president biden's comments at yesterday's event marking the passage of the bipartisan safer communities act. we'll show you some of -- we'll also hear from governor larry hogan another recess supreme court ruling on a new york gun law has affected the state of maryland. what the state of maryland is doing. we'll also talk about gun violence in cities. they want to hear from you and your communities, cities and towns. how has gun violence affected your communities there certainly are a fair amount of discussions about gun violence in cities on the campaign trail and certainly a? becomes a subject of too much or too little media reporting depending on who you listened to, but hear the latest statistics, for example, from new york city. the nypd statistics for june of 2022 on gun violence, in that large american city, for the month of june, 2022. the number of overall shooting incidents again declined in new york city, compared with june 2021. continuing the downward trend in gun violence in the first half of the calendar year. citywide shooting incidents decreased by 24.2%, marked by declines and every patrol borough except northern queens, where the tally rose by two incidents of june 2022. additionally, the number murders decline for the month by 31.6% compared to the same period last year. the nypd reports that there were 355 generous in june 2022, bringing the total number of citywide gun arrests in 20 22 to 2381, a 4% increase compared with the first six months of 2021. just some statistics there from new york city, on the gun violence in that community. how has gun violence impacted your community? (202) 748-8000, the line for those be in the east and central time zones. and it's (202) 748-8001, mountain and pacific. again, the white house held event yesterday marking the passage of the safer communities act. and a number of the stories out of that are about the interruption of the president, here is one of those headlines. it is, you have to do more, parkland father interrupts biden's gun control speech. we will show you that interruption, but we want to get you the words of the president first on the passage of the act and what it means. >> take away from this is that now, now, we're opening to get much more done. senator murphy has said, when you look at the bigger social issues america has faith throughout our history, quote, success begets success. that's when you, quote, finally move that mountain, you can ignite a movement when you do that. for more progress to follow. we finally move that mountain, a mountain of obstruction, opposition and a difference as to the way and stop every effort of gun safety for 30 years in this nation. [applause] now the time to galvanize this movement. because that is our duty to the people of this nation. that's why we have those families and buffalo, where grocery store became a killing field. that's what we owe those families and you've all day, where an elementary school became a killing field. and those families and highland park, where on july 4th a parade became a killing field. and as we owe all those families represented here today and all over the country, the past many years across our schools, places of worship, workplaces, stores, music festivals, nightclubs and so many other everyday places that have turned into killing fields. and that's what we owe the families all across this nation, where every day a tragic killing that doesn't make the headlines more than a, little more than a passing mention in the local news. and so then streets have been turned into killing fields as well. >> our focus this morning on washington journal, how gun violence is impacting your community. president speaking yesterday at the white house on the law that passed in congress, that he signed last week. the safer communities act. some of that legislation, part of eligible, asian would expand background checks for prospective gun buyers between the ages of 18 and 21, it would incentivize states to provide access to previously sealed juvenile records. it would fund a grant that can apply to red flag laws, including a comprehensive federal criminal statute banning gun trafficking and straw purchasing. to clarify who needs to register as a federal firearms dealer. it closed the so-called void friend loophole by preventing people convicted of domestic abuse from owning a gun. it will allow one-time non repeat offenders who are restricted from gun access under the legislation to have their gun rights fostered restored under certain conditions. and it provides money to mental health, school safety and training and community based mental health programs. it's called the safer communities act, enacted into law. but (202) 748-8000, the line for those of you in the eastern and central time zones. (202) 748-8001, mountain and pacific. headliner from the washington post, a story they published on sunday. the staggering scope of gun deaths goes far beyond mass shootings. somewhat of what the president was talking about yesterday. let's get your calls, we'll get to that article in a bit, by cutting recalls first. you go to nails in waldorf, maryland. good morning. >> good morning, good morning. i just wanted to say that, if you look over the decades and the years of our presidencies, with these mass shootings, you would notice a montage of the same words regurgitated in every speech. it's almost like they're reading off a template when it comes to gun violence. and it reminds me of the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. i am for background checks when it comes to registering for a weapon. i'm a gun owner myself and i do not have a problem at all even being in the judicial system, once upon