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Speaker 1: Hey, this is Bridget and you're listening the stuff BOMB

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Speaker 1: never told you. Now I know what you're thinking. Sminthiana Tuesday.

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Speaker 1: What Well. I had such an amazing time at the

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Speaker 1: March for Our Lives and d C this past weekend.

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Speaker 1: I wanted to do a special re airing of the

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Speaker 1: episode that we did immediately after the shooting at Parkland. Now,

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Speaker 1: if you listen to that episode, if you already know,

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Speaker 1: I was feeling a little bit cynical about the issue

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Speaker 1: of gun violence, but I was also hopeful that a

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Speaker 1: youth led movement could actually make an impact. And I'm

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Speaker 1: happy to say an impact has been made. This past weekend,

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Speaker 1: at least one point two million people marched for gun

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Speaker 1: control across the US. Now, this is according to early

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Speaker 1: tallies from researchers Erica Chenowith and Jeremy Pressman. Keep in

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Speaker 1: mind these numbers are still pretty early. The researchers estimate

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Speaker 1: that there were over four fifty marches across the US

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Speaker 1: this weekend, but they only have crowd estimates for about

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Speaker 1: half of them. Still, the March for Our Lives is

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Speaker 1: one of the biggest rallies for gun control ever in

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Speaker 1: the nation's capital at least since the Million mom March

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Speaker 1: and two thousand and it was one of the biggest

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Speaker 1: youth protests since the Vietnam War. Now all of the

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Speaker 1: speakers were youth from diverse backgrounds. Adults were not allowed

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Speaker 1: to speak. From Emma Gonzalez standing in silence for six

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Speaker 1: minutes to Naomi Wad. They're using her speech to lift

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Speaker 1: up victims of gun violence who often go forgotten. It's

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Speaker 1: really difficult to pick the most poignant and powerful moment

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Speaker 1: of the event. Rene, granddaughter of martinis Key. My grandfather

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Speaker 1: had a dream that his four little children will not

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Speaker 1: be judged by the color of their skin, but by

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Speaker 1: the continent of their character. I have a dream that

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Speaker 1: enough is enough now. I actually had the chance to

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Speaker 1: talk to a group of youth who lived close to Parkland.

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Speaker 1: They flew all the way from Florida to d C

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Speaker 1: just to attend this march. Here's what they had to say. Hi,

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Speaker 1: I'm Ashley. I'm from South Florida and I'm seventeen years old.

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Speaker 1: Hi I'm Donna. I'm also from South Florida and I'm

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Speaker 1: eighteen years old. I'm Stephano. I'm from South Florida and

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Speaker 1: I'm sixteen years old. I'm Jane and from South Florida

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Speaker 1: as well, and I'm eighteen years old. So why did

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Speaker 1: you all come here today? Um? I think I think

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Speaker 1: we came here today just because, um, well, first of all,

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Speaker 1: obviously because of the partners shooting get hits so close

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Speaker 1: to home, but also, UM, I think it just made

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Speaker 1: us realize that our schools are are not protected in

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Speaker 1: the right way and nor should they be pet in

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Speaker 1: the right way, and so it's just so easy for

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Speaker 1: someone to bring like a like a lethal weapon onto campus. Um.

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Speaker 1: And I think for me it was more like it's

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Speaker 1: like exhausting at this point, like it's happened so many

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Speaker 1: time times and it seems like everything's falling on deaf ears,

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Speaker 1: so it this is more like a call for action,

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Speaker 1: um and saying like okay, this many people are fed

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Speaker 1: up with the way things are going and you know,

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Speaker 1: we're tired, and like we're raising our voices now because

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Speaker 1: we're feeling, you know, there should be some sort of

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Speaker 1: change main put forth. I think unfortunately this happens a

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Speaker 1: lot and just going to happen somewhere that was so

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Speaker 1: close to us. We do things like drills and you

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Speaker 1: hear about shootings, but it's it's really different when it's

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Speaker 1: somewhere that's so close to you and it feels so

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Speaker 1: close to home, and knowing people that knew people that

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Speaker 1: personally went to Douglas, it's it's hard not to to

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Speaker 1: stand up for this. For me, it was just, you know,

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Speaker 1: you always hear about these and they're usually far away,

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Speaker 1: different parts of the country. But to know that's something

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Speaker 1: like that happened in our backyard. And I go to

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Speaker 1: a public school and Douglas UM it's a more like

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Speaker 1: structured and they have like a lot more stuff. So

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Speaker 1: knowing that they had all those ways that could have

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Speaker 1: prevented something, and then I look at a school like

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Speaker 1: mine and that of like what that could have easily

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Speaker 1: been me. So I'm here today to show my support

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Speaker 1: for emnesty, and just I want my voice to be

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Speaker 1: heard because I'm tired of what's happening. Oh yeah, I'm

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Speaker 1: from Somerset Academy, which is very close to Douglas, and

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Speaker 1: I'm here to make my voice to be heard because

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Speaker 1: I'm tired of all the mass shootings and no regulation

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Speaker 1: and just I don't want any more kids to die.

