in 1922 after the nra was founded in 1871. the nra supported gun control including the 1934 national firearms act that outlawed fully automaticeapons and a response to the violence of the gangsters like al capone during prohibition and it also established the first regime to control wholesaleransfer of high arms for manufacturers to wholesalers. and that is thesystem the nra doesn't like to talk about but they still support because it is quite convenient. the nra then underwent what is known as the cincinnati revolt or internal revolt, self coup if you will, shifting from an organization that was prioritized to shooting sports on their hunting and always gun safety to then prioritizing gun rights -- consumer access to firearms, which is what gun rights really means above everything else. over the past 45 years, they have pursued an absolutist vision of gun rights which is based on the idea there could be no compromise between gun ownership and gun regulations something that is a complete flip-flop from what the nra did for ove

that's the nra narrative. and with what they have stopped any effort at gun reform, gun control for the last few years. on the left, if it's not a ban of the ar-15, if it's not a ban of 18-21 year olds, they're not going to be happy with that. i'm to the point nobody's going to be happy with the agreement. i will be happy if anything passes because it will be the first time that the nra's chokehold is slightly broken and defied. and i hope that we can build on from there and the republican politicians can see that it won't be the end of their careers and of their political lives if they stand up for their constituents and they stand up for things that 90% of americans are for, like background checks, instead of standing up for the nra. >> your bar is not so low. >> oh, it is low. >> it sounds low at first. but you go on to talk about you want to be able to show that, hey, this incremental movement can mean not the end of your career. maybe the next time, here ducky, ducky, come on, more of it. is that too much

i am an nra member. the guy got shot by the cop i'm not going to talk about that for what i am focusing on with the story is the fact the nra did not come to this man's defense. you cannot be collectively applications when it comes to a person. you all your members or none at all. that's when he lost me this guy had a legitimate case to have a weapon. his gun rights were clearlyai violated any paid for with his life. but those two issues disturbed me as far as who is financing the young man in uvalde, texas. and also the nra selective enforcement of their own policies. >> first on the money question there is no evidence anyone else paid for his gun we do not know that yet that is an interesting question those were expensive rifles that he bought. it would be good to know how we got the money to do that. given his age and lack of apparent income. as far as the nra question goes this is a common critique you hear a lot from american gun owners with the nra they do not speak up in situations like whas happe

was by the nra and your approach. >> we try to provide fair coverage of the nra but also members but that is not good to attack the organization we don't run editorials. so in the most recent case we reported with the annual report that they put out that shows finances and that was way down even just from a couple years ago. >> covid had an effect on all charities. but then we have had internal turmoil with the declines revenue happened and then to ercorrupt allegations with those that have the internal fighting and has put a damper on a lot of the members. and then the fact to use the membership from direct mail and then they're not picking up but then the nra was there themselves. it like with attendance quick. >> it was very well. it was the lowest attended annual meeting since 2006. and then the members would vote on the directors and they have the lowest participation and that's not a case they had been in the past cracks. >> the founder and editor of reload. we talked about congressional issues and efforts to address gun violence. we welcome your calls and comments the lines ar

nra in recent years has been crippled by corruption. >> but they're funding the nra. >> i don't know if it's good -- >> i mean -- go ahead. >> truly, truly republican voters, conservatives, nra or not, strongly believe in the second amendment. whether under banner of nra or anything else, view it as corrupt or -- not going to give up on something they fundamentally believe. >> saw former republican senate leader tweet out he was now in favor of a ban of ar-15s. huge change. >> it is. we'll come back to this point. be right back. allergies don't have to be scary. spraying flonase daily stops your body from overreacting to allergens all season long. psst! psst! flonase all good. meet three sisters. the drummer, the dribbler, and the day-dreamer... the dribbler's getting hands-on practice with her chase first banking debit card... the drummer's making savings simple with a tap... ...round of applause. and this dreamer, well, she's still learning how to budget, so mom keeps her alerts on full volume. hey! what? it's true! and that's all thanks to chase first banking. freedom for kids. co