a time in my life. but i do believe that we, as americans, as we acclaimed this united states we have to see that this is a spiritual issue more than a physical issue. we praise the guns more than we pray. and that is a serious problem, we talk about this outside of chicago or the urban areas where violence is prevalent. i live in the washington, d.c. area where gun violence is on the rise. no one talks about us as a nation or as a neighborhood or as a school community, but we actually have to repent for our sins. this is the bloodthirsty, it's a lust that no one wants to discuss. and it starts at home. the education starts at, home the pair starts at home before you even step aside a community and the building. we have to see that this is a bigger, spiritual issue then it is a physical issue. not to praise the guns more than you pray. that's all i'm saying. >> okay, now. to matt in dallas, texas. >> good morning. what i've seen happen here in dallas is a couple of are really popular entertainment districts are getting affected by random gun violence. as a city, i don't think we have a huge problem with gun crime. the statistics bear that out. but our most popular entertainment district now, there's people that don't want to go there because there's been random shootings. and they happen on saturday night, it'll have a lot of friday night. this is in those districts, two of them in particular, have closed. i'm sorry, businesses, restaurants in these entertainment districts of colors because they are not wanting to worry about what random shooting is going to happen in the future. so, that is what i'm seeing here in dallas. overall, crime is not a huge issue. but it's the randomness of the gun violence that scares me. one of the entertainment districts is in what's called uptown, normally a very upscale neighborhood. but because of random shootings happening on a sunday night, out of the blue, restaurants are closing. so, that's kind of what i'm seeing here. >> has that changed your behavior? do you avoid those places yourself? >> yes. oh, absolutely. i've talked to other people who say, you know what? oh go drink out of this other area on a saturday night because i don't feel comfortable going to uptown. because i don't know when the next random shooting is going to happen. so, yeah, it has changed my behavior as well. >> when you go to these places, do you find yourself looking for just kind of getting the rule more? looking for the exits are? just in case? >> yeah, no. normally what i'll do is i'll walk down the street and i'll make sure i'm not looking at my phone. i think, if you're not aware of your surroundings and there's thousands of people walking around on the street, if you're not aware of what's happening around, you that's where you get the trouble. but, yeah, normally i'll pay attention to where the nearest exit, proud forbid in case i'm in the middle of random gun violence. >> appreciate that, matt. here's a story we mentioned, the washington post this morning. the staggering scope of u.s. gun deaths goes far beyond mass shootings. the spate of shooting attacks and communities such as highland park, illinois, uvalde texas and buffalo has riveted attention on america staggering number of public mass killings. but the rising number of gun deaths in the united states extends beyond such high profile episodes, emerging nearly every day inside homes, outside buyers and on the streets of many cities, according to federal data. the post writes that the surge in gun violence comes of firearm purchases rose to record levels in 2020 and 2021, with more than 43 million guns estimated to have been purchased during that period, according to a washington post analysis of federal data on gun background checks. at the same time, the rate of gun deaths in those years at the highest level since 1995, with more than 45,000 fatalities each year. (202) 748-8000, the line to call for the eastern and central time. zones (202) 748-8001, mountain and pacific. a question for you this morning, how is your community impacted by gun violence? we hear from doug in san jose, california. >> good morning, thanks for taking my call. my community, thankfully, it's relatively safe. that's, because in our community, despite the fact i live in a liberal state and this is a liberal city, our county and our city don't tolerate a lot of crime, they don't tolerate violence of any kind. calling it gun violence is the wrong way to look at it. i live in a state where gun control is very tough. but if you look at cities epidemic state in california, there's a lot of violence. and a lot of this is generated by gang violence, that's generated by drug abuse. it's also generated by a general collapse of societal norms over the past 40 or 50 years. you can see this kind of violence when i was a kid. but society has begun to tolerate this and tolerate it more and more and accepted more and more and portray it more and more in general media, in video games. it is just accepted. unless and until we get a hold of this, from a societal level, and make sure that people understand the violence is not acceptable and teach our young people that, in particular, that's not the way to deal with your problems, we're going to see this over and over and over and over again. i think that the gun isn't the problem. the problem is the people, it's people violence. thanks for taking my phone call. >> next at this fountain hills, arizona. chris, good morning. >> hi, bill. >> hey there. >> thanks for the call. i live in a northeast section of scott dale, arizona and there's really no gun violence in particular. it falls down in phoenix typically. with the other colors, and i totally