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Speaker 1: So I'm really here for that. A lot of us

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Speaker 1: actually have friends who have family members and other friends

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Speaker 1: who go to Amnesty um, and so like it's just

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Speaker 1: really close to us. And it's weird because like Parkland

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Speaker 1: like ends up but if you live there, like you know,

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Speaker 1: it's one of the safest cities there. So to think like,

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Speaker 1: um that even for them, like this could have happened,

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Speaker 1: it's just it's kind of like, Okay, you know we're

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Speaker 1: not safe because it's just it's so it's like a

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Speaker 1: stop in the face. Really, like you would think that

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Speaker 1: this couldn't have happened here, but it did. So our

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Speaker 1: homecoming was actually at the hotel where all the kids

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Speaker 1: were picked up, Like that's where the parents picked the

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Speaker 1: kids up. That's where our homecoming was. So it's really

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Speaker 1: close to us. So what do you have to say

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Speaker 1: to all those folks out there? They might say, these

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Speaker 1: are just a bunch of kids. They don't know what

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Speaker 1: they're doing, they're confused, they're young. Keep the keep the

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Speaker 1: legislating to the adults. What do you have to say

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Speaker 1: to people like that? Well, I have to say is

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Speaker 1: that adults are always telling us that kids can change

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Speaker 1: the world and that we need to make our voices heard.

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Speaker 1: But yet when we are putting forth our voices and

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Speaker 1: like we want to be heard, they're putting us down.

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Speaker 1: And I think that shows that they're not ready for

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Speaker 1: what is going to happen. Because if all of us

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Speaker 1: are here together, is one across the nation even worldwide,

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Speaker 1: and we all like come together because this is what

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Speaker 1: we want, Like we don't want to have to worry

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Speaker 1: about our brothers and sisters, or friends, or our mothers,

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Speaker 1: our teachers, like losing their lives, just going to school together.

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Speaker 1: Education the reason I would say to those teachers that

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Speaker 1: it's time to wake up, or those people, it's time

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Speaker 1: to wake up, because like it's gonna happen. I just

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Speaker 1: feel like you can't tell someone to shut up, or

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Speaker 1: you can't tell them that they don't know what they're

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Speaker 1: talking about when it's happening to them. Um. And so

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Speaker 1: I think like the adults are the outsiders, um and

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Speaker 1: so for them to say that we don't know what

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Speaker 1: we're talking about, that we don't know about what's happening,

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Speaker 1: like the talented me to us, like it's happened to

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Speaker 1: their dad, they're not feeling the impact we are directly.

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Speaker 1: And this is like it's a result of their inaction,

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Speaker 1: Like none of us want to be here, but we

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Speaker 1: have to be here. So if they had done you know,

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Speaker 1: the job that they were you know, sworn into office

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Speaker 1: to do, they're disgraced like that that was the one

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Speaker 1: job that they were given and they failed. So like

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Speaker 1: the fact that we have to be here is attestment

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Speaker 1: to the fact that they've done nothing. Can I talk

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Speaker 1: to you? Are you who's Mario today? What is it?

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Speaker 1: Why is it important to have your stuck here? It's

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Speaker 1: very important as appearing. You can just imagine how you know,

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Speaker 1: heart wrenching it was to see other parents mourning the

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Speaker 1: loss of their children. I sent my children to school,

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Speaker 1: of course, to you know, get an education, not to

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Speaker 1: get killed. I'm so proud of all of you guys.

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Speaker 1: You know, they're the boys of the future. You know,

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Speaker 1: this is a senior year. They're eighteen years old, so

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Speaker 1: the next election, and you know, they have a voice.

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Speaker 1: So I'm very proud to see them. I'm so confident

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Speaker 1: that the future will be different. My generation didn't get

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Speaker 1: it done, so I'm hoping that this generation gets it done.

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Speaker 1: So I traveled all this way to ensure that his

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Speaker 1: voice and all the others are heard. You're not gonna

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Speaker 1: vote in your eighteen And I gotta say, it really

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Speaker 1: feels like we're a million miles away from how things

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Speaker 1: felt in the days after park Land when this episode

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Speaker 1: was originally recorded. I'm certainly feeling more hopeful. What do

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Speaker 1: you think? Did you make it to d C for

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Speaker 1: the March for Our Lives? Did you have a sister

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Speaker 1: march in your town? Let us know so right off

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Speaker 1: the bat, we have to start with a trigger warning.

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Speaker 1: This episode deals with gun violence. Sadly, the topic of

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Speaker 1: mass shootings is timely, and it seems like it always is.

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Speaker 1: On Wednesday, at least seventeen people were killed during a

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Speaker 1: school shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

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Speaker 1: The suspect, nineteen year old Nicholas Cruz, was arrested on

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Speaker 1: the scene. You may have seen on CNN a mother

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Speaker 1: who lost one of her children in this perfect shooting

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Speaker 1: pleaded with Donald Trump to do something about gun violence

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Speaker 1: in this country. Here's what she had to say. How

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Speaker 1: how do we allow a gunman to come into our

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Speaker 1: children's school? How do they get through security? What security

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Speaker 1: is there? There's no metal detectors. The gunman, the crazy person,

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Speaker 1: just walks right into the school, knocks down the window

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Speaker 1: of my child's door and start shooting, shooting her and

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Speaker 1: killing her. President Trump, you say, what can you do?

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Speaker 1: You can stop the guns from getting into these children's hands.

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Speaker 1: Oh my god, I honestly do not know how anybody

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Speaker 1: can listen to the raw grief and and sort of

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Speaker 1: carnal plea in that woman's voice, that mother's voice that

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Speaker 1: anybody was children especially must be able to relate to,

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Speaker 1: and then go on and do nothing about it, or

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Speaker 1: like Donald Trump, not even respond to that. Well. I

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Speaker 1: actually think that as a country, we reached a moment

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Speaker 1: where we just decided this is our new normal. I

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Speaker 1: think after Newtown, as a country, we just threw up

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Speaker 1: our hands. We decided this is our new normal. Nothing

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Speaker 1: can be done. We are numb to this issue. Once

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Speaker 1: we decided that babies could get shot at point blank

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Speaker 1: range and we weren't going to do a damn thing

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Speaker 1: about it, I think it became clear how our country

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Speaker 1: is reacting to this issue, and I think it is

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Speaker 1: not at all. You're not reacting at all. Yeah, it

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Speaker 1: feels like we've hit rock bottom. Do you feel like

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Speaker 1: that's true for politicians or the public, or both both.

