All right. Tonight, I want to talk
about the National Rifle Association. You know the NRA,
the only time they're quiet is whenever we have a national moment
of silence. And if you haven't been watching the news,
they're currently in total chaos. America's most prominent
gun rights organization, with one of the nation's most powerful
lobbying arms, is in turmoil. The NRA is facing a major shakeup after its current president, Oliver North,
announced he would be stepping down and not returning for a second term. North reportedly attempted
to oust Wayne LaPierre. Basically, Wayne LaPierre,
their longtime chief executive, was beefing
with their president Oliver North. Last month, LaPierre accused North
of trying to extort him over financial wrongdoing, and LaPierre was right to worry
because North had the receipts, and they show that LaPierre
was burning through money like it was a rookie contract. Including almost 40 grand for clothes
on a single day, 18 grand for a car and driver in Europe, and $13,800 in rent payments
for a college intern. That's right. Wayne LaPierre, who's almost 70,
tried to expense five grand a month for a twentysomething female intern,
and I know... we're all thinking the same thing. Wayne LaPierre has a heart of gold. Don't laugh. Her summer housing didn't work out,
and she needed a place to stay. We need more people like Wayne LaPierre. This internal feud resulted in
Oliver North stepping down as president. But that was just the beginning
of the NRA's problems. The New York Attorney General is currently investigating whether
the NRA has violated their status as a nonprofit,
and I know you're like, "Wait... The NRA is a non-profit?" That's like finding out Guantanamo Bay
was built by Habitat for Humanity. The guard would be like,
"That rectal feeding tube is actually made out
of Jimmy Carter's old garden hose. So you respect it." Now, all this turmoil came to a head at the NRA's annual convention last month. But while everybody was obsessing over
the NRA meltdown, something else was going down. This is a Fox News Alert. President Trump making moves
to pull the U.S. out of an international arms trade treaty, something the NRA has wanted
for a very long time. Trump pulled the U.S. out
of the Arms Trade Treaty, which was a UN resolution Obama signed
in 2013 to help prevent the use of arms
for war crimes and human rights abuses.
But don't take it from me, take it from the host
of my dad's favorite TV show. The UN Arms Trade Treaty could ask signatories not to export
weapons to groups or states which could use these weapons
in crimes against humanity. Simple enough. Don't send arms to Syria
or Sudan or North Korea. Who could object to this? "Who could object to this?"
Well, Bashar al-Assad, Kim Jong-un, and obviously, Terry Gross. Terry Gross has been running guns
into Darfur for decades. It makes total sense
when you think about it. Look, she does one interview a day,
and she's somehow always on "vacation." Come on, Terry. If you're not going to stop running guns, then at least stop letting Dave Davies
fill in for you. You're hurting people. The NRA hates the UN Arms Trade Treaty
because they think it will lead to gun control
in the United States. That's basically how they feel
about everything the UN does. Which you can tell from
this super-emo video they made. The UN's agenda?
To impose its own standard of freedom. Global gun prohibition. A bronze statue of a twisted gun
outside UN headquarters stands as testimony to its agenda
and its determination to fulfill it. The NRA is obsessed
with this gun that got its tubes tied. It's known as "The Knotted Gun," and it is a universal symbol
for non-violence, and the NRA saw that and was like,
"Non-violence? Over my dead body." The NRA has official consulting status
with the UN, which is bizarre. How could the NRA possibly be helpful
at the UN? Think about it, like,
Zambia comes in, they're like, "We need mosquito nets." And they're like,
"Have you tried shooting the mosquitoes? You have the right
to shoot the mosquitoes." The NRA has been opposing
the Arms Trade Treaty for years. There is extremely strong opposition
to this treaty in the United States. All based on the same objection: Infringement on
the constitutional freedom of American gun owners. We are not gonna submit American freedoms to these globalist vultures. Is this how Wayne LaPierre
describes nature? He's like, "You got your globalist vultures,
your libtard geckos, and your cuck trees. It's disgusting." But just last month,
Trump gave the NRA what they wanted. We're taking our signature back. They all want the pen.
Can you believe these people? Should I give it to 'em? Famous pen. Just imagine all the manifestos that are going to be written
with that pen. This is why we can't be
touchdown dancing all over the NRA civil war. Pulling out of the Arms Trade Treaty was a significant win for them
on an international scale. And that's what I want
to focus on tonight, the global impact of the NRA. Now, I know that sounds strange. When you think of the NRA,
you think of American gun rights, the Second Amendment, cowboy cosplay, gun shows. The easier it is for people
in other countries to buy guns, the better it is for American gun makers
who want to do business in those places. So the NRA has been influencing
gun policy, exporting gun culture, and contributing to gun violence
around the world. The NRA has actually been called
the "spiritual godfather" of foreign gun groups,
which I know sounds like a gangster movie starring Deepak Chopra.
