VOA – CONNECT
EPISODE # 229
AIRDATE: 06 03 2022
TRANSCRIPT


OPEN ((VO/NAT/SOT))
((Banner))
Parents Speak Out
((SOT))
((Karlie Sharma, Kindergartner and Toddler))
I feel helpless. I feel like there's nothing that can be done. I mean, it doesn't matter what. It doesn't matter what events occur essentially in this country. It doesn't seem to change the gun culture. It doesn't seem to change the mentality that we have, everyone should have a right to a weapon.
((Animation Transition))
((Banner))
Finding Common Ground
((SOT))
((Angela Stroud, Professor, Northland College))
There is this really simplistic way of thinking about guns often which is people are either anti-gun or pro-gun. We like to imagine that this is a simple phenomenon in the culture that you own a gun and so you have all these different attitudes and you must have these different ideas that just isn’t true.
((Open Animation))

BLOCK A

((PKG)) SECOND AMENDMENT
((ANIMATED EXPLAINER -- W/ GFX, CAPTIONS, PHOTOS, MUSIC))
There may be more guns than people in the United States. 2018 estimate:
326 million people
393 million guns
(Source: Small Arms Survey)
A paragraph in the U.S. Constitution covers gun rights.
It’s called the Second Amendment:
“A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
That assurance was written early in U.S, history when some feared the new government might become too powerful.
The Second Amendment and other rights spelled out in the U.S. Constitution were intended to calm their concerns about tyranny.
In modern times, some legal scholars say the amendment was meant to protect only the right of states to maintain militias for self-defense, but the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled the Second Amendment establishes gun ownership rights for private citizens.
(District of Columbia v. Heller, 2008)
Political struggles continue in the U.S. between those who advocate restrictions on gun ownership and those who believe the Constitution forbids such regulation.
((VIDEO MONTAGE))
((ANIMATED EXPLAINER -- W/ GFX, CAPTIONS, PHOTOS, MUSIC))
That debate has only intensified in the wake of a series of mass shootings
Among the victims:
Ten people killed in Buffalo, New York, May 14, 2022
Twenty-one people killed in Uvalde, Texas, May 24th, 2022, including 19 children
Gun violence is now the leading cause of death for children in the United States
- New England Journal of Medicine
In all, more than 45,000 people were killed by guns in the US in 2020
- the most recent year of US Centers for Disease Control complete data
A recent survey indicates a majority of Americans - 59% - want stricter gun laws
- Morning Consult and Politico poll

