Do you think that there should be action here in the wake of that shooting?
>> Look, I put myself in a position where I look at those families and
I see these things and I look at my colleagues up here.
And there isn't anybody here that if they could find the right approach
wouldn't try to do something because they feel that pain.
>> Republican, Senator Mike Rounds is about to get real frank with the American
people over how worthless Congress is in accomplishing anything that improves their
lives or keeps their children safe.
>> And yet when we start talking about bans or
challenging on the second amendment.
I think, the things that have already been done have gone, but
as far as we're going to with gun control.
>> As far as they're willing to go with gun control,
meaning we're not gonna do anything, even after three children,
as young as nine years old were gunned down by a mass shooter recently.
Now, I'm not surprised by any of this.
This is the same thing that happens every time there's a mass shooting,
a school shooting, any time we hear about the tiny bodies of school
children being ripped apart by assault weapons.
Republican law makers who are well funded by gun manufacturers.
And the gun lobby like the NRA,
line up to tell the American people that there's nothing they're willing to do.
Because their campaign donations from the gun lobby happen to be far more
important than saving human lives.
But then they'll turn around and simultaneously claim that they're pro
life, as they punish women and control their bodies,
while stripping away their reproductive rights, because that's who they are.
That's what they really represent.
Now, even Caitlin Collins in that video seemed a little surprised at
the unwillingness to do a damn thing about gun violence in this country.
And Rounds, not only admitted that he plans to do nothing,
he also admitted to having no qualms and
zero about voting against insanely mild gun control, just last year.
Let's watch.
>> It's pretty stark to hear you say that you don't think there's anything else
legislatively that Congress can do when it comes to guns.
You voted against the gun safety legislation that was passed and
signed into law last year.
Some of your Republican colleagues voted against or voted for it.
Do you still stand by that vote, Senator?
>> I do.
>> I do, even milk toast, incredibly mild gun control.
I'm unwilling to get behind, because that money gotta make sure
that my campaign coffers come first, but he's not the only one,
I don't mean to pick on Senator Mike Rounds, poor Mike Rounds.
Why don't we actually talk a little bit about, Congressman Ken Buck,
another Republican.
He's actually from the state of Colorado, and
he had posted a video that asked Biden to come take his guns.
In fact, why don't we take a look at that?
>> Back in 2020, you went viral.
You posted this video after a similar plea, take a watch.
>> The message for Joe Biden and
[INAUDIBLE] if you wanna take everyone's AR-15 in America,
why don't you swim by my office in Washington DC and start with this one?
Come and take it.
>> I guess my question is, is your concern as a federal official, as a lawmaker,
as somebody who legislates that something like that.
Maybe diminishes the impact of what this moment is and kind of the conversations
that's happening, at least if you're trying to reach a resolution on issues?
>> Well, if Joe Biden is interested in reaching a resolution on the issue,
let him deal with the southern border.
We have drugs coming across the southern border, and
this crisis, this mental health crisis that we have in this country.
Has a direct relationship to our drug laws being loosened and
the lack of funding at the state level for mental health services.
So let Joe Biden deal with some of the issues.
>> Now, we're gonna respond to his claims about the need for mental health services.
We're gonna talk about his worries about cartel, violence and
drugs flowing in from the southern border.
Allegedly, I'm gonna address all of that.
But before I do, I can't help but
mention the video that he had no problem putting out there.
And more importantly, defending the video where he's holding on to his gun and
telling Biden, you wanna take our guns away, come take my gun.
Can you really posture as a tough guy when you're just a bitch for the NRA and
the gun lobby?
Genuine question.
And if you're wondering what I'm referring to, I can give you some numbers.
Now, this is a little bit outdated because it was reported by ABC News back in 2018.
So I would imagine the numbers could be higher when you look at the total amount
of campaign contributions that Ken Buck has taken from gun manufacturers and
the gun lobby.
But this is interesting because back in 2010,
the NRA spent nearly $830,000 in an unsuccessful effort to replace
democratic incumbent Michael Bennett with Republican Ken Buck in Colorado.
Buck, however, was able to win the seat only after Bennett left office to run for
the Senate back in 2012.
Now, the NRA didn't get involved in the 2014 race, but
Buck was backed by another pro-gun group called Gun Owners of America.
Now, if the NRA was willing to dump nearly $1 million into your efforts
to win that congressional seat and feel a little loyal to them.
They don't wanna do right by the gun lobby and
the gun manufacturers who happen to fund the gun lobby.