the nra is able to look people in the eye after -- what has happened over the years, the nra has hesitated on a couple of occasions, after columbine, after sandy hook. by in large, it has doubled down on when it decided to -- it is not to apologize and or be as aggressive as it ever was. >> in this call, they also debated whether to call off their gun show sales, part of the annual gathering in denver. denver, ten days after columbine also colorado, of course. they pushed to keep the annual meeting as required by the bylaws. this is when the discussion becomes a shocking. let's listen to leadership, starting with wind left here. here it is everyone. >> the other problem is, the people you are less likely to get into the member meeting. -- >> we made that point earlier. i agree. the fruitcakes are going to show up. >> if you go down the exhibit hall, it is not going to leave anything for the media except for the members meeting. you are going to have the wackos, with all kinds of crazy resolutions, with all kinds of dressing like a bunch of hillbillies and idiots and it's gonna be the worst

but for merely having a weapon and then the nra went silent. now the nra the defender of the second amendment goes silent when a licensed gun owner is gunned down for no other reason than having a gun the nra that called federal officers jack booted government thugs after ruby ridge and after waco go silent and so the question was do black people have second amendment rights. that's where this book came from. and what's the answer to that question? no. sounds no, the it's to understand the history of the second amendment that it was really born out of anti-blackness. it was born out of a fear of black people. it was born out of a description of african americans as being dangerous a threat to white society. it came out of a fear of slave insurrections. it came out of a fear that free blacks would help those who were enslaved and so it was how do we protect the white community from the black threat and in fact you write in the second that the second amendment was designed and implemented to abrogate and deny the rights of black people. at what p

host: you think the nra would support that? guest: the nra is in a particular position and the question is not so much would they suppose it -- they support it, the question is what they oppose it? would they use it as a key vote and i'm pretty sure the answer would be no. host: why do you think that? guest: because they do not have a policy problem now with background checks at gun shops when people come in and they don't know who they are. a problem the nra and i agree with. -- agree with and that i have is when you force me to put a background check on somebody i already know well. a friend of mine that has been a prosecutor for 40 years, i once sold a gun to my local police chief. he was at my house after work in uniform and i was supposed to say to him, you know, chief, i have to put you through a background check to make sure you are not a convicted felon. is that height of stupidity or what? yet if i just gave him a gun and said here, try it out for a week , i would have been committing a felony. is that a smart law? i d

you mentioned the nra a few _ restrictions. you mentioned the nra a few times, _ restrictions. you mentioned the nra a few times, what - restrictions. you mentioned the nra a few times, what kind - restrictions. you mentioned the nra a few times, what kind of. nra a few times, what kind of role do they play and is the influence as powerful as it has been over the past few decades? i thought that they were supposed to go bankrupt because they tried to get into the media business which is treacherous, but it does seem to be still incredibly powerful. one, because they are backed by a very powerful small arms manufacturing industry but also very powerful because, like i've mentioned already, there are a lot of americans who associate there commodity consumption with their identity. it sounds weird to explain but they basically feel like a gun is very much a part of their identity. gives in politicians campaign on it. gods, guns and babies was a campaign slogan that only recently was mentioned in the mid terms, in the primary�*s. so this is very much like a fundamental american v

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the nra has figured out that this works, and there's a blood pact between the republican party, the nra and the gunmakers themselves, and there's a cycle of money and power that is being turned all the time between those three parties, and you see this -- you know, they create minutes of everything. one menace that they have done is that something will be done that, there will be an assault weapons ban, so when you see people like barack obama run and win, background cheques go through the roof because people run out to buy guns because they assume that something may than that may one day prohibit them from having them and you see the same thing happen after a mass shooting that gets a lot of national attention. people run out and buy these guns all over again because they assume something might happen that might prohibit them from buying them. in a way donald trump was the worst thing that could have happened for the nra and gunmakers because they didn't have a foil, right? they couldn't say he's going do it so they had to make other enemies. they had to say people coming across the bo

