Speaker 1: Hi guys, It's Sammy Jay and welcome to a very
Speaker 1: special episode of als Bureau podcast. This is actually our
Speaker 1: first virtual episode that we take UM due to the coronavirus,
Speaker 1: and I hope all of you are safe and practicing
Speaker 1: social distancing UM. This is a very personal and important
Speaker 1: episode launching today. I am so honored to have three
Speaker 1: members of the Mark for a Lives organization on my podcast.
Speaker 1: Today is actually the two year anniversary of the Mark
Speaker 1: for Our Lives demonstration that was one of the largest
Speaker 1: protests in American history. I talked to student members David Hogg,
Speaker 1: Aeriel Hawks and executive director Alexis Confert. We talk a
Speaker 1: lot about your plans for what the misconceptions are about
Speaker 1: gun controlled, what it's like running and creating of movement,
Speaker 1: well being college, and so much more. I really hope
Speaker 1: you guys enjoyed this episode and I cannot wait for
Speaker 1: people crazy times we're living in with the coronavirus. How
Speaker 1: is everybody doing it? Sucks? It's gonna be honest. Besides
Speaker 1: the fact that you're now on online school, you are
Speaker 1: super busy because March is the two year anniversary of
Speaker 1: the March for a Lives demonstration which just took the
Speaker 1: country by storm. First of all, it is crazy that
Speaker 1: it has been two years, and in honor of the
Speaker 1: two year anniversary, I know that you're launching your new campaign,
Speaker 1: Our Power, just to start. What's the goal of this campaign?
Speaker 1: The main goal is to get young people engaged and
Speaker 1: out to like more legist later site. To be quite
Speaker 1: fran quick, you care about us in the first place,
Speaker 1: because UM, I think we can all realize that young
Speaker 1: people are a sect of society sadly that aren't really
Speaker 1: cared about in today's political environment. UM, even though I
Speaker 1: would argue that we're the ones that should be cared about, UM,
Speaker 1: just as much as anybody else, if not even more
Speaker 1: than ever it else, because we're the future of the country, UM.
Speaker 1: And I would argue that we're probably the most valuable,
Speaker 1: the most important asset for our country to protect, because
Speaker 1: we are the future of the United States. What is
Speaker 1: it like trying to launch a campaign in the midst
Speaker 1: of the coronavirus and having to do everything remotely. UM.
Speaker 1: It hasn't been easy, that's for sure, and we've had
Speaker 1: to figure out how to lay on some of our
Speaker 1: other pillars of organizing. I guess you could say, um,
Speaker 1: within the activism environment, luckily through different social media platforms
Speaker 1: and being a movement that was really born on social media,
Speaker 1: I would stay in the first place. Uh. It's been
Speaker 1: somewhat of a tough transition, but not nearly as tough
Speaker 1: as I think many other organizations are having to go
Speaker 1: through right now, and luckily as young people were really
Speaker 1: adapted being on social media, UM and scaring uh politicians
Speaker 1: and creating some good trouble on there through Twitter. You're
Speaker 1: very good at that, by the way. Oh, thank you.
Speaker 1: I appreciate it. Yeah. I I just try my best
Speaker 1: to spell it correctly most the time, which is difficult enough.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I struggle with that all the time. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Twitter really needs an editing feature. Maybe that can be
Speaker 1: the next thing to implement. Yeah, exactly, that's what I think.
Speaker 1: I know, you guys are also implementing a new piece plan.
Speaker 1: How did this plan come about? Um? So the plan
Speaker 1: really came about the idea of where it really came about,
Speaker 1: I would say, um, at the beginning of last fall. Um,
Speaker 1: when uh, you know it was it had been a
Speaker 1: year after the midterms and we're really thinking, you know,
Speaker 1: how do we come up with a comprehensive thing for
Speaker 1: young people to stand behind as a way of reducing
Speaker 1: gun violence and having a pretty major impact because you know, um,
Speaker 1: it feels like a lot of the time that Congress
Speaker 1: to an extent, just as this legislation piece by piece,
Speaker 1: and we don't want this to be one lot at
Speaker 1: a time. We want we want this to be a
Speaker 1: set of policies within one much larger law to be
Speaker 1: implemented because we know that, you know, there isn't any
Speaker 1: one law specifically that's going to be able to stop
Speaker 1: all gun violence. It's going to have to be a
Speaker 1: comprehensive set of those laws. Um. And we wanted to
Speaker 1: put that together so that we could say instead of saying,
Speaker 1: you know, we support universal background checks and um, you know,
Speaker 1: disarming domestic users and individuals like that. Uh, we just
Speaker 1: support this broad policy platform known as the Peace Plan
Speaker 1: for you to implement as a comprehensive plan to address
Speaker 1: gun violence and set on an audacious goal of cutting
Speaker 1: gun violence and half over the next ten years, which
Speaker 1: would be about two lives. That's insane. Yeah, what was
Speaker 1: it like creating a plan like that? Um, it was
Speaker 1: pretty Uh, it was a challenge for sure, because UM things,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of weight and there's a lot of
Speaker 1: responsibility that you take on UM as an organization when
Speaker 1: doing that and setting out this because you know, UM,
Speaker 1: it's easy to see on the TV and just look
Speaker 1: at the it's easier to look at what happens after
Speaker 1: these instances of gun violence and just see a number,
Speaker 1: as oftentimes we do, of just the number of people
Speaker 1: have died from gun violence or have died in a
Speaker 1: same mass shooting or just shooting. UM. What I would
Speaker 1: argue is actually much harder, though, is to is for
Speaker 1: a lot of people to remember that these aren't numbers,
Speaker 1: these are human beings in the first place. And there's
Speaker 1: a lot of responsibility UM that comes with that, and
Speaker 1: there's a lot of weight, UM, and a lot of
Speaker 1: thinking that we had to put into it. UM. So
Speaker 1: the process really just looked like talking to a bunch
Speaker 1: of researchers because I myself, as you know, a college freshman, UM,
Speaker 1: all right, I am not very qualified to write that myself. UM.