But the NRA... also has direct financial ties
to foreign gun companies, some of their biggest donors
are international gun manufacturers like Beretta and Glock, who have each donated
at least a million dollars to the NRA, which makes them members
of an exclusive donors club called... "The Golden Ring of Freedom," where one of the perks
is a special jacket. When I put the gold jacket on, I'll feel the respect of 1,600 employees. It is a great honor. The NRA gave Brenda and I gold jackets, because we give them a lot of money. You don't need the NRA
to get an ugly, overpriced jacket. Just order one from Canada Goose. I own one. It's ugly as fuck. Objectively. Okay? By the way, they ripped this jacket straight
from the NFL Hall of Fame, which makes total sense
if you think about it. Football and guns have both given
high schoolers brain trauma. Now, another reason the NRA... is working abroad is that they seem to think that
gun control anywhere is a threat to gun rights everywhere.
Take Australia. The NRA has tried to repeatedly weaken
Australia's strict gun laws, including the ones passed
after a mass shooting in 1996, called the Port Arthur Massacre. Look what happened to Australia. When they had a huge shooting
in Port Arthur, the conservative government banned
assault weapons. For the next couple of decades,
there's been not even one single mass shooting in Australia. And the NRA was like, "What kind of sick world
are we living in? We need to help these people get guns." And then they got a call from a group
in Australia called One Nation. Now, separately... those words don't seem racist. But when you put them together, they do. Right? It's like America, First. Duck, Dynasty. Roseanne. Just Roseanne. One Nation is a right-wing
Nationalist Party, and this is their co-founder
Pauline Hanson. Whoa! Hey, take it easy, Pauline. Asians don't swamp, we infiltrate.
There's a difference. Last year, some members of One Nation came
to America to meet with the NRA,
except one of them wasn't a member. He was an undercover journalist
and guess which one. Yeah. Look at him! No Australian is that Australian. What is wrong with this guy?
He could have just worn a suit, but he just went to a store and he's like,
"Get me all the khaki money can buy. Let me look like
Crocodile motherfucking Dundee... while I go undercover." Now, this undercover journalist, secretly recorded the One Nation members
who came to America. The fake activist then led
One Nation Chief of Staff James Ashby and Queensland senate candidate
Steve Dickson on a trip to America to seek donations from the U.S. gun lobby. And while they were there, the NRA gave them talking points, including what to say
in response to a mass shooting. Lars Dalseide is one of the NRA's
senior media liaison officers. If another mass shooting happens
in Australia, he advises One Nation
to smear supporters of gun control by accusing them
of exploiting the tragedy. Yeah. Mm-hmm. That guy is getting a lesson
on how to spin the murder of children, and he's reacting like he just heard
"Uptown Funk" for the first time. He's like, "I love that. What is this?" When that clip hit the internet,
One Nation reps faced a lot of backlash, but they had an airtight response. I'll be the first to admit,
we'd arrived in America, we'd got on the sauce,
we'd had a few drinks, and that's where those discussions
took place. They were on the sauce. I can't tell if they came to America
to meet the NRA or have the best summer of their lives
before they go to college. You know what? It's fine. They apologized. They lived, they learned. But then, a month later... more footage leaked. A salacious strip club video
has brought down one of Pauline Hanson's
most trusted senate candidates. As secret footage of a One Nation
Queensland Senate candidate Steve Dickson emerged from the shadows to spotlight a hands-on,
booze-fueled September night out at a seedy Washington strip club. All right. That's gross. But how much did they trust khaki guy? They're like... "Hey, man. Like, why isn't Dave getting
any lap dances? And why is his armpit blinking?"
They're like, "Whatever. He's our friend. We trust him." No one has been able
to roll back Australia's gun laws. So, the NRA is trying to make sure
nobody else pulls an Australia, which hasn't been easy. Especially in New Zealand
after the Christchurch shooting. Six days. That's how long it's been
since the deadly mosque shooting in New Zealand which took
the lives of 50 innocent people, and it took just six days
for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to announce a nationwide ban on all military-style,
semi-automatic weapons. I can tell you one thing right now,
our gun laws will change. As an American, that's incredible
and disheartening at the same time. It's like being Elon Musk
and seeing someone move any of their facial muscles. He's like, "Wait, you can just do that?" As New Zealand mourned,
the NRA kicked into gear. You want to know the difference between
the anti-gun left and us here at NRATV? They call New Zealand's all out gun ban
of semi-automatic rifles, quote "What leadership looks like." We call it what tyranny looks like. But gun advocates
didn't just criticize the prime minister. The world's most powerful gun lobby group,
the NRA, has offered its help and support to gun enthusiasts here. "Oh, yes. I think so." I love the way she said that,
that was like the nicest way to say fuck off. Out of curiosity... have we tried telling the NRA
to just bugger off? We should just do that. One member of New Zealand's parliament
was even sent material that appeared to be sourced directly
from the NRA, accusing her of trying to take away
their Second Amendment rights to own guns. The only problem is... New Zealand doesn't have
a Second Amendment... or the right to own guns. They just think every country
has the right to own guns, including Africa, because they probably
think Africa is a country. The NRA was more effective in Brazil, where gun violence has been rampant.