nra meeting. stay tuned for that chat. >>> good evening, i'm mehdi hasan, if you support the democratic party, you probably don't want to hear this forecast from election expert and political analyst dave wasserman of the cook political report because he posted this tweet last week projecting that republicans would gain a hefty 20 to 35 seats in the house in november's midterm elections. ouch. exactly the kind of defeat president barack obama once called a shellacting, and republicans are planning for that victory for control of congress for what they're going to do and i tell you this won't be health care policy or tackling prices at the pump, top gops have conservative think tankers on the tony eastern shore of maryland ways to investigate the biden administration as soon as they get congress, and looking for flimsy excuses to launch congressional probes according to axios, that retreat was paid for by the heritage foundation, by the conservative partnership institute, and by the american accoun

nra didn't do much in response to that shooting. host: has the nra responded to that criticism? guest: the nra has a lot of african-american members, and they do often promote them in their marketing material. they have events in detroit to teach women there to carry firearms. rick ector is african-american as well. it is not that they do not do any work in the african-american community, but it is a criticism you will hear. host: let's hear from patty in reidsville, wisconsin, democrats' line. caller: stephen, thank you for taking my call. i am a retired nurse and i have taking care of patients who were shot. it was not pretty. my recommendation is when these shootings happened, the people who are pro-military style weapons should have to be given a tour of the site, or at least be taken to the class where children were shot. they need to walk through and see all of the interior damage done to that building. secondly, my daughter and son-in-law are temporarily working in germany in the health care system. they are pro-gun people, but there gun has to be locked up in armories. y

obviously, as you just had calls to ban the nra, dismember the nra, the radical gun group that is clearly huddled by all the scandal and the internal conflicts and all of the issues that we've been hearing about this organization struggling with. do you believe that this group faces an existential crisis because on one hand, we hear how they are financially struggling, yet, at the same time, we see the kind of powers they still have over members of the republican party that they completely are able to obstruct and block any meaningful path forward on gun control? >> i wish. we can't be passive. the nra is not going away until we take a proactive rigorous approach to it. we gotta pursue every avenue possible, like i said, litigation, money, membership, it's not going away on its own. it's not gonna collapse under its own hypocrisy and evil. we need to attack it, a frontal assault. and i think that's kind of charge used to be left in part by veteran lawmakers like me. i trained a patrol ar-15 for four and a half years. i spent three months with that weapon day not before i was even allowed

by the way, after that, he was reelected as ceo of the nra by a vote of 52 on. he saw that post -- the good liars join me now. welcome to you both, guys. thank you for joining us on this. jason, i have to, say i saw this when i was and uvalde, covering a mass shooting there. but i was really fascinated by what took place there and obviously your addressing the crowd at the nra and wayne lapierre as well. i have to ask, were you nervous about being there and doing that? >> yes. short answer, very nervous. it was nerve-racking because a lot was made over donald trump speaking on friday night and they weren't allowing guns, the secret service was not allowing guns. at that meeting there was no such rule, the guns were allowed there. so, we were talking about what i should do and -- because we did know that he would even existed, we didn't know that we will get to be there with wayne lapierre. i had the thought, you've seen us interrupt some events before, we talk about that briefly and decided that probably was make it idea at the nra gathering. it worked out, i th

host: you think the nra would support that? guest: the nra is in a particular position and the question is not so much would they suppose it -- they support it, the question is what they oppose it? would they use it as a key vote and i'm pretty sure the answer would be no. host: why do you think that? guest: because they do not have a policy problem now with background checks at gun shops when people come in and they don't know who they are. a problem the nra and i agree with. -- agree with and that i have is when you force me to put a background check on somebody i already know well. a friend of mine that has been a prosecutor for 40 years, i once sold a gun to my local police chief. he was at my house after work in uniform and i was supposed to say to him, you know, chief, i have to put you through a background check to make sure you are not a convicted felon. is that height of stupidity or what? yet if i just gave him a gun and said here, try it out for a week , i would have been committing a felony. is that a smart law? i d