Speaker 1: So we talked to a bunch of researchers around the
Speaker 1: country and basically ask, you know, what are the best policies, UM,
Speaker 1: if implemented today, regardless of the political climate, could there
Speaker 1: be not only reduce mass shootings, but everyday gun violence,
Speaker 1: unintentional shootings and gun suicides as well. Um, because we
Speaker 1: know that this isn't just an issue that affects that
Speaker 1: that is about mass shootings already one type of shooting.
Speaker 1: It's about anybody that dies as a result of a gunshot. Um.
Speaker 1: And Yeah, we talked to those researchers, asked them, and
Speaker 1: then brought the policy and announced it something that people
Speaker 1: could really get behind and be like, you know, you know,
Speaker 1: ex congressman, like you want to know what we support,
Speaker 1: just look up the Peace Plan. It's right here. Like
Speaker 1: these policies, it's it's honestly not that hard to understand.
Speaker 1: This does not have to be an issue. And literally
Speaker 1: every other country or every other more developed country besides
Speaker 1: from the United States, has figured out how to do this,
Speaker 1: and you can too. I think it's so wonderful how
Speaker 1: far this movement has come in the past two years.
Speaker 1: What is it like creating a piece of legislation and
Speaker 1: talking to politicians and really, in my opinion, helping to
Speaker 1: change history. Also, how can people of any age get
Speaker 1: involved to help? Yeah, I think a lot of it. Um.
Speaker 1: It's a big learning curve, that's for sure. It's been
Speaker 1: a big it's been a big experience. But I say
Speaker 1: what I've learned the most it is just honestly, um,
Speaker 1: you know, going out there initially instilled. To this point,
Speaker 1: it's just a bunch of piste off teenagers um, and
Speaker 1: college students, which I would argue are some of the
Speaker 1: best people his Berkeley speaking getting ship done in politics. UM. Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, it's great because you're able to just say,
Speaker 1: you know, like you know, this is wrong, everything is wrong,
Speaker 1: you're doing all of this wrong. Um. But it's also
Speaker 1: scary because you realize, to be frank, how many how
Speaker 1: many I would say, elected officials sadly just do not
Speaker 1: realize the weight of the responsibility that they have. And
Speaker 1: it's kind of ironic because we always say, we always
Speaker 1: see a bunch of stuff, or we always hear from
Speaker 1: older people, politicians included, you don't know what you're talking about,
Speaker 1: your irresponsible, you know, you're a teenager and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: And what I've come to realize is actually it's quite
Speaker 1: the opposite. A lot of the time. It's especially when
Speaker 1: it comes to elected officials. A lot of the time,
Speaker 1: it's piste off teenagers and college students that care significantly
Speaker 1: more than they do about the actual effects of their
Speaker 1: legislation in the first place. UM. And it's only invigorated
Speaker 1: me more to want to get more young people into
Speaker 1: politics and get politically involved. UM. And I would say
Speaker 1: for anybody that wants to get involved, to get started,
Speaker 1: you can just go to Mars foral Lives dot com
Speaker 1: um and either join a local chapter or sign up
Speaker 1: for any of the silet ter um or set up
Speaker 1: your own chapter. So this question is for Ariel and David, Um,
Speaker 1: what is it like balancing everything just being in college?
Speaker 1: And I'll let I'll let the college senior take this one. Earl. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Like David mentioned, I'm a college senior, so I got
Speaker 1: I don't want to really say like the benefit, but
Speaker 1: I had the experience of being in college before the
Speaker 1: shooting happened, so I had already worked out, like, and
Speaker 1: I work while I'm at school, So I had already
Speaker 1: worked out the balance of like doing like managing school
Speaker 1: life and then also managing whatever else I wanted to do.
Speaker 1: So I kind of had that benefit definitely being a
Speaker 1: board member and being involved with an organization like March
Speaker 1: of Our Lives is like an added number of UM hours.
