Gun nation - America's love affair with firearms | DW Documentary

[Music] each year Firearms killed tens of thousands of people in the United States but 2020 set new records as covid-19 hit Americans reacted by stocking up on guns that year nearly 23 million weapons were sold and Firearm homicides Rose by more than 30 percent the mass shootings that make headlines here are only the tip of the iceberg poor neighborhoods in big American cities see shootings every day all of the history [Music] parents lose children families are ripped apart is there still hope or has the battle against gun violence already been lost in the U.S welcome to a country that has small guns than people [Music] Arizona one of the most gun-friendly States to the gunsight Academy this is one of the world's largest private firearm training centers three thousand acres devoted to teaching military and law enforcement professionals along with ordinary citizens [Music] these 46 participants are starting their first day good morning everybody I'm piano the CEO here at gunside if you don't know we're the oldest privately owned and operated shooting School in the world now military and law enforcement have been training folks longer than us but we train Earth people regular folks and we're very proud of that we got the best instructors in the business we're not a club we're not membership driven we're a training academy and you have to earn your way into being an instructor if you would please stand and join us in the pledge I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all just great way to start the week isn't it [Applause] Pledge of Allegiance on the wall portraits of Jeff Cooper the training Center's founder was a former Marine who fought in World War II and the Korean War in 1976 he opened the American Pistol Institute which later became Gun Sight Academy [Music] a five-day course here costs nearly 2 000 American dollars [Music] instructors include former Marines snipers and infantry commanders many served in Iraq or Afghanistan Eric Ingersoll the background's 30 years law enforcement California primarily work SWAT and gang enforcement my entire career as a SWAT officer Sergeant sniper retired at the rink Lieutenant commanding the team and a lot of the special investigations units and narcotics Vice gangs and all that kind of stuff any questions all right [Music] fire participants come from all over the country Joanna is 72 and drove 20 hours from her Ranch in Idaho to improve her shooting technique I'm driving down here by myself going through Nevada there's no other cars on the road what if one of these idiots comes along you read about him pulling in front of you cut you off what are you gonna do I want to feel confident that I know what to do the U.S Constitution's second amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear arms [Music] defending yourself not having to rely on others it's all part of the American Myth the sociologist Jennifer Carlson Firearms are key to understanding U.S history wow guns have been core Tools in sort of the making of American statehood and American society since the beginning [Music] and we can see that with regard to the Early American Republic uh with regard to the Revolutionary War and you know throwing off the the British we can see guns in terms of uh Western settlement and genocide of indigenous peoples it really is part of the origin story of the US and it's a thread that continues to be woven through American society [Music] the genre of wild west films is interesting because it's very much about consolidating this imagery of what is a real American when I get fast slippery this is your last draw you'll never handle guns again Morgan and we often see these sort of incredibly flat stylized tropes of um yeah whether it's indigenous people whether it's Mexicans whether it's African-Americans so people of color and they're really only there to make possible this sort of Fearless self-reliant independent uh you know being what's the matter scared oh me cherish thanks to you and your men so we don't see the massive brutality and and both massive in the sense of egregious but also Mass brutality the mass genocide of indigenous peoples we don't kind of we don't get confronted with that side of of what the quote-unquote settlement of the West which was really a violent genocidal project we don't get confronted with that instead we get this sort of Frontier mess of what it means to be an American which is very much wrapped up in in whiteness and in masculinity [Music] thank you [Music] correct Two Shots upper chest back at the gunsight Academy participants train until late in the evening at the shooting range and Beyond a low ready participants learn how to use their weapon in all sorts of situations some train in Battlefield scenarios others in domestic spaces foreign this guy's got a shotgun right okay bigger gun since she's got a shotgun I'm gonna shoot him in the head got it that's the only that's the only shot off down in here may not shut him off instructions for killing I like TV or movies you shoot someone that doesn't mean they're gonna quit everyone thinks this is the threat it's not he is the threat so to make this stop for sure I have to stop him and the best place to stop him is right through the eye socket here to get into his brain pan anywhere in here he may not stop but if you shoot him in the head his chances of survival are slim to none right I want it to be none Ken Campbell heads the gunsight Academy for him bearing Firearms is an inalienable right a well 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 my right to own a firearm was not granted to me by the government it was given to me by God some of the anti-gun folks want to make more laws murders already against the law shall we make it double murder I'm not as in two but do we need to make murder twice as bad but isn't it true that there are more gun related death in the United States than anywhere else in the world no I don't believe that's correct you don't believe it's correct I do not you look at the statistics let's just go to our Southern Border in Mexico and they have a lot of gun laws and let's look at the deaths there and compare those most murders in Mexico are committed with weapons smuggled across the border from the USA [Music] Yesenia pizzaro is a criminologist she studies gun violence every gun store is legal guns get into the illegal markets via secondary markets or theft of your gun somebody purchases their gun in the South States or goals and purchase 10 guns or whatever and then they could sell them in the black market in the states with more restrictive gun laws every gun has like a serial number and the gun is defaced and then it appears all of the sudden somebody gets killed and they find the shell casings and if they find the weapon they realize that this weapon was defaced and it's not registered to 91. [Music] numerous mass shootings in recent years have shown just