Underneath the barrel, all of those parts,
the trigger and the lower parts group, have to work together
to give you that final product. What we're after is a finished weapon
or gun that shoots well. We are part of the NRA. We fight for your rights. We become part of those groups. We would like to assist in the fight
for our rights here. Everybody here sends in their memberships
and then go to the lobbyists, and then they try to get
their pro-gun bills through or try to stop the anti-weapon bills. Shoot it! You've got to pick your colors,
and if you don't know what you want, we can help you get exactly what you want
for where you're headed. We just did one
that looks like a snake's skin. You don't have anybody
looking out for you in Washington, so the NRA is supposed
to be doing that for us. 911, what is your emergency? There's a shooter. Okay, is anybody injured? Yes, there's a lot of blood,
please help, please. We're already sending the paramedics. Are you talking in a safe location? I don't know, but I'm at the school. On February 14th, 2018,
in Parkland, Florida, a 19-year-old student entered
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School armed with an illegally
purchased assault rifle. Oh, my God! The killer massacred 17 people,
including 14 students. As you can see, it has been a challenging
and difficult morning. George is on the scene in Florida,
where another community is in disbelief, shocked by devastating violence. The most disturbing aspect
of gun violence in America is that recent data shows
that the frequency of mass shootings is only increasing over time. The students who survived the massacre
are getting ready to go back to school and start a much bigger fight
against the NRA. In the United States,
350 mass killings occur each year, on average one per day. At Parkland,
it may be one massacre or too many. For the past year, all eyes have been
on the powerful gun lobby, the NRA. The National Rifle Association's main aim is to defend the total right of citizens
to own a firearm. To stop a bad guy with a gun,
it takes a good guy with a gun. The National Rifle Association is one of the most powerful
political forces in America. It has a simple message. "We have a constitutional right
to own firearms," and nobody can take that away from us." The NRA weaves its web of influence
from the backwoods of the United States to the White House. If you had a teacher
who was adept at firearms, it could end the attack very quickly. The lobby seems untouchable and unbending. Its resources are unlimited, and its supporters are resolute. There are over five million members
in the NRA today. They've gained more and more power. A lot of the power is financial because they can support
candidates during elections. In Washington, we are the voice
of the American gun owner. We are the voice of the Second Amendment. It's almost part of the American DNA. When you tell people
that you're going to vote now and that you will abolish
the Second Amendment, then good luck with that. How has the NRA managed
to dictate the law in the United States? Who are these Americans willing
to do anything to defend it? Since the Parkland massacre, war has been declared
between the organization and the young survivors
who have become its most vocal opponents. Any staff or politician
who takes donations from the NRA, shame on you. The NRA has taken up arms
and is determined not to yield an inch. Students from Parkland came out in force
as a new political movement that we have never seen before. They marched to Washington
and lobbied their elected officials. They're going up against history that hasn't been
on their side at the polls. They're going up against a dedicated group
of people in the NRA that have fought this battle before. As tragic as it is, the kids that are coming out of Parkland
are new to this political fight. The NRA has been fighting, and gun rights advocates
have fought this battle for a long time. To the west of Colorado,
at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, sits a small town
that still looks like something out of the Wild West. The town of Rifle is aptly named. Here, amid rows of perfectly
aligned streets and red brick buildings, stands a rather unusual place
that is the embodiment of pro-gun, rural America. A saloon, almost. The aptly named Shooter Grill restaurant, whose theme is openly displayed
at the entrance, "Guns are welcome on the premises." This is pretty new. I've had this gun for maybe two months. I carried my 43 for quite a while. I really like that one,
but then this one is a double stack. I like that. I know how to land it,
so I don't need to jump out. Thirty-two-year-old Lauren Boebert
is the owner. I'll give you the Hunter Burger. There you go, sir. Like all the waitresses, she has a nine-millimeter
semi-automatic pistol slung around her waist. In a restaurant where John Wayne
and the collector's weapons sit sideways and Jesus is surrounded by bullets, nothing is surprising. Shooter's Grill
is an open-carry restaurant. My waitstaff and I carry firearms to work. They are loaded and are real. We all practice and train. We are efficient with our firearms. We practice safety with them. This is our menu,
and we have all-beef Angus burgers. We have all-Rifle burgers as a tribute
to our town, Rifle, in Colorado. We have the Guac Nine,
which is a reference to a Glock, and I carry a Glock 26. What do you want, Christy? I think that it's good for more people
to have them because you feel safer. This is the safest restaurant
in the world. Everyone is always ready
in case anything happens, and nothing ever has. There you go. -Thank you.