In 2005, Brazil had about 36,000 gun deaths, which was even more
than the United States. That year, Brazil held a voter referendum to ban the sales of guns
and ammunition to citizens. So a pro-gun group reached out to the NRA
for help and the NRA sent a lobbyist. Now, the NRA denies funding
any Brazilian pro-gun groups, but the NRA's messaging
still made it into Brazilian ads. Now, you guys probably know
NRA's talking point. Keep your hands of our guns
and our freedom. No, not that one. The other one. The only thing that stops a bad guy
with a gun is a good guy with a gun. Okay, we constantly hear about good guys
with guns and during the referendum, this ad... coincidentally ran in Brazil. They talk about disarmament... but they forgot to tell the criminals. They want to take away the good guns. But they'll leave the bad guns alone. This won't end well. Disarming the citizens
is not the solution. Vote against prohibition. Vote one. Vote no. That's insane. How did they get Ethan Hawke
for that role? The NRA keeps trying to convince people
in other countries that they have a right to own guns, but just like New Zealand, Brazil doesn't
have the right to bear arms. The gun lobby just made it up. But it looks like these ads
were still effective. Polls taken before the vote on the gun ban
show that 80% of Brazilians were in favor of greater gun control,
but the law was defeated two to one. Brazil didn't pass gun control and now, their current president,
Jair Bolsonaro, is rolling back what little gun control Brazil does have. Brazil's far-right
President Jair Bolsonaro is reversing earlier strict regulations that essentially prevented civilians
from bearing firearms. In order to guarantee the citizens
this legitimate right of defense, I, as president, will use this weapon. Why are these guys obsessed with pens? Like, at least Trump had a Sharpie. Bolsonaro's got a classic Bic.
Come on, man. Get a pen that doesn't have
a bank chain on it. You can get that shit at Wells Fargo. Bolsonaro signed that legislation
five months ago, and he signed another executive order
easing gun rules earlier this month. Bolsonaro loves the NRA
and so does his son. Bolsonaro, as well as his son
who was involved in the campaign have really made a big sticking point
of their fandom, really, of the NRA. He has all these gun replicas
on the walls, NRA signs. What's up, guys? I'm here in the U.S.A. As you can see, a lot of guns. This is the famous AR-15, the devil's gun, AK-47, the terrorist gun, a 50, people call it a 50,
you can bring down a plane with it. I like how "bringing down a plane"
is his sales pitch for this gun. He's like, "This baby can do everything.
It can stop all the worst people, murderers, intruders, Delta." Like, why is he so obsessed with guns? Have you guys ever noticed this?
Like, people who are into guns, are really into guns. They're like swords. Nobody has one sword. You either have zero swords, or so many swords
that your kids stop bringing friends over. There's no middle ground. The NRA's influence is all over the world:
Brazil, Australia, New Zealand. But they don't just coach
foreign gun groups, they help spread guns abroad
without even leaving the United States. For the last 50 years, the NRA's U.S. agenda
has been about passing laws that make it easier to buy guns, own guns, and use guns. You've probably heard about these laws:
concealed carry, preemption laws, and stand your ground,
which came in the national conversation after George Zimmerman
gunned down Trayvon Martin. Now, I just want to take a quick beat
to give you guys an update on what George Zimmerman has been up to,
because it is fucking crazy. After he got acquitted for murder, he became a painter. He sold a painting
for over a hundred grand. He tried to auction off the gun
he killed Trayvon Martin with. He failed to sell the gun, tried again, failed again, tried a third time, succeeded.
How? I don't know. That same year, got divorced, so... he's officially on the market. He's like, "Look, I'm a multihyphenate, I'm a killer, auctioneer, racist,
part-time horrible artist, full-time piece of shit, no hookups.