agree, it is a people problem. i think the judges, they're letting people out on the street back and forth that have these huge arrest records, and they're the ones that have all of these guns. >> okay, appreciate that, chris. this is from the washington times this morning, back to the white house event on the passage of the gun violence legislation. the headline here, mass shooting victims father interrupts biden's gun speech. the father of a mass shooting victim heckled president biden at an event on monday at the white house, where the president was trying to showcase new gun control laws. manuel oliver, who responded in a 2018 mass shooting at marjory stoneman douglas high school in parkland, florida interrupted mr. biden's speech to lambasted for not doing enough to curb gun violence. here's how that happened, on the white house lawn yesterday. >> today's many things as prove that, despite the naysayers, we can make meaningful progress on dealing with gun violence. because, make no mistake, said, down you'll hear what i have to say. >> [inaudible] >> i've tried to tell you this for years -- [applause] >> we have, one let me finish my comment. we let him talk, okay? >> like the washington times, the event itself was kind of in the background. the headline is the interruption here. biden event for gun law disrupted by parkland father, manuel oliver was escorted from the event after that interruption. comments on social media, some texts on our question this morning. how is your community impacted by gun violence? this one says, any law that allows the government to restrict gun ownership for unsubstantiated reasons is blatantly unconstitutional. auburn he says, there is nothing extraordinary about gun violence where i live, but that doesn't mean the ratio fires per person here in the u.s. is normal. while there is a right to own firearms under the second amendment, that doesn't mean there should be some limits on weapon ownership. c k says we now have a biased lawn place where folks can stand their ground into someone with impunity. the laws are broken in this country because politicians are paid off by the nra. and steve says, thankfully, my community is very quiet. neighbors are friendly and respectful. we feel safe walking anytime day or night. once you travel a few miles away, gun crimes do exist. the impact gun violence in those communities has had is the possible impact on our second amendment right. let's go to earl was calling from seneca falls, new york. >> good morning, thank you for taking my call. i want to talk about maybe helping to secure our schools. there are maybe tens of thousands of military, retired military, police, navy and marine, masters at arms. retired police. they should be trained so they can go into the schools and patrol the halls. maybe that will help. so, thank you for taking my call. >> all right, to marjory in west lake, ohio. good morning. marjory in ohio, you're on the air. >> hello, good morning. >> good morning. >> thank you. i have been trying to think of some way to make our numbers visible, for people who want something done about the assault weapons. so, my idea is to wear morning band. because i think, i will say, if someone asks me, i'm mourning the people who have been shot by a gun. and the image of thousands i, millions, of people wearing morning bands will keep it in our minds, where it should be. about these horrendous killings. thank you. marjorie, are you still there on the line with us? marjorie, how has gun violence, because gun violence and issue where you live in ohio? marjorie? we will go to tony? okay. >> while, in the cleveland area. >> marjorie, will is a new. >> i just heard about a young man in athens who was shot by anytime by the police but i am talking about everything, my family in colorado in the superstore where ten people were killed, i have been in that store myself-y, but we the retired teacher,, i, the school shootings are just tragic more than anything else to get our minds and hearts around with, and i think a continuous visual statement should be made about it, hold our legislators to the mark. >> all right, airlines are -- for those of you in the eastern and central time zones, that is 20274 8001 in the pacific, interested in hearing from you on how gun violence has affected your community, has impacted your community. michigan is next, tony. good morning. >> good morning, a number of detroit police officers were, i think all of these guns just in the neighborhood, we do not know who is the good guy and who is the bad guy who has the gun, now. these guns are giving people a false sense of security, a lot of people leave their guns in their car. if the gun is not on a person it is no good. everybody just has guns, all the bad guys have guns and can break into cars to get the guns, then they have more bad guns out in the strait for the bad guys. >> as a police officer do you think a citizen who does not intend to commit any crime is better off carrying a firearm or not? >> i would say not, because of a gun is not second nature to you it is no good because when the crime happens it is going to happen so fast, you are going to forget that you even have the gun, a lot of people do not even know how to carry a gun, how to prepare themselves mentally for something to happen, they buy the gun and the gun just sits there, they think because they have a gun and they are protected but they are not. >> do you ever run into incidents where people had to use their firearm in self-defense? >> you know what, i try to keep a small record of it, it has happened but more cases the gun got lost before they used it to defend themselves because they do not realize