-You're welcome. Colorado is one of the 32 US states
where it's legal to openly carry a weapon, be it an ordinary pistol
or a heavy-duty firearm, in keeping
with the Constitution's Second Amendment. Ten, awesome. To stop a bad guy with a gun,
you need a good guy with a gun The criminals have free range. They know you have nothing
to stop them with. They can go in and try
to rob you at gunpoint, and you won't shoot back
because you are a law-abiding citizen, and you are obeying the government
and not carrying your firearm. They know they can go in
and have whatever they want. They could go in and take it
and shoot whoever they want because no one is stopping them. Here in Rifle, Colorado,
there are people who will stop them. For Lauren,
who has always lived in Colorado, firearms are a way to protect her,
her family, and her four children. She wears her gun at home all the time and has about 20 others
hidden away for security. This right is conferred on her
by the American Constitution and ardently defended by the NRA, an organization
of which Lauren is a life member. This snake is so cool. We drew it first, and we painted it. I like that
because there's a lot of transparency. The NRA wants us to know
what they're doing. They want us to know
what they're fighting for, what gun control topic
is on the table today, and they want to let us know
how they're fighting for us. Along with Lauren, more than five million people
across the United States are members of the NRA. In just a few years,
the Pro Arms organization has ramped up. There is more money, more activists,
and intense lobbying for guns with no compromises and no restrictions. Yet when it was founded in 1871, the NRA was just a hunting
and shooting club founded by a couple
of American Civil War soldiers. For a century, its objectives were to promote
the practice of shooting and defending hunters. The National Rifle Association,
commonly referred to as the NRA, is the oldest national organization
of sportsmen in the United States. Everything changed in the 1960s. The NRA became a powerful political lobby
obsessed with gun defense. The organization was politicized
and suddenly radicalized by a series of violent and deadly events. Now, Robert Kennedy
has shared the fate of his brother, John. Soon after the death
of Martin Luther King, this tragedy
must bring Americans to their senses to legislate
for federal control of firearms. One of the most important changes was, with all of the violence in our society
and other societies in the late 1960s, and with the assassinations
of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy in 1968, President Johnson began
to push for more restrictions on guns. Many Americans,
even Democrats who had supported Johnson, became very worried because they were afraid
that if they had no guns, they would be unprotected. In particular, they were afraid
of Black Power and Black Panthers. -It's hard to pick up the guns.
-Hard to pick! -It's hard to pick up the guns.
-Hard to pick! Effective crime control remains, in my judgment, effective gun control. The NRA felt the winds of change. There was a small group
of members of the NRA that believed that gun rights
were about to be curtailed dramatically, and there were these conversations
about gun rights. They decided to rise within the NRA and effectively
take over the entire organization. It went from a moderate,
less powerful group of sportsmen to a very staunch
conservative organization, 100% focused on the idea of ensuring that the right
of an individual to own a gun would not be curtailed at all. To legitimize its struggle, the NRA cited the famous Second Amendment
of the American Constitution. Written in 1787 by the Founding Fathers,
it is today at the center of all debates. We believe in our country, we believe in our Bill of Rights, and we believe in our Second Amendment
to the United States Constitution, all of our Second Amendment. It's because we believe
in freedom and safety, and that it and it alone guarantees absolutely
our freedom and our safety. The Second Amendment says, "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." There's a lot of debate
about what the Founding Fathers meant. Does it mean people
have the right to join together to ensure that the government
isn't acting as a dictatorship, or does it mean everyone has the right
to have a gun on them at all times, no matter where they are? There are two insights. The existence of the amendment shows that the founders assumed
we would have guns. The second is that they assumed
that there would be some limits because it does not say
in the way the First Amendment does. You can have free speech all the time. It does not say
you have a right to guns in all places in a way we say you have a right
to speak in all places. They did expect
there would be some limits. What we argue over in our society is:
what should those limits be? Hey, Hollers, the British are coming! Grab your guns, boys, and come running. What I think sometimes people miss
is that when it was written, the right to bear arms were muskets. They were weapons that,
in a best-case scenario, you could get off three shots in a minute
if you were an expert. At that time,
mass shootings were impossible because there were no weapons
that would make someone capable. -What do we want?