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Speaker 1: I think when babies get killed, I think that when

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Speaker 1: we as a country agreed that it was okay that

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Speaker 1: babies got killed, Yeah, but so many people weren't okay

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Speaker 1: with that. I feel like if it ever came close,

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Speaker 1: it was then people made their voices, heard, organizations sprung up,

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Speaker 1: people donated. Who I mean, the parents there got so involved,

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Speaker 1: and what happened was nothing happened, right. So I it

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Speaker 1: sounds so cynical, but I think that we just all

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Speaker 1: agreed this is our normal and this is our life.

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Speaker 1: We agreed to tolerate this. In actual yeah, we decided

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Speaker 1: it was tolerable. And that's what I find so disgusting

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Speaker 1: that we. I mean, listen, I'm including myself in this

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Speaker 1: that when I saw the news of this breaking on Twitter,

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Speaker 1: I just thought another one. I remember when Columbine happened.

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Speaker 1: You know, I was a teenager, I was in school,

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Speaker 1: and I remember the way that parents and teachers and

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Speaker 1: administrators that was a big deal. We were all in

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Speaker 1: a fervor. And now, so many years later, it's so

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Speaker 1: interesting how it barely even registers, well, the frequency has

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Speaker 1: gone up so much that now we don't even know

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Speaker 1: the names of the schools. These mass shootings no longer

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Speaker 1: have individualized names. New Town was a standout and anomaly

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Speaker 1: in that regard the shootings that happen nowadays. Happened so

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Speaker 1: frequently that we can't even keep track of them or

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Speaker 1: or name them exactly. When you see the name of

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Speaker 1: a town trending on Twitter, you just assume there the

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Speaker 1: shooting there, and it's just it's I think it's our

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Speaker 1: new normal, and it's really sad and disgusting. So let's

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Speaker 1: talk a little bit about what happened in Florida. So Cruz,

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Speaker 1: who is the perpetrator of this attack, was described as

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Speaker 1: a troubled student, the kind of student that nobody was

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Speaker 1: surprised would do this kind of thing. In fact, he

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Speaker 1: was so troubled that he wasn't even allowed to carry

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Speaker 1: a backpack to school. He made threats on social media.

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Speaker 1: His social media presence was filled with pictures of dead

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Speaker 1: animals and things that you would see and think, oh,

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Speaker 1: this kid could be a threat. So it wasn't like

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Speaker 1: he was someone who was hiding in plain sight waiting

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Speaker 1: to do something. He was on people's radars. Yeah, and

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Speaker 1: according to the Anti Defamation League, he had ties to

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Speaker 1: white supremacist groups as well. Yeah. On social media, he

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Speaker 1: hurled slurs at Blacks and Muslims and really seem like

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Speaker 1: the kind of person who should not have access to

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Speaker 1: guns right. In fact, the FBI received a report and

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Speaker 1: YouTube was reported to just five months ago when he

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Speaker 1: commented on a YouTube video saying that he wanted to

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Speaker 1: become a per national school shooter. The creator of the video,

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Speaker 1: which I think was about guns, flagged the comment, alerted YouTube,

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Speaker 1: that his name first and last was the user name

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Speaker 1: that he was posting under on YouTube, the FBI couldn't

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Speaker 1: trace the lead back to anything. Wow. That is horrifying. So,

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Speaker 1: while all these traits seem like the typical markers of

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Speaker 1: a would be mass shooter, crews actually shares another trait

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Speaker 1: in common with most mass shooters, one that often goes overlooked,

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Speaker 1: and that is a history of troubling and violent behavior

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Speaker 1: toward women. In fact, you'll hear an episode from US

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Speaker 1: later this week about why it's so horrifying that our

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Speaker 1: White House, this administration seems to be able to look

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Speaker 1: past people with histories of violence towards women as something

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Speaker 1: that's just a personal matter and not that big a deal.

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Speaker 1: But this is a great reminder that when we treat

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Speaker 1: domestic violence or violence against women as a personal matter

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Speaker 1: and not a very serious predictor of future potentially mass violence,

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Speaker 1: but really violence in general, we are doing the world

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Speaker 1: a disservice. We are making the world a less safe place,

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Speaker 1: and allowing these kinds of people to have easy legal

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Speaker 1: access to guns is abhorrent. Exactly what this whole situation

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Speaker 1: underscores to me is how not seriously we take violence

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Speaker 1: against women and domestic violence. And when researchers say, hey,

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Speaker 1: violence against women can actually be thought of as a

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Speaker 1: risk factor for violent behavior towards the general public later on,

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Speaker 1: it just goes to show why it's so critical to

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Speaker 1: take domestic violence seriously and we're not. Well, it's interesting, right,

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Speaker 1: because that argument could also be warped into saying, is

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Speaker 1: it not enough that a domestic abuser is already violent

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Speaker 1: towards a woman, We have to validate the fear. We

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Speaker 1: have to double down on the relevance of that kind

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Speaker 1: of violence by saying, also, this could be a predictor

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Speaker 1: of violence towards everybody, So maybe that you'll care about

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Speaker 1: it then, right. I mean again, it goes to show

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Speaker 1: that as a country when it happens, but behind closed

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Speaker 1: door and a home, we just think it's not our problem.

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Speaker 1: But I think that there needs to be a shift

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Speaker 1: that domestic violence is everybody's problem. So true, so so true.

