[rock music]
JORDAN KLEPPER (VOICEOVER): America, land of the free
and home to an astronomical amount of mass shootings.
So I went to the world's largest gun show
in Tulsa, Oklahoma to investigate our
unique obsession with guns.
The bounty was plentiful-- small guns, big guns, Kamala
clips, Katanas for some reason, and more Nazi swag than Harlan
Crow's guest bathroom.
11 acres of guns.
Seems weird to use acreage as a measurement of guns,
but this is America.
Barry, why are you here today?
America.
You're here because America dot, dot, dot.
Yes, guns.
[laughs]
I feel like that's an American haiku.
Little EE Cummings over here.
What are you looking forward to?
Relaxation and being able to look at guns free.
That's relaxing to you.
It's sort of like your bonsai tree is
looking at an array of guns.
Makes you zen.
Makes me feel better.
JORDAN KLEPPER (VOICEOVER): And this guy might as well have
been at a meditation retreat.
Because they were selling guns everywhere,
including the parking lot.
JORDAN KLEPPER: So you're going to hopefully sell that inside?
Yes.
JORDAN KLEPPER: Do you need a license?
Can you just kind of go into the gun show and--
You try to find somebody that wants to buy it,
or you find what you want to buy.
And then if somebody is like, I'm interested, I'll buy it,
then what do you do?
First of all, you kind of, like, look them over.
Is that what a background check is here in Tulsa?
I mean, this isn't where people
are going to come to maliciously get guns mostly.
Why not?
I guess if I was like, I need to get
a gun quick to do bad shit, this is actually
exactly where I would come.
How much is that going for?
About $900.
What if I came up there and was like--
I don't know.
I've had a little bit of a rough day.
My wife just broke up with me.
I'm feeling a little on edge.
How much for your gun?
Yeah, I ain't going to sell it to somebody that looks
stupid, you know, or it looks like he's,
like, crazy as shit, you know?
What if I say the words of somebody who's crazy as shit,
but I look composed like I do right now?
I'd probably sell it to you.
JORDAN KLEPPER (VOICEOVER): While the selection
of firearms was diverse, these days,
there's only one real star of the gun show.
What are you hoping to see?
A couple AR-15s maybe, some tactical ones.
I just want to add to it, make it more tactical,
make it have some lasers or something.
Why is the AR-15 such a good gun?
It's just cool.
A lot of people use them for day to day.
There's a lot of day-to-day AR-15 uses?
I have AR style, but I use that for hog hunting.
- Hog hunting. - Hog.
I got one set up for hog hunting.
Squirrels, deer, wild hogs.
You're killing wild hogs too?
We have had them threaten us, but--
You've been threatened by pigs?
My dad has.
Why do you think the AR-15 is seen as scary?
Because it looks like a military weapon.
Do you think it's scary because it
kills a lot of children?
The weapon itself doesn't kill the children.
It's the person wielding the weapon.
Why do they tend to use that weapon in particular?
Because in media, it's portrayed that way.
Well, no, but in schools, it happens that way.
JORDAN KLEPPER (VOICEOVER): Was I misunderstanding this?
If AR-15s aren't the real threat in America, what is?
Look up bicycle accidents.
Look up trampoline accidents.
- Coyotes. - Bears.
Acid attacks.
Are there mass acid attacks?
I wouldn't say mass, but they do happen.
Statistically, there are more murders committed
in this country every year with hammers, baseball bats,
and other blunt force objects than any handgun,
rifle, shotgun combined.
Well, that statistic can't be correct.
Automobile accidents, falls, poison.
2 by 4's, heavy books.
2 by 4's.
A statue sitting on your table.
Right.
It seems like, yeah, we should be looking at all murder
weapons from the game of Clue, and then
get to the other lower-level ones like the AR-15.
JORDAN KLEPPER (VOICEOVER): The more I talked to these people,
the more I wondered if all of this tactical shit
has always been a part of gun culture.
- That's a new thing. - That's new?
