled Lobbying Machine and powerful grass roots army. The Nra Developed Scorecards that rate political Cap Dndidat making it easy to find who is Endivorci Endivorce endorsing and act on it. They go and vote and turn out in huge numbers in the 94 election. Thats the year guns made a difference. Welcome to cnns continuing coverage of election 94. This is an earthquake. This say title wave. Its happening In The House. Its happening in the senate. The sands are shifting. Republicans take over the senate. Cnn Estimating Republicans will take more than enough seats to take control of the house of Rep Se representatives. Daybreaks in washington d. C. As voters across the country awake to the scale of the beating they have given President Bill clinton and his democratic party. They took it out on us. We lost 54. I woke up in a Cold Sweat Thinking about how id let the country down. Im sorry, nra beat the Speaker Of The House. Tom furly 30 years in congress is the first Speaker Of The House voted out of office since abraham lincolns time. What does that tell you . There is a difference of having popular Support And Voting support. We cant just depend on an opinion poll. The nra made guns a Voting Issue. You launched a political revolution that changed the face of congress and rewrote bill Clintons Idea of American History. Not only was The Nra very successful in flipping Party Control of congress in the 94 election but put a tenyear limit on the assault Weapons Ban so it automatically lapsed after ten years and that was the praise they paid in order to get that bill through congress. Now the assault Weapons Ban, the Tenyearold Law expires at midnight tonight. Is there any question the lifting of the ban will cause more weapons going on the streets . There is no question there will be more weapons on the streets. Right now the companies are taking orders. The Nra Profit from this idea that the Assault Weapon is something that was banned by those liberals coming to take your Give Ups. Thank goodness that ban is no longer in effect. You never know when its going to come back so everybody come out and get a Give Up like this. There were christmas advertisements, Discount Prices on ar15s. Buy your bargain Assault Weapons for christmas. The Nra And Gun companies really be into market Assault Weapons specifically their military features. You can acce Accessoryize Diffe stocks and removable magazines and that means much more profitability for the givun ind industry. The ar15 became as The Nra dubbed it americas rifle. But then you begin to see these weapons used in Mass Shootings. A gunman appeared at the from the of a theater and opened fire. At least 50 people were hit. You look at high fatality Mass Shootings. There are studies that show yes, they have increased since the assault Weapons Ban lapsed. In the face of these tragedies, the Arms Industry is uniquely protected no matter how negligent or reckless their practices might be. We did, i think, in one of our great victories save the Firearms Industry. There was a move to hold companies liable in court for the misuse of a firearm. We got congress to pass an act that would prevent that. Because of this law, you dont get products designed for safety. You dont get products designed to stop people from using them for their means. You get a Blank Check to an Indust Indu Stry to advertise t themselves to kids. If those frivolous lawsuits werent stopped, Gun Companies would have gone out of business. The nra was key to the survival of american Firearms Manufacturers more than the other way around so they ought to be grateful but we dont get our money from them primarily. This is my rifle it been tested in every Theater Overwar for the last 50 years. My rifle is my best friend. Through the dust, the rain and the snow. Its battle tested. And its in a class all by itself. This is my rifle. This is colt. I believe in the right of selfdefense but you dont need a an Assault Weapon or 1,000 rounds or piercing bullets to do that. My name is jason crow. Im the congress i represent many of the families of the aurora theater shooting. The columbine tragedy. I served overseas in three Combat Tours in iraq and afghanistan. There is a big reason why i didnt carry an Assault Weapons in the woods when i was Deer Hunting. Its also a really good reason why i didnt have any Deer Hunting Rifle Or Duck Hunting Shotgun when i was in iraq and afghanistan. Because the weapons i carried in afghanistan and iraq were weapons of war. They were designed Toen Flikt terrible damage on humans. And to take Human Lives and they do that with E Markible efficiency. From the Magazine Capacity to the Muzzle Velocity to the type of roun thats used, everything is designed with that Singular Pup in mind. The technical aspects of weapons mean a lot so nobodys ever going to Tell Me theres no such thing as Assault Weapon because theres no basis in truth for that. Whether its an El Paso with an ak47 or aurora, we know what has occurred. And it is not going to stop unless we do something to stop it. December 2012. Everything changed. Dylan was sick so he loved school and didnt want to go at the same time. We had this routine that every day we would do a countdown. So monday was five days school. Two days no school. Tuesday was four days school, two days no school. As the bus was coming around the corner and the kids were all lining up, dylan just looked at me and he said, last day of school, mommy. And i said, thats right, d. One day school. Two days no school. And he nodded at me and said, last day school. And literally across the driveway from where i was standing with my boys the shooter probably already killed his mother In The House directly across from mine. I thought if i looked up in the window would i have seen him looking down . Is there something i could have done to stop him from then driving to the school only a few minutes later probably . I think Theres Somebody Shooting in here. 154 bullets fired less than 5 minutes from the Bush Master Assault rifle. The gunman killed 26 people, 20 of Them Childrening as young as 5. The majority of those who died today were children. Beautiful Lut L kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old. As a country we have been through this too many times. In the days following the shooting, we thought the world had changed. We thought everyone had woken up to the idea that we had to get serious about preventing another slaughter like this and we thought that the silence from the Gun Lobby and The Nra meant that they were contemplating how far they were willing to go to compromise. The nra didnt Say Anything which has been their practice