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Speaker 1: So Crewis apparently had a history of violent and troubling

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Speaker 1: behavior towards women and girls. One of his classmates told

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Speaker 1: USA Today that Crews had ultimately been expelled from school

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Speaker 1: after a fight with his ex girlfriend's new boyfriend. She

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Speaker 1: also said that he had been abusive to one of

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Speaker 1: his earlier girlfriends. Other students have pointed out that he

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Speaker 1: was taken with a female student to the point of stalking. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: I hate how they phrased that in the press too.

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Speaker 1: He was taken with her so much he stalked her. No,

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Speaker 1: he's stoptor yeah. And that's according to his math teacher

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Speaker 1: and another student who had said that he was formally

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Speaker 1: close friends with Crews, but cut off his friendship after

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Speaker 1: he started going after and threatening a female friend of his. Really,

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Speaker 1: it sounds like, in addition to a whole host of

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Speaker 1: other troubling factors going on in this kid's life that

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Speaker 1: people seemingly didn't do anything about. One of those factors

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Speaker 1: was violence and disturbing behavior toward women in his life.

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Speaker 1: And it turns out he's not alone. Let's talk more

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Speaker 1: about that after a quick break and we're back. So

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Speaker 1: it's probably unsurprising to you that the perpetrators of mass

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Speaker 1: shootings in modern America are overwhelmingly male, but they overwhelmingly

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Speaker 1: also have a history of domestic abuse or misogynistic behavior

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Speaker 1: toward women. Yeah, we're talking about people like Omar Matine,

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Speaker 1: the twenty nine year old who killed forty nine people

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Speaker 1: at the Pulse nightclub tragedy in Orlando in two thousand

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Speaker 1: and sixteen. He had reportedly abused his former wife on

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Speaker 1: a regular basis. Yeah. And the Virginia tech shooter in

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Speaker 1: April two seven, who gunned down thirty two people at

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Speaker 1: a school, was previously accused of harassing women two years earlier,

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Speaker 1: and the Virginia police actually had to order him to

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Speaker 1: stop contacting another female student. I mean, honestly, time and

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Speaker 1: time again, every single time we see a mass shooting

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Speaker 1: like this, one look into the typically male perpetrators background,

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Speaker 1: and you often see abusive, harassing, violent behavior towards women,

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Speaker 1: along with the whole host of other warning signs, including,

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Speaker 1: by the way, cruelty towards animals, which is certainly present

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Speaker 1: in terms of this particular most recent shooters background exactly.

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Speaker 1: According to Business Insider, nine out of the ten deadliest

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Speaker 1: mass shooting perpetrators have a history of threatening, committing, or

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Speaker 1: verbalizing domestic violence. And according to Every Town for Gun Safety,

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Speaker 1: mass shooters killed a partner or a family member intent

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Speaker 1: of shootings. So again, it means that this idea that

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Speaker 1: domestic violence is something that's happening in the home, you know,

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Speaker 1: none of our business. That kind of thinking allows people

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Speaker 1: who really might have the capability to do something on

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Speaker 1: a wider scale to fester. And what's especially traveling to

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Speaker 1: me is how easy it is for these folks to

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Speaker 1: get firearms. It's really in a mirror can form of

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Speaker 1: exceptionalism in terms of our ubiquity of firearms in this

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Speaker 1: country and the ease with which people can buy them. Technically,

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Speaker 1: folks who have domestic violence backgrounds on their record aren't

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Speaker 1: supposed to be able to get firearms. They're legally barred

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Speaker 1: from buying guns in our country, but many of them

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Speaker 1: have been able to get high capacity firearms. Anyway, there's

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Speaker 1: a bunch of different loopholes that the n r A

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Speaker 1: in particular has been steadfast and maintaining um and not

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Speaker 1: closing that make it pretty damn easy, for instance, at

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Speaker 1: gun shows, for people to get firearms without much of

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Speaker 1: a background check, and again that just goes to show

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Speaker 1: that we're not taking violence can swimming seriously as a

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Speaker 1: risk factor for mash shootings. Take for instance, the case

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Speaker 1: of Devin Patrick Kelly back in November. He went to

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Speaker 1: the church where his wife worshiped and ended up killing

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Speaker 1: twenty six people. As a convicted domestic abuser, Kelly wasn't

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Speaker 1: even legally allowed to have access to firearms, but he

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Speaker 1: ended up owning four. How do we allow that to

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Speaker 1: happen in this country? I mean, I think it's insane

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Speaker 1: that almost anybody, including people with such violent backgrounds or

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Speaker 1: warning signs, or just a nineteen year old dude in general,

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Speaker 1: can walk in and buy firearms that easily. And I'm

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Speaker 1: I'm someone who enjoys shooting guns on occasion. By the way,

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Speaker 1: members of my family are proud gun owners, but none

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Speaker 1: of them think that the way things currently are is

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Speaker 1: even remotely okay. And you know, I'm all about the

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Speaker 1: sportsmanship that comes with gun ownership. There's nothing wrong with that,

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Speaker 1: but at what cost? And certainly none of us can

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Speaker 1: say that the way things are is tenable. I think

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Speaker 1: that's why common sense gun laws really have quite bipartisans support.