Speaker 1: It's a it's a lot more work. But um, since
Speaker 1: this is a student led organization, we are all very
Speaker 1: understanding with each other and like understand that, like we
Speaker 1: can't do everything, and that we can't be everywhere, and
Speaker 1: sometimes you know, like the best we can do with
Speaker 1: stand OUTO tweet or repost something on Instagram or something
Speaker 1: like that, and that you know, our work for the day.
Speaker 1: But um, it also gets kind of hard. And I
Speaker 1: know there's something I experienced the last semester, not committing
Speaker 1: myself to everything, alexis what's that like? Because I know
Speaker 1: you've worked for a bunch of other people before, So
Speaker 1: how has that been, um creating this whole plan since
Speaker 1: last ball, Well, I will say entering into the space
Speaker 1: where there is such commitment from the young people who
Speaker 1: have founded it. I mean, it's an amazing question you
Speaker 1: asked them about how they're balancing their time, because every
Speaker 1: single time I've talked to David or Ariel and like, Okay,
Speaker 1: what are you doing for fun this week? It's just
Speaker 1: for you for your mental health. It's not school, it's
Speaker 1: not March for our lives because you know, I wanted
Speaker 1: to be in the space where I just saw such
Speaker 1: incredibly dedicated young people. You know, I've been an activist
Speaker 1: since I was in college, and see, um, the ideas
Speaker 1: excited me. Like walking into a room where there were
Speaker 1: already so many ideas, so much passion behind it, and
Speaker 1: thousands of students who are ready to go, you know,
Speaker 1: run right into it and take this on. Gives you
Speaker 1: a lot of energy to do any sort of planning.
Speaker 1: And so you know, my goal and the team's goal
Speaker 1: is how can we harness their energy, really clear the
Speaker 1: lanes for them so that when we are calling David
Speaker 1: or Ariel somebody else and quite franklies constant dialogue. And
Speaker 1: when we are we are like a family. We are
Speaker 1: very involved with our student board members, which David and
Speaker 1: Ariel both are, our student Congress, which is over twenty
Speaker 1: young people from across the country somewhere in schools and
Speaker 1: we're not in school, um, but they're all elected by
Speaker 1: their peers, and the really an advisory board to me
Speaker 1: and the team to keep us accountable. Um yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean making history is not easy, just to say the
Speaker 1: police and do you guys enjoy college do you guys
Speaker 1: go to parties? Do you guys do that or is
Speaker 1: it just close friends? And what's the balance within that.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's for me, it's pretty cold in Boston,
Speaker 1: so I don't like going outside very much. UM. But
Speaker 1: for me a lot of the time, it just comes
Speaker 1: down to building a routine around your activism UM and
Speaker 1: not letting your activism become your life, which is extremely
Speaker 1: difficult when you care so much about something UM and
Speaker 1: what our main focus here really and I think part
Speaker 1: of what Mixes Special as an organization specifically built is
Speaker 1: a place for were and buy young people UM, which
Speaker 1: I know we've had to Uh, we've had to work
Speaker 1: through a lot because obviously having a budget called students
Speaker 1: work full time isn't the most sustainable things. So what
Speaker 1: we try to do is like after kids come out
Speaker 1: of college, UM, like immediately after they come out of college,
Speaker 1: trying to hire them to work on our field team
Speaker 1: UM or when they're in college as with our our
Speaker 1: regional directors, hiring them as part time as part time
Speaker 1: staff that are working about twenty hours a week managing
Speaker 1: several hundred chapters across the country as college students UM.
Speaker 1: So that we try to avoid those all nighters. Um.
Speaker 1: But yeah, it's a it's a very it's been, I
Speaker 1: will say the hardest. One of the hardest things about
Speaker 1: this job, aside from everything in the job specifically, is
Speaker 1: learning how to gain a work life balance. So one
Speaker 1: of the things that I've always been curious about is
Speaker 1: how did you guys come up with any march for
Speaker 1: our lives? Honestly, to be frank with you, I don't
Speaker 1: even really remember because I was doing so much pressed
Speaker 1: at that time. That wasn't my role. Um when we
Speaker 1: started doing that, I think it was just more than anything, like, um, well,
Speaker 1: we're doing a march, and you know it's around kids
Speaker 1: not dying in like schools and in their communities or
Speaker 1: in their homes. Um. Like, I honestly don't really even know,
Speaker 1: because like one, even if I was in the room,
Speaker 1: I like, I don't even remember, just like it's just
Speaker 1: a blur because we're sleeping when we're doing the march
Speaker 1: and everything we're sleeping, I would say, an average at
Speaker 1: most of five hours to four hours a night, and
Speaker 1: traveling every single day to a different state and things
Speaker 1: like that for a month straight or a month and
Speaker 1: a half straight. Uh, and your memory is just completely
Speaker 1: done when when that happens, which is where we're trying
Speaker 1: to avoid. Yeah, and I can't imagine what it's like
Speaker 1: to go through this traumatizing event and then you're recounting
Speaker 1: it the next day, two people impressed, and you're doing
Speaker 1: that over and over. At this point when people ask
Speaker 1: you about it, is it like, does it still feel
Speaker 1: like you're there when you talk about it, or just
Speaker 1: does it feel like a distant story you tell? UM?