That is what matters to Ken Buck more than anything.
Now, let's address all the other stuff that he brought up,
because he claims to be super concerned about our southern border.
I mean, let's deflect, let's not talk about the guns.
Let's know the real concern is the southern border.
They're smuggling drugs.
Let's talk about that.
So where are the drugs coming from?
One of the top killers, one of the top contributors to overdoses in America right
now, happens to be fentanyl, and to be sure we should be concerned about that.
We should be thinking about policies to minimize
the number of overdose deaths Americans are now facing,
as many as 100,000 overdose deaths a year.
The bulk of those overdoses happen to be a result of fentanyl overdoses.
So I am concerned about that, but I'm not interested in deflecting
from the very real issue of gun violence in America by talking about some other
issue that to be clear, Ken Buck doesn't actually give a damn about.
But let's talk about where the drugs come from and what the reality is.
The reality is that fentanyl actually is sourced from China.
China remains the primary source of fentanyl and
fentanyl-related substances trafficked through international mail and
express consignment operations environment.
As well as the main source for
all fentanyl-related substances trafficked into the United States.
I'm not saying that, you want to know who's saying that, the DEA,
that is a statement from the DEA.
Now also the drugs coming in from the southern border are actually not brought
in by undocumented immigrants, as Republicans would have you believe.
In fact, I didn't even know this until today,
fentany smuggling is ultimately funded by US consumers who pay for illicit opioids.
I knew that, nearly 99% of whom are US citizens.
Now, in 2021, US citizens were 86.3% of convicted fentanyl drug traffickers,
ten times greater than convictions of illegal immigrants for the same offense.
And that's according to the Cato Institute.
And by the way, if you're wondering,
one of the main ways that the drug is trafficked, or sent to the United States.
It actually gets sent over through mail, and that's left out of the conversation.
But again, we're not talking to you about the drug epidemic right now, Ken Buck,
we're talking to you about gun violence.
Because six people were just gunned down at a private religious school,
and you claim to care so much about little children,
three of those victims were nine year olds.
But let's get into some more details here,
because he also talks about the need for mental health care.
We tried and true tactic.
These guys are one trick ponies when it comes to responding to gun violence in
the country.
We're very concerned about mental health in America.
Very concerned, so concerned that any time mental health comes up,
we vote against it.
We'll get to that in just a minute.
But before we do, why don't we talk a little bit about mental health services?
Because that happens to be one of the main drivers.
The lack of mental health services in America is one of the main drivers for
why we are facing a very serious mental health crisis.
As the National Institute of Mental Well being rights, Mental health services
in the United States are insufficient despite more than half of American,
56% seeking help.
States are struggling to keep up with demand due to lack of funding and
facilities, and, to a lesser extent, providers.
Texas, Wisconsin and
Georgia ranked among the lowest in terms of lacking adequate numbers of providers,
facilities and funding to support the state's populations.
There is also a large disparity in access to mental health care based on
level of income and location.
So when they bring up the issue of mental health in America,
it's a good issue to bring up.
I have no problem with that.
In fact, I think a robust comprehensive approach to our gun violence
problem in America is to focus on making it a little more difficult for
people who shouldn't have guns being able to get them.
It's incredibly easy to buy a gun.
On top of that, we absolutely should fund mental health in America.
We are completely neglecting that issue and I think we should focus on both,
but understand that Republicans like Ken Buck mention mental health
care after mass shooting events.
Not because they care about mental health, but because they want to pivot
away from any discussion on necessary common sense gun legislation.
By the way, when it comes to funding mental health,
when it comes to voting on legislation to appropriate the resources necessary
to take mental health seriously in America, Republicans vote against it.
205 Republicans vote against bill to expand school mental health services.
And that was a headline from truth out in September of last year.
In fact, only one House Republican, one, and
that's Representative Brian Fitzpatrick from Pennsylvania
voted in favor of that bill in order to fund mental health services.
Something that they claim to care so much about, only after mass shootings though.
It's also worth noting that if Buck is so concerned about cartel violence and
violence coming from the southern border.
Maybe we should think about not arming
members of the cartel inadvertently because of our lax gun laws.
The Mexican government estimates that more than half a million guns are smuggled
from the United States each year, arming Mexico's deadly cartel wars.
Officials in Mexico which has just one gun store and
issues fewer than 50 gun permits a year.
Blame lax us gun laws and the prevalence of gun shops in America for
the bulk of weapons that allow cartels to flourish.
