Why did Eva get all upset and just leave?
Gun control keeps everyone safe.
Or maybe she understands that we can't protect people
from bad guys with guns if we don't have
(scoffs)
(Adam on PA) Uh, my guess is she's upset
because gun control conversations in America
are always centered around what makes white people fee safe.
(feedback)
All too often, black people
are left completely out of the conversation.
I'm leaving black people out?
My wife is black...
Oh, no, I just became one of those people.
Afraid so.
And I'm afraid that historically,
gun control has been used to control and criminalize
(cash register cha-ching)
(Adam) In the early years of our country,
many colonies and states had laws
barring Native Americans and free black people
(alarm sounding)
What? But I have a receipt.
of black people
have continued to inform our gun control laws.
In 1960s California, the Black Panthers
resisted police violence in Oakland
by patrolling the city with guns.
We have a right to protect our communities
against police officers abusing their power.
Defending yourself against a tyrannical government,
I'm all about that.
Well, state lawmakers responded
by passing a bill that banned open carry.
The bill applied to all Californians
but it was meant to blatantly target the Black Panthers.
And that bill was signed by then California governor
and NRA member, Ronald Reagan.
I'm just not comfortable with certain people carrying guns.
(chuckles) For, uh... reasons.
Eva.
Oh!
Babe, I'm so sorry.
I had no idea gun control used to be so racist.
Is that what you told her?
Well, I wasn't done.
So, not my responsibility to teach white people
they own racist ass history.
All right, white Urkel, I'll take it from here.
Please do.
And thanks for the compliment.
Sarah, even today a lot of gun control laws
really end up being about controlling black people.
In the mid-2000s,
the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms
performed 10 years of stings to combat gun crime.
A full analysis found that
91% of people arrested
were people of color.
And we're not just talking about the red states.
For years, New York City had an official policy
to stop black and brown people on the street
just to see if they might have guns or drugs.
(police siren whoops)
Sir, you're in a public place
and you look... you know, dangerous.
What? Oh. Sir?
Records show that these stops almost never found guns.
Between '04 and 2012,
4.4 million people were stopped,
but only 1.5% of them had weapons.
Men in my family have gotten jaywalking tickets
from the NYPD after they didn't find anything
in the stop and frisk.
They weren't stopping criminals,
they were just stopping black people.
Eva, I'm sorry. I had no idea.
You've never talked about it.
It's not her responsibility to talk about it,
it's our responsibility as a country.
This is James Forman, Jr., Pulitzer Prize winner
and author of the book "Locking Up Our Own."
There's a connection between the overly punitive
gun sentencing laws that were passed in the 1970s,
1980s, and 1990s
and the current crisis of mass incarceration.
Instead of national gun control laws
that could stop the flood of available guns,
we have local laws that penalize possession.
And those laws are mostly passed in cities.
So, the result is that guns are everywhere,
violence is rampant, and the only people
who go to prison for possessing guns
are poor people of color in our nation's cities.
Black people face the highest rates of deaths by guns.
But instead of protecting the families and neighborhoods
who face the most gun violence,
our current gun laws just double down on destroying them.
And that's why we shouldn't talk about new gun penalties
without first talking about
how we transform our criminal legal system.
All right, Adam, I got to get to my Thanksgiving dinner.
Well, I think we all learned
a valuable lesson about gun control.
No, Dan.
There's something you need to realize too.
Gun rights don't protect black people either.
Take the stand your ground law
the NRA pushed legislators to pass in Florida.
It says use of deadly force is justified to defend yourself
in your home or car even if you can run away.
But in practice, not everyone gets to use it.
Marissa Alexander was sentenced
to 20 years in prison
just for firing a warning shot
to defend herself against her abusive husband.
Stand your ground didn't help her.
Or look at what happened to Philando Castile.
During a routine traffic pullover,
he informed the police officer that he had his gun on him.
And the cop shot and killed him in front of his girlfriend
and her four-year-old daughter.
But I drive with my weapon every day.
That's not against the law.
Okay, so imagine I'm a police officer
pulling you over and you're Philando Castile.
Do you have your license and insurance?
Yes, officer, I do have to tell you
I do have a firearm on me.
Okay, don't reach for it then.
Don't pull it out.
He's not pulling it out.
Bang!
That is the exact moment Philando Castile was shot.
He did everything that responsible gun owners
are supposed to do.
And the NRA didn't come to his defense.
For all their talk about protecting gun rights,
they sure are quiet when black people are gunned down
for exercising them.
So, Dan, I'm frustrated
because black people are in jail or dead
for exercising gun rights that you enjoy so freely.
And, Sarah, I'm hurt
because, as my partner,
you don't see that the gun control
you have the privilege to fight for
ignores the systemic persecution
that I live in fear of every single day.
I'm gonna head back.
Wait.
Do you want a ride?