why are republicans so afraid or beholden, let me say, of the nra? >> the nra has a great sway over not only elected officials, but the people that vote in republican party primaries. remember in a state like texas, owning a gun, a rifle or a handgun, is part of our history. it's in our dna. we're very independent people. and make no mistake, i'm a strong supporter of the second amendment. it's the common sense reforms that we hear about from the president last night and from others that always vexed me. i was con founded why we couldn't have simple protective measures. for example, over the age of 21. if you look at what happened across the country nin the last decade, particularly in texas, the people perpetrating these crimes were 18, 19, and having access to weapons. so why not raise the age to 21? there's no restriction against that. what happens is if you support that, immediately your characterized as someone who is against the second amendment at all. you hear the rhetoric like he's trying to take away our guns or he's going to limit our abil

would be saying hey, nra, hay, nra, and i was watching it thinking what are the chances the nra is watching this? what is the chance that anyone is watching that show, that was so crazy. i'm going to be controversial i think they should raise the age for 21 i do think they should make it 21 and see what happens. >> i'm always for beta testing anything. but the hard thing about testin something like that is even though these mass shootings are not rare enough, they are rare enough that you can do an experiment for five years and maybe not have anything to do with what you're testing. >> for sure. some places have weird laws, like in alaska, they face time you and just look at the background. >> that actually might work. just looking in the background. >> but no, the kids, the mass shooter, apparently he killed cats. how did we miss this? anybody that mutilates animals always ends up moving to the next level. where am i, i'm going to he was being thoughtful to even the most droll topics. that's good, i'll take it. >> it's been a long weekend. part of my brain i think i left summer, but i'm no

when would republicans find the courage to stand up to the nra and act? democrats are ready to act barely been ready and waiting a long time. it seems maybe the tragedy in buffalo, the tragedy in uvalde on just a mounting, mounting tragedies and mass shootings we see almost on a daily basis may, may move some republicans. there's a great champion in the senate and senator murphy leading these talks. he has been able eat by blumenthal, sinema, manchin and coons. senator murphy has asked for space to see what progress can be made with senate republicans we are given them that space. this issue was too important not to do everything we can to find a bipartisan way forward. we hear a lot of talk republicans about the importance of bipartisanship in the senate. well, now is the opportunity to show us. once again, we are giving them the opportunity, the chance to say yes. we are ready and eager to find common ground on something that can actually help address gun violence. we know we will not get it all done at once. but the american people want us to get somet

they are enthralled to god manufactures and the nra, and they have not changed their talking points. even after hearing that gripping testimony, an 11 year old girl smearing herself with blood to try and -- that she had already been shot, so she wouldn't be. to hear those parents talking about the loss of their child, to hear that doctor talk about what he saw, the carnage, the extraordinary violence inflicted on young children in the school setting. and yet, not a single one of my republican colleagues spoke up and said i changed my mind. we have to do something. not one. in fact, quite the opposite. they reiterated their talking points about -- this is a matter of -- who shouldn't have access to guns. but it wasn't about the fact that -- and chooses weapons to commit violence has easy access to them. >> yeah i want to put on the, screen president biden to do something a little while ago that -- list of what's -- strengthen background checks and acts of storage laws and red flag laws repeal gun manufacturer's immunity for liability and can't fill the american people again. the house

the nra is a much diminished version of its past self. they've been going through all sorts of lawsuit, scandal after scandal, questions about whether their money is going. so i think the reason why -- if republicans vote for this and actually get something through it's going to actually be a real test of the on the ground power of groups like the nra and gun owners of america to then do things on the ground in elections for politicians. if they do this, they pass this legislation on the one hand and then those gun groups aren't able to kick them out of office or impose consequences, that i think is what people like david hogg and other activists are hoping can show politicians that they actually can if they want to stand up to those groups in the interests of a broader group of their constituents. that's historically who they have been afraid of. >> can these interest groups get in the way before this would be passed? is there still room for them to cleave some republicans off of supporting this? >> absolutely. they have made it very cle