after almost every Mass Shooting in the modern era. For four days after the killings in new tourn it had nothing to say, nothing on the website, facebook or on twitter. The White House saying that President Obama is supporting new legislation banning Assault Weapons, closing the Gun Show Loophole for Buying Guns an enbeen on high Capacity Ammunition clips. They announced a press conference. For the first time the national Rifle Association is responding to the newtown attack. It was our assumption that we were up against a very big fight, so had to be able to rally our people. Like all americans, we have been discussing all of the various options that are available to protect our children and at this point we would like to share our thinking with you. Good morning. Some have tried to exploit tragedy for political gain. We have remained respect ily violent. Now we must speak. I wondered what he was going to say and if he was going to say something to attempt to validate the emotions swirls around the nation about this heart breaking tragedy. The only thing that stops a Bad Guy With A Gun is a good guy with a gun. And to me thats like, come on. Reckless behavior coming from The Nra. For people to stand there and say, no, we need more guns, it was extremely disheartening. Nra, stop killing our children. It is The Nra and Assault Weapons killing our children. Essentially blamed the victims, that the teachers themselves of this Elementary School should have been better prepared. And the vision that lapierre put out was one thats consistent with everything i knew about the modern nra but they had never before said it so clearly and plainly out loud because they were afraid it would be too unpopular. We need to have every school in america deploy a Protection Program proven to work and by that i mean armed security. After the service, we did our first interviews with media. One of the first questions was, what is your response to Wayne Lapierre saying this morning that the only thing to stop a Bad Guy With A Gun is a good guy with a gun . I said whos Wayne Lapierre . And all i could think was, whoever he is, that is one of the most absurd statements i have ever heard. We cant just arm everyone and expect a safer society. That was my introduction to The Nra in this battle. All of us need to demand a congress brave enough to stand up, to the again lobbys lies. Victims of Gun Violence and families demonstrated on capitol hill. We are here from tucson, aurora, columbine. Names that have become iconic in americas bizarre and shameful epidemic of Gun Violence. In congress the leader of senate republicans joined the chorus of politicians suggesting that needs to be done. As we continue to learn the Facts Congress will determine whether theres an appropriate and constitutional respobs to better protect our citizens. Americans watched congress, watched the senate. Surely democrats and republicans would come together to put something in place. We thought we can get a restriction on Assault Weapons passed. That became unachievable and we were left with this expansion of Background Checks. Joe manchin coming from a pretty conservative and Pat Toomey coming from a conservative state got together at considerable political risk to them and wrote a compromise that would save lives. Truly the events at newtown changed us all. Nobody could sit by and not try to prevent a day like that to happen again. I dont consider Background Checks to be Gun Control. Its Common Sense. The nra during that period had an ironclad grip on our political system when it came to the question of guns and Gun Violence in america. It takes the Courage And Resilience of somebody like gabby giffords to take them on. I started in her office January 3rd of 2011. Five days later she was shot in the head from three feet away. Congresswoman giffords is shot. Made a miraculous recovery and went on to fight for her life and to contribute to Public Service once again. Ive known days of pain and uncertain recovery. But confronted by this paralysis i put one foot in front of the other. In the aftermath of sandy Hook Shooting and the twoyear anniversary of Gabby Being shot we threw ourselves into working past the expanded Background Checks bill. Violence is a big problem. Too many children are dying. Too many children. We must do something. Today i struggle to speak but ive not lost my voice. We never thought Background Checks were going to be easy to pass. But there was the will of the people and the polls and the way people were speaking out. We hear all the time that no one agrees on anything and why even bother. But it is really a false narrative. Im a Gun Owner. I regularly go to the range and try to keep my skills up. I believe that people should be able to own guns but we need to do a hell of a lot better job to make sure people that shouldnt have them dont get them. The nra just does not represent Gun Owners anymore. My passion is hunting. And half of all Nra Members are hunters. Why is the organization that claims to represent Gun Owners working against any effective Safety Measure capable to keep american children safe . We all want to see kids not get killed in schools, crime be lower. We all want do live in a better, more perfect union. By making guns so partisan and saying politicians trying to steal our guns The Nra is preventing the Lanlger Conversation from coming. More than 80 of u. S. Americans Support Background checks for sales and theres no difference by political affiliation. Every american abhors the recent tragedies. I remember talking to joe manchin. He bragged that he got a new shotgun. I said what happens if the guy on the Neighbors Farm wants to buy it . Hows he like it when you say we have to drive 25 miles to a federal Firearms Dealer and do a Background Check on you . Is that going to make him happy and then find out the reason he has to do it is because of you. It was bizarre to get to the actual vote and feel that that was a victory. And then to start hearing that we might not have the numbers. The question is on the amendment. Clerk will call the roll. Mr. Alexander. Sitting up in the gallery you knew where the no votes were because they wouldnt even they obviously couldnt look at themselves in the mirror. Thaktdnt look at us. We had senators that cried in front of us and then voted against us. Miss Hide Camp . No. Mr. Mccain. Aye. Mr. Chambliss . No. A few minutes ago a minority in the United States Senate decided it wasnt worth it. They blocked Common Sense Gun Reforms even while these families looked on from the senate gallery. I felt that wed failed. I failed dylan. I couldnt even do this for