that they have it while the incident is going on. they are in shock. >> tony, thank you for your perspective, back to yesterday's white house event. darnell whitefield spoke, he lost his mother in the shooting in buffalo, new york. let's listen. >> celeste janey, andriy mcneill, hayward patterson, catherine madison, marcus d. morrison, aaron salter, geraldine talley, pearl young, and, mrs. ruth eat with field, our 86-year-old mother. all of whom went to the only supermarket in their community on may 14th to pick up groceries, believing that they were safe. but, they were not. they devastating reality is that an individual armed with a weapon of war walked in, with cameras rolling, and massacred them in the name of a hateful ideology. my family, our families and our community are devastated but their intent to divide us and to propagate further violence within our community has failed miserably. we have, instead, chosen to love over hate le pen. to speak out rather than to stay silent, and, to stand with those courageous enough to lead us. this is the signing of the most impactful gun legislation in over 30 years, we are truly grateful for this day but we know it is only the first step, this new law will undoubtedly help and in some cases prevent future tragedies. but, there is much more to do. we must address white supremacy, and, direct domestic terrorism. >> that white house event held to recognize the passage of the safer communities act by congress, signed by the president. at the same time, a new poll comes out from the research that are about the broader issue of gun violence. which is what we are talking about this morning. broad public approval of new gun law, but, it says few says it will do a lot to stem gun violence. the report is that americans are largely supportive of the new gun law, and the signing by joe biden on the 25th. two thirds of u.s. adults approve of the new gun law, 32% strongly approve. 21% say they disapprove of the law, including 11% who strongly disapprove and 15% who are onshore. despite broad support for the new law, this new law, however, most americans are not optimistic it will do much to reduce gun violence in the country. 78% think the new gun law will do little, 42% thank nothing at all, 36% think it will reduce gun violence, only 7% say the bill will do a lot, while 14% say they are not sure. roughly six in ten adults say they would like to see lawmakers pass another round of legislation to address gun violence, compared with 35% who do not. let's hear from you on gun violence in your community, gayle in massachusetts is next. go ahead. >> yes, good morning, thank you very much for taking my call. i had something to say, why are people shooting animals and why are people shooting animals for sport? that is what i would like to know, here. thank you very much. >> all right, angela wood, florida, we are from animal, how is gun violence impacting your community? anna, good morning. >> it is not impacting my community but i have been watching this about a month, and gun violence, i approve of the gun law but why don't they harass the parents, the, aunts the uncles, the grandparents of all of these kids that are doing all of this stuff? they need to get to the bottom of it instead of worrying about guns they need to find out why these kids are doing this. i have never heard any reason why. thank, you goodbye. >> okay, it lenore, north carolina go ahead, games. >> i live in a community, they take our weapons to school, no one ever got hurt. what they need to do is reinstate the death penalty. that would stop the madness. >> all right, an article from chicago five tv and chicago about the gun violence toll there over the weekend, chicago weekend shootings. three dead and at least 37 wounded in gun violence. just after 8 pm on saturday, police require two shots fired call and discovered two men had been shot. one of the victims was hit in the face and taken to an area hospital. police say another victim in his late 20s was hit in the leg, arm, and torso and is hospitalized in serious conditions. the reporting of tv five in chicago. collierville, tennessee, is next up. though ahead, peter. >> thank you, i am just interested in the comment. obviously gun violence is awful but when i talk about chicago, it brings to mind the concept that, okay, you want to talk about gun control. that is great, politicians love to do that, however, are you going to control the criminal and low life elements that commit grown gun crimes and shoot each other in places like chicago? are you going to control the miscreants and the psychopaths that should not have guns. i have to wonder the philosophy, here. what is a weapon? what is a firearm compared to the hand that wields it? one that uses, they residents else is the problem, not the gun, it is the people using it. all of the gun laws, all of the background checks, if you can't control the criminal element it will not help, and psychopaths and the people who are maladjusted, you have to control the individuals, not the gun by itself is not committing the violence. it is the hand that holds it. that is what really needs to be controlled. how are they going to do that in chicago, baltimore, atlanta, memphis. there are shootings all the time, here, and memphis. they are criminals and are you going to control them? i think that is something that needs to be considered. >> okay, peter, this is a report from the washington post this morning on the maryland counties, montgomery county, maryland and the gun violence, police chief saying gun violence is on the rise in maryland county. officials cite a year's jump as montgomery waves legislation action. they write that gun