Speaker 1: It honestly just kind of to me, it feels a
Speaker 1: lot like UM at the time, like I was obviously there,
Speaker 1: but I really saw myself almost in the role of
Speaker 1: a student journalist or almost like some kind of correspondent
Speaker 1: or something. Um, not knowing if, like you know, the kids,
Speaker 1: if me and my classmates were going to die at
Speaker 1: that time. UM. So it's obviously triggering to an extent.
Speaker 1: And I don't like to focus on it too much either,
Speaker 1: because it's there's so many other stories to tell around
Speaker 1: gun violence, you know, I'm just one of them, and
Speaker 1: you get asked about it all the time still and
Speaker 1: it's two years later. What is that? What is that
Speaker 1: toold that takes on you mentally, it's pretty significant, and
Speaker 1: I really try to balance it by focusing not letting
Speaker 1: my like trauma, um my innovate me in that way,
Speaker 1: but really try to have have hope for a better
Speaker 1: future where those things never have have to happen again,
Speaker 1: and a just future where no child has to live
Speaker 1: in fear of gun violence in their school or in
Speaker 1: their community. Because we live in a in a country
Speaker 1: with a government that prioritizes equitable justice, which is what
Speaker 1: I would define his freedom, um, to communities that have
Speaker 1: been so disproportionately affected by purposeful historical injustices, be it
Speaker 1: political injustice that results in school shootings, racial or economic
Speaker 1: injustice that results in everyday shootings and gun suicides and
Speaker 1: all these other different factors or forms of gun violence. UM.
Speaker 1: But I really try to focus on, you know, the
Speaker 1: future and having keeping that hope and positivity as hard
Speaker 1: as hard as it is to find in this alive
Speaker 1: because um to be frank like, if it was if
Speaker 1: it was negativity or you know, hopelessness that ended, these
Speaker 1: things are just sadness that would ended gun violence. Gun
Speaker 1: violence had ended a long time ago, um, but sadly
Speaker 1: we're still here and we still have a mission to
Speaker 1: do because kun violence still exists, but it does take
Speaker 1: a toll, and I think a large part of it
Speaker 1: two comes down to checking room with yourself and having
Speaker 1: people around you that allow you to step back and
Speaker 1: know that you're okay. Um yeah, not so that you
Speaker 1: don't feel like everything is on you constantly. And also
Speaker 1: therapy is great. I love anything. Yeah. Going to school,
Speaker 1: I've just experienced anxiety, especially since Parkland, just because you
Speaker 1: everyone says it's not going to be your school, and
Speaker 1: then that's what happens. How do you get through? And
Speaker 1: what advice do you have for people who are in
Speaker 1: college or high school just that are anxious during the
Speaker 1: day because they hear something that frightens them. Really, there
Speaker 1: is no way to respond to that because it's like,
Speaker 1: you know, I think about it almost like our parents
Speaker 1: or our parents parents in some cases, you know, going
Speaker 1: through you know, nuclear drills at school where it's like,
Speaker 1: oh God, that's prepared for this thing that shouldn't be opening,
Speaker 1: and there's basically no way to survive. But because our
Speaker 1: government can't figure out a way to stop it, um,
Speaker 1: now we have to face the consequence. And like you
Speaker 1: couldn't really go back to that time and just be like, yeah,
Speaker 1: duck and cover, You'll be fine. There's just like a
Speaker 1: nuclear blast coming your way. UM. But what does give
Speaker 1: me hope is that that anxiety that people felt in
Speaker 1: that time period is part of what fueled the anti
Speaker 1: nuclear effort, and you know, throughout the seventies and eighties, UM,
Speaker 1: that helped create you know, pretty major unilateral treaties between
Speaker 1: the United States and the Soviet Union for arms reduction
Speaker 1: and created a much safer future and in reducing the
Speaker 1: likelihood of a nuclear war ever happening. And I think
Speaker 1: sadly that that's probably going to be what's happening here
Speaker 1: with gun laws in the future is all you know,
Speaker 1: we're raising our politicians because of their inaction UM or
Speaker 1: their ownership, I guess you could say of by organizations
Speaker 1: like the n r A are creating a generation of
Speaker 1: traumatized children, not just in schools but in their communities
Speaker 1: to where you know, kids have to oftentimes, you know,
Speaker 1: for for decades or hundreds of years, have had to
Speaker 1: walk home or run home for if you're being shot
Speaker 1: on a daily basis outside of their schools too, and
Speaker 1: they never get talked about UM and we have to
Speaker 1: create an interjust intergenerational coalition of youth from every community
Speaker 1: where we know that if we aren't, if we're just
Speaker 1: talking shootings and schools, but there's still it's still just
Speaker 1: as like the shootings happen outside of someone's school or
Speaker 1: a gun suicide is still just as likely. We still
Speaker 1: have a major problem here. We can't leave people behind.