but for merely having a weapon and then the nra went silent. now the nra the defender of the second amendment goes silent win a licensed gun owner is gunned down for no other reason than having a gun the nra that called federal officers jack booted government thugs after ruby ridge and after waco go silent and so the question was do black people have second amendment rights. that's where this book came from. and what's the answer to that question? no. and that was emory professor and author carol anderson who will be live on book tv at noon on july 3rd. well, thanks for joining us on about books of podcast and program produced by c-span's book tv. you can listen to it and the entire library of c-span podcasts on the c-span now app or wherever you get your podcast. you are

you mentioned the nra a few times — what kind of role do they play, and is their influence as powerful as it has been over the past few decades? i thought that they were supposed to go bankrupt because they tried to get into the media business, which is treacherous, but it does seem to be still incredibly powerful. one, because they are backed by a very powerful small arms manufacturing industry, but also very powerful because, like i mentioned already, there are a lot of americans who associate their commodity consumption with their identity. it sounds weird to explainm but they basically feel —— explain, but they basically feel like a gun is very much a part of their identity. you've seen politicians campaign on it. �*gods, guns and babies�* was a campaign slogan that only recently was mentioned in the mid terms, and in the primaries. so this is very much like a fundamental american value and the right wing and also the gun manufacturers have been able to effectively weaponise this identity as a political identity and can organise around it, so it's a little bit more complica

the nra, extremely well mobilized, very powerful. a minority, a well oiled political militia, had a party aligned with them. on the other there was nothing. the democrats were terrified bringing up gun safety. the activist movement petered out. there was not that much to begin with. it was disorganized. there was a brady campaign, a small organization. [indiscernible] after sandy hook, two things happened. two people rose. that day, shannon watts started a facebook group, moms demand action, which went viral quickly. then a year later, she merged with bloomberg's group. two weeks after sandy hook, gabby giffords was energized and started an organization with her husband, mark kelly, which later evolved. now we have two groups on that side. either one is really comparable to the nra. together they are much larger and more powerful. they have been out fundraising the nra, beating them in-state battles. moms demand action. i just talked to shannon a week ago. the figure she quoted was 8 million people. 8 million people is larger than th

the nra i understand is fighting this, and they're going to lose. i think that's a really good sign. and this is really -- and some of these provisions will save lives. also mental health in schools is actually -- it's funny republicans like finally get on the board with mental health because, oh, we can do that with guns and we're doing something about guns and we'll do mental health. but i've been fighting mental health in schools. forgetting even guns, it's good for kids and it's good for teachers. teachers shouldn't have to be the mental health counselors in schools. >> well, there are some states also saying teachers can be armed, ohio, for example. i know that's not a subject you think should even be out in the sphere. i do want to ask you about this latest horrific scenario in uvalde. you know, we had sandy hook, we had columbine. and we could name -- i could name smaller ones that i went to as a reporter where there were school shootings, ones we don't even talk about. but the impact is huge. when it comes to what's happening in uvalde, and

. >> the nra is going to whip against the vote. they announced that after it came out, that's not a surprise. does it matter, i guess? >> i don't think it matters and that's shocking, right? because again, for 30 years in washington, the nra got everything they wanted. and if the nra oppose a bill, it was essentially that letter. that's not the case any longer and that is because overtime, citizens have organized and especially in the wake of uvalde, when senators went home, they heard loud and clear from their constituents that this time, doing nothing could not be an option. the fear and the anxiety was just palpable in this country. so yes, the nra is opposed to this bill and they are going to be somewhere between 15 to 20 republican senators that are going to vote for it, which i think sort of paves the way for even more progress in the future, now that we have broken this logjam. that's maybe the legacy of the bill in the long run. >> yeah, that was going to be my thought. the way political power works, i think the sort of spe