violence has risen sharply in montgomery county this year, with non fatal shootings nearly double what they were 12 months ago, the jurisdictions top officer said monday, police chief marcus jones made the remarks as county leaders discuss a proposed legislative action that would scale back the places someone could carry a handgun. he also spoke the day after dozens of gunshots were fired and a shopping center parking lot in montgomery counties briggs cheney area, sending a victim to the hospital with serious injuries and driving bullets into several businesses. quote, literally 60 rounds were fired in that parking lot, the police chief said it just shows you gun violence has become sort of the norm, which is not where we need to be. that is the police chief in montgomery county, maryland. the governor of maryland, larry hogan, on the today show and nbc, on meet the press discussed what the state has had to do in the aftermath of the supreme court decision on the new york state gun law. here's what's governor larry hogan had to say. >> there is a supreme court ruling on the new york law that maryland's permit law, they are going to have to, essentially, allow it to happen. do you feel as if the supreme court has cancer insurability to fight that? >> i do not think it does a whole lot, in maryland we have some of the toughest gun laws in the country but it has not stopped the shootings. 99% of the gun crimes to take place are illegal guns that have nothing to do with it. >> but, they are coming from states do not have the maryland laws, correct? >> they are ghost guns and people who are stealing, trafficking in stolen guns. but, the violent crime problem is real. it does not have much to do with how you go get registrations and civil carry. because, the shooters, the repeat violent offenders do not follow gun laws. >> i hear you, but, look at all of these mass shootings. too many of them, they're always the gun was purchased legally. here you have states with red flag laws that cannot implement it. is that really the elixir? >> look, i signed a red flag law in maryland that does work. we are having some of those issues, i am for universal background checks and reasonable restrictions. i have always supported the right of law-abiding citizens to go through the process to bear arms. do everything we possibly can to take guns away from the mentally ill and criminals. that is the problem in our state, our legislator keeps voting against penalties for people who shoot people with guns. >> that is the maryland gun governor, how has your community been impacted by gun violence? -- for the eastern and central time zones, -- four not enough pacific. you can send us a tax as well. tell us your name and where you are texting from. on twitter, a couple of comments. this one says, from crescent city, california. like much of rural america there is very little gun violence here. yes, violent criminals are now an issue in my area, that is why, after 60 years my gun now has guns for the first time. this one says, being that i live one hour away from parkland, florida, and two hours away from the pulse nightclub in orlando, the gunman's parents lived in my town. i would say my humanity is very impacted, one mass shooting somewhere a plexus all. back to calls, we go to james in north carolina. james, go ahead. >> good morning, good morning, thank you for taking my call. i have several comments, let me start with one thing. each time we have a mass shooting the first thing you hear is, well, the person was mentally ill. hello, am i still there? >> yes you are, good morning. >> if all of these people had some kind of mental issue, i want all of parliament to know, the first, or one of the first major bills that president trump signed was to give 750,000 individuals, who had been adjudicated, that they were two ill to sign the legislation. he signed a legislation to give them a gun. they were too ill to even accept their social security check, or their disability check. so, i mean, the governor just said they are mentally ill. well, when you have that kind of attitude about mental illness, then you can realize. one final point i want to make, we talk about guns don't kill people, a person with it in and kills people. up the president of new zealand, there is an ar-15 shooting. in a few weeks, she came out and says no ar-15 will be allowed, she banned them all. in other countries, civilized countries like england and others, they take it as a fact that we have to just get rid of them. it looks to me like it works, but we have this idea that we prefer maintaining the second amendment over lives and interests of individuals and young children. thank you so much for taking my call. >> to james's point, here's a headline from some of the reporting on the hill following yesterday's white house event. biden determined to renew assault weapons ban. they write, president biden on monday capped off a celebration of a recently passed bipartisan gun safety law with a call to take further action, including a ban on assault weapons weapons. let's hear from ken in tampa, florida. go ahead. >> yes, good morning. as far as down here in tampa, i mean, there is no real bad issue as of yet. but just like anything, where is the next city going to be the next copycat, will it be more noticeable than the last one. but to follow up on with the gentleman who just called said, it's the fascination of guns. at the end of the day, people would, when they talk about the mass shootings, if you calculate all the shootings, a mass shooting at any given time is nothing compared to all the single shootings of people running about, walking to the mall. people in their own home, shooting