Speaker 1: Do you think lockdown drills are effective? Because that's something
Speaker 1: I've been curious about, because you have been in an
Speaker 1: actual shooting, how can we change those situations to where
Speaker 1: it can actually save lives? I would say lockdown drills
Speaker 1: are probably just about as effective as nuclear bomb drills
Speaker 1: when they are nuclear drills, like because I we don't
Speaker 1: know well, I mean they basically said, hey, you're all
Speaker 1: gonna die, just duck and cover and you'll be fine.
Speaker 1: Of course you wouldn't be because like there's like two
Speaker 1: winds or whatever that comes through at that time. It's
Speaker 1: like they're trying to put a band aid on this
Speaker 1: like massive wound where you're bleeding out, and it's just
Speaker 1: like are you going to put a band aid on it?
Speaker 1: Or you're gonna actually get in there and like get
Speaker 1: some stitches on it to stop the bleeding, right, And
Speaker 1: with that stitches in this metaphor, I guess you could
Speaker 1: say is preemptive legislation that stops these things from ever happening.
Speaker 1: So no, I don't think, but I don't think lockdown
Speaker 1: drills are effective in any way, shape or form. And
Speaker 1: if anything, they just traumatize us more. What are misconceptions
Speaker 1: that people have about March for Lives and what you
Speaker 1: guys want Because you're not trying to take away guns.
Speaker 1: I think people forget that. That's the biggest one I
Speaker 1: would say would be there, Yeah, where'd you trying to
Speaker 1: take away their guns? Like UM on the World to
Speaker 1: Change tour, And this is something David could speak to UM.
Speaker 1: Outside of all of our events that we will go to,
Speaker 1: we would have counter protesters showing up there with their
Speaker 1: A R fifteens and they're like, actually bring them. Yeah
Speaker 1: that's terrifying. Yeah, Like I know for sure they brought
Speaker 1: them in Nevada and in Texas, but it's Nevada and Texas. Um, um,
Speaker 1: yeah they would bring and if it wasn't like their
Speaker 1: A R fifteens, they were like if their state had
Speaker 1: concealed carry, they would carry um. And so one thing
Speaker 1: like that was probably like the main thing that I
Speaker 1: at least remember getting told. They're like, well, you're trying
Speaker 1: to take away my guns, and I'm like, no, I'm not.
Speaker 1: I'm just trying to make it harder for people that
Speaker 1: should not have guns to get them, and then make
Speaker 1: sure that we that the people that do have guns,
Speaker 1: that we're going through the proper and necessary and comprehensive
Speaker 1: steps to make sure that you are fit to own
Speaker 1: that gun, and that when you do have that gun,
Speaker 1: that you're using it in a responsible way to where
Speaker 1: you're not putting yourself are other people into danger. And
Speaker 1: so that's probably the biggest misconception in I would say.
Speaker 1: Another one is that we have some type of like
Speaker 1: ulterior motive, Like the conspiracies, oh god, oh yeah. People
Speaker 1: think David's like some FBI informant, waits the craziest inspiracy
Speaker 1: that you've heard. I can't even again to tell you,
Speaker 1: um okay um. Probably one saying that I'm a twenty
Speaker 1: like eight year old from California that was in prison. Um.
Speaker 1: Another one saying I work for the FBI. UM, And
Speaker 1: another one saying that there's a really big one that
Speaker 1: that says that I wasn't at school that day, which
Speaker 1: is completely false. Didn't you film it? Yeah, I was
Speaker 1: at school, but they they edited the videos to make
Speaker 1: it seem like I wasn't at school, because there's a
Speaker 1: massive misinformation campaign against the survivors of gun violence. Because
Speaker 1: what they say is if if you don't survive an
Speaker 1: instance of gun violence and you're advocating for gun control,
Speaker 1: what they'll tell you is, you can't be doing this
Speaker 1: because like, you don't know what it's like to be
Speaker 1: affected by gun violence. So what do they say to
Speaker 1: the people that are affected by gun violence. They have
Speaker 1: to discredit them in any way possible. So what many
Speaker 1: organizations like the n r A and others have done
Speaker 1: is pedal false conspiracy theories that literally bring us thousands
Speaker 1: of death threats and also are completely false and misinformation
Speaker 1: campaigns against us to try to discredit us as survivors
Speaker 1: and say you weren't at school that day, you don't exist,
Speaker 1: you aren't a real person, because to them, it's unfathomable
Speaker 1: that anyone could believe that, oh, maybe we shouldn't have
Speaker 1: these military great assault rifles on our streets in the
Speaker 1: hands of nineteen year olds. Well, Okay, why do you
Speaker 1: think they're so scared. I'm just because the power of
Speaker 1: young people and they know the power of a young
Speaker 1: person voting. I'm just so curious, Like what about guns
Speaker 1: in particular that mad people like, no, like I have
Speaker 1: to have that. Besides, it's your second Amendment right because
Speaker 1: you're not trying to take them away. What do you
Speaker 1: think about it is so that hits so close at
Speaker 1: home for them area, Oh, I think it's a false
Speaker 1: sense of security personally. Like I'm from Texas. I live
Speaker 1: in Texas born and raised, so like I've known about
Speaker 1: guns since I was little. Um, I have family members
Speaker 1: that own guns. I know a bunch of people that
Speaker 1: go hunting, and I would say talking with them and
Speaker 1: just asking them like not like hey, like why do
Speaker 1: you just have because like the people that I know
Speaker 1: don't just have one gun, they have at least five. So,
Speaker 1: you know, it starts to get once you get people
Speaker 1: with like, you know, multiples like three, four or five six,
Speaker 1: You have to start asking them why do you feel
Speaker 1: the need to have this many guns? Like there's a