him. I couldnt save him and i could even get one measley little policy passed that might help someone else. Everybody talked about how we were going to change something. To see nothing happen was just a blow. So all in all this was a pretty shameful day for washington. If this, if the death of 20 Children Cant motivate people to take action what will . We thought that western going to get all of these changes in Gun Laws to make our communities safer. But what we found out is that thats not how politics work just The Nra had been organizing for 40 years to get ready for that moment in 2013. They were ready for those parents who came to washington. And they beat them. When we started i knew nothing about The Nra and i had no idea what a powerful Lobbying Group they were and how Insud Wous they can be, telling the lies that they would tell. You are not just up against smart political thinking. You are up against people that just say whatever they need to get what they want. We have all been under attack since the Connecticut Tragedy by those that exploit the victims of a madman to advance their own antisecond Amendment Agenda but the united states senators realized that the constituents actually do count. The nra was not interested in compromise, solutions. They were interested in a dark, cynical vision for this country. By the time it was over we had A Million new members. And we had turned the tide. [ applause ] please welcome our executive Vice President Wayne Lapierre. The only thing that stops a Bad Guy With A Gun is a good guy with a gun. When Wayne Lapierre spoke in the aftermath of the sandy Hook Shooting, his comments were very much aimed at the more extremist Gun Rights community that is the base of support for The Nra. Theres an old axiom in politic that is a small but a highly motivated minority can often win the day over a large but fairly apathetic majority and thats pretty much the tale of The Nra. By almost every measure we are les free today than we were a decade ago. In ways our Fore Fathers could never have conjured in their worst nightmares. As folks that pose a threat to the future of the country. This is the Culture War that The Nra has been fighting for decades now and that Donald Trump took up. Some big guns backing Donald Trump. This afternoon the national Rifle Association endorsed him for president. Heres somebody that really understands. Lets go after the bad guys and leave all the good people alone. The second amendment is under a threat like never before. When Donald Trump ran for president The Nra believed that they were looking into a mirror because Donald Trump personifies the playbook that The Nra has successfully been using for decades. Hillary clinton wants to abolish the second amendment. Just remember that. Our right to gather, our right to speak, our financial freedom, all of it in decline. In 2016, from the trump and The Nra stand point, you are talking about the same people. The people that came out in those small towns were our people. Trump represented something they had never seen before. American, mccain, h. W. Bush, even george w. Bush didnt speak that kind of language. The national Rifle Association endorsed me and early. Long time ago. Contributed 31 Million to his campaign. Poured around 70 Million into the 2016 elections overall. We decided that if he was going to have any chance in the fall that it was the one bet that had to be placed and we placed it. So we all worked together to create a tsunami of rural small town votes that might not otherwise have occurred. Lo and behold the gamble paid off. Thank you. It wouldnt have happened without us. Without us, we wouldnt have had President Trump. I mean, theres another organization in the country thats directly responsible because of the influence we all have as american citizens that stand for the second amendment. You see a Gun Lobby try to wrap this ushs and the rhetoric of patriotism and freedom. That language is incredibly troubling to me. I take it permly when i see Militia Groups with Assault Weapons on the streets. Not only is the united states one of the only Add Vapsed Nations that allows for civilian ownership of guns without licensing or registration, but its even permissible to walk around during a political protest with loaded ar15s. We are seeing more and more firearms openly at demonstrations or rallies as a way to intimidate. Weve made scary to some people but thats because we dont know what will happen and it is our right in this country to do this. The nra has shifted the pendulum that some think that they have the right to do whatever they want with the guns. We stand and we fight like hell for freedom. The revolution to take america back starts here. Now you have a version of the second amendment that says i can stop you from speaking. I can stop you from participating in democracy. I can stop democracy itself. And i am honoring the constitution by doing so. I want you to fight back. I want you to raise hell. We fight like hell and if you dont fight like hell youre not going to have a country anymore. Its hard to imagine the support that trump got for his efforts to overturn the election. Being there without a foundation laid by The Nra as an organization. Whether its The Nra or Donald Trump, when you build and feed your organization members such a steady diet of that kind of messaging it could explode into disorder and violence. In kenosha, an armed citizen sent out a Facebook Message saying we need all the Armed Silt Sevens to come out and resist. In response to the recent Police Shooting of Jacob Black a 29yearold black man. Black lives Matter Cal Rittenhouse hears protests are going on. And thinks i should take up weapons to defend this other place and their property, that that would be a patriotic thing to do. And does in fact do that. 17yearold Kyle Rittenhouse killed two protesters and left one injured. What do you think will happen with an agitated man with a long gun thinking that he is some sort of peacekeeper . Why is there no attempt to deal with this person carrying a gun . The narrative that The Nra is so effective at promoting has really taken root in american society and culture. The nra believe that the deaths of innocent people is just a necessary price to pay for a people to exercise their freedom. And you see what the logical conclusion of that is. That we dont really have responsibilities to each other. Its a very high price. The nra talks about being fundamentally concerned about american liberty. Is it the liberty to own a gun and to pass laws that give people really the opportunity to treat neighborhoods like Hunting Grounds . Or is it