Consider This from NPR - The Emerging Deal On Gun Violence: Is It Enough?

Episode Date: June 14, 2022

A bipartisan group of Senates say they have reached a deal on a package of safety and gun-related measures. The deal is not yet done, but lawmakers say they are closer than they've been in a long time. The package includes measures to enhance background checks for gun buyers under 21, incentivize states to pass so-called "red flag laws," and fund school safety and mental health initiatives. Is it enough? We put that question to Gabby Giffords, a former congresswoman who was injured in a 2011 shooting. Since then, Giffords has dedicated her life to calling for action on gun control, co-founding Giffords, an advocacy group that promotes gun safety. The group's executive director, Peter Ambler, also spoke to NPR. Help NPR improve podcasts by completing a short, anonymous survey at npr.org/podcastsurvey. In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at [e-mail] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

I'm the president. Senator from Texas. Lawmakers are calling it the first deal of its kind in 30 years, a bipartisan agreement on gun violence. Most often you hear people say, do something. Well, they don't give you a lot of guidance on what that something looks like. And when you begin to dig down into the details, you find out that there's not a lot of consensus about what that something should look

like. Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas speaking on the Senate floor on Monday. A deal was not easy, he said, but he and nine other Republican senators now support a package of gun-related measures. Ten Republicans, an important number that means a final bill could potentially garner the 60 votes necessary to overcome a filibuster. In the agreement, funding for mental health and school safety resources, expanded background checks for buyers under 21, and money to encourage states to pass so-called red flag laws. But now comes the even more difficult task of trying to agree on legislative text to actually implement those principles. And that's what we're working on this week. My hope is that we can complete that job in the next few days, hopefully by the end of the week,

so that the bill will be available for all senators, indeed all the world, to read. If all goes according to plan, Cornyn signaled the bill could be ready for a vote on the Senate floor next week. I'm hoping that 10 Republicans supporting the bill is not a ceiling, but is the floor. Consider this. A bipartisan agreement on gun control is not a fully done deal, but lawmakers are closer than they have been in a very long time. Will that deal be enough? Coming up,

I put that question to former Congresswoman and longtime advocate for gun control, Gabby Giffords. From NPR, I'm Mary Louise Kelly. It is Tuesday, June 14th. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things in other currencies. Send, spend, or receive money internationally, and always get the real-time mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Download the WISE app today or visit WISE.com. T's and C's apply. It's Consider This from NPR. Just advising Safeway, Ina, and Oracle County is going to be working a shooting. We've got multiple, multiple, multiple calls.

We've been informed Gabrielle Giffords is involved. In 2011, then-Congresswoman Gabby Giffords was at a meet-and-greet with constituents outside a Tucson, Arizona grocery store when a gunman opened fire. Six people were killed. Giffords was shot in the head. Her recovery has been long and incomplete. Eleven years later, she still does not have full use of the right side of her body. And as you'll hear, she has difficulty with language and speech. But the wounds that forced Giffords to retire from Congress have made her an advocate. Since leaving office, she co-founded Giffords, a group that promotes gun safety. She joined me earlier with Peter Ambler, executive director of Giffords. Now, Giffords'

staff suggested that I ask her specific questions and ask them in a specific way so she could give fuller answers. So what you'll hear is me asking some of those questions with follow-ups of our own. We begin with introductions. I'm Gabby Giffords. I'm from Tucson, Arizona. January 8, 2011 changed my life forever. I was a congresswoman. I was shot in my head while me was a congresswoman. I was shot in my head while meeting with my constituents. I couldn't walk. I couldn't talk. I watched gun violence destroy too many lives.

After the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, I've said enough is enough. I founded a group called Giffords. We are on a mission to end gun violence. Congresswoman, how are you feeling after the tragedy in Uvalde last month? Too much guns. Too much violence. Too much violence. Too much violence. Tiny. Kids. Kids. Kids. No bueno. No bueno. tiny kids kids kids no bueno no bueno no bueno there have been so many uvaldes so many shootings so many times when nothing has changed does this time feel different to, better, better. Background checks. I think something that Gabby reminds us of is that this is a marathon, not a sprint, in much the same way that her recovery has come through the sheer aggregation of hard work, thousands upon thousands of hours of speech therapy and

physical therapy. That's what the gun safety movement is as well. You know, millions of advocates across the country working day in and day out to simply try and make the world a better place. I don't have to tell either of you what advocates of gun safety have found so frustrating is that those efforts have continued, as you note, for years, and yet nothing seems to have changed. So I wonder, can you expand on why this time maybe feels different? Better. Background checks, mentally ill, pre-protectured. Good stuff. We're looking at a package that is part of the framework that's released in the Senate that has the support of 10 Democrats and 10 Republicans.

This is this bipartisan deal on gun safety that it looks like senators have reached. Go on. That's right. We see several key provisions, including the extreme risk protection order support provision, which we've seen can have a life-saving impact. It allows family members, law enforcement, to flag somebody in their community who may be in crisis and temporarily restrain their access to a firearm. And that's vitally important. We're also closing, hopefully, the dating partner loophole.