and killing people more than you can imagine, as a mass shooting. just imagine if the gun silencer bill that the republicans wanted to pass had gotten through. where would we be, with everyone walking around with a silencer on their weapon? people continue to vote for the same people who have no concern for their issues. we need to just vote all of these people out, but you get this divide. oh, it's a democrat, oh, it's a republican. and it's, really they're all in the same boat. just like if you have a professional basketball player, football player, they could be loyal to a team today but the minute they get traded they're loyal to that team. that's how all these politicians are. but these people that listened to the show, as well as i do, all they're concerned about is oh, it's a democrat, oh, it's a republican. no, it's the people you continue to elected to office that don't care about your concerns. thank you. >> all right, we'll hear from b, calling from north carolina. b, how do you pronounce the name of your town? b.a. in north carolina, got ahead. >> some people can say really rude things but it's -- , it was founded by a french man. few kobe. >> somebody has called from the city in recent memory, we like to get it right. so, thank you for letting us know. go ahead with your comment. what is your view on gun violence in your community? and, more broadly, in the u.s.? >> you're welcome. actually, i have moved all over the united states, i am a registered nurse. i would just like to say, i have been attending to taking care of people that have been affected by gun violence from infants to elderly people. . i just have a couple of quick points. i think that the people who profit off of gun sales, we should be looking at that as a country. i don't care what your political affiliation is. because we are all affected by this. the people that really profit are the gun dealers, the representatives that are pro gun and the morticians. and i thank you for what's he's been doesn't thank you for allowing me to have my say. >> glad you called. valencia is next up in spring grove, pennsylvania. welcome. >> hello. >> i, you're on the air. >> okay. i live in a very small community, we don't really have any problems with it. but i believe you don't have to have it in your community, you just have to turn on the tv and hear it all day. i feel it's not the guns we blame, it's the people. the way that all kids here today, and people, is negativity. they're taught to heat their country, it doesn't matter what affiliation you are politically. but we need to change the narrative. start making people have tv where there is some good news once in a while, instead of all this negativity. i think people are angry, too many people are angry. it's coming out in the way they treat others. >> okay, the latest, thanks for your call this morning. on her call for more good news on the networks and elsewhere, this is a report by axios. news engagement plummets as americans tune out. change in news engagement from 2021 to 2022, the social media interactions under the articles are down 50%. table is prime time viewers are down 19%, news media app sessions are down 16% and today unique visits to the top five news sites are down 18%. writing that engagement with news content has plunged during the first half of this year compared to the first half of 2021. and why it matters. they say americans have grown exhausted from the constant barrage of bad headlines that have replaced trump era crises, scandals and tweets. they say the level of news consumption in 2021 took a nosedive following historic highs in 2020. despite a slew of major stories, readers have further retrenched in 2022. back to our comments on gun violence in your community. debbie is next in las vegas, nevada. go ahead. >> yes, i'm debbie in las vegas. i've lived here many, many years. of course, we had 56 people killed who were just innocently watching a country festival, at a country festival across from the mandalay bay. the guy that did that was not a young kid, mixed up kid. he was, you know, a man i think in his 50s or 60s. he was real because he losing his fortune, because he had a problem gambling. i mean, it mainly numbed everybody. if you cannot walk down this trip now without thinking about that, at least i can't. i don't want my adult children walking down the strip like it, you know, a piece of cake now. vegas is becoming much more dangerous, every place, to me, it's becoming more dangerous. i do blame politicians for -- >> how long, debbie, after the mandalay bay shooting, the massacre there, how long did it take you before you returned back down to downtown las vegas, to the strip? >> well, you know, i'm retired, i don't ever have to go to the strip or downtown. but you know, the people that work on this trip, they have to deal themselves to the possibility that any may big mass thing could happen. this is where there's a protest right on the strip and a young cop guy that shot, is quadriplegic now. just a few weeks ago, downtown on the strip, a young guy, 23 years old, was shot. he was running right on fremont street and a 16-year-old, a 16 year old, shot him and killed him. so, not only is his life, his parents lives ruined. but the 16 year old life is ruined. so, you know, i get so angry at people that take this so cavalierly. it just really fries my craw, to tell you the truth. >> appreciate your call this morning. white plains, maryland does next, john. welcome. john in white plains. >> hey, good morning. so, our problem and our community, i live in charles county, about 20 miles south of washington, d.c.. the police are doing their, jobs they're arresting these people. but