Speaker 1: You're listening to Comedy Central, please welcome sending christ Murphy
Speaker 1: to the day show, Son of Murphy. It it must
Speaker 1: feel at some point like you you are you know,
Speaker 1: going up against an immovable force. It must feel at
Speaker 1: some point like you're engaging in a conversation that seems
Speaker 1: to go around and around in circles. But it seems
Speaker 1: like in and around this time there is some movement.
Speaker 1: There are some Republicans who have said, you know what,
Speaker 1: maybe there is something we should be doing, even if
Speaker 1: it is not the perfect solution. Let's let's jump straight
Speaker 1: into that and talk about what you've seen in terms
Speaker 1: of a bypasses and move to change what gun safety
Speaker 1: should be in America. Well, Trevor, thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1: And it does feel often like deja vu repeating itself.
Speaker 1: Um ten years I've been at this um. The American
Speaker 1: public has made up their mind. There's nothing in this
Speaker 1: kind tree that's as popular is changing the gun laws
Speaker 1: to make our kids safer. Nine of Americans support things
Speaker 1: like making sure that everybody has to go through a
Speaker 1: background check before they buy a gun. But we run
Speaker 1: up against this brick wall, which is the power of
Speaker 1: the gun industry. And the gun lobby. But you're right,
Speaker 1: it does feel different this time. UM. I just got
Speaker 1: off the phone off a zoom call with UM about
Speaker 1: uh ten or twelve Republicans and Democrats that are trying
Speaker 1: to pass something that will save lives, not do everything,
Speaker 1: but try to break this log jam. And I think
Speaker 1: it's because of the very unique cataclysmic nature of this
Speaker 1: last mass shooting, but also because over the last ten years,
Speaker 1: you know, we've built an anti gun violence movement that
Speaker 1: is powerful, that has just as many members and just
Speaker 1: as much money as the n R and the gun
Speaker 1: lobby has, and that has started to have an impact.
Speaker 1: So I don't know whether this is going to succeed.
Speaker 1: I've been, you know, Charlie Brown kicking up football that
Speaker 1: gets pulled out from under me over and over again
Speaker 1: enough times to know that maybe this won't turn out differently.
Speaker 1: But UM, I owe it to the families in Texas,
Speaker 1: the families in my state, in Sandy Hook, to give
Speaker 1: it a try. What seems to be the hold up?
Speaker 1: What are some of the internal conversations that you're having,
Speaker 1: you know, without betraying anybody's trust, what are the sticking points?
Speaker 1: Because if if so many Americans. If such a large
Speaker 1: percentage is in support of many of these common sense measures,
Speaker 1: why then do their representatives not seem able to put
Speaker 1: those things into effect? Well, right now, this is a
Speaker 1: problem only inside the Republican Party. Every single Democrat in
Speaker 1: the Senate would support things like expanded background checks. And
Speaker 1: the reason that there's a problem in the Republican Party
Speaker 1: is that, um to win a Republican primary today, a
Speaker 1: lot of my colleagues think that you need the endorsement
Speaker 1: of the gun lobby, not not just because of the
Speaker 1: money that comes from groups like the n r A,
Speaker 1: but because, um, you know, associating yourself with the gun
Speaker 1: industry has become kind of a proxy for a broader
Speaker 1: set of conservative values. And so we've got to solve
Speaker 1: that problem for Republicans. We've got to find another way
Speaker 1: for them to demonstrate how conservative they are without having
Speaker 1: to do the bidding of a of an industry that
Speaker 1: is supported by only ten percent of their constituents. But
Speaker 1: that's starting to change because now a lot of Republicans
Speaker 1: are starting to see if they vote for things, um,
Speaker 1: you know, like restrictions on UM assault weapons, they actually
Speaker 1: we rewarded by larger numbers of their constituents than ever
Speaker 1: before that support these things. So I think the political
Speaker 1: calculations of some of my colleagues are beginning to change,
Speaker 1: but it's slow. You know, for decades they were told
Speaker 1: you can never ever beat the gun lobby in an election.
