the area that i grew up in
Sometimes the gun is the only way to protect yourself you're anti gun you don't you don't want nobody
To have guns but then that's gonna put my family at danger
The pool to the left i'm gonna have all my pro-gun people go stand on the edge of that light and all my anti-gun people
On the other side
first statement is i think my views on guns could change
oh, i feel like anyone's views can change on things so i'm kind of surprised that nobody felt like it could change at all i
Don't think that i could change completely to like the other side but i would definitely be open to like
looking at it from a different perspective i
think that my stance is very accommodating to both sides
that said i feel really solid about kind of what i've learned
And what i think is possible so i feel really solid about that although i'm you know open to accommodating for people's
needs you know people's wishes with their rights my name is erin clayton after the orlando shooting i realized that
My community was very much a target i had to get involved to do something
Sometimes i think people on the other side of the issue don't care about me or my loved ones lives?
i mean
The area that i grew up in and why come from a lot of you may not be able to understand that
sometimes the gun is the only way to protect yourself we all believe there should be certain rules
To get in them but on my side of the earth there is no gun laws. My name is Hasani.
Regardless of whatever you say there's always gonna be guns there's always gonna be violence in the world and I got family to protect.
I don't think y'all don't care about me or my family you know I think we all care about you know each other and
others, you know the loved ones. I don't care about y'all, I'm trying to protect me and mine.
That's that's my reason of saying that nobody else cares about it because i'm pretty sure y'all have the same
insight, like your anti-gun you don't you don't want nobody to have guns but then that's gonna put my family at danger
I don't want that. I don't want nobody to have guns.
That's not at all what we're saying
I think that there are ways to-. That's just how I feel.
Pro-gun people a lot of times are like "Well it's never gonna be solved" like
"gun violence is never gonna end" and like. It won't. It won't and you're absolutely correct but there's a bunch of ways to decrease it
i've been in a situation in which my life was in danger.
I grew up in St. Louis so
we'd go downtown where there's a huge amount of violence. We're at home depot and this guy's starting
to gather around my dad's truck and i'm in it alone. i'm 14 years old.
And I had to put my dad's gun out while i'm shaking and literally just set it on my lap and to show that.
It ended up potentially violent, potentially robbery, you know.
I don't think people automatically are born are like "I'm pro-gun." like i think what you experience in your life makes you that way.
My name is Sarah it wasn't until recently that my opinion changed
On how i felt about guns and then i became pro-gun in order to protect me and my future family
I was never pro-gun before and then some guy broke into my place and raped me and i couldn't run away
I couldn't do anything like I literally had to lay there and take it
but i knew that if i had a gun at that point of time on my nightstand
I would have defended myself.
I think America has a problem with mass shootings.
Yeah, i think we all should step forward for that one. Come on.
It'd be ignorant to say it's not an issue like i don't want anyone, to die like i don't want
To see these school shootings i don't want people to get hurt
We're all for protecting ourselves but i think like when guns
Are not in the right hands then it becomes an issue. And i don't think any of us support that at the end of the day.
So you all for like stricter gun laws or no?
There's a point where it goes too far. I don't think i need to take a five thousand question questionnaire for a psychological test, you know?
but like isn't that worth it?
and like i'm not saying that that's necessarily what we would definitely do or whatever but like a five thousand
Questionnaire or like people's lives? Would you rather? Would you be willing to go through the same process to get an automobile
training, licensing, (Yeah!) classes, a renewable license.
Yeah, yeah but not a psychological test. I think it doesn't have to be so extensive, what you're saying but it's sad
how someone can come in to a gun show and
have a lot of money buy whatever they want show a little maybe a little card or something and get
like maybe 20 guns and no one's asking you just because you have money a simple background check can just
Do a lot for people.
But i also think that a lot of people like because they don't want have the conversation about gun violence.
They switch over and say like oh it's mental illness and like that needs to be talked about too but gun violence is a separate issue
that also like really needs to be talked about
if my life was in danger i would kill.
Oh hell yeah. Can I walk faster?
no, i really don't i think I would have like have it in me. i don't know if i would have it in me. Anyone you would. Nobody has it
In them until the moment comes. Like literally fear doesn't even become a thing anymore. like it
disappears and it's like fight or flight yeah like and you either freeze
and die or you make it. and at the end of the day, i'm gonna make it.
some people don't got it in them you can always just you know,
Shoot them in a place where they won't be able to move yeah yeah!
That's what some people think but but when i went to-. I did my (?) class. They said if you're trying to shoot
him in the leg, you have enough time to get away. Or to realize you're not in danger
Or your life isn't in danger you know. So they said if you're pulling that gun out, you're shooting somebody,
you're shooting to kill. I guess i just i don't understand-
I understand,
Fighting for your life that's why i came to this, to the center for sure.
But like all this talk about like how to protect ourselves how to be in these situations but it's like again we're just
Increasing guns and i i keep just one i want to bring us back to like how can we
Combat this from the other end i don't want to carry guns i don't want to have guns in my club i don't want to
I want to be there to dance i don't want, to have a firearm on my leg and like but?
yeah, but you're taking the right away at that point.
no But we'll wait if i can prove to you that there are ways to enact
gun reform that will decrease the amount of guns out there
Increase education and not hurt the ability of law-abiding citizens to have access to firearms would you be willing to discuss ways to do that
yeah like i said i'm all for education
But i don't think like at the end of the day like if someone's trying to kill me i'm gonna kill them
I'm okay so that's but that but that is you're allowed to right now you're allowed to have that gun and so we keeps kind
Of saying w hat we're is already in place this is already possible to have all of these guns.
how can we start looking at this and
you know, changing our minds and our congress our government you know leaders minds? You guys keep talking about education but that
is not a reality. In that it we're not allowed to
instill reform that gives us gun education. So it's just like layman's ideas batting around ideas on how to kill
how to kill
I'm overall against violence at the end of the day.
I wouldn't need or want to have a gun if there wasn't violence in the world.
Sometimes, it's a right because it's a necessity, sometimes.
So how do we change? How do we
do that? Where we start changing the conversation?
Where people don't immediately relate pro gun to-
You know that pro gun can equal pro gun reform. Well I mean that's why we're here that's why we're all here.
We're all risking something by saying something. I always taught that
don't ever like state your opinion on hot topics because you're just asking for it at that point but I
feel like you have to speak up because being silenced is being just as guilty
I think the society needs to learn to speak like
educated people need to sit down, come together and talk about things.
You guys have something to say and we said it and we accept all of each other's views. I told you we would not leave hating each other.
All right everybody that's a wrap!
Hey guys, i'm Amari. I'm Taylor. Nice to meet you. We disagree sometimes and it's okay because this is middle ground
We hope you guys liked it and
we hope that we can continue to bridge people together through videos like this. Please let us know in the comments
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