-Gun control! We start in Virginia, where hundreds demonstrated
outside NRA headquarters this afternoon. Protesters blame
the National Rifle Association for helping to block gun control laws. This is one of several gun reform rallies
Parkland students have participated in over the past few months. They say the youth movement
will not be going away. For the high school students
rescued from Parkland High School, the road to reform is a long one. The NRA and its members are a tough bunch,
and the Second Amendment seems unshakable. I painted it myself. At 19 years old, Tyra Hammons
witnessed murder firsthand in Parkland, where 17 of her classmates
were shot dead just a year ago. We're in front
of the cowardice-ass building because that's where they all stay
behind closed doors because if they had balls,
they'd come and talk to us like people. They're cowards. Our fight is the winning fight
because too many people have died and too much blood has been shed. When we say enough is enough,
we sure mean it. We are tired of so many children
having to wake up, look at their surroundings, and ask,
"Is this the day I die?" It's not fair. Hold it. In this state, in this particular state,
it says I'm permitted to open carry. This is as long as I'm not a criminal,
which I am not. People are beaten to death
with baseball bats and killed with something like this. I would be more worried about that
than me carrying this. I'm minding my own business. I'm so sorry. Does any body want this? They don't want my flowers. They want their guns,
but they don't want my flowers. It will be long, but it's just about making sure
that we're here with love and positivity. It's to make sure
that people know what we're fighting for, and what we're fighting for
is for more kids to survive high school, and more kids can grow up
and do what they want in this world instead of fearing a bully. In a country where more than one
in three people is armed, some will dismiss
these youngsters as dreamers or utopians. In the United States, more than 300 million firearms
are in legal circulation. That's half of all civilian weapons
in the entire world. Alan lives in the Colorado mountains, and he's not about
to down weapons just yet. He's a member of the NRA and likes nothing more
than a large-caliber gun. Let's put the dot on,
and that would be helpful so I can hit some. That's me doubling the gun. Now, if I put it on full auto, let's make sure
my earplugs are completely seated. Now the gun's empty. It's the same thing, you'll pull it. The mag release is the same
on the semi-auto you'll visually inspect. It's empty, and that gun's clear. I grew up in a household where, if I was a good kid
and I did all my chores and I did what my parents asked me to do, I would get incented by them
giving me ammunition to shoot my 22-caliber rifle. Honestly, the main thing I worry about
is that someone is going to endanger me, my family, or my friends. Do I have the ability to protect myself
and those I care about around me? It's because, unfortunately, as you know, wherever we are, even if we're in France,
it's a big, bad world out there. All right, we're out. Every morning,
Allen comes to the foot of the mountains to hone his shooting position, adjust his aim, and test new weapons. In his spare time, Allen is even a shooting instructor
for the NRA. He paid $1,500
for his lifetime membership. I still don't like it. We need someone who defends our rights
at that level. If we didn't have that group out there
actively lobbying to protect our rights, who would we have? Honestly, it's how we earned our freedom
from the British. If we didn't have the Second Amendment
and weren't armed, I don't know how we would have rebelled
against the British to gain our own sovereign nation. It's just as important today
because if we look at tyranny around the world today, when a government disarms the populace and the government
then does bad things to the populace, what does the populace
have to do to respond? They don't have the tools or methodology. Again, that's the worst-case scenario,
and we hope never to be there. No one wants anything like that. I think the understanding
that people are armed and are going
to protect themselves is right. It looks like it's working. These Americans will do anything
to protect the Second Amendment, and whoever gets in their way
will be forced to pay a heavy price. It's 7:00 news,
starting with breaking news. Within the last hour,
State Senator John Morse concedes in his recall race
tonight's historic vote, leading to the first recall
in state history. The National Rifle Association
is attempting to coordinate
the recall of a state legislator. He's being punished as he goes
for passing gun restriction legislation in his state. In 2013, while serving as speaker
of the Colorado Senate, Democrat John Morse
invoked the wrath of the NRA for the crime of daring to propose a law
limiting the sales of heavy-duty assault rifles. The organization retaliated by initiating
a popular referendum against him and securing his dismissal. In December of that same year, 2012,
Newtown happened. We had nearly two dozen people
killed there, most of them
six- and seven-year-old children. Our session started in January, and I knew that we needed to do something
about gun violence in Colorado since much of that violence
had occurred here in Colorado. By that time,
the NRA had ginned up support for its position. On one of the days
when we heard these bills in the Senate, they surrounded the Capitol
with about 20 cars that drove around the block
from about 8:30 in the morning until about midnight that night,
just honking their horns, trying to disrupt the hearings. The gun lobby did a great job
of making it look like people were opposed to these measures. Senate President John Morse
is taking Colorado too far and in the wrong direction. The NRA spent more than $1 million
in a brutal election in a media campaign to dislodge John Morse from the Senate. He is too extreme for Colorado. Recall Morse: September 10th. Paid for by the National Rifle Association
Committee to restore Coloradans' rights. This is pretty much
their standard schtick. They lie, cheat, and steal, and for whatever reason,
too many Americans buy into it, and as a result,
too many Americans end up dead. It's just pure lies all the way through,
but you can see it's just marketing. There's very little
that's very specific in there. Morse is going to give you less freedom. How is that even possible? After a career in the police
and in politics, John Morse is now 65 years old
and a certified public accountant in Denver. From his hushed office,
far from the Senate, year after year, he sees the NRA win
over the American electorate. My biggest disappointment in losing
was that it sent a very clear message to elected officials around the country. It was that if you do anything,
even if it's just common sense gun safety, we took out the president
of the Colorado State Senate, and we can take you out too. It has worked. There hasn't been much in the way
of gun law changes in the entire country since what we did. We did barely anything. It's the fact that it costs human lives,
and we're willing to pay that cost. It makes me very ashamed
to be an American at this point in time. Back in 2013,
when John Morse was excused of his duties, David Keene was president of the NRA. Five years later, he accepts full responsibility
for his role in an issue in which the stakes were sky-high. I went out there and lobbied against it, as did every other gun organization
under the Second Amendment. That was very important
in that whole battle that was going on, because you could almost
hear State House doors all over the country closing, where they said it's not something
that ought to be looked at because the fact
is that there are consequences to passing legislation
that riles up your constituency. It was political revenge
and a demonstration that if you go
against the Second Amendment, there's a price to be paid. The NRA is more powerful
than the American political system. It's the bane of elected officials
and candidates for high office. Texas is a conservative state
with high aid for the Second Amendment. Resistance to the gun lobby
is slowly becoming organized. A few weeks
before the 2018 midterm elections, a debate on gun violence
was held in Austin. -No, he's our mayor.