consistently are judges releases peoples back in to our communities with monitoring bracelets on. these individuals are convicted felons who aren't supposed to be in possession of firearms in the first place. and the majority of them are also caught trafficking dangerous drugs like fentanyl, methamphetamine. the judges, i've read in our local news, at least a half a dozen in the last month, that the judge was continually released back into our communities with monitoring bracelets on. so, if the judges are going to be tough on crime and enforce and incarcerate these individuals, what's good are additional gun laws going to do? >> next is teresa in ormond beach, florida. good morning. >> good morning, yes. we've had two former governors here in florida that i believe actually encouraged gun violence. we had two jabs bush, who signed what was called a standard round law. he had a representative of the national rifle association standing right next to him when he signed it. after he did that, in other words, it gave you the right to defend yourself if you felt you are in danger. people were shooting at their neighbors if their dogs were barking. so, so much for that. then you have rick scott, governor. he actually tried to prosecute doctors who are just warning people to be careful around the house. whether you have a dog that's aggressive, keep your guns secured, he wanted to prosecute them. for that kind of talk. now, right after jeb bush signed stand-your-ground, i think a lot of people remember trey vaughan martin. the 16-year-old young black kid who was shot by zimmer men, the community guard. it was killed, the kid was not armed. he had a bag of scandals and a soda. and this guy just hunted him down. yeah, so, we've had some really terrible governors, like i said, that have encouraged gun violence. thank you. >> back to the weekend report from the washington post. the staggering scope of u.s. gun deaths goes far beyond mass shootings. so when i show you a chart they have the ties the correlation between spikes and gun sales and climbing deaths, the pandemic and notable events triggered surges and gun sales. this shows changes in both sales and death since 2010 and, if you focus in on the years of the pandemic, gun sales, here in the orange line, up 228.2% but. by the george floyd protest, up 100 80% at the january six attack on the capital. and corresponding line of firearm deaths, tracks that as well. ray guerrero is a surgeon from involve a texas, he's top yesterday at the white house about the impact of that attack and violence more broadly. >> it's been 40 days since the massacre and now the makeshift memorial in downtown uvalde, consisting of wooden crosses, children's pictures, candles and colorful ribbons has been taken down. the dried white roses and the sun bleached teddy bears have been taken away and stored. but remains is a hollow feeling in our gut as we drive through our sleepy downtown, which quickly turned to pain and anger as we sometimes accidentally approach the grounds of robb elementary school. a place no one likes to visit. i'm using this paint to speak to you today as a yuval day in and just speak for the parents and victims who seek the truth, transparency and, ultimately, accountability. s [applause] >> those parents seek a safe and secure environment for their children. it has been tough being a pediatrician in a community where children do not want to return to school and parents do not want to send them their, with the fear of a future attack. i see children daily with ptsd and anxiety that is now leading to depression. i spent half my days convincing kids that no one is coming for them. and, that they are safe, but, how do i say that knowing that the very weapons used in the attack are still freely available? >> and some comments on twitter, wolf beacon tweets this, easy access to assault weapons makes mass shooting by people possible. jacqueline says the first thing americans can do is stop lined themselves about gun violence. the mentally ill people do not commit mass murders, only gun loving losers do that kind of stuff. and, loose as, after decades of drunk driving deaths the greatest reduction in these death camps after police decided to get tough with offenders. we need the police to stop and frisk at will, similar to roadside sobriety trucks and airport checks all over america. -- the line for those of you in the eastern and central time zones, and, it is -- in mountain and pacific about. ten more minutes of conversation on this opening topic on the impact of gun violence on your community. let's hear from john in north fort myers, florida. john, go ahead. >> yes, my name is johnny. >> my apologies, joni, in florida. >> i completely agree with the person that was just before me about florida. florida has always been, south florida has always been a big area. they have always been big clan areas. they have just been under the radar for a while, and, now, because of trump going back out, flying their flags everywhere. you know, there is no value in grief, so, the republican congress is killing us by not protecting us. they want to pass bills to protect themselves, but, they do not care about the rest of the people in the united states. uvalde was, i think, the turning point for me. because no one went in there for an hour except a mother to get children out of schools. and, cruz and mcconnell, now, are the biggest threat to the united states citizens for not passing a bill to ban these weapons. i think the parents of uvalde, texas, should petition for the crime scene photos for their children, just like emmett till's mother did. and have them posted in every newspaper and on every