how easy it is to acquire an arsenal of weapons in 1999 two teenagers shot 13 people at Columbine High School they were armed with semi-automatic rifles pistols and several explosives 2007 a massacre on the campus of Virginia Tech a student killed 32 people with two semi-automatic pistols in 2012 20 children and six adults were shot dead at Sandy Hook elementary school in Connecticut 2018 a rampage at a high school in Parkland Florida killed 14 students and three staff members these numbers represent incalculable suffering Lando Florida behind this Memorial is a former nightclub called the pulse an institution for the local gay community on June 12 2016 it was the scene of one of the deadliest shootings in U.S history Brandon Wolfe survived the attack [Music] thank you but he lost two close friends Christopher Lane called Drew and Juan Guerrero we got here just after midnight I ordered the same drinks we always ordered and then went out onto the patio to to hang out with one another [Applause] at 1 58 in the morning A man carrying an assault rifle entered the nightclub few minutes later he opened fire so as the night was ending Drew and his partner won were really intent on finishing their last dance together and I just needed to use the bathroom before we called an Uber home so I stepped into a bathroom that's just over here and everything about it was so normal in the moment until it was abnormal there were gunshots the music was still going and the bass you could still feel it in your feet but it was like the whole club was silent for a moment and then gunfire again this time louder and not stopping about a dozen people rushed into the bathroom with me they looked like they had seen the most terrifying thing they had ever seen cleared his allegiance to the terrorist organization Islamic State possible motives homophobia and religious fanaticism Brandon's friends Drew and Juan were killed on the dance floor in all 49 people died 53 were wounded at the time it was the worst mass shooting in the country's history after the tragedy Brandon Wolfe became one of the most committed anti-gun activists of his generation he now meets with politicians speaks before the U.S Congress and fights for financial compensation for the survivors friend Amanda was also there that night four bullets hit her she's been on a long road to recovery ever since learning to walk and use her right arm again but her wounds are not just physical when I go out at night I'm always looking at exits to making sure my surrounding just in case you know if I have to you know run or escape again and um also I get the sphere every now and then that what if somebody's out there that still wants to finish the job so it's just it's hard on the emotional level nobody has the right to take your life away from you or your family there was a mass shooting three days ago or four days ago in Tennessee at a school 13 people were shot and it didn't even make the Nightly News because it just happened so often that it's not even the most outrageous thing that's happening in our country right now why would I want to bring a child into that world why would I want to bring a child into a world where they're going to spend the first 18 years of their life um practicing you know how to use their backpack to you know tie somebody's gaping wound in a classroom this year my mom got me the perfect bag for back to school a chilling public awareness campaign from families of children killed at Sandy Hook or just what I need for studying [Music] what I needed for the new year my parents got me the skateboard I wanted it's pretty cool these scissors really come in handy in our class these new socks they can be a real lifesaver [Music] hey if I link my own phone to stay in touch with my mom [Music] [Music] the group behind this ad believes identifying warning signs in would-be Killers could help in Arizona one woman channels her pain by fighting for stricter gun laws and I would like to welcome our first witness the gentle lady from Arizona thank you Mr chair members Mr chair I'm dying in slow motion my life will be cut short by the complications of my gunshot wound November 15 2004 was such a beautiful night I was holding my fiance's hand as we drove to dinner we were 36 hours back from our Dream trip to Fiji where we committed to marrying and that idyllic moment someone fired a gun Jennifer London's life changed forever in a phoenix Shopping Center Alexa lock front lock a bullet to the neck left her a paraplegic Alexa all lights on another bullet hit her fiancee in the head leaving him in a vegetative state hello babies hello my girl the two were victims of a random shooting a tragedy that affects the significant number of Americans each year the culprits were never caught absolutely no idea who shot me uh you know there are there have been a lot of working theories by law enforcement but uh you know no one has ever been caught no one's ever been charged so 17 years later you know I still don't know why was it someone someone who hated us that much that they wanted to kill us uh someone who mistook us for someone else uh someone who just fired a gun in that direction and we just happened to be there I don't know but it's no different than lots of other folks who get shot in the United States as an Arizona state legislator Jennifer London advocates for background checks on gun purchases and safe gun storage every year I've run a very simple Bill around safe storage if a child in your home is injured because you didn't safely secure your firearm you're facing a fine that's all a fine um and I haven't been able to get that bill heard I run it every year but I can't get it moved into a committee I think that it's possible to do it I have to believe that in order to keep doing it if this were easy we'd be done uh and it's not simple it's not but I believe that little by little by little we're going to make a difference she's waging an uphill battle in a country that's more armed than ever [Music] Ka Arizona half an hour's drive from the Mexican border this deserted area located along the walls started by Donald Trump has been home to extremist anti-immigrant militias for years [Music] Matt you're the tracker got them here got him here coming across there he is again right here I know it's a female and that's the big guy Tim Foley and his right-wing Vigilantes trained several times a year to track down migrants they want to capture people who enter the U.S illegally from Mexico I do it a lot by myself just driving down the road and I'll see somebody the group of guys tucked in the bushes it'll just stop and yell Dukes on and they go oh is he took us on I'm getting back in the back and I bust out my satellite phone and call border patrol tell them where I'm at which direction I'm going and where to meet me um drive up to usually that spot and then they're waiting it's like sorry boys no ready to choose on well they get over at Tucson but a different ride