Yeah, that's a new thing.
JORDAN KLEPPER (VOICEOVER): I went to Montana
to talk to Ryan Busse, who spent
25 years in the gun industry, but now
advocates for gun safety.
I'm deeply troubled by the firearms culture
that's emerged in and around guns in our country now.
It mirrors much of our political radicalization and
transformation as a country.
The industry itself prior to about 2005 or 2006
would not allow any kind of tactical gear, hardly
any AR-15s, no bulletproof vests, no helmets
in its own trade shows.
It seemed like the industry understood
that propagating that kind of thing
would lead to very bad shit.
You bring an AR-15 to a gun show in 2009,
and you're a weirdo?
Yeah, just 2008 and 2009 is when the weirdo
stuff starts wearing off.
But, yeah, you're a weirdo then.
Now it's commonplace.
Now it's ubiquitous.
But they used to be weirdos.
They used to be weirdos, yeah.
And AR--
I know a lot of liberals think AR stands for assault rifle,
and they're wrong.
It stands for, are you looking at my small penis?
Is that right?
It stands for ArmaLite rifle, which is the first company
that developed it.
- ArmaLite rifle. - Yes.
Yes.
Liberals see the AR-15 and tend to think it's a weapon of war.
And it feels like I go to a gun show, and people say,
it's for hunting.
It's for sport.
Who's right?
Well, you just-- all you have to do
is look at the industry's own marketing.
The industry sells it as an offensive weapon of war.
They're starting to market towards kids, right?
Yeah, so, you know, guns have long been marketed to kids,
target guns, trying to get kids involved
in the shooting sports and hunting.
But what's different now is that's being
marketed to kids through things like the JR-15,
the Junior 15--
not the AR-15, the Junior 15.
It's a shrunken down kids version of an AR-15, yeah.
A JR-15, is that so little kids can stand
up to government overreach?
If you're worried about child grooming,
here's your child grooming.
This is how gun manufacturers are
reaching out to the public.
Here you got the marketing for the JR-15 to little kids.
Check that out.
JORDAN KLEPPER: Oh, great, so we have pacifiers and a skull.
RYAN BUSSE: Tactical pacifier.
JORDAN KLEPPER: Tactical pacifier, cute.
Yeah, my two and a half year old would be drawn to that.
RYAN BUSSE: This is a magazine cover.
You have the vicious skateboard attacker
and the glorious father defending
his terribly afflicted family.
Is that one in case Tony Hawk goes crazy?
Yes.
Honey, get the sword.
Tony Hawk's here.
RYAN BUSSE: So this is Spike's Tactical ad.
It was a 2018 huge ad at the industry trade show.
Guys in jeans, T-shirts, backwards ball cap, AR-15,
staring down the protesters.
Here you have Kyle Rittenhouse--
jeans, backwards ball cap, T-shirt, AR-15,
shooting the protesters.
This is two years apart.
RYAN BUSSE: Two years apart.
The marketing works.
I don't know how-- if you can't draw
a direct line between those two things, I can't help you.
What are steps we can take to limit
the number of mass shootings with weapons like the AR-15?
I think, like our politics, a lot of this
is about voluntary social norms.
Yes, legislation needs to be instituted to help
reinforce some of these norms.
But some of this is going to be on us.
JORDAN KLEPPER (VOICEOVER): That's right.
It is on us.
So it shouldn't be too hard for all of us
to come together and agree on what
weapons should and should not be
owned by the average civilian.
Should we be able to buy tanks?
You betcha. JORDAN KLEPPER: Yeah?
You betcha.
If tanks are OK, should we each
be able to have an Apache helicopter?
There should be a line of the things that are available.
Well, maybe we shouldn't go around with nuclear bombs
strapped to our backs. - That's the line.
But--
But there's a-- you don't have to but.
You don't have to.
We had nuclear bombs.
We were agreeing.
JORDAN KLEPPER (VOICEOVER): Looks
like we've still got some figuring out to do, America.
[cheering]