Speaker 1: difference between a pistol and a hunting rifle, you know,
Speaker 1: Like there's A, there's a mass, there's a major difference,
Speaker 1: and so when you start to see people pile up
Speaker 1: these weapons of war, you have to start asking them
Speaker 1: like why do you feel like you need it? And
Speaker 1: if there's this false sense of security that it gives people,
Speaker 1: and people feel like the more guns that they have,
Speaker 1: the more secure that they are. And so I feel
Speaker 1: like one of the main reasons outside of just removing
Speaker 1: the n r A from it, well, why everyday people
Speaker 1: that are such proponents of the Second Amendment and that
Speaker 1: are so pro gun is they feel like by taking
Speaker 1: away their guns, there's no way to to defend themselves
Speaker 1: from anything. Even the Second Amendment had some limitations. It
Speaker 1: wasn't like you could go get your own tank in
Speaker 1: your backyard or nuclear matter. It was meant to doing
Speaker 1: well organized militia. And I think that even over the years,
Speaker 1: the way the gun lobby and you know, the n
Speaker 1: RA is fun it has made it sound like there's
Speaker 1: there's no limitations on it, and that anybody wants to
Speaker 1: have any sort of rational conversation around doing any sort
Speaker 1: of rules in place, that they're immediately trying to take
Speaker 1: away your rights, which is just not We're advocating for
Speaker 1: and quite frankly, what the organization has done and what
Speaker 1: David and Are Healed others have done is created real
Speaker 1: spaces where we can talk about all the different types
Speaker 1: of cultures they are facing gun violence and every day,
Speaker 1: every day gun violence versus mass shooting and being rooms
Speaker 1: with convention spaces and like it's a dialogue and policy
Speaker 1: like they've they's entered every room at this point, isn't
Speaker 1: it like over a hundred Americans die every day from
Speaker 1: gun violence? That is so just not okay. And my
Speaker 1: next question is for you, David UM. So I know
Speaker 1: you did some debate back in the day, UM, and
Speaker 1: you are very good at getting your point across very well.
Speaker 1: So I'm curious, I what is the best way to
Speaker 1: get your point across UM in a debate and just
Speaker 1: in general because that has paid off for you. It's
Speaker 1: a special balance between facts and stories as as well,
Speaker 1: because you know, you can say that forty thousand Americans
Speaker 1: die annually from gun violence. UM. But you know, unless
Speaker 1: unless every if you're not telling the story of one
Speaker 1: person and you're trying to tell the story of forty tho,
Speaker 1: you're ultimately going to fail at telling the story. Um.
Speaker 1: And you have to make each one of these people
Speaker 1: human to make people realize that, you know, it's not
Speaker 1: just a number. Um. I always say that these people
Speaker 1: are not just numbers, they're human beings. Um. People forget
Speaker 1: that because people get lost in statistics exactly. And that's
Speaker 1: the tough thing is, Like you can try to argue
Speaker 1: about this in numbers, but so often people just forget
Speaker 1: the humanity behind this. And I can tell you if
Speaker 1: anyone knew, you know, the people that are lost every
Speaker 1: day to gun violence. Um, and just you know how
Speaker 1: much our country loses in terms of potential and young
Speaker 1: people and how many best friends and sisters and brothers.
Speaker 1: And it's ridiculous and so unnecessary. Yeah, it's it comes
Speaker 1: down to the simple question of, you know, is it
Speaker 1: really worth it to have completely unregulated, like practically unregulated
Speaker 1: access to these weapons of mass destruction for the death
Speaker 1: of all these people? You know, Let's think about not
Speaker 1: only how many people are born today, but how many
Speaker 1: people will be born or won't be born twenty years
Speaker 1: from now that could have been the next person to
Speaker 1: cure cancer, That could have been the next person to
Speaker 1: you know, be the first person on Mars that could
Speaker 1: have been the next person to get like leave the
Speaker 1: solar system or whatnot, or like had a grandchild that
Speaker 1: did that. But that's never going to happen because that
Speaker 1: person died as a result of gun violence. People forget
Speaker 1: that we're people, especially on social media, and then you
Speaker 1: put them on this pedestal as if they're not a
Speaker 1: human that they don't believe that they don't cry. Um,
Speaker 1: do you think if you if just hypothetically, if everyone
Speaker 1: that gave you those death threats and were so just
Speaker 1: came up with those conspiracy, if they like talk to
Speaker 1: face to face and knew you as a person, do
Speaker 1: you think that would have changed what they did? Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know about all of them, but
Speaker 1: I would I would probably say based off the interactions
Speaker 1: that I've had with people that literally, for example in Texas,
Speaker 1: we're um, you know, at multiple events shotting my name,
Speaker 1: wanting to literally like saying they wanted to shoot and
Speaker 1: kill us basically and going out and talking to them. Um,
Speaker 1: these people don't realize that we're human beings and we're
Speaker 1: not we're not funded by you know, like we're not
Speaker 1: pawns of you know, some political party, we're human beings
Speaker 1: that don't want our friends to die. And it's that simple, guys,
Speaker 1: I think, you know, it's often said that things are
Speaker 1: not as simple as they seem, but in this case,
Speaker 1: it really is that simple. We simply don't want our
Speaker 1: friends to die from gun violence. And we we are
Speaker 1: working for those that we've lost that we love and
Speaker 1: those that we've lost as well, and we're fighting for
Speaker 1: those that can't anymore themselves because the pain is too much.