Speaker 1: That's not true anymore, but it takes a little while
Speaker 1: for that lesson to be learned. Let's talk about some
Speaker 1: of the concrete steps then you're looking to take. You know,
Speaker 1: every mess shooting in America is followed very promptly by
Speaker 1: people saying this wouldn't be solved by that solution. This
Speaker 1: solution wouldn't solve that problem, and it becomes a chicken
Speaker 1: in the egg scenario that never seems to end. What
Speaker 1: are some of the concrete measures that you can take
Speaker 1: now to change some of the gun laws in America
Speaker 1: to make the country safer at least, if not perfect. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I think it's really important to remember that there's
Speaker 1: a mass slaughter in this country every single day. I
Speaker 1: get it, there's good reason why this country pays more
Speaker 1: attention after a catastrophe like e'valdi, But there's a hundred
Speaker 1: and ten d twenty people every single day who died
Speaker 1: from guns. And in fact, since you've aaldi, there's been
Speaker 1: eighteen mass shootings in the United States. Now it was
Speaker 1: four people, ten people, twelve people, not enough to get
Speaker 1: the headlines, but there's a crisis every single day. What
Speaker 1: are we talking about? Red flag laws? These are the
Speaker 1: laws that allow you to take guns away temporarily from
Speaker 1: kids like this guy, and you've all day who is
Speaker 1: showing signs of doing something disastrous. We're talking about strengthening
Speaker 1: our background check system. We're not gonna get all the
Speaker 1: way to universal background checks, but making sure that more
Speaker 1: gun sales come with these background checks. UM. We're talking
Speaker 1: about UM money for community anti violence in this ship.
Speaker 1: It's trying to wrap services around at risk kids, especially
Speaker 1: in our cities UM where poverty also often leads to violence. UM.
Speaker 1: That could make a big impact as well. So it's
Speaker 1: not everything I want, but it would be the most
Speaker 1: significant set of gun reforms in really thirty years, and
Speaker 1: we're closer than ever to getting it done. There are
Speaker 1: many UM people who voted for Democrats who I think
Speaker 1: would sometimes look enviously at what Republicans are able to
Speaker 1: do despite despite you know, their setbacks. You know, we've
Speaker 1: seen what Mitch McConnell has been able to do with
Speaker 1: the Supreme Court. We've seen what Republicans have been able
Speaker 1: to do with abortion and restricting it around the country. Um,
Speaker 1: do do you ever consider these options? Do you ever
Speaker 1: think to yourself, oh, man, we should also be looking
Speaker 1: at ways to use the tools and the mechanisms that
Speaker 1: are present to us in America to get something done
Speaker 1: or or is there a reason that you don't take
Speaker 1: that approach. Well, right now, we have a majority in
Speaker 1: the House the Senate that support or expanding background checks
Speaker 1: to every gun sale, which would probably save the most lives.
Speaker 1: We have a president will sign that bill. The problem
Speaker 1: is the rules of the Senate right now require you
Speaker 1: to get sixty votes, not fifty votes in order to
Speaker 1: pass a bill like that. So for the American people,
Speaker 1: it's frustrating, right because they did their job. They put
Speaker 1: majorities in the House, the Senate, President of the White
Speaker 1: House to support where they support expanded protections when it
Speaker 1: comes to our nation's kids in the safety of our communities.
Speaker 1: But the rules of the Senate stand in the way. Now.
Speaker 1: When Mitch McConnell wanted to get conservatives on the Supreme
Speaker 1: Court to outlaw abortion. He changed the rules of the Senate.
Speaker 1: But right now we are a few votes shy in
Speaker 1: the Democratic Caucus of changing the rules now that we're
Speaker 1: in charge. So yes, I don't think we should deliberately
Speaker 1: adopt the policies of Mitch McConnell. But I do think
Speaker 1: that when we have power, um, you know, when the
Speaker 1: voters have given us power, we should listen to them,
Speaker 1: um and do what the majority of Americans want us
Speaker 1: to do. Well, I'm sure most Americans would hope, in fact,
Speaker 1: all that you're not Charlie Brown. This time the bull
Speaker 1: doesn't get taken away and something actually gets done. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much for taking the time to join us,
Speaker 1: and we hope to see you again. Thanks. Wat's The
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