You know, there is this deadly nexus between gun violence and domestic violence. And in fact, many mass shootings, 54 percent of them start as a domestic violence incident, as, of course, the one in Uvalde did, as the one in Newtown did. States that have closed the State Department loophole see significant reductions in homicide. And then, of course, we're focused on this expanded background check on 18 to 20 year olds or an enhanced background check. Right. Up to age 21. Yeah. Which are, you're right, these are a few of the items that are in this deal, which again, is far from being law, would not ban assault weapons. It would not create universal background checks. Is it enough, Peter? It's not enough, but it is a critical first step. It is, I think, narrow in scope,

but significant in impact, and not just on the gun issue, but on our ability as a country and as a Congress to make progress on virtually anything. I think Americans feel like their needs are not being met, that their voices are not being heard. You know, millions of American parents living in fear of their kids' safety. Millions of American children, you know, traumatized by this threat, by these drills on a daily basis. You see the Senate finally compelled to act. These laws, while not nearly as comprehensive as we need, are able to save lives, and they will. We were wrapping up when I asked Gabby Giffords if there was anything I'd missed, anything else she wanted to say. Here's what she told me.

Our lives can change so quickly. Mine did when I was shot. But I never gave up hope. I chose to make a new start, to move ahead, to not look back. I'm relearning so many things, how to walk, how to talk, and I'm fighting to make the country safer. It can be so difficult. Losses hurt. Setbacks are hard, But I tell myself, move ahead. I'm finding joy in small things. Ride my bike, playing the French horn, going to the gym, laughing with friends. The small things add up. We are living in challenging time, but we are up for the challenge. My own recovery has taken years. Many, many people have helped me along the way, and I learned so much. I learned when people care for each other and work together, progress is possible. A better world is possible. Former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and Peter Ambler, the executive director

of Giffords, the advocacy group she co-founded to promote gun safety. Now, the legislation the Senate is drafting will not go as far as a bill passed by the House last week. It's also not as far-reaching as a law passed in Florida four years ago. NPR's Greg Allen reports on how Florida Republicans and Democrats came together after the shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School to support the most significant gun control measures passed in decades. 17 students and adults were killed at the high school in Parkland in February of 2018. Almost immediately, students from the school and family members of those killed and wounded descended on the Capitol in Tallahassee, demanding action from lawmakers and the governor.

In signing the bill, Florida's governor at the time, Rick Scott, said he wanted a measure that would make schools safer, provide funds to treat mental illness, and yes, impose restrictions on guns. Well, this bill gives far more tools to keep guns away from people who should not have them. The answer to all three is yes. And that is why I'm signing the legislation today. The measure provided funding to improve security at schools. It also raised the minimum age to 21 for buying a long gun, such as an AR-15 style rifle. And it established a red flag law, allowing law enforcement officers to seize the weapons of anyone deemed a threat to themselves

or others. A leading Senate Democrat called Florida's law a possible template for federal legislation. When Governor Scott signed the bill, it was the first gun safety legislation adopted in Florida in more than 20 years. Jared Moskowitz, a Democratic House member who represented Parkland, helped win passage of the groundbreaking law. He says it began with a tour he organized. Lawmakers, including Republican House and Senate leaders, visited the scene of the shootings. There were bullet holes through the windows and backpacks piled up outside and homework scattered all over the place, blood in the hallway, and they needed to see it and not just sit in their office in Tallahassee and watch it on TV was very impactful. I mean, they were all crying. I mean,

how could you not be? To pass it, Democrats had to abandon their push for a ban on semi-automatic rifles like the AR-15 style weapon used in Parkland. Republicans had to turn their backs on the powerful gun lobby and agree to gun control measures they had opposed. Ryan Petty's daughter, Elena, was one of those killed in Parkland. As a lifetime NRA member, Petty says he struggled with, but ultimately supported, raising the age for buying a long gun to 21. Later, he says lawmakers told him the support of families was crucial. The impact the families had, our message to them, communicating the loss and the real magnitude and scope of the Parkland tragedy made all the difference to them.

Bob Galtieri says there's no doubt the Florida law has prevented violence. He's sheriff in the St. Petersburg area and a big proponent of the state's red flag law. Galtieri says more than 8,000 red flag orders have been issued in Florida in the last four years, allowing law enforcement to take firearms from troubled individuals. So as everybody talks about prevention and connecting the dots, that's what this is all about, which makes it a very, very good thing. Rick Scott, now a U.S. senator, speaks proudly of the work that was done to pass Florida's school safety law. But perhaps surprisingly, he's been noncommittal about similar legislation at the federal level. Here's Scott in a recent interview with Bloomberg.

I think most of this we have to focus at the state level because what happens is they know what fits to their state and you can make changes if it doesn't work right. The question now in Washington is whether the recent shootings in Uvalde, Texas and Buffalo will shake politicians from entrenched positions so they can reach a compromise like the one passed in Florida. Former Democratic Representative Jared Moskowitz recalls that at the time, the NRA threatened retaliation and primary challenges for any Republican who signed on. Not one single incumbent who voted for that bill lost their reelection. Not one. And that includes Florida's former governor, now Senator Rick Scott. That was NPR's Greg Allen. You're listening to Consider This from NPR. I'm Mary Louise Kelly.