I'm looking for love." Now, that'd be a great Tinder profile
if he hadn't gotten banned from Tinder. Oh, by the way, he also challenged DMX to a boxing match. DMX seems pretty chill
about the whole thing, telling TMZ... Now... I know you're shocked by that,
but you know who's not shocked by that? Anyone who knows anything about DMX. They're just like,
"Damn, DMX is getting soft." All the gun laws the NRA supports encourage the spread of guns
in the U.S., but those guns are also
making their way south to Mexico. Mexico points the finger at the U.S. for not doing enough to prevent
an estimated 213,000 firearms from being smuggled into the country. The impact of those guns is felt
across Mexico. The murder rate this year is expected
to surpass that of 2017 with more than 30,000 killings. 30,000 killings. And what makes that stat
even more shocking is that Mexico only has one gun store
in the entire country. I'm serious. We drive into this open military
base and pull up right in front of Mexico's one and only gun store, what's formerly known as the Directorate
of Arms and Munitions Sales. If they have one gun store, is it like Trader Joe's on a Saturday
all the time? Like, you go in and it's just like,
"Aw, shit. I was just trying to get a Glock
and avocados, but this is nonsense." It's like, "Yeah, come back on a Tuesday,
it's better on a Tuesday." "All right,
I'll come during my lunch break." Between 2009 and 2014, 70% of traceable guns seized in Mexico
came from the U.S., and it's honestly impressive
that we could get that stat because the NRA has lobbied
to kill universal background checks and funding for tracking gun crimes. I mean, come on. America is never going to track guns. The only way we'd ever start
tracking guns is if they converted to Islam, that's it. And on top of that, the Trump administration
has proposed something called the Arms Transfer Initiative, which can make it easier
for U.S. companies to export guns and harder for lawmakers
to get data on gun sales. And as someone
who loves using government data to make 400 different graphs a week, I'm personally upset by this. So not only... could we have less information
on where the guns are going, we also won't always know
who the guns are going to, because the NRA has also fought to keep
straw purchasing laws weak. Straw purchasing is when
you can't legally buy a gun so you get someone else to buy it for you. You know, the same way
teenagers get Four Loko. Straw purchasing is one of the main ways
criminals acquire firearms. And it's something
the NRA has fought for years. This gun was bought by two
U.S. citizens on behalf of a Mexican cartel. The investigation revealed
a whole straw purchasing network, but their charge was based on lying
on the paperwork. So what you're prosecuting them for
is the fact that they filled in the form wrongly? Correct. There is currently
no firearms trafficking statute that we can prosecute someone for. It doesn't stop there. A huge number of recovered weapons
in Central America can be traced back to the United States. 29% of guns in Guatemala, 46% of guns in Honduras
and 49% in El Salvador. That's half of the traceable gun supply
coming from America. And the gun violence in Central America
is fueling the migrant crisis. Many immigrants say they're fleeing
gang violence in their home countries. Rival gangs like MS-13
and the 18th Street gang kill thousands per year. This 16 year old fled
with her two-year-old son. "It was one of the toughest decisions
of my life," she said. "But I'm afraid for my son
because of the violence and gangs here, so I had to try." That's heart-wrenching. And you would think
that most people would understand that. But the NRA isn't most people. The immigration invasion is real. These people are coming here
to do harm to Americans. They dismember,
they mutilate, they torture. Until you can prove to me
that their borders are closed, you know, and that no one's coming across
with the intent to do harm or weapons, don't talk to us about gun control. But we have to talk about gun control. The NRA has had undue influence
on American politics for the last 50 years. But if the New York AG's investigation
finds that the NRA can't call themselves a nonprofit, that wouldn't just hurt their bottom line. We would finally be recognizing
the NRA for what they are: a political organization
with global influence. But that's just a hope. As it stands, the NRA's domestic push
for loose gun laws is helping weapons flow to Central America,
which is contributing to violence, which is causing people
to flee that violence and seek asylum in the U.S., which the NRA is using
to sell looser gun laws, and this cycle shows no signs of stopping. Look, the NRA clearly loves guns. Right? They obviously want
to spread guns internationally, and yet, they are panicking about
immigrants invading with those guns. But maybe... those immigrants aren't invading. Maybe, they're just returning those guns
to sender.
I think this might be my favourite episode so far. It's just fantastically well done.
Hasan examines the recent controversy surrounding the National Rifle Association’s leadership and non-profit status as well as the organizations powerful influence on politics at home and abroad.
For the last 50 years, the NRA's agenda has largely been focused on passing laws that make it easier to buy guns in America, but the lobbying group has also been simultaneously influencing gun policy, exporting gun culture, and contributing to gun violence around the world.
Sorry but can anyone ID the long sleeve Hasan is wearing in this episode?