news channel, so that people that do not know what these weapons can do, then they will see and understand what these people are dealing with. i am so sorry for these parents move. >> all right, joni, appreciate the call. back to the washington post pace on gun violence in the united states, one of the charts from that article is gun deaths are approaching rates of the early 1990s. they tear the deaths dropped in the mid 1990s from peak levels, suicides began climbing around 2005 and homicides in 2014. and, the line for homicides increasing fairly strongly here towards 2020, the rise in suicides as well. carol's in west virginia, carol, good morning. >> good morning, thank you for taking my call, in my area we do not have too much gun violence, we do not really have a whole lot of violence period. but, i do think that we need to look at the whole picture, we need, it is not the gun, it is society in general, i think we have been -- we say so much violence, it is basically taking us down to where, as a society, it has become normalized. but, i do think that we need to start holding prosecutors accountable. because, even though some of these people who are committing the crimes, whether they are receiving that gun legally, or, illegally they are either being whittled down to less charges, and the charges are not being taken seriously, and, they are being released on either nobel or low bail. so, if we are going to hold people accountable let's hold everybody accountable, from the illegal gun owners that do stupid staff, with their legal guns. or, the illegal people that do stop stupid things with their illegal guns. >> all right, carol, as the president was announcing the event on the white house long yesterday, a poll came out from the new york times. here is the headline, most democrats do not want biden in 2024, new poll shows, they write that president biden is facing an alarming level of doubt from inside his own party, with 64% of democratic voters saying they would prepare for a new person in the 2024 campaign, voters nationwide have soured on his leadership, giving him a meager 33% job approval rating. the president today departs on a middle east trip and his national security adviser, when asked about that trip, and what it might do in terms of oil prices and production. >> the president said to nato that he would talk to the countries about increasing oil production, the saudis and the uae have indicated that their capacity to increase production is limited, what does the administration view as possible as far as output increase from those countries if that comes up? >> well, first, we have already seen opec take a meaningful step with respect to the increase in oil production on july and august. that was a positive step and we welcomed it. we will have the opportunity on this very broad agenda to talk about energy security with the leaders of the opec nations in the middle east. just as we discussed energy security when he was on his trips in europe and the indo-pacific. we will see what results come from that. ultimately that is up to the opec countries to determine so i do not have anything to say from this podium right now, because the discussions are best confined behind closed doors. but, we do believe there is a capacity for further steps that could be taken and we will see how that folds and. >> we are looking for a specific figure, this as far as output? >> in terms of specific figures all i will say is that we will convey our general view as we have and i have publicly from this podium. that we believe there needs to be adequate supply in the global market to protect the global economy and to protect the american consumer at the pump. we will always advocate for that publicly and privately. we will coordinate with leaders around the world including the middle east on that issue. >> a couple more calls on our opening topic. curtis is in case well, virginia. go ahead. >> yes, i am a gun owner myself and thank you for taking my call i am a hunter and i was raised up with guns. i just feel the assault rifle bans should be made. they should not be sold to the general public, i think they help in society, but, a lot of the problem is also discipline. there is no display at home, when i was raised in the 50s and 60s, if i did something wrong people have no responsibility with their children anymore. and, even the government is taking discipline from society and the government is paying for today, thank you. >> all right, to, rick in audition, alabama. good morning. >> good morning, thank you for taking my call, as the previous caller just mentioned, i think there needs to be a historical research on when all this went wrong, i do not think it happened when the court systems started to step in to give parents less autonomy over raising their children. i think that has led to some bad consequences, also it is impacting communities, the sentiment around the people who run the cities, me it is no longer there me. i really think this country needs to employ psychologists to take a look at what's the cause of societal breakdown is and be truthful about it. and, those results, i think people need to take them seriously and let go of past predictions. that is on all sides. thank you for your call, have a great day, by. >> open forum until 10 am eastern. (202) 748-8000 the line for democrats, (202) 748-8001 for republicans, and for independence and others (202) 748-8002. we should be seeing more images later today from nasa from the space telescope. the reporting in the new york times, early glimpse to a long ago universe. president biden was there at the unveiling of the first images from that space telescope. here it is. >>