Speaker 1: And when we meet these people in person, and all
Speaker 1: of a sudden they understand that, oh, like, you know,
Speaker 1: we we may not agree on everything, but you're a
Speaker 1: human being and you truly do care about this, it
Speaker 1: makes it a lot easier. And that, honestly, that's one
Speaker 1: of the reasons I really, as much as I love
Speaker 1: what social media has enabled our movement to do and
Speaker 1: pick up so much steam and momentum quickly, it's one
Speaker 1: of the things I hate most about social media is
Speaker 1: it's held to human it's so people. It's very hard
Speaker 1: to storytell in a human way on social media. That
Speaker 1: makes people realize that these are not just numbers. People
Speaker 1: just don't realize that we're human beings and we're kids
Speaker 1: that you know, our young people are college students that
Speaker 1: simply don't want our friends to die anymore. And sadly,
Speaker 1: in our current political climate, we've become so divided that
Speaker 1: our elected officials can't even come together for something the
Speaker 1: one thing they should be able to come together for,
Speaker 1: which is the protection of the future of the United States,
Speaker 1: which is us as children. That's why our power is
Speaker 1: so important. So this campaign we're launching and a couple
Speaker 1: of days of second anniversary, I mean, this is this
Speaker 1: is what they've been building towards for two years. I mean,
Speaker 1: I find it incredibly frustrated. Here we called David others actors.
Speaker 1: I see a bunch of young people who are giving
Speaker 1: all their free time to be super patriotic and use
Speaker 1: their First Amendment right and speak out for others who
Speaker 1: can't speak out for themselves. And so for our power
Speaker 1: this year, I mean, I think people should be scared
Speaker 1: and hopeful that there is an entire voting block of
Speaker 1: young people who are paying attention to the news, who
Speaker 1: are online and social media, who are you know, have
Speaker 1: all the stats like Ariel and David are doing. Like
Speaker 1: this is an activist generation, whether it's on gunball's prevention
Speaker 1: or climate change. And I think this, this harnessing of
Speaker 1: the youth power for so important because all of the
Speaker 1: groundwork that they've laid, it's now time for elected officials
Speaker 1: to act on this and actually do something about these
Speaker 1: unnecessary deaths. I mean, this is a straight up public
Speaker 1: health crisis. Even during coronavirus, people are buying UH lines
Speaker 1: around the block, getting gun sat on guns. They us
Speaker 1: back to Ariel's point of fear. I'm sure that people
Speaker 1: feel like but fear of a virus, why does that
Speaker 1: require guns to fear of anything? That's what are other humans?
Speaker 1: What will happen? Um? Yeah, but we know statistically that
Speaker 1: a gun is way more likely to be used on
Speaker 1: your loved one or accidentally or using a suicide. I
Speaker 1: mean it's really really troubling to hear the actual steps,
Speaker 1: and I think our power will be highlighting so many
Speaker 1: of these type of common things that we know now. UM,
Speaker 1: really encouraging youth to get out there and vote and
Speaker 1: get registered like that's so exciting, this is your first
Speaker 1: time voting. I mean I hope that everyone does not
Speaker 1: see this as a time where they're afraid to get
Speaker 1: out there and we need to figure out ways we
Speaker 1: can get people to go to the polls, whether it's
Speaker 1: mail in ballots or figure out other ways people can
Speaker 1: register to vote online and make it really simple for folks.
Speaker 1: Let's not make it this difficult process. But this conversation
Speaker 1: is extremely motivating to me. How can I get more
Speaker 1: involved and how can my listeners also get involved if
Speaker 1: they want to Twitter? Twitter scares me. Twitter is scary,
Speaker 1: especially if you're not used to it, because it gets
Speaker 1: kind of wild. It's like, you know, the zoo with
Speaker 1: no zookeepers ever, all the animals are just running across.
Speaker 1: You just don't want to really feel like you know.