they say they're there to help out the U.S border Patrol which they claim is overstretched [Music] because they don't hold the migrants against their will Vigilantes say they are veterans and have fought in Iraq or Afghanistan should be flying an American flag their leader Tim Foley used to work in construction but moved to the Border after the 2008 financial crisis an Ardent fan of Donald Trump he says he even traveled to Washington on January the 6th 2021 but didn't take part in the attack on the capital the founding fathers the Constitution is easy to follow they made it short quick simple it's to protect us against the government if they become too tyrannical they're pushing [Music] erivaca is the last town before the border the nearest police station is more than an hour away by car the militia gives some of the towns 600 or so inhabitants the feeling of security despite a fatal incident on May the 30th 2009 that's when members of a different vigilante group broke into a private home claiming drug smugglers lived there they killed a ten-year-old girl and her father the mother though injured managed to call for help my daughter and my husband they shot them how old is your daughter at the heart of the second amendment's right to bear arms is the idea that a well-regulated militia is necessary to the security of a free state but this constitutional phrasing is steeped in the United States historical racism for historian Jennifer Carlson the origins of militias are closely linked to slavery [Music] at that time the state militia was the slave Patrol so if the federal government by virtue of the U.S Constitution didn't protect a state's right to have a militia or in other words have a slave Patrol that could fundamentally undermine the system of slavery that was part and parcel of the United States at its founding thank you there was lots and lots of concern about slave rebellion about Insurrection about the idea that enslaved peoples would understandably Rebel and so without a slave Patrol there was a lot of fear among whites that that this whole system wouldn't be attainable in the early 18th century armed militias enforced slavery laws [Music] in 1831 white fears of a Revolt were realized then black preacher Nat Turner led a bloody Insurrection against White slaveholders the militia's Revenge swiftly followed Turner was hanged more than a hundred other slaves killed the threat was met really with an extreme show of force and so we see this not just in terms of the brutality of slave patrols but also the brutality of white supremacist militias in the aftermath of the Civil War so the Ku Klux Klan we see this in the context of lynch mobs and then of course we see this all the way into the so-called self-defense shootings in which um you know we have African-Americans and people of color being gunned down these are very much embedded in the the racial politics of the United States years of documented cases show a deadly pattern of police violence against black people [Applause] Steen philando Castile was shot dead in his car during a traffic stop [Music] in 2020 Brianna Taylor was killed by police in her apartment in the middle of the night in the same year three white men shot armored Arbury while he was jogging killings that shook the country and sparked protests now a sharp rise in anti-black hate crimes has led more and more black Americans to arm themselves excuse me ma'am nice to meet you I know Philip Smith is founder and president of the national African-American gun Association or Naga since its founding in 2015 membership has grown to 45 000. for black Americans in the U.S buying arms in large numbers is a new phenomenon so what's behind the name Buffalo Soldiers still on the um ninth California Buffalo Soldiers it was an all-black regimen of freed and runaway slaves whom a businessman is proud of his Heritage and the organization he founded with the goal of preserving and protecting the community we were probably about 14 million African-Americans World Nationwide here in the US that have guns now that's a lot of folks 14 million the pandemic to me was the the Line in the Sand that combined with the political and racial tension that you have in the country right now I'm not going to call it a Renaissance for African-Americans I'm going to call it an Awakening because we've never had this many black folks in the United States having guns at the same time fruit as an as an American to be shot by the police because you own again the worst thing that I can do is to say you know what I don't deserve this gun my ancestors Harriet Tubman the Buffalo Soldiers the Tuskegee Airmen the Black Panthers of self-defense the deacons of Defense Nat turn all those black men and women in many many more and many more organizations they they die for nothing the one thing we should do after a black person is shot is the next day we all should carry historically African-Americans have been given this socialization that we do not need to have guns we're the only community ethnically in the world that believes that now just think about that statement you don't need guns to protect yourself but everyone else around you has guns what kind of crazy mental state do you have to be to believe that and people wonder why okay why are black men being attacked on a Sunday after looking at houses and jogging and three white guys drop by in a truck and jump out and and beat him up and shoot him why does that happen because we continue to act like we're it's okay to be a soft target statistically in comparison to their white counterparts black males in America are 18 times more likely to be injured by a gun and 12 times more likely to be killed with the firearm Newark New Jersey the city sits just across the river from New York and has long suffered from high rates of poverty and crime nearly half of newark's approximately 300 000 residents are black gun laws in New Jersey are among the strictest in the country and the state has one of the lowest rates of firearm deaths it's like Newark are the exception here on average someone dies from gun violence every day the Intensive Care Unit at University Hospital in Newark treats many gunshot victims this is where Deshawn Ware fought for his life hey come on Dr Stephanie Bonnie is the trauma surgeon who helped save him I would do this I guess have a seat yeah how you doing it's been this has been a long time in the making so how are you feeling today like how are things going just recently had to recreate the surgery from when you guys weren't able to actually close up the stomach because you know I was so swollen yeah can I take a look can I see what they did sure uh all right so this is the Plastics team oh nice nice nice nice so did you have a colostomy remind me this this is the Bullet Hole correct yeah so much damage to my stomach I mean I'm a puzzle still here so so you had this one here he was hit by Six Bullets during an altercation one of them injured a major