the nra used to talk about gun rights because of hunting and sportsmanship. this is part of an american tradition. now they're talking about it -- the insurrection has talked about it on january six. it's necessary to correct the government when the government oversteps. it's a major shift on the rhetoric of the gun right -- we shouldn't knowledge it. this is nowadays to talk about. it's less more extreme. they're saying the quiet part out loud. with regard to the court i saw it before on this program. the court is the only institution that is an accountable to the people, but it is also the only institution that depends on the people for its legitimacy. it doesn't have the power of the court and congress. the only reason why americans obey the supreme court is because they believe that with the supreme court is doing is principled and legitimate. when they start believing, then the court is in a world of trouble. they've already seemed to sense that that maybe what is happening. we have justice thomas and justice barrett proclaiming they are not partisan --

i'll take your credit card number when you're ready. [ laughter ] in texas this weekend, the nra held their annual meeting of the mindless three days after the shooting that claimed 19 children and 2 teachers in uvalde, texas, less than 300 miles away. but you wouldn't want to lose that security deposit, would you? so despite the shameful timing of this event and the event itself, thousands of nra members showed up to support their sticker. including this lovely couple who do not believe we have a gun problem. >> it's a demon possession problem. we don't need gun control, we need demon control. >> jimmy: right, right. what if the democrats force a vote, on a bill that restricts demons from buying weapons? [ laughter ] how would the republicans vote on that? i mean, that's a tough one. you start saying demons can't carry guns, next you have to vote on goblins. can goblins carry guns? [ laughter ] chupacabras? and the babadook? [ laughter ] it's a slippery slope. speaking of demons, ted cruz was on hand -- [ laughter ] [ cheers and applause ] >> jimmy: -- in houston to spread his slime

the interesting thing is that the nra, before i had a voting record, was all in. the moment i started voting and have legislation that i had introduced? they abandoned me. with this new which congressman expressed is that the entire party abandoned him. then, there is nowhere to go because very frankly the democrats already have their candidates who were right on the issue as democrats see it. so, the new york congressman found himself a man without an island, a man with a party. honestly, probably made the right decision to just leave. >> molly, i have to tell you about this moment this week when i was banging my head against the wall. it was in the aftermath of the uvalde shooting, president biden referring to mitch mcconnell and john cornyn as good faith, quote, rational republicans. working towards real gun control compromise. i probably spent a 20 minutes solidly just paying my head against the wall. does he still think that we are in the 90s here? i mean is there a strategy that i am somehow missing that he thinks that he can get mitch mcconnell and john cor

vote because they were afraid of the heat brought on by the nra. regardless an called this a sensible approach to gun reform. >> shannon, in the capacity as of moms demand action, what is your reaction to this? >> thrilled. i was sitting there as this historic vote took place last night and was talking to senators who came to visit us. so many volunteers in the room and have been waiting for this moment for a decade and senator murphy said we're about to break the gun lobby. when the sandy hook school shooting happened, there was not a grass roots army like moms demand action that could go toe to toe with the gun lobby, that could shine a light on the nra and show how construct and deadly their agenda is. it took us a while to build that, right, and it's what i call the unglamorous heavy lifting of grass roots activism. back then about a quarter of all democrats had an a rating from the nra. today none do and we had republicans join us. we finally broke the log jam. and let's be clear, this is just a step on the path, right? this is not everything

so you had the nra figuring that out 15 or 18 years ago. then the industry growing and needing a symbol, and then the sort of forces joining up, and then you had 20 years of war, right? you had this weapon of war that was glamorized every night on the evening news. people wearing ar-15s, you have returning soldiers and this all kind of came together in this very powerful political force where an entire industry is wrapped with the nra into an entire political party, half of our political system, and now you have this all or nothing nraism that really is the heartbeat of the gop. >> and our team just brought up and put it up on screen for our viewers to look at that that tweet from daniel defense, the maker of the weapon that was used in uvalde, and you know, here's the tweet, it says train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he would not depart from it. and it's a very young child holding an ar-15 rifle, and you know, you were just talking about this a few moments ago. i mean, this is not just about marketing these weapon