((PKG)) PARENTS REACT TO SCHOOL SHOOTINGS
((TRT: 06:52))
((Topic Banner: Parents Seeking Change))
((Producer/Editor: Lisa Vohra))
((Map: Vienna, Virginia))
((Main characters: 2 female; 1 male))
((NATS))
((Jairica Johnson, Parent of First and Second Graders))
19 students, two adults. I was physically sick.
((Sandip Nayak, Parent of Kindergartner and Fourth Grader))
My thoughts and prayers goes out to the parents and the society at large in that town. It’s a mix of sadness and also getting more afraid as time goes by.
((Karlie Sharma, Parent of Kindergartner and Toddler))
When you have children in school, when you have children and events and things where this type of thing happens, it just feels a lot more at home because you know, you now know how those parents are feeling.
((NATS: Karlie Sharma))
All right, let’s go. Got it?
((Karlie Sharma, Parent of Kindergartner and Toddler))
When I was sending Ash to school, it was, it's hard. I mean, it's hard because I know he needs to go to school. He needs to have that…he needs to have the exposure. He needs to have the education. But at the same time, it's the one time of day where I'm not in control of his situation. And that, I mean, we've seen it that can be the time of day that you, you lose your children. It's scary to send them to school now. I mean, that’s the way I feel at this point.
((NATS: Ashwin Sharma, Karlie’s Son))
When my nanny gets here, she gonna get us.
((Karlie Sharma, Parent of Kindergartner and Toddler))
I did end up hugging him tighter and hanging out with him more than I, both the night before, in the morning, you know, after.
((NATS))
((Sandip Nayak, Parent of Kindergartner and Fourth Grader))
With increasing violence because of gun shootings, if that keeps getting worse and worsening with time, I have to think about safety for my kids while going to school.
((NATS: Avant Nayak, Sandip’s Son))
Can I try this now?
((Jairica Johnson, Parent of First and Second Graders))
The next day, of course, I was very teary, you know, sending them off, you know, to go to school with their dad to get to the school bus. And then just, really just wanting to wrap my arms around them and tell them, have a good day. And we, I, we have this fear now or we always have. But it’s always, I guess, heightened when something like this happens. We send our kids to school, are they going to come back?
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Sandip Nayak, Parent of Kindergartner and Fourth Grader))
I’ve been here 20 plus years and by all means, America is still very attractive and I’m happy to be an American. But there has been little cracks in some of the dimensions of the Americanness, the very idea of Americanness and one of them is the freedom and the connection to the responsibility and that needs to be addressed. I think if we cannot protect our kids, make them feel safer, that’s not what America should be known for in this dimension.
((NATS))
((Karlie Sharma, Parent of Kindergartner and Toddler))
I feel helpless. I feel like there's nothing that can be done. I mean, it doesn't matter what. It doesn't matter what events occur essentially in this country. It doesn't seem to change the gun culture. It doesn't seem to change the mentality that we have, everyone should have a right to a weapon. I don't understand, at the very least, why we can't have something along the lines of stronger background checks or a countrywide registry system for weapons or some sort of restriction on semi-automatic weapons, things like that. I don't understand how that’s something we can't seem to get accomplished because in my mind it preserves the rights of the Second Amendment, if that's something that you're very passionate about. But it also prevents this type of massacre occurring.
((NATS))
((Jairica Johnson, Parent of First and Second Graders))
These things that happen because of hate we've had. What happened in Buffalo, motivated by hate, prejudice. Basically, it just makes you feel like you’re not safe. We could do simple things. We don't have to take guns away from people in general. We can do the screening for mental health. We can raise the age. We cannot have them have access to semi-automatic weapons. We need to do something. Right now, it's a big story. Next week, maybe. The week after that, I don't, I don’t think so.
((NATS))
((Sandip Nayak, Parent of Kindergartner and Fourth Grader))
There has been an attack on the very fabric of the notion of freedom which has been taken too far, which all can be solved if we all can come together and do the right things as a community, show leadership and uniting the people. I think raising the minimum age of gun ownership from 18 to 21. If buying a cigarette, case of cigarette is 21, the guns has to be at least 21 because the same argument applies.
((NATS))
((Karlie Sharma, Parent of Kindergartner and Toddler))
We have a very high percentage of gun violence compared to everyone else in the world. And I'm just, that really to me indicates a systemic issue. We can't, I don't know that it's necessarily the answer to continue to fortify schools or fortify businesses or anyone else who feels that they might be a target. I feel the answer is to address the problem, not the symptoms. And it's just, I just, I can't. I don't understand why other people cannot see that.
((NATS))
((Jairica Johnson, Parent of First and Second Graders))
I'm actually angry about it. The five stages of grief: hopelessness, sadness, despair, bargaining, anger. And I am angry. That six and eight year old, who are innocent, who love life, who want to go to school and play with their friends. And that is their safe place. And these guns are jeopardizing, literally jeopardizing their futures. And it's not hard. It's not hard what we're asking. None of it is hard. It is simple. We could do this tomorrow if we just had the courage.
((NATS))


TEASE ((VO/NAT/SOT))
Coming up
((Banner))
Finding Common Ground
((SOT))
((Angela Stroud, Professor, Northland College))
Prior to 2008, when I started researching guns, I never really thought about my vulnerability. I never thought of myself as someone who needed to carry a gun in self-defense.



BREAK ONE
BUMP IN ((ANIM))