this idea that we want to protect life and create a standard of living for everyone in this nation . The american dream of wanting to live peacefully and wanting to enjoy life and wanting to go to school and become educated and raids your children and have a healthy, safe life. And not be attacked. My girl, my 14yearold baby, i sent her to school. She was supposed to be safe. My job is to protect my children. And i sent my kid to school. A heartbreaking day in florida and sadly all too familiar one. 17 people confirmed dead. In the morning, sometimes things get so crazy and i dont always get to say i love you. I dont remember if i said that to jamie yesterday morning. Jamie loved to dance. And i loved to watch my daughter dance. She would have been an amazing person to watch grow up. I wont get to do that now. Dont Tell Me theres no such thing as Gun Violence. It happened in parkland its with the Parkland Shooting that i absolutely lost it. Because those children were the same age as jordan. As i watched them running out of their High School for their lives. President trump is now publicly demanding stricter Gun Control in a break with The Nra and fellow republicans. I watched On Television President Trump was at a roundtable discussion. It doesnt make sense that i have to wait until im 21 to get a handgun but i get a weapon at 18. I dont know. You underestimate the power of the Gun Lobby. I remember distinctly when President Trump said you dont need to be afraid of The Nra and theyre all shaking their heads like yes, yes. I thought, okay. Maybe somethings going to be done. Dont worry about The Nra. Theyre on our side. Half of you are from The Nra. Theres nothing to be afraid of. President trump held a Latenight Meeting with The Nra and then tweeted it was a good, great meeting in the oval office. President Trump Dialed back the call he made for the age limit. In President Trumps case he obviously empathized as do all of us. But then upon reflection he realized maybe what he said wasnt what he really wanted to do. He knew what we did in that 2016 cycle. He was grateful for it, remains grateful for what we did. He had our support and he had our back. The nra had a seat at the table in the White House. So at this point, nothing was going to be done. It all hit me. My daughter didnt need to die. These shootings are predictable and preventable. The nra knows it. But theyre okay with it. Its a cost of doing business. Its an opportunity for The Nra to turn around and say, the only way is more guns. And i just said to my friends and my family, im going to break that [ bleep ] Gun Lobby. Every single person you were here today, all these people should be at Home Grieving but instead we are up here standing together because if all our Government And President can do is send thoughts and prayers then its time for victims to be the change that we need to see. Anybody can make a positive change. And i mean, we were kids. I am emma gonzalez. I now go by x gonzalez. Young people took control of the narrative and told our stories honestly. Politicians funded by The Nra telling us nothing could have been done to prevent this. We all bs. As a kid being able to look at the politicians and tell them you made a miss take and it hurt people. Thats something a lot of people really understood. We want change and we want it now young people became the new messengers for Gun Control in america. They say a good guy with a gun stops a Bad Guy With A Gun. We call bs. When i gave that speech and then exploded we all realized we actually had the eyes of the nation on our Social Media and i started reaching out to people. Were going to start this. Lets look into how we can make march for our lives a nonprofit. Thousands of students are expected to walk out of their schools against Gun Violence. All of a sudden we went from this organization barely existing to seeing marches happening all over the world. Here they are flooding the streets of boston, massachusetts. In philadelphia and los angeles. You are responsible my Kid Couldnt do this but these kids, this happened to them and they were able to stand up in that moment and say no way. This is not right. And they dont have to control what theyre saying or be likable or moderate. Theyre just going to say exactly what they think. This is our opportunity to talk to President Trump, Senator Marco Rubio and all other members of the united States Government funded by The Nra. Nows the time to get on the right side of this. The nra is so good at threatening people because they have so much money and power. Interviewers would be like youre not scared to take on The Nra in no. Because we have no money from them. We were experiencing a problem and vocalizing solutions. Senator rubio, can you Tell Me right now that you will not accept a single donation from The Nra in the future . They were afraid of us. What was encouraging about march for our lives is that they opened the door for folks impacted by violence of all walks of life to take the mic and tell their lives. It is time to care about all communities equally. It is time to stop judging youth that look like me or my brother that come from impoverished communities. We are trying to stop Gun Violence in all of its forms. You have to address the system on the whole and Gun Violence is an epidemic. It should be treated like an epidemic. What are you asking for here in washington . Assault Weapons Ban. Youre not saying no guns . Not saying no guns. We want to regular late semiautomatic weapons and accessories that make them fully automatic. We need to focus on changing the conditions that Foster Violence and trauma. Thats how we will transform our communities and uplift our voices. The young leaders were instrumental in breathing new life into the Gun Reform movement. When theres limited opportunity to tighten Gun Laws we have to ask ourselves what power do nonlegislative actors have to help us solve this problem. Dicks sporting goods said thoughts and prayers are not enough. The chain will stop selling Assault Style rifles at the 600 nationwide stores and ending the sale of firearms to buyers under 21 and will not sell high capacity magazines. If these kids are brave enough to organize then we should take the stand. No chance to reverse this . Never. First dicks sports goods and now walmart. They will not sell guns or ammunition to anyone under 21. At least 16 companies now say they cut ties with The Nra. When you saw the rhetoric that The Nra had we cannot have our brand attached. It was the Parkland Shooting that really got to the tipping point. We needed to take a position. The General Public cried out for