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Speaker 1: The last time we did mass national polling on this

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Speaker 1: after Newtown, people on both sides of the aisle agreed

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Speaker 1: something needs to change. But the n r A s

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Speaker 1: chokehold on our politics is so powerful it seems all

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Speaker 1: it's impossible to get anything done. You hit the nail

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Speaker 1: on the head. I think most reasonable folks would say,

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Speaker 1: if you are convicted for a violent crime of domestic abuse,

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Speaker 1: you should not be able to get your hands on

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Speaker 1: a gun. Going back to the situation with Kelly, Kelly

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Speaker 1: was a member of the Air Force, which acknowledged that

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Speaker 1: he kind of slipped through the cracks. They say that

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Speaker 1: it appears that Kelly's domestic violence conviction was not entered

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Speaker 1: into the National Crime Information Centered database, which is why

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Speaker 1: he was able to pass the background check for a gun.

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Speaker 1: And to make things more terrifying, this case is not

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Speaker 1: that unusual. According to a Florida International University report, the

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Speaker 1: military mishandled roughly thirteen thousand domestic violence cases between two

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Speaker 1: thousand four and two thousand twelve, including misclassifications that allowed

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Speaker 1: abusers to go unreported in the n c i S.

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Speaker 1: So essentially, people who have convictions for domestic violence who

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Speaker 1: really should not have their hands on guns can kind

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Speaker 1: of get them. And this isn't just isolated to military personnel.

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Speaker 1: Spotty enforcement really does allow abusers to fall through the cracks.

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Speaker 1: While twenty eight states and DC have laws prohibiting convicted

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Speaker 1: domestic abusers from buy or possessing firearms, only four teen

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Speaker 1: states require those people to give up the guns they

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Speaker 1: already have. So if you have a gun in your

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Speaker 1: house and you get convicted of domestic violence, it's a

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Speaker 1: crapshoot whether or not you are legally required to give

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Speaker 1: up a gun that you already have in your possessions. Well,

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Speaker 1: not to mention, enforcement of that law is extremely difficult. Literally,

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Speaker 1: all that police officers have to go on is someone

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Speaker 1: else's report, like an abused, strange ex wife or partner

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Speaker 1: saying yeah, he has a firearm, a handgun. He keeps

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Speaker 1: it under his pillow. They knock on his door and say,

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Speaker 1: do you have a firearm. We've heard you have a handgun,

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Speaker 1: we heard you keep it under your pillow. Can you

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Speaker 1: give it to us? And literally they can say I

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Speaker 1: got no firearm here, and that's it. Stories over system,

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Speaker 1: it's insane. I definitely think having convicted domestic abusers on

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Speaker 1: the honor system it's probably a bad plan. Actually, there

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Speaker 1: was a story I was listening to about this on

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Speaker 1: my new local NPR station in Denver, Colorado, and granted

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Speaker 1: this very state to stay. But in Denver, the police

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Speaker 1: were saying, we oftentimes have to get in touch with

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Speaker 1: these typically men's mothers, to ask their mothers to reason

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Speaker 1: with them. Oh my god, the world is a broken place.

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Speaker 1: If police are asking for the unpaid labor of abusers

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Speaker 1: mothers to talk some sense into their weapon wielding abusive sons,

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Speaker 1: it's very depressing. This is so fundamentally broken. And in

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Speaker 1: other countries when things were this broken, they did something

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Speaker 1: about it and they said, hey, no guns for you

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Speaker 1: anymore in Australia, or hey no civilian firearms in the UK,

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Speaker 1: which is extreme and obviously we don't even need to

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Speaker 1: be that extreme to make progress here in the United States,

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Speaker 1: but our lack of action altogether is a global embarrassment.

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Speaker 1: And it seems uniquely applied to the issue of guns,

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Speaker 1: because not that long ago one guy tried to sneak

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Speaker 1: a bomb onto a plane in his shoe, and now

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Speaker 1: we all take far she's at the airport. So it's like,

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Speaker 1: why is it that when that happened, we needed swift

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Speaker 1: change from the top down, And when it comes to guns,

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Speaker 1: it's just this sort of do nothing approach. It doesn't

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Speaker 1: make any sense to me. The Constitution, Yeah, I mean, okay,

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Speaker 1: the Constitution, but I'm sure when the Framers wrote the

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Speaker 1: Constitution they were imagining semi automatic weapons. People who go

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Speaker 1: back to that, I think, did you think that the

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Speaker 1: Framers had I'm just saying, if the Framers had made

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Speaker 1: an amendment about the right to where your shoes fair,

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Speaker 1: we'd have a bigger argument about that. But instead they

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Speaker 1: happen to write the right to bear arms, and here

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Speaker 1: we are with this cluster of an interpretation war over

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Speaker 1: what that really means. And I'm with you how to present,

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Speaker 1: There's no way that they were talking about semi automatic

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Speaker 1: rifles that could take down an elephant being freely available

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Speaker 1: to nineteen year old I'm sure this isn't not what

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Speaker 1: they had in mind, not they were drafting the Constitution, right,

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Speaker 1: So let's talk a little bit about what can be

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Speaker 1: done about this issue if you're piste off as we

429
00:23:01,520 --> 00:23:11,679
Speaker 1: are after this quick break and we're back. So it

430
00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:14,119
Speaker 1: actually turns out, Emily, just like you were saying before,

431
00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:17,520
Speaker 1: that keeping guns out of the hands of convicted domestic

432
00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:20,439
Speaker 1: abusers is one of those rare issues that Democrats and

433
00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:26,160
Speaker 1: Republicans kind of agree on. Senator John Cornyn of Texas said, quote,

434
00:23:26,440 --> 00:23:31,000
Speaker 1: there are enormous problems with the background check system. Even

435
00:23:31,080 --> 00:23:34,800
Speaker 1: Republican Senator Jeff Flake, who's now outgoing and speaking his

436
00:23:34,920 --> 00:23:36,960
Speaker 1: truth in a way that he has in a long time,

437
00:23:37,720 --> 00:23:41,280
Speaker 1: teamed up with Democratic Senator Martin Heinrich to introduce a

438
00:23:41,320 --> 00:23:44,639
Speaker 1: bill that would require the military to accurately record and

439
00:23:44,680 --> 00:23:50,560
Speaker 1: report domestic violence convictions. And Republican governors in Utah, North Dakota, Wisconsin,

440
00:23:50,560 --> 00:23:52,920
Speaker 1: and Michigan have all taken steps to limit gun rights

441
00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:55,440
Speaker 1: for domestic abusers. So this does seem like an issue

442
00:23:55,480 --> 00:23:58,920
Speaker 1: that most folks are in agreement needs to be handled.