Speaker 1: Um but Twitter, Like David mentioned earlier, UM this movement,
Speaker 1: and especially as we've seen within the past two years,
Speaker 1: a lot of these youth led movements, whether it be
Speaker 1: United We Dream, Sunrise, March for Our Lives, I'm Dream Defenders,
Speaker 1: a lot of these youth led movements are born online,
Speaker 1: particularly Twitter, because it's a place where you can voice
Speaker 1: your reviews and you can connect with other people that
Speaker 1: have the same views as you. I mean, you're obviously
Speaker 1: a writer and a reporter, and too so using your
Speaker 1: ability to storytell. I mean it's I think think about
Speaker 1: organization is awesome. Is like we're talking about debate with David.
Speaker 1: You know, Aria is like a lawyer, a future lawyer.
Speaker 1: I mean, everyone kind of brings their skill set to
Speaker 1: the table, and so maybe you're a great debater or talker,
Speaker 1: maybe you're a great writer. We have a lot of
Speaker 1: students organization who want to do art activism, So March
Speaker 1: for Our Lives has really leaned into artivism. And so
Speaker 1: I would say join the chapter side online so you've
Speaker 1: got our updates. UM. We do a lot of offline
Speaker 1: things UM. Obviously in the current state of play, we're
Speaker 1: lucky that we do do some online things as well, well,
Speaker 1: leaning into that, like on on the anniversary, were to
Speaker 1: do several several hour our power Hub, people can hop
Speaker 1: into and hear from guest speakers and have a music
Speaker 1: section and try to great ways that people can get
Speaker 1: trained online, talk to each other online, build that subse
Speaker 1: to community online, get educated about gunbows prevention UM, and
Speaker 1: then take their own actions, so registering to vote, getting
Speaker 1: yourself out there to vote, running these actions ourselves, pushing
Speaker 1: you know, educating your friends, texting five friends like oh
Speaker 1: do you know that actually a hundred people die each
Speaker 1: day by guns. Um So, I think there's so many
Speaker 1: different ways people can do with a low ask to
Speaker 1: a high ask. I just I know how busy you
Speaker 1: all are first of all, so I just want to
Speaker 1: thank you for taking the time. And I think it's
Speaker 1: this conversation just just really inspiring and I think it
Speaker 1: will to a lot of people. So just thank you
Speaker 1: so much. Thank you for what you're doing. UM. And
Speaker 1: just to wrap it up, my last question for you, UM, So,
Speaker 1: in the future, when you guys are a parent, what
Speaker 1: do you want to be able to say to your
Speaker 1: kid that this happened and you're safe in school. I
Speaker 1: want to be able to say that, um, when they're
Speaker 1: reading their history books. About the reason why the planet
Speaker 1: isn't underwater right now, um, and why kids are not
Speaker 1: dying into schools and in their community is on a
Speaker 1: daily basis, is because it's starting in young people took
Speaker 1: the helm and took democracy into their own hands. And
Speaker 1: this was a demod This was an election that could
Speaker 1: have had two very different outcomes. One for a future
Speaker 1: where nothing changes and a bund the world ends with
Speaker 1: a few people with a lot of money, or a
Speaker 1: world where everybody has a future, and other generations actually
Speaker 1: exist because humanity doesn't go extinct. Because young people, UM
Speaker 1: got really mad in twenty that we had adults that
Speaker 1: didn't care about our future, that didn't believe science, that
Speaker 1: didn't believe that we deserve the right to live in
Speaker 1: the United States, and that other generations, that billions of
Speaker 1: other humans don't deserve the right to live because this
Speaker 1: land is not your land, it's future generations land, Um.
Speaker 1: That we turned out and voted because we knew that
Speaker 1: it wasn't just our lives that depend on it, but
Speaker 1: it is billions of future human beings that are our
Speaker 1: grandchildren and our future children that depended on this and
Speaker 1: was the year that that changed. I'm really hope let's
Speaker 1: put it out there, let's just manifest it. Well, thank
Speaker 1: you guys so much for taking the time. It really
Speaker 1: means so much. Thank you, Thank you guys for everything
Speaker 1: out there, and thank you for this. Oh I'm excited.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be great. It's gonna be great. Thank you
Speaker 1: guys so much for listening to this episode. I hope
Speaker 1: you liked it. I hope you learned a lot. I
Speaker 1: know why I did. David Ariel Alexis, thank you so
Speaker 1: much for coming on. It means so much. Make sure
Speaker 1: you follow March for a Lies on all their socials
Speaker 1: and text change to nine five four nine five four
Speaker 1: to join the movement. Also follow David on Twitter at
Speaker 1: David Hogg one one one, follow him on Instagram at
Speaker 1: David Miles Hogg, follow Ariel at Ariel x Hobbs and
Speaker 1: make sure you follow Alexis on Twitter at Alexis Conference
Speaker 1: and don't forget to follow me on Instagram. Is at
Speaker 1: it Sammy J. That's as as a y J and light.
Speaker 1: No matter what your beliefs are, I think it's really
Speaker 1: important that we educate ourselves on these issues, and if
Speaker 1: you want to hear any other topics covered, make sure
Speaker 1: you come slow. Thank you guys so much for listening
Speaker 1: to you see the episode and I'll see you next week.
Speaker 1: Good Bye