change and that led to tremendous progress at the state level. In florida it is republican Governor Rick Scott broke with the president and with The Nra. The socalled Marjorie Stoneman douglas public Safety Act raises the minimum age from 18 to 21 to buy a rifle. The School Safety Law put in place. It started spreading Gun Legislation all over the country. Despite being the newest target of The Nra the vermont governor said he is not backing down. Getting a gun in illinois just got harder why the governor signed two gun measures. The governor said she is proud that they have Gun Control Legislation Sinsz floridas Mass Shooting. We started to push the importance of midterm elections. Speak out. Vote. Because what if checking a box could save a life . Elected officials are not in charge. We can vote them out. Whenever we want to. We have candidates running primarily on Gun Violence prevention like Lucy Mcbath. I was afraid. I will always just be a mother on a mission. I have never run for a federal office before but i felt it was more of a tragedy not to even try to save peoples lives. And that even if i didnt win making sure that people know this has to be an issue that you go to the polls on, this has to be an issue that you stand righteously on. This has to be an issue thats not going away. Im a first time candidate. I have made this a part of my campaign because im not willing to sit back and let this become a new normal. When you know that something is right and you know that there needs to be change theres times you have to jump in. Americans for the first time were given the chance to respond to candidates with clear plans and messages being given the chance to say, yeah, we want this done. We ran campaigns from Coast To coast. We endorsed in dozens and dozens of races. Spent millions of dollars. We elevated Gun Safety as a primary Voting Issue for the american electorate. We saw on Election Night all of the counties and the states flipping from nra owned. It was wonderful to watch those returns come back around the country. This morning Lucy Mcbath was declared the official winner. We managed to help beat 43 Nra Backed Incumbents and elect a Gun Safety majority to the house of representatives. This is your night, your democracy. Tonight we begin a new era that putt people first and recognizes our shared destiny. There is a Sea Change thats happened with all the young people marching forward. Theyre going to the polls as a oneissue voter. And thats guns. There is a Critical Mass now of people who at least know they wont get beat for doing the right thing. Unlike what happened in 1994. And they know we got a chance to have a civilized conversation about it. Thats a Big Plus and we owe it to them why they did that. I couldnt do it in my time but i tried. Anybody that thinks The Nra is going to disappear has got another thing coming because every time they have thought that was about to happen it didnt and it is not going to now. The second Amendment Belief whether a Nra Member or not will rise up once that bell has been rung and do whatever is necessary to guarantee the continuation of those rights. Think about what would have happened if the revolution at The Nra didnt take place. What if they had become an important public organization and cared about the skills soeshtsed with firearms. Would we have the division that we have right now . The politicization of The Nra signaled The End of rational conversation about guns. Any organization that will not bend or compromise is going to break and thats what we have in The Nra. Children are dying in our schools as we speak and nobody is representing Gun Owners in the conversation about how to make that better. I want us as Gun Owners to be part of the solution, part of the conversation so we can cocreate strategys that are respectful of the culture of Gun Ownership in this country and have an Evidence Base to reduce the number of Gun Deaths in the u. S. By letting an organization like The Nra have such a big role in the debate theyre dominating the discussion when in reality this is a public Health Crisis and requires Community Leaders and survivors to be leading the discussion. We the activists, were the davids to the goliath of The Nra Gun Lobby leadership. And just as david took down goliath, we, too, will take down the Gun Lobby. These are scary times. It will be a long, hard haul. Now is the time to come together, be courageous. What i want people to do is care. Learn. Be angry. And then use that rage to become courage, to take action and do something, to say this is not okay and im not just going to be apathetic and let it continue and say it will never touch me because it will and you have the power to do something about that. One of the most basic ways that we are capable of making an impact is voting. Let the politicians in your area know that you are paying attention to whats going on and a lot of people working together on that can make a huge difference. My strength comes from jamie. I have lost this capacity for fear and anxiety. We cant be afraid of The Nra anymore. Too many people have died. And now it is time to fix this. We are at a cross roads. We can let the shootings continue or we can act. We can protect our families, our future. We can vote. We can be on the right side of history. Please join us in this fight. Hey, everyone. Im Chris Cuomo and welcome to a Special Edition of prime time. This is a price of Freedom Post Show to keep the conversation going. We just watched one of the most powerful films on one of the most divisive issues in our country. You will call it Gun Control or Gun Rights or constitutional rights. The language is evidence of the separation of interests and perspective. But the key of that movie is the Nras Rise to power. As not just a Lobbying Group but a political force that shaped Americas Gun policies for decades. A Central Question posed is if the death of 20 Children Cant mot motivate action what will . Do we know the answer . Its true the senate failed to pass an expansion of Background Checks following the 2012 massacre in Sandy Hook and here we are today several thousand Mass Shootings later. Theres no country like ours when it comes to Gun Violence. Why is that . Lets look for answers. Great panel. You will know them from the panel. Maryann franks, features in The Price Of Freedom, author of the cult of the constitution. Shannon watts, the founder of Moms Demand action for Gun Sense in america. And author of fight like a mother. Were also joined by Gun Owner wes sigh lar, a hunter not a supporter of The Nra. You saw him in the film. Before we start we invited The Nra to join