443
00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:03,200
Speaker 1: And what's more, keeping guns away from convicted domestic abusers

444
00:24:03,400 --> 00:24:06,600
Speaker 1: seems to be pretty effective, and despite my reference to

445
00:24:06,640 --> 00:24:11,000
Speaker 1: the NPR story that ran in Denver, experts agree that

446
00:24:11,119 --> 00:24:15,760
Speaker 1: those laws requiring abusers to surrender their guns are effective.

447
00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:20,119
Speaker 1: The states that have implemented these so called relinquishment laws

448
00:24:20,440 --> 00:24:24,320
Speaker 1: saw a fourteen percent decline and intimate partner gun homicides,

449
00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:28,840
Speaker 1: according to researchers at Boston University and at Duke University

450
00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:31,880
Speaker 1: exactly so, just to be clear, in the levels had

451
00:24:31,880 --> 00:24:35,040
Speaker 1: a little bit. In scientific terms, the link between domestic

452
00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:38,400
Speaker 1: violence and gun violence still remains anecdotal. Just because mass

453
00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:41,080
Speaker 1: shooters are often abusers doesn't mean that abusers are more

454
00:24:41,119 --> 00:24:43,200
Speaker 1: likely to be mass shooters. And one of the things

455
00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:46,080
Speaker 1: that so troubling about this is that this link really

456
00:24:46,119 --> 00:24:48,119
Speaker 1: needs to be studied more. So, what you're saying is

457
00:24:48,119 --> 00:24:52,000
Speaker 1: that it's a correlation, not a causal link. We actually

458
00:24:52,240 --> 00:24:54,720
Speaker 1: don't really know because we don't really study this enough.

459
00:24:54,920 --> 00:24:57,800
Speaker 1: These connections only become clear in hindsight, which is pretty

460
00:24:57,880 --> 00:24:59,520
Speaker 1: much too late in the case of a mass shooting.

461
00:24:59,800 --> 00:25:02,679
Speaker 1: And not to mention, we'd really not like to have

462
00:25:02,720 --> 00:25:06,040
Speaker 1: a sample size that's big enough for us to study

463
00:25:06,040 --> 00:25:08,679
Speaker 1: mass shooters in a huge way, like this is not

464
00:25:08,800 --> 00:25:11,120
Speaker 1: a sample size that we want to increase to get

465
00:25:11,160 --> 00:25:14,160
Speaker 1: better data on. We'd like to just solve this problem

466
00:25:14,200 --> 00:25:17,960
Speaker 1: without having to have four thousand mass shooters to study.

467
00:25:18,280 --> 00:25:20,640
Speaker 1: That's the thing, though, We already have so many mass

468
00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:22,720
Speaker 1: shootings that if we were able to study the data

469
00:25:22,760 --> 00:25:25,240
Speaker 1: that is already out there, we could probably get someplace

470
00:25:25,280 --> 00:25:27,800
Speaker 1: on this issue. Susan B. Sorens And, a professor at

471
00:25:27,800 --> 00:25:30,720
Speaker 1: the University of Pennsylvania and director of the Ortner Center

472
00:25:30,800 --> 00:25:33,760
Speaker 1: on Family Violence, basically just says that same thing. She says,

473
00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:36,159
Speaker 1: right now, we don't have enough data to have a pattern.

474
00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:38,479
Speaker 1: The one thing that we know that mass shooters all

475
00:25:38,520 --> 00:25:41,359
Speaker 1: have in common is that they have access to massive firepower.

476
00:25:41,600 --> 00:25:44,840
Speaker 1: That is a single unifying force. Just a thought, maybe

477
00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:47,760
Speaker 1: we shouldn't make it so easy to get semi automatic

478
00:25:47,960 --> 00:25:53,159
Speaker 1: death machines in mass to like hoard these kinds of

479
00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:58,480
Speaker 1: violent killing machine objects in people's homes. Maybe that's something

480
00:25:58,520 --> 00:26:01,840
Speaker 1: we all don't need to have. Emily, you sound absurd.

481
00:26:01,920 --> 00:26:03,560
Speaker 1: Of course we need to have that. That's that's what

482
00:26:03,640 --> 00:26:06,440
Speaker 1: makes this country great, Emily. This is America we're talking about.

483
00:26:06,720 --> 00:26:09,600
Speaker 1: That's part of our American exceptionalism is making sure that

484
00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:13,960
Speaker 1: people with demonstrated violent backgrounds can hoard weapons. I'm gonna

485
00:26:14,040 --> 00:26:16,760
Speaker 1: use that quote someday and I'll be like, she wasn't

486
00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:22,560
Speaker 1: being sarcastic, folks, she was being genuine, I was. But yeah,

487
00:26:22,560 --> 00:26:26,360
Speaker 1: A good first step in tackling this is really more research.

488
00:26:26,720 --> 00:26:29,000
Speaker 1: But here's why that's not as easy as it sounds.

