Speaker 1: Given the attention right now on the Nashville school shooting and on my comments
in response and on the hate mob that has been sent at me by don jr and Candace Owens and
others.
I am again going to take the opportunity to talk about what doesn't work to reduce gun
violence and mass shootings and what does.
Now I want to contextualize this by reminding you that you have very sort of pathetic solutions
from the right, which they don't even actually believe in, which we know because they don't
fund them.
I'll give you an example.
They say say mass shootings are really about mental health.
Well, mental health might well be a component, but if you believe that you should fund mental
health treatment services, which they do not.
And in fact, in many states, every time there's a proposal to increase funding for exactly
those types of services, they are against funding it.
They don't want to do it.
We see the problems mental health, but we won't do anything about it.
Of course, the ubiquitous and ever present thoughts and prayers before thoughts and prayers
and after thoughts and prayers and thoughts and prayers and thoughts and prayers and the
thoughts and prayers do nothing.
The thoughts and prayers do nothing.
If prayer is important to you in difficult situations, then by all means do it.
But it is not policy to reduce gun violence.
More recently now, they are targeting trans people, drag shows, gender affirming care
because of the trans identity of the shooter in Nashville, Tennessee.
Give me a break.
Give me a break now.
If we could somehow pass legislation, if we miraculously had the ability to get but build
consensus and actually pass some gun safety legislation, what would I do?
Such that we would make an impact?
I am going to give you the disclaimer upfront that I always do know.
One of the bullet points I'm about to list would prevent every mass shooting.
We have 340 million people in this country and every combination of mass shooting.
No one rule would prevent every mass shooting.
But taken together, these ten policies would significantly reduce the number of mass shootings.
Number one, end the gun show loophole.
The gun show loophole is the fact that federal law doesn't require unlicensed private sellers
to perform background checks on gun purchasers.
You go and you buy a gun at a dealer and they do the background check.
Great.
Now, if you make a private sale, you as an individual with no license to sell firearms,
if you make a private sale to someone else, you are not required by federal law to have
that buyer background checks.
Some states require it, but there is no federal law and as a result, many states don't require
it.
Would it solve every shooting?
No, but that is just obvious.
That should be done.
Number two, universal background checks.
It would require almost all firearms transactions in the United States to go through the end
ISIS National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
This is also part of closing the private sale exemption.
So you've got the gun show loophole and the private sale exemption.
Both are about getting around background checks.
At least 22 states and D.C. require background checks for private sales, but they are not
required by federal law.
Number three, mandatory waiting period from when you go in and say, I'd like a gun, please.
And when you get the gun.
It won't prevent every shooting.
Some people, some shooters have guns that they've had for years.
But for those who are going and saying, I want to do a shooting, let me go and get the
gun, and you get it that day.
For some of them, a mandatory waiting period.
Maybe it's five days, maybe it's ten days.
Might actually allow cooler heads to prevail and might reduce the number of these shootings.
Number four, no high capacity weapons for those under age 25.
But, David, they could get a handgun.
Yes, they could.
But in many of these incidents, not all, but in many of these incidents with a handgun
rather than an AR 15, the number dead would be lower and fewer people dying is better.
I'd rather zero, but fewer is better.
Number five, mandatory gun insurance, which is significantly more expensive without a
parent cosigning.
If you were under 25, this is both a financial disincentive, which might just make the entire
thing more expensive, particularly for those under 25.
Remember, when we look at mass shooters overwhelmingly under age 25, if you don't have a parent saying,
yeah, I think this makes sense and we're going to get the insurance, it is dramatically more
expensive.
Number six, if you're under 25 and you want to get a gun, you should be required to provide
one, maybe two community support letters.
These would be letters from adults who know you, not your parents, who say, I am fine
with this individual having these firearms.
I have no issues with that.
And if there are issues, it doesn't mean any random person in the community can say no
guns.
But it would require more scrutiny.
And maybe if someone goes and tries to get a gun and a teacher and whoever else says,
I have concerns about this individual, or if they're not even able to find such individuals,
then maybe that person shouldn't be able to get guns.
Number seven, some weapons should be banned.
There are simply there are some weapons that are simply of no recreational or any other
value other than as mass killing machines.
I'm not pretending I have the exact list right here in front of me.
People will disagree about what should be on the list.
Most people think the shoulder mounted RPGs should be not allowed.
Most people believe the handguns should be allowed.
Well, now we're now we're negotiating.
Now we have to find what is the point.
There are some weapons that should be banned.
Number eight, there should be a periodic mental health evaluation.
There should be a mental health evaluation at the beginning and there should be a mental
health evaluation periodically.
Oh, but, David, that'll be expensive.
Well, it should be paid by the licensing fees, which maybe are too low.
That's another issue to discuss.
But there should be a periodic mental health evaluation.
You might be fine to have a gun at 25 and then at 30 things have changed.
And if you were subjected to a mental health eval, a mental health professional might say,
you really shouldn't have this gun.
Number nine, the licensing process should be more extensive.
You need a written and a practical test for a driver's license.
At minimum, it should be the same for guns.
The training and licensing period shouldn't be one weekend.
It should be longer.
More like with cars where there are hours of driver's ed and practical.
Why not?
Well, because the right wing gun lobby has prevented it from being that way.
And then number ten, there should be a gun buyback program.
Give people an off ramp that feels better than supposed gun confiscation.
No, one of these things will stop Every specific shooter.
Someone will write in and say, David, but number nine wouldn't have stopped the Uvalde
D shooting.
The point here is we would stop some of the shootings and we would be able to then say,
Look at the improvement.
Where can we tweak?
Where can we do more?
We have a Second Amendment.
None of these affect that, but we could be doing so much more.
But none of this stuff will happen.
With the current Republican Party and the NRA.
As powerful as it is also amazing, mental health isn't an issue.
No, the reason I want the mental health evaluations is because I'm agreeing a factor is mental
health.
There is also the cultural issue.
The United States is unique and many Americans don't understand how weird it is to see firearms
fetishized violence celebrated, intelligence condemned.
We need a cultural change where people stop seeing firearms as the solutions to personal
or social problems.
I don't know how in hell we do that.
That's a big issue.
In the meantime, though, ten policies, all of which would prevent some mass shootings.
So the thoughts and prayers don't work.
I stand by that.
Here's ten ideas that might.
And you know what?
What do we have to lose?
We're not fixing it.
We've done nothing.
And it hasn't solved the problem.
Maybe it's time to try something new.