us. I didnt hear back by the deadline for recording this program. The invitation stands. All right. So maryann fr, let me start wit you. Because youre in something duptd mean you understand the impact once you see the full project completed. What surprised you about the actual film when you saw it . I think the most surprising thing is how well the Documentary Putt together the Nras Role in creating this kind of propaganda around guns, how much they have really okur stratded, Kocoordinated This Movement to convince americans the only way to protect themselves is through firearms. Seeing it all laid out and the different aspects of that highly coordinated campaign that was really striking. Lets build on that. Great point. So shannon, help marry that with your understanding of how this issue plays on its face as right and wrong with a Side Dish of legality. Right . But at The End of the day its really about Optics And Organizing and pressure and timing. How did you make that discovery in your own work . The nra was once the largest most powerful Special Interest that ever existed in this country, and here we go in 2021 and theyre one of the weakest organizations now. Right . Theyre under investigation on many fronts. Theyre losing money. Losing power. In many ways theyre a paper tiger. Their investment in elections, for example, have dwindled. The return on the invest. S since 2010. And so The Nra that we think of so often when we think of this allpowerful Special Interests no longer exists. That is large part because organizations like Moms Demand angst and others have taken them on and in the introduction you mentioned Sandy Hook and this idea of did something happen after Sandy Hook . Congress didnt act. We know that. But what did happen is that organizations, americans, got up the sidelines. They rose up against this Gun Lobby and took them on and have been successful in hobbling them and taking away their power. It certainly is something to discuss after i Loop Wes In is the idea of this may be moving from a federal one size fits all solution to state by state, what worked for The Nra in their progress from their perspective in changing things and that is what seems to be working after parkland and, wes, you as a character are often framed as a Uni Unicorn in this debate. You are a Gun Owner whos not a nra second amendment fiend. I, too, am a Gun Owner and im sure we have very similar conversations with our friends who are in that about this issue and you are actually not a unicorn. Most Gun Owners think that you should be trained and store your weapon and if anybody uses it in a crime thats on you and Tabak Ground checks for all sales make sense. Absolutely. Thanks, chris. I am not a unicorn. There are over 190 Million Gun Owners in this country. The nra has as little as 3 million. I am anything but a unicorn. The unicorns are the snowflakes on the right that will not compromise. You know, its a good point, too. Maryann, one of the things that struck me in The Price Of Freedom is you would think that the emotion on this issue will militate to the people that more restrictions on weapons because almost without exception they are the ones who have suffered loss where the pain is. Sometimes you have something that lost somebody and said if only they had a gun. Most often the victimization is on the side of people that want change that increases restrictions. David keen, the former Nra President said something in the film thats worth revisiting. Listen to this. Americans who came to this country survived on the frontier, protected the families. They knew if they got into Trouble Help was probably not going to come and developed a self reliance. Gun control is not simply about guns. It is about an assault on values and an image of america that believers in the second amendment hold dear. It is an attack not just on the guns but on them, their lifestyle. It is an attack on the country and the values that the founders cared about. Gun as metaphor for freedom and being american. At The End of the day that is the emotional swing that is such a catalyst on that side of the equation. Its absolutely a huge part of it. This is what i have referred to as constitutional fundamentalism. It is a lot like religious fundamentalism. It is Act Invoking A Sacred Scripture to put forward your self interested view and say its not because i m selfish or reckless but the constitution demands this. Americas identity depends on this. It is effective propaganda, a way to try to close down debate, any question, any criticism by asserting pay tri nottism, American Identity and portraying themselves and supporters as an ever persecuted Victim Group that has to fight against being besieged by people to destroy america. Who is if perversely emboldened in the position every time of a Massacre Baze for every parent they hear like you saying i dont want this to happen to anybody else they say me either. Thats why we need more guns and cant take them from the good guns. You have to take them from the bad guys. What do you say to that notion . Theres a whole host of executives at Gun Lobbies including Wayne Lapierre who have become millionaires off that rhetoric, exploiting Chaos And Tragedy all the way up to the covid crisis and seen tens of millions of Gun Sales in two years because The Nra and others have gotten rich off of selling guns. Because of tragedy. And look. If the Data Bared out what they were saying we would be the safest country in the world. More countries and fewer Gun Laws give a 25 higher Gun Violence rate. It is clear what they are saying isnt true and looking at the data in the states where we pass stronger Gun Laws you see fewer Gun Deaths. We cant let them stand in the way. The price of freedom shows what happened with Gun Homicides and i use that word carefully. The number one Gun Death in this country is suicide. One person using a weapon against another looking at the curve before and after the assaults Weapon Ban expired and allowed to expire you see an inverted swoop so thats the strength behind shannons point. One thing that wasnt really highlighted in the film antony scalia, the former supreme court justice, In The Beginning of the film with Chris Wallace talking about the fact that reasonable restrictions have been allowed. The irony is he was the author and The Advocate for the most significant change in the law that really isnt discussed much in the film which is finding an individual right within the second amendment which had never been found by the supreme court until scalia found it and convinced the court of the same. What does that mean to you in terms of what the law