489
00:26:29,560 --> 00:26:31,720
Speaker 1: The n r A has backed an amendment blocking the

490
00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:34,720
Speaker 1: CDC from doing fedterly funded research on gun violence. So

491
00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:37,760
Speaker 1: when you're hearing your politician go on TV talking about

492
00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:40,560
Speaker 1: thoughts and prayers and thoughts and prayers and thoughts and prayers,

493
00:26:40,960 --> 00:26:43,919
Speaker 1: just know that it is entirely possible that same politician

494
00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:46,840
Speaker 1: has taken money from the n r A, the organization

495
00:26:46,840 --> 00:26:49,400
Speaker 1: that makes it harder for the CDC to study gun violence.

496
00:26:49,880 --> 00:26:52,639
Speaker 1: Unbelievable then, I mean, I knew the n r A

497
00:26:52,840 --> 00:26:56,320
Speaker 1: was powerful, but I forgot that they have barred our

498
00:26:56,560 --> 00:27:01,960
Speaker 1: disease control, our national federal der for disease control, from

499
00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:05,359
Speaker 1: even studying gun violence and the impact it has on

500
00:27:05,400 --> 00:27:08,800
Speaker 1: our country. That is disgusting. It is disgusting, and it

501
00:27:08,840 --> 00:27:11,240
Speaker 1: really goes to show the stranglehold that the n r

502
00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:13,920
Speaker 1: A has on our political system. And when I see

503
00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:17,280
Speaker 1: Marco Rubio go on TV and say, you know, this

504
00:27:17,359 --> 00:27:20,040
Speaker 1: is so sad, thoughts and prayers, I am asking myself,

505
00:27:20,160 --> 00:27:21,600
Speaker 1: how much money did you get from the n r A.

506
00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:24,840
Speaker 1: If it's so sad, give back that money almost a

507
00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:28,040
Speaker 1: million exactly. And this latest shooting, which happened on his

508
00:27:28,160 --> 00:27:31,159
Speaker 1: turf and his state, if he even has the audacity

509
00:27:31,160 --> 00:27:33,240
Speaker 1: to show his face there, I will be shocked because

510
00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:36,760
Speaker 1: the man has taken almost one million dollars from the

511
00:27:36,840 --> 00:27:40,880
Speaker 1: National Rifle Association exactly. So you can understand why it's

512
00:27:40,880 --> 00:27:43,679
Speaker 1: a little frustrating, and it's almost impossible for me to

513
00:27:43,760 --> 00:27:47,720
Speaker 1: take his words seriously. I'm sure he didn't want this

514
00:27:47,760 --> 00:27:51,399
Speaker 1: shooting to happen, but unless he does something, who cares.

515
00:27:51,400 --> 00:27:53,919
Speaker 1: If he sends his thoughts and prayers. No, it's disgusting,

516
00:27:54,640 --> 00:27:58,000
Speaker 1: it's despicable. So if you want to take action and

517
00:27:58,080 --> 00:28:00,960
Speaker 1: make your voice heard on this regard right now, we

518
00:28:01,119 --> 00:28:05,600
Speaker 1: need citizen activists to step up. If we are ever

519
00:28:05,840 --> 00:28:07,760
Speaker 1: going to be able to fight back against the n

520
00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:11,440
Speaker 1: r a s stranglehold. We need everybody involved in this fight,

521
00:28:11,880 --> 00:28:16,040
Speaker 1: and fortunately every town dot org, an organization that was

522
00:28:16,160 --> 00:28:18,920
Speaker 1: established after the New Town shooting, and if anybody has

523
00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:21,760
Speaker 1: gotten that close to making real progress on this issue

524
00:28:21,800 --> 00:28:25,520
Speaker 1: in the past, it was then with these organizers. They

525
00:28:25,600 --> 00:28:28,679
Speaker 1: have a five step plan for anyone who wants to

526
00:28:28,720 --> 00:28:31,679
Speaker 1: make their voice heard on this issue, and the first

527
00:28:31,800 --> 00:28:35,320
Speaker 1: is to take their pledge to vote on gun safety.

528
00:28:35,680 --> 00:28:37,840
Speaker 1: Know how much the n r A is donating to

529
00:28:37,880 --> 00:28:42,080
Speaker 1: the campaigns of politicians you're considering, and don't vote for them.

530
00:28:42,480 --> 00:28:45,040
Speaker 1: Vote out anybody who's been taking money from the n

531
00:28:45,120 --> 00:28:48,360
Speaker 1: r A. Step one. They also say, please get registered

532
00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:50,000
Speaker 1: to vote and make sure that your friends and family

533
00:28:50,040 --> 00:28:53,280
Speaker 1: are registered to We can vote these suckers out of

534
00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:55,520
Speaker 1: office if we don't like where they stand on gun

535
00:28:55,600 --> 00:28:58,560
Speaker 1: violence prevention, and we should do just that. They also

536
00:28:58,600 --> 00:29:01,280
Speaker 1: recommend attending a meeting to learn about the Gun Sense

537
00:29:01,320 --> 00:29:04,240
Speaker 1: Candidate questionnaire that we can use to hold our leaders

538
00:29:04,280 --> 00:29:08,160
Speaker 1: accountable on election day. Basically, not everybody is very clear

539
00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:11,800
Speaker 1: about where they stand on gun violence. Everybody sounds like

540
00:29:11,920 --> 00:29:13,800
Speaker 1: we're all in it for the thoughts and prayers and

541
00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:17,200
Speaker 1: children and safety and YadA YadA YadA. It sounds nice

542
00:29:17,240 --> 00:29:19,360
Speaker 1: and dandy, and it's not always easy to find out

543
00:29:19,400 --> 00:29:21,480
Speaker 1: who's taking money from the n r a but there's