BLOCK B


((PKG)) GUN CARRYING PROFESSOR
((Previously aired June 2020))
((Banner: Finding Common Ground))
((Reporter/Camera: Deepak Dobhal))
((Map: Ashland, Wisconsin))
((Main character: 1 female))
((Sub characters: 2 female; 2 male))
((NATS))
((Angela Stroud, Professor, Northland College))
My views on guns are complicated. I recognize how powerful and potentially destructive they are. I've had family members killed, self-inflicted, by suicide.
((NATS))
((Angela Stroud, Professor, Northland College))
But I also am a gun owner. We own five or six guns, mostly rifles, shotgun hunting rifles. But we also have a handgun in our gun safe. On the other hand, I know the research on gun ownership. The likelihood of victimization is first and foremost rooted in the home. You're much more likely to harm yourself or others with a gun than you are to ever use one in self-defense.
((NATS))
((Angela Stroud, Professor, Northland College))
We are going to the gun range in town. And this is the place where a couple years ago I was on the trap team.
((NATS))
((Angela Stroud, Professor, Northland College))
I met someone in town who shoots guns. Sent him a message to see if he was free and he is. So, he's meeting us there.
((NATS: Angela Stroud and Theron Rutyna))
((Theron Rutyna, IT Director, Red Cliff Band, Lake Superior Chippewa Indians))
I can't actually arm at work. So…
((Angela Stroud, Professor, Northland College))
Oh, did you come from work?
((Theron Rutyna, IT Director, Red Cliff Band, Lake Superior Chippewa Indians))
Yeah. I was up this morning.
((NATS))
((Angela Stroud, Professor, Northland College))
There's this really simplistic way of thinking about guns often, which is people are anti-gun or they're pro-gun.
We like to imagine that this is a simple phenomenon in the culture that you own a gun. And so, you have all of these different attitudes and you must have these different ideas. And that just isn't true.
((NATS: Angela Stroud))
((Angela Stroud, Professor, Northland College))
Well, I'm always fast though. That's pretty quick.
((NATS))
((Theron Rutyna, IT Director, Red Cliff Band, Lake Superior Chippewa Indians))
I'm used to firearms. I've been relatively well trained with them and I've been shooting them all my life. I carry a concealed weapon permit for both Wisconsin and Minnesota.
((NATS))
((Theron Rutyna, IT Director, Red Cliff Band, Lake Superior Chippewa Indians))
I have no issues with whatever the majority of people want to regulate as long as they don't want to say, I don't have a right to. If they say, you have a right to but you have to do this, yeah, okay, sure, no problem. Guns are as dangerous as cars. I would be fine with regulating them like a car. You have a license, you have training, you have to pass a test and you have to recertify. I personally don't have an issue.
((Angela Stroud, Professor, Northland College))
That's what I agree with. I mean, you know, when I said that my views on guns are complicated. I think they need to be harder to get a hold of. I mean, our issue with gun violence is that guns are so easy for anyone to get a hold of. And the people who I feel totally comfortable owning guns and carrying them or whatever, go for it. Good. I want it. I want to know you're carrying, you know. But not Joe Schmo, who could just pick one up anywhere.
((NATS))
((Theron Rutyna, IT Director, Red Cliff Band, Lake Superior Chippewa Indians))
This is a DPMS model AR-10. It currently has a 10-round magazine in it. It is capable of 30 and 50-round magazines.
((NATS))
((Theron Rutyna, IT Director, Red Cliff Band, Lake Superior Chippewa Indians))
Safety off. Shot. No, I did hit it.
((NATS))
((Angela Stroud, Professor, Northland College))
The best part was shooting a shotgun. I don't like AR-15s personally. I don't enjoy shooting them. I'm not into long-range tactical precision shooting. I don't, it's not a hobby of mine. And I also, you know, I have a lot of mixed feelings about even putting an AR-15 on video.
((NATS))
((Angela Stroud, Professor, Northland College))
For a lot of people who have experienced mass shootings, an AR is an emblem of everything that's wrong with gun culture. And I totally understand that. We live in different realities, you know. If you've been affected by gun violence, your reality about what guns are is one thing. And if you've never been affected, you can kind of blithely go on with your life never really confronting that.
((NATS))
((Angela Stroud, Professor, Northland College))
Prior to 2008, when I started researching guns, I never really thought about my vulnerability. I never thought of myself as someone who needed to carry a gun in self-defense. But as I started interviewing people and reading books from the concealed carry worldview and watching media on these ideas, I started to develop a fear of crime that I'd never had before. And so, there were times during this research when I would wake up in the middle of the night with my heart racing, thinking I had heard something. And because I didn't have a gun available, I thought there's nothing I can do. I'm completely vulnerable and so are my kids and what am I doing?
((NATS))
((Angela Stroud, Professor, Northland College))
I can easily identify with people who say that there is a risk that there could be danger and so, carrying a gun makes sense. I understand that worldview now in a way that I never did before. I still think though, with my familiarity with the research, that the risk is greater that a gun will be used to harm even the gun-owner than it will ever be used in self-defense. I have these conflicting views in myself. I would like not to have to carry a gun in public and I want to do whatever I can to help transform society, transform our politics, so that doesn't feel like an inevitability.