suggests, what the constitution was to reveal . I hate to say this but i agree with antony scalia. There is an individual right to own firearms and he wrote in that opinion in that Heller Case that it also allows for reasonable Gun Control. And we have to go back. He is the most conservative judge in the history of the supreme court. If we cant agree with him on that where are we . Although, maryann, not conservative in that decision. He was not going by his the gospel of scalia is keep it to the four corners. He read into the second amendment however you count words in it was never found by any other court. How significant was that in the ultimately reckoning of this issue among our culture . Tremendous. It was the perspective of the Sec Amendment for the longest time everyone agreed that the second amendment was about a collective right, it was about having at least some kind of connection to what the constitution commits us to in terms of general welfare, Dmes Ek Tranquility and for the skort to say we are going to go against History And Precedent and most Common Sense understandings and say that actually this gives you the right personally to defend yourself, that was a huge Sea Change and it was definitely in The Nras favor even though it didnt go as far as The Nra would have wanted but very much gave that stamp of approval to that view point. Now they recognize that individual by individual is how the second amendment should be applied. Shannon, one of the things thats highlighted very well in The Price Of Freedom is after parkland there the kids organized and maybe we needed in terms of the perspective of just having more robust debate here and there then was some output at the polls but we also saw that their concentration manifested itself most state by state which actually echoed with The Nra had done going state by state. Do you believe that that is the future of change, it is not going to happen at the federal level . So when i started at The End of 2012 a few months into 2013 there was a bill, a bipartisan bill called Manchin Toomey to close the loophole and not buy unlicensed Gun Sales and sell them without a Background Check. That failed so it became apparent to us in 2013 that we were going to have to go state by state and we have. So many people are waiting for a Cathartic Moment in congress which i believe is coming but it is important to remember we have passed hundreds of good Gun Laws at the state level. We have stopped The Nras agenda. Year after year in state houses 90 of the time and we have gone through City Councils and School Boards and corporate Board Rooms to change the culture of Gun Violence in this country so we actually are winning against the Gun Lobby. It is important to remember that and much like any social issue. You have to build momentum on the ground, create change that eventually points the right president and the right congress in the right direction. Wes, what do you say to your friends when they say, brother, we have so many Gun Laws right now . Its so comply kated and hard and oriented toward keeping good people to go through the process from getting a weapon and do nothing to stop the bad guys that buy them off the street . What do you say . Let me go back to the point that the heller was the best for The Nra. Nra opposes proGun Legislation. They just use guns as a tribal Identity Totem and larger republican Culture Wars. ProGun Legislation works against their interest because they Cant Sell Fear and the problem The Nra restricted gun experts, Gun Companies, Gun Professionals from participating in Gun Control and so the laws that are written are written sort of unsensibly and because experts dont participate and prevented that and they then use that as an example to say Gun Control doesnt make sense. Because they dont allow the expert participation. Ill end it on this. Were both right because without it reading an individual right into that amendment they would not have the ability to fight for the individuals right to buy weapons. It woumpb stayed to an understanding of a militia and a collective and community by community. But you are also right that they have had it both ways. Thank you very much for your perspective. Thank you for your participation and i hope to speak about this again. Now, The Nra still has plenty of sway but as shannon just mentioned it is not the powerhouse it once was. Its taken Big Hits With Corruption Claims and bankruptcy scandals, alleged abuse of funds by expecutives. Lets bring in a reporter keeping close tab on the turbulence. A contributor for the New Yorker. Good to have you. Thanks for having me, chris. So allow the understanding of why The Nra has gotten into trouble to be conveyed to this audience. What is at the root of the current troubles . The root of the current troubles goes back to materially 90s when the organization started paying exorbitant sums of money to top executives and friends of the family, if you will, contractors, that sort of thing. And over a period of decades that resulted in literally hundreds of millions of dollars going out the door for no good reason and often against rules that gompb nonprofits especially in the state of New York. So when i first broke the story about that in 2019, that started an investigation here in New York because people dont always remember that The Nra when it was born was born here in New York. So the Attorney General Laity Sha James launched a fairly wide ranging probe that resulted in a complaint which is essentially been updated i think three Times Now and is seeking to dissolve the organization. Yeah. The Attorney General has been dogged in this. If anything its more expansive, not less. The pushback will be, see, this is what you do is you cant get them on the policy. Cant beat them fairly so you found the little loopholes to take them down no, its not really a fair explanation. If you were to think about what the Nras Core Mission was and why it was form originally and its function was supposed to be that of a Sporting And Hunting organization that was primarily organized around Gun Safety. Over the last 15 years in particular, the amount of money that was spent on Gun Safety, which it touts as its Core Principle went down dramatically, while spending on media went up dramatically, and it essentially became a media company, and it could be a perpetual Outrage Machine was not being spent on stuff that was going to further the organizations mission, it was going towards other things like, you know, golden parachutes, massive payouts, you know, private jets, all kinds of things that obviously didnt in any Way Fit within the scope of the