artery in his abdomen he barely survived it crossed this big artery and vein so originally so he's had his belly put back together and that's where we took skin to cover other places when we first did it there was so much swelling in his belly that we left him open and then we put skin over so for like probably six months he could look down and see his like intestines just under the skin physically I have a drop foot so this helps me walk um if I seem to stop I would be tripping all over the place because my foot can't pick up this is a Graves wound got shot my arm I had a nerve graph right here to help me cut my hand with some kind of function so I'm still at work working peace it's not done yet the foot drop is going to be permanent um the hand can still be worked on the skin scars are there and then there's the emotional scars you know since your question I think it'll be a lifetime process of me uh trying to forgive myself in order to move forward from this come here cool take care of yourself thank you you give the best hugs we really do Dr Bonnie is a specialist in gunshot injuries she's spent years advocating for gun violence prevention a lot of people don't realize or understand what happens after somebody gets shot we're very good at sort of counting the number of people who die but there's really very little attention paid to the people that are shot and survive and that's a lot it's a lot of people and so a lot of times people are never really the same they might have all kinds of injuries that they can never recover from some people may require amputations they might have bad hernias they might need colostomy bags all kinds of things that are really life-changing [Music] gun violence looks like an infectious disease it looks like the flu sometimes you know one person gets it and then the next person and the next person and the next person and given the volume that we see the the number of people that are affected it absolutely can be characterized as an epidemic [Music] gun violence isn't limited to the inner city it has long been widespread throughout the country Jacksonville Florida is no exception here too guns orphaned children and tear families apart Crystal Turner lost two of her four children to gun violence now she's raising her two grandchildren [Music] how old were they when you got to take care of them Roy was five Roy had just turned five that February and Royce was [Music] 23 months old um that's been hard to accept that she should be calling me Yaya just like the rest of my grandchildren but she calls me Mommy this is like our family wall so the last family photo we all took together it's my 50th birthday we were able to capture that moment of us all being together not knowing that that would be the last family picture that we would ever take [Music] in April 2015 Crystal's daughter Janae was running a chain of daycare centers it became estranged from her husband and he decided to get revenge oh janae's brother Donnell worked with her in the office parking lot Roy Harbison shot Janae and Donnell with a nine millimeter pistol after that Crystal devoted herself to the gun safety movement she also organizes self-help groups for parents of murdered children so we ain't gonna make this hard we're just gonna talk we all are dealing with what that loss looks like for us individually and so that's really our topic today what is that experience been like for you how has it changed you and brought you to this place that we're all standing in today because of gun violence one of the things I learned that I learned Jordan was killed after you sit on the couch after all the cameras are gone after all the people are gone you're in the room by yourself so now you say do I I roll into a fetal position and stay in the bed for weeks at a time or do I get out on the street and make something happen and make sure that everybody in the world that you can touch knows your child [Music] Jordan Davis was just 17 years old when 45 year old Michael Dunn shot him to death over loud music they're you know four guys in a car and they drive into a gas station Michael Dunn he rolled down his window he told the kids cut the music off that allowed music bothered him so he decided that was enough and he reaches into his glove compartment pulls out his gun unholstered slides it back turns around and starts shooting in the car full of kids they back out the driveway they're trying to get away he runs to the back of his car gets into a stance and starts shooting four more bullets into the car he shoots 10 bullets into the car trying to kill all the kids and he only shot my son and hit him twice to take away from this experience as difficult Dunn later claimed he felt threatened and acted in self-defense in 2014 he was sentenced to life in prison see he wouldn't have that bravery and many of these people that kill people ordinarily was called down and not to say anything yep so you become Brave I got a gun I'm brave and then when you're in the situation because you're brave now you want to use that guy what do you say about people who say it's not about the gun it's about the person I say it's always about the gun the reason why it's all about the gun is because the gun manufacturers okay they making trillions of dollars where do they spend the most money they send it to Congress they send it to the Senate they send it to all these people that make the laws to keep the guns flowing yep that's money yep American Gun makers are thriving for The Operators of Arizona's gunsight Academy that's good news [Applause] [Music] after five days the Intensive training course is coming to a close the participants put their Marksmanship to the test [Music] [Applause] [Music] instructor Ed head is credited with some 60 000 arrests and 15 fatal shootings during his career as a border patrol agent we don't like the government threatening to take our guns away we don't like that at all they're trying to say that people like me are domestic terrorists former police guy I'm a former military guy I have a flag in my yard I voted for Donald Trump so I am a domestic terrorist there might be another revolution in this country I hope not I pray it doesn't happen but it could happen the United States a country deeply divided most Americans want stricter gun control but people like Ed head feel differently first and foremost let me say thank you thank you for being safe when you go out to the range again you fight a young person there's a lot of young people in here but we need more we need more of these young people who will be Defenders of our constitution our Bill of Rights the Second Amendment and if you teach these young people to be responsible with Firearms they are going to be responsible with drinking and driving and dating and life in general friends I'll see you back again site [Applause] the American Myth Faith Family Homeland and weapons for self-defense American Dream descends deeper into an American catastrophe