BREAK TWO
BUMP IN ((ANIM))


BLOCK C


((NATS))
((Angela Stroud, Professor, Northland College))
Thank you all for coming. I really agree with the sentiments that were expressed about the importance of talking about issues like this at the community level. Getting offline, off social media and having face-to-face conversations is one of the healthiest things we can do. So tonight, we're going to talk about gun violence, a topic that is more pressing today…
((NATS))
((Elizabeth Holland, Member, Up North Engaged))
We have to figure out a way to have a dialogue and having somebody like Angela, who is a scholar in this subject but who is also herself is a gun owner, she is kind of a presence already somewhat in the middle so that both sides have trust and respect for her and that kind of helps to start the dialogue.
((NATS))
((Angela Stroud, Professor, Northland College))
Guns are unique in their ability to provoke intense emotions and very little productive conversation across different perspectives. And this hit home for me. My book had just come out and I was back home in Austin and I was at my sister house and my mom was there. And they started this debate about concealed carry and they're like screaming at each other. I'm standing there as someone who just wrote a book about this and not once did anyone say like, well, actually is anything we're saying true? Do you know anything about this topic? And of course, I'm a little sister and the daughter so, like, probably that had something to do with it. But they weren't interested at all in the facts. As soon as I started talking about the facts, they don't even want to have the conversation anymore.
((Angela Stroud, Professor, Northland College))
Who benefits when we won't even talk to each other about serious issues? When we're afraid. When we're either afraid of gun owners and guns or that we're afraid that the government's going to take our guns. Who benefits when we're afraid of crime? And who is benefiting from this current political climate where we're losing the ability to talk to each other about difficult issues? Are we benefiting? The clear answer is no. And that's something we all have in common.
I want us to be on one team. Right? Like I'm thinking about this on the community level. And for me, that's what democracy is supposed to be about, not get the NRA [National Rifle Association] involved in our conversation so we can't even talk or any other lobby organization. I mean, I'm picking on them because of this topic. But the Gifford’s gun lobby groups have been as problematic. Bloomberg’s groups are not helpful. We need to do this work to a great extent.
((Vox Pop: Audience))
Why don't we confiscate cars from crazy people? Why do we only confiscate guns from crazy people?
Got to be some regulation, stop somewhere.
I own an AR-15. I won't get into why, other than 38 years in the army. It's what I'm familiar with. It's not at home loaded right now.
I have a huge fear of somebody has a weapon of mass destruction.
((NATS))
((Angela Stroud, Professor, Northland College))
When you focus just on the political level or the gun lobby level, people are very entrenched in their positions. They're either pro-gun adamantly or they are anti-gun adamantly and nuance gets completely lost. But when you start to open the door for conversation and there's a sense of trust that I'm not here to take away your guns, I just want to talk about are there possibilities for reducing gun violence, then people start to reveal their complexity.
((Vox Pop: Man)
And I'm not opposed to what you were talking about…..
((NATS))
((Angela Stroud, Northland College, Ashland, Wisconsin))
At the meeting, there was one man who described how he owns an AR-15 because that gun style came up in the discussion and he approached me after the meeting and we talked a bit. And one of the things that came from that conversation was his willingness to admit that he has ambivalence about some of our gun policies.
Guns take on a different meaning when you have to kind of recognize that they're not just one thing. Gun ownership is about identity. It's about emotions. And that, in this complexity, we need to be willing to engage rationally so that we don't just stick with these very tiresome pro-gun, anti-gun views and instead, get to a better place.
((NATS))
((Angela Stroud, Professor, Northland College))
We could become much worse than we are today or we could become much better than we are today. I mean, who would have imagined the 15 years ago, that kindergarteners would be learning active shooter drills by learning nursery rhymes about duck and cover from a shooter. It's becoming so normal already.
((NATS))
((Angela Stroud, Northland College, Ashland, Wisconsin))
The worst thing that could happen is that we give up any hope at all that there's change that's possible and we just naturalize gun violence like we naturalize all kinds of violence.
((NATS))
((Angela Stroud, Northland College, Ashland, Wisconsin))
So, the worst fear is that we just assume this is just who we are as people.
((MUSIC/NATS))

CLOSING BUMPER ((ANIM))
voanews.com/connect


((PKG)) FREE PRESS MATTERS ((NATS/VIDEO/GFX))
((Popup captions over B Roll))
Near the Turkish Embassy
Washington, D.C.
May 16, 2017
President Erdogan’s bodyguard attacks peaceful protesters
“Those terrorists deserved to be beaten”
“They should not be protesting our president”
“They got what they asked for”
While some people may turn away from the news
We cover it
reliably
accurately
objectively
comprehensively
wherever the news matters
VOA
A Free Press Matters


((PKG)) FREE PRESS MATTERS ((NATS/VIDEO/GFX))
((Popup captions over B Roll))
We make a difference
When we unmask terror
When we explain the impossible
When we confront an uncertain future
When we give voice to the voiceless
The difference is Freedom of the Press
We are the Voice of America where
A Free Press Matters


CLOSING BUMPER ((ANIM))
voanews.com/connect


BREAK THREE
BUMP IN ((ANIM))


SHOW ENDS