mission. Wayne lapeirre, he called the lawsuit an attempt to destroy The Nra, and The Nra is committed to good governance. That has not gone well for The Nra thus far in that reckoning, however the cause lives on, and what do you think the lesson is in that . The nra created a religion, and i think the documentary does a great job of establishing that. Its a lot more complicated than just the gun. The gun is sort of the crucifix of the cause, and in doing so religion is an Organizing Principle for peoples lives, and it has become that for many, many people for many, many years. The nra trained those people how to be politically active and show up to polls and click the button to send a message to your legislature telling them not to do something you dont want to do, and in some ways what the organization did was sort of build The Machine and start it and now it kind of runs on its own. What do you think the significance is for the cause in wedding, the second amendment to the first amendment, which is what they have done . It was more of a litigation tactic, it was their certain novel legal strategy when they first came under scrutiny here in New York. That predated the organization i was talking about. The organization, its in a situation that has required itself to find new ways to bring in vast sums of crash, and one of them was a Carry Guard meant to discussion as a Self Defense insurance, and you get insurance and in the event you shoot somebody in Self Defense, then your legal costs are theoretically covered. That obviously ran fouls in New York, and the governor became a huge issue, and their response to that was to say that the state of New York was seeking to muzzle it and try to say, you know, this is really a first amendment issue, more than it is a second amendment issue. Was a second amendment you cant have a first amendment because the Second Amendment Stands between the population and tyranny. That has been an abstract idea that fits with the larger narrative that they have told their members over a number of years, and whether or not it feels preposterous to a number of people. Yeah, thank you. Fred gettenburg has been fighting the tpafight of Real Change since his beautiful daughter, jamie, was killed at marjorie douglas High School. What 9 11 and parkland taught me about recovery, Purpose And Hope. Its good to have you, fred. Good to be with you, kris. Thank you for having me tonight. Lets open the book on your insight. What did it teach you about recovery, Purpose And Hope . You know, listen, i dont get through what happened to my family after February 14th without the amazing people that have been part of bringing me forward, a part of my life since this, and you know, i would throw into the mix the folks involved with the Film And Ed from Dicks Sporting goods was also engaged with the film who i consider a hero. These amazing people around the country stood with me since my Tp Daughter was murdered, saying we can be better than this and change, and we can be Gun Owners in america and be for Gun Safety. Having this Country Stand with me to go against the lies of The Nra, which say something different, is something that i am truly thankful for. So somebody comes up to you and they give you a hug and say im with you, heres my problem, we have so many laws already and they are all designed to keep good people from getting guns and these bad guys, they are getting them illegally or stealing them, and they are the problem and you are just restricting my rights instead of targeting them. Go after them. I love you, fred, and i want you to be successful but you are going after the wrong people the wrong way. What do you say . Listen, i say they are buying into the lie, because heres the truth. The Gun Lobby that says that lie is also fighting Tooth And Nail to keep right now the atf without a permanent director. They fought Tooth And Nail for years and they have not had a permanent director, whose job is it to enforce the laws on the books. Back in april i stood with President Biden in the Rose Garden when he announced the appointment of dave chipman, and what has the Gun Lobby done since . What has The Nra done since . They have put millions of dollars into keeping him from being a permanent director, from keeping this country from having the ability to enforce the laws on the books so we can keep those who are easily getting access to illegal weapons from doing so and they dont care about safety or enforcing the laws on the books, and they love the Chaos And Violence because they care about selling more guns. What happened to my daughter, and i said this in the film, it was preventible and predictable, and so is the next one if we dont change. The other layer of pushback that i want to hear from you about is, you know, it could have been prevented, because of mental health, and its not good the gun, its about people mentally ill and Families Cant get them help, not the gun, but those kinds of people and getting them the help they need because then you wont have these kinds of Mass Shootings. Kchris, i have three goals. Reduce the severity of injuries when these Gun Violence instances happens, and its not always Mass Shooting. Mental health is part of the reductions, however, okay, and i have spoken about this over the past couple of weeks, and there was a story two weeks ago in florida that horrified me. A 2yearold infant, a baby, walked into the Moms Office in the home, and the home is the new workplace with a gun that was left unlocked and the mother was on a Zoom Meeting with her co workers, and the 2yearold shot and killed the mom. Okay . Thats not mental health. Thats us needing to do better to ensure that we are doing something to reduce these instances of Gun Violence. Listen, i have no issue with legal lawful Gun Owners. My son has been shooting, okay . I have no issue with the second amendment. I hate Gun Violence. I know we, as a country, can do better. And The Nra and this movie did a brilliant job of highlighting it. They use a weird argument where if we do something we will go on a slippery slope, but what the movie showed is we have been on that slope now for too many years, since 1977, when harlan took over The Nra, and its time for us to fight back and its time for us to put saving lives above all else, because nothing else matters more. Fred, well said. Perfect end note. I want to thank fred and all our guests for joining us. Thank you for watching. I am Chris Cuomo, and please stay tuned because the news will continue here on cnn. Boosters for some. Leaving others to wonder what about me . 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