Channel: DW Documentary

Views: 276,190

Keywords: Documentary, Documentaries, documentaries, DW documentary, full documentary, DW, documentary 2022, documentary 2023, documentary, weapons, USA, rampage, gun mania, violence, gun laws, gun control, gun control documentary, gun laws in america, USA gun laws, gun laws in USA, gun violence, gun control usa, gun law, united states

Id: bf7haLJ6KjY

Length: 42min 25sec (2545 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 27 2023

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[u/NoUseForAName2222]

I'll skip it

[u/Acholi_Arms]

That’s a no from me, dawg.

[u/nenopd]

Not the first time Anti-semites advocated for disarmament, amirite?

[u/svvitchbladee]

germany moment

[u/EdSmelly]

Not for nothing but until SOMEBODY does something to address the causes of violence in this country then the cheap, easy solutions will continue to gain ground.

[u/MaybePotatoes]

I always think "daily wire" when seeing that logo

[u/SafeEngine9391]

When I open my gun safe and see my woods deer rifle, my hayfield deer rifle, my varmint rifle, fun gun, my rabbit/pheasant shotgun, my gramps old slug gun, my plinking .22lr pistol, and my home defense pistol and then see the stats that there are only 120 guns for every 100 people, or as this video dramatically remarks, "MORE GUNS IN THE USA THAN PEOPLE," I shake my head and say... and?