544
00:29:21,520 --> 00:29:25,240
Speaker 1: a questionnaire that every town has created where you can

545
00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:27,840
Speaker 1: really get more information and use it to go to

546
00:29:27,920 --> 00:29:30,640
Speaker 1: events and ask your politicians, ask folks who are running

547
00:29:30,640 --> 00:29:34,480
Speaker 1: for office where they really stand on the issues, and

548
00:29:34,560 --> 00:29:37,400
Speaker 1: their last recommendation is one I think is great. Run

549
00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:39,520
Speaker 1: for office your damn self. If you don't like where

550
00:29:39,560 --> 00:29:41,880
Speaker 1: your lawmakers stand on this issue, maybe you can do

551
00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:45,560
Speaker 1: a better job. Maybe somebody out there listening has the skills,

552
00:29:45,680 --> 00:29:48,440
Speaker 1: has the power, has the drive to get us someplace

553
00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:51,080
Speaker 1: on this issue. Maybe it's you, sminty listeners. So if

554
00:29:51,080 --> 00:29:53,400
Speaker 1: you don't like what your politicians are doing, get them

555
00:29:53,440 --> 00:29:55,320
Speaker 1: out of there and take their place. I love it.

556
00:29:55,520 --> 00:29:58,200
Speaker 1: I love it. And as a reminder, our friend Aaron

557
00:29:58,200 --> 00:30:00,040
Speaker 1: from Vote Run Lead was here with a bunch of

558
00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:03,080
Speaker 1: resources for how to do just that. If you haven't

559
00:30:03,080 --> 00:30:05,920
Speaker 1: heard it already, go check out our episode called eighteen

560
00:30:06,040 --> 00:30:09,160
Speaker 1: Is it Another Year of the Woman? Yeah? I know.

561
00:30:09,240 --> 00:30:11,760
Speaker 1: I started this episode talking about how I'm a bit

562
00:30:11,880 --> 00:30:14,440
Speaker 1: numb to gun violence and how it happens so often

563
00:30:14,440 --> 00:30:16,760
Speaker 1: that it almost doesn't register. And I think a lot

564
00:30:16,800 --> 00:30:20,280
Speaker 1: of people sadly feel that way. But I'm actually kind

565
00:30:20,280 --> 00:30:24,120
Speaker 1: of inspired because I think that this new generation cropping up,

566
00:30:24,360 --> 00:30:26,200
Speaker 1: they're not going to stand for this. And I really

567
00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:28,680
Speaker 1: think we're talking about a generation of young people who

568
00:30:28,720 --> 00:30:31,400
Speaker 1: are at the forefront of so many big political movements

569
00:30:31,640 --> 00:30:35,720
Speaker 1: me too, DOCTA, immigration reform, all the major movements. I

570
00:30:35,720 --> 00:30:38,160
Speaker 1: think it's entirely possible that they won't stand for it.

571
00:30:38,480 --> 00:30:41,560
Speaker 1: Well they shouldn't. I mean, it's children, after all, who

572
00:30:41,600 --> 00:30:45,080
Speaker 1: are the victims in far too many of these massacres.

573
00:30:45,600 --> 00:30:49,160
Speaker 1: And David Hogg, one of the survivors from this most

574
00:30:49,280 --> 00:30:53,800
Speaker 1: recent shooting, put it so perfectly how he and his

575
00:30:53,960 --> 00:30:58,000
Speaker 1: peers and really all of us will not stand for

576
00:30:58,040 --> 00:31:01,960
Speaker 1: inaction and are calling the grown ups in the situation

577
00:31:02,600 --> 00:31:05,600
Speaker 1: to action to get things done for the children we

578
00:31:05,680 --> 00:31:08,520
Speaker 1: proclaim to care about in this country. What we really

579
00:31:08,520 --> 00:31:10,760
Speaker 1: need is action. Because we can say, yes, we're gonna

580
00:31:10,760 --> 00:31:12,800
Speaker 1: do all these things thoughts and prayers, what we need

581
00:31:12,840 --> 00:31:16,320
Speaker 1: more than that is action. Please. This is the eighteenth

582
00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:21,400
Speaker 1: one this year. That's unacceptable. We're children, You guys, like

583
00:31:21,520 --> 00:31:24,560
Speaker 1: are the adults. You need to take some action and

584
00:31:24,560 --> 00:31:27,160
Speaker 1: play a role, work together, come over your politics and

585
00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:30,080
Speaker 1: get something done. So when you've got young people taking

586
00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:33,120
Speaker 1: grown as politicians to task, you know something needs to

587
00:31:33,160 --> 00:31:36,040
Speaker 1: be done. As Menthy listeners, we are right there with them.

588
00:31:36,080 --> 00:31:38,440
Speaker 1: Please let's work together and figure out how we can

589
00:31:38,480 --> 00:31:41,239
Speaker 1: be better on this issue. Let us know where you

590
00:31:41,320 --> 00:31:44,400
Speaker 1: stand on this issue, what you're doing to make progress

591
00:31:44,520 --> 00:31:48,000
Speaker 1: on preventing gun violence, and how we can follow through

592
00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:50,680
Speaker 1: on David's call to action. Hit us up on Twitter

593
00:31:50,720 --> 00:31:53,280
Speaker 1: at mom Stuff Podcast, find us on Instagram at stuff

594
00:31:53,320 --> 00:31:56,120
Speaker 1: mom Never Told You, And, as always, our email inbox

595
00:31:56,280 --> 00:32:00,000
Speaker 1: is open at mom Stuff, How stuff works dot com.

596
00:32:00,280 --> 00:32:06,000
Speaker 1: What beca go b w BAF