the nra reads the newspapers, to. they see that ten republicans, by the way, none of whom are running for reelection or none of them are retiring, have signed on to this bipartisan deal. they have to recognize the reality. this is going to pass. yes, it's difficult to write the legislation. they'll be blips and labs that -- seem like it's the railing, but it's going to happen. this is a good thing, because it shows that the -- republicans and democrats can come together in washington to benefit the american people. that is an important thing for our country at this moment. i also want to put in a word for the legislators. chris murphy is the mvp of this. he has been absolutely -- ever since newtown, he's been the greatest kind of spokesman for gun reform. he knows this is a big compromise. it's not what he wants to do. it's not, as you say, banning 18 year olds from buying semi automatic weapons. it's not even about banning semi automatic weapons. it's about getting something done. i want to give a shout out to john c

the nra supports substantive policies that will make a difference. policies that will not only address these tragic and evil acts but also the catastrophic loss of life that happens as a direct consequence of the crime epidemic the plagues the nation. america does have a mental health crisis. confused people -- too few people are able to get help, but instead of enacting real solutions, all the president proposes infringes on law-abiding people. it is not what america needs and that is a shame. it is your turn to tell washington what you think. mike, a republican in washington. caller: i have a few things to say. i am wondering if joe biden, that tyrannical fascist. i wonder if he will go after his son for throwing his pistol away at an elementary school. the only thing joe biden is going to do is restore the gas to oil company and take people's guns. host: melissa and montana, a democratic collar. caller: thank you so much for everything you do. you are a bright light in the midst of darkness. one thing i would like to say to america, before we put

the nra head went to visit in the next day and snapped him into line and he never said another word. he appeared at the nra meeting three days after the uvalde shooting, saying you must support the second amendment above all other issues. the power of the gun lobby, of the republic party is absolutely complete. and only if they allow them to make some changes will the republicans be allowed to do it. because they have no capacity to stand up to the gun lobby. have no capacity to stand up to the gun lobby-— the gun lobby. ok, professor johnj donohue _ the gun lobby. ok, professor johnj donohue the _ the gun lobby. ok, professor johnj donohue the third, - the gun lobby. ok, professor. johnj donohue the third, thank you for your time. the bodies of some ukrainian fighters killed defending the key south—eastern port of mariupol have now arrived in kyiv. the soldiers' families say this was part of a swap with russia. more than 50 are the bodies of members of the azov regiment, who died defending the azovstal steelworks. in the city of mariupol, there has also been warning of a possibl

and i'll take your credit card number when you're ready. [ laughter ] in texas this weekend, the nra held their annual meeting of the mindless three days after the shooting claimed 19 children and two teachers in uvalde, texas, 200 miles away. you wouldn't want to lose the security deposit. despietd the shameful timing and the event itself, thousands showed up to support their sticker including this lovely couple who do not believe we have a gun problem. >> it's a demon possession problem. not a gun possession. we don't need gun control, we need demon control. >> jimmy: right. what if the democrats wrote a bill to force demons? that's tough. you sayd demons can't carry gun. can goblins? it's a slippery slope. speaking of demons, ted cruz was on hand in houston to spread his slime. [ cheers and applause ] all over the nra halls. senator cruz had an unpleasant dinner at a sushi restaurant in houston where a man confronted him about this idea that he seems to be okay with the fact that an unbalanced teenager shot up the school because his plan is to do nothing about it. ted cruz must kn

you just heard me read the nra statement. they are opposed to mental health funding with exemptions to the boyfriend loophole that restricts the right to firearms for those who have abused romantic partners, highlighting exemptions with limitations that wouldn't apply to past relationships unless they were recent with a separate slide showing the due process that states would need to meet if they used a bill to create red flag laws, a key concern for republicans. do you feel better now? no --caller: nope. there's other stuff in there. let's go after the entertainment industry. let's go after the fatherless kids. those kids who have no father's. the democrats want to break the family. [inaudible] host: you are breaking up, sean. jason, you are not sure. caller: i don't know if it will prevent the problems we had. it won't change the fact that the cops didn't react the right way. i'm unsure, not sure why this bill is being piggybacked off that incident and those cops aren't being investigated more and i'm not sure they have the