I'm not done yet.
If that information is shocking to you get a load of this,
between 70 to 90% of guns recovered at crime scenes
in Mexico can be traced back to the United States.
Drug cartels, in particular, buy those weapons in the United States,
mostly in Texas or Arizona, and smuggle them across the border.
So not only are we fueling the gun violence in America,
thanks to our lax gun laws.
We're also fueling cartel violence south of the border,
because the cartel members can just easily buy guns due to our lax gun laws.
But Republicans would have you believe there's nothing they can do.
There's nothing they can do.
I live in California which happens to be one of the states that
has some of the strictest gun laws in the country.
I decided I wanted to purchase a weapon for self defense and I have one, and
guess what, process ain't that difficult.
Background check, doesn't take that much time.
I don't feel like my second amendment rights have been violated.
There was a background check conducted to ensure that I'm a law abiding
individual that is not going to use this weapon of death to kill innocent people.
And I think all law abiding citizens in America should be able to practice their
second amendment rights.
I do not wanna ban guns,
however common sense gun legislation needs to be, not only considered.
But voted in favor of, in order to mitigate what we are now experiencing in
this country on a regular basis.
Children getting slaughtered on their own campuses.
The Republican Party can't, on one hand claim they care about children and
human lives, when it comes to regulating the bodies of women.
And then turn around and say,
there's nothing we can do when it comes to regulating guns that are used.
Of course,
in all of these mass shootings that we're experiencing all throughout the country.
And please spare me the garbage about how all, well, Chicago,
Chicago's got some gun laws and it's not working out so well for them,
except Chicago is not an island, okay?.
Chicago is a city that is in a state surrounded by other
states that have incredibly lax gun laws,
very easy to cross state lines and buy a weapon somewhere else.
We all know this.
So they're insanely weak talking points that attempt to counter what we're arguing
in favor of here, which is common sense gun legislation falls flat immediately.
Which is probably why people like Kevin McCarthy,
the House Speaker run away from reporters who wanna know if he's gonna do anything.
if House Republicans are even going to consider any legislation when it comes to
gun control.
Now, with that said, I wanna go to the final video here,
because it is a compilation of all the GOP cowards who would
much rather pander to the gun lobby and
to weapons manufacturers than to keep their own constituents lives safe.
Let's watch.
>> When I take action to ban AR-15s in the aftermath of all these terrible shootings.
>> Because I believe in the second Amendment and
you shouldn't penalize law abiding American citizens.
>> Banning those weapons that were used in attacks like these.
>> I'm certain that politics will wave into everything, but right now I'm not
focused on the politics of the situation, I'm focused on the families.
>> Why not ban AR-15s.
>> Why not talk about the real issue facing this country in regards to
the shooting, which would be mental health.
>> At the end of the day I don't know if there's much space to do more, but
I'll certainly look and see.
>> [INAUDIBLE] You talk about new movies,
you talk about your life, you talk about what you're doing for
Easter or anything [INAUDIBLE] >> Kevin McCarthy,
running away from reporters.
We could talk about movies, we could talk about Easter.
We don't care about what your thoughts on movies or Easter.
You're an elected lawmaker who has a leadership position in the House of
Representatives.
You are the Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy,
running away from reporters who are asking you legitimate questions,
about what you plan to do in response to the endless gun violence in this country.
Running away from them is the most pathetic thing I've ever seen.
But what's also incredibly pathetic is hearing lawmakers claim that
they're concerned about families right now.
They're concerned about the families while also letting us all
know that they will do nothing to keep us safe or to represent our best interests.
And they do it with a straight face with absolutely no shame.
It is incredible to see it.
And they get more brazen after every mass shooting.
Some of the stuff they say today,
they wouldn't dare say after the Sandy Hook shooting.
Just brazenly telling us we're not gonna do anything, but
there is no real way of holding them accountable other than voting.
And unless we get organized outside of this congressional situation,
outside of electoral politics.
Unless there's a persistent well organized pressure campaign that
holds these lawmakers accountable, they're never gonna listen to us.
They're never gonna care.
Even their own constituents in these red states indicate in poll after poll
that they are in favor of common sense, gun legislation.
They are in favor of background checks.
So let's work with people.
Let's get organized and let's actually create a campaign that applies
persistent pressure against these politicians.
So they actually listen to people, so they actually listen to their constituents,
and maybe reconsider whether the gun lobby is more important than saving human lives.