>>> the break through decades in the making a senate gun bill and what the nra has to say about it. >>> that ere's compelling evide that the law enforcement response at robb elementary was an abject failure and ant antithetical to everything we've learned over the decades since the columbine massacre >> the gunman killed 19 children and two teachers >>> former president trump linked to fake electors during the january 6 hearing. >>> hundreds of pilots protest over pay in dallas >>> you'll meet a trailblazing college coach who's been guiding young women for 50 years >>> a busy wednesday ahead "early today" starts right now good morning, i'm frances rivera >> i'm phillip mena. a deadly earthquake has rocked afghanistan, killing dozens of people a spokesman believes hundreds more are trapped beneath the rubble crews are beginning a massive rescue mission the 6.1 magnitude quake struck in the middle of the night while people were sleeping >>> investigators into the uvalde school massacre that left 21 dead continued. one witness called the police response an abject failure gabe gutierrez h

the nra worked overtime to convince not only republicans but five democrats to vote no. it would have expanded background checks and done a whole host of other things. it seems as though based on what we're hearing from republicans, from john cornyn, who is in these talks, to others, that they are trying to take a much more modest approach now in order to get something done. chris murphy in particular, from connecticut, has said many times over the past two weeks that they just have to take at least baby steps because that's better than no steps. >> dana, it was really smart of you to do that. yes, i remember. i covered newtown. i was there for quite some time covering the fallout and the funerals. >> i remember that. >> and you're right. it just died on the senate floor. nothing got done, and everybody moved on. you know, susan, i want you to listen to this. this is senator joe manchin. >> you want to look at two things that could have prevented this. an age requirement would have prevented an 18-year-old, and basically a red flag law that's basically intended to try to

i was an nra member and they try to pass that bullshit and i stopped being an nra member. they used to use it as a voting base. trump started to use it as a tool and then once they used it as a tool it showed other politicians there's value to this, especially unfortunately republican politicians. what we need to do to fight this and something i have seen from ukraine fighting the misinformation is overwhelming truth that's strong and authentic will fight and win against the misinformation and one area that democrats and republicans, people that believe in democracy in general really need to continue to be unabashedly authentic in the belief that this is the best country in the world and we need to fight back for democracy. >> reuben of arizona, thank you very much for being on. >> thank you so much, congressman. always great talking to you. before we go, tj, can we see the room one more time? >> no. >> no. i want to thank everybody. if you love the show, this is the big reason why we are on every day. they have been going in there every day. >> special coverage. >> since

which one is a former lobbyist for the nra and here's the president of the independent firearms owners association. we have much more to discuss. he's also the author of an interesting book called ricochet, confessions of a gun lobbyist. we're now days away from the much anticipated public january six hearings, the committee says that, quote, no one is above the law that the hateful brittle of the roof of the house. we got a preview next. on this week's meeting of the banned book club, legendary author jodi picoult. we're going to talk about her band book, 19 minutes, a novel that follows the unfolding in aftermath of a school shooting. school shooting >> four days from now, the house select committee investigating january six will take its findings public for the very first time, with the very first hearing scheduled to air on thursday night during primetime tv. the committees been gathering evidence and testimony since last july. the democratic congressman jamie raskin says those proves that donald trump is a one-man crime wave. the committee also promises that it will present, quote

you want to call it, we always hear the majority of gun owners, the majority of the members of the nra, they are laabiding and they support all of these background checks and everything. but then i hear stories like this where legislators who apparently tried to reflect the broader membership of the nra to do the right thing, they get hammered by gun rights groups. at some point, someone is going to have to have the courage, like this legislator you talked about, he lost his election, and i'm sorry for him, he did the right thing and got hammered for it, but we need more republican legislators to step out there and be on the side of the majority of the american people. it takes political courage to do that. i respect the fact that the republican party and gun rights groups are way over here. but how do we break the cycle? how do those majority of nra members who are with the majority of the american people who want some sort of gun safety regulations, how do we get the tlawsthem?o re david: i have a theory. jonathan: ok, good. david: in addition to the guy you interviewed, chris jacobs