-How are you? -Hey, I'm Steve, it's nice to meet you.
-Hi. -It's nice to meet you.
-Thanks for coming. Former soldier
and fierce opponent of the NRA. Stephen Kling is a local hero and the Democratic Party's candidate
for the Senate. No, I was the one doing that. I was going to ask where Charlie is,
he's right here. -Hey, buddy.
-It's good to see you. It's good to see you, buddy. Despite the pressure
on elected officials from lobbyists, Kling made confrontation with the NRA
the pillar of his election campaign. The NRA is a lobbying organization
for the firearms industry. They make billions
and billions of dollars. In this, the United States
is a very unique and open market where nothing is traceable. It's one reason the United States
is the foremost exporter of weapons, both legally and illegally,
and I would stress the latter. I care about moral clarity, and I care about making sure
that we give a voice to the people who haven't had one. If the NRA wants to come in here
and challenge me, I'll take that challenge any day. If there's two halves
to the Second Amendment… Alongside Stephen Kling
are a former police officer, a victim, a survivor, municipal officials,
and an association chairman. All of them are committed
to fighting the scourge of gun violence. In the United States, more than 36,000 people
are killed every year by firearms. Two-thirds are suicides,
and one-third are homicides. In 2016, 120 kids under the age of 17 were killed and 175 were injured. Despite these tragedies, the federal law
does not change in the United States. In most states, buying a weapon from a store
is allowed at the age of 18, and the buyer never needs to demonstrate
that he knows how to use it. It was destined to change the world… To maintain legislation
that many consider too permissive, the NRA does not just put pressure
on the nation's elected officials. It invests huge sums of money
in election campaigns, spending millions of dollars
trying to ensure that nothing changes. This is a picture of the incumbent,
Senator Donna Campbell. She chose not to be here today. She felt like
this wasn't a friendly forum. We tried to give her assurances
that we would be respectful and that we would listen
to all sides of this issue. She has no position. She defers to the NRA for her position, and that is part of the problem. It's that there are heavy-handed tactics
when it comes to our elections by pouring money into them and overwhelming the other side
of the argument with money, oftentimes foreign money. It's a big part of the problem,
and why our gun legislation doesn't reflect a popular will. Hi. The careers
of some high-profile members of Congress have been boosted by NRA funding. The NRA spends a considerable amount
of its resources influencing our lawmakers to prevent them from passing
or even proposing gun legislation. Foremost among them was John McCain, who received almost $8 million
of NRA money, Senator Richard Burr, $7 million, and Roy Blunt, $4.5 million. In Florida,
Marco Rubio got more than $3 million. Not to mention Donald Trump, whose presidential campaign fund
was boosted to $30 million by the NRA. You have a true friend and champion
in the White House. No longer will federal agencies
be coming after law-abiding gun owners. More surprisingly, the NRA has established
a scoring system for elected officials based on their dedication
to the gun cause. School-like grades are attributed
in the form of letters, and they have
a powerful impact on elections. The NRA rate political candidates
and elected officials on a scale that we rate our schoolchildren on. A is good and F is bad, and all of the major candidates
will get an NRA rating. What they often do
is take all the speeches that the person
running for office has given. They have people
who work for them at the NRA, and they scanned all of their speeches. You can do this on computers as well. For any type of comment
that might seem negative, just a few negative comments
are enough to push their button, and they go after you. Typically, if you want an A+, you have to bow down to the NRA. You have to come out in favor
of the Second Amendment without any type of restriction. What I want to say at the outset is that,
from the remarks you just heard, this is a guy who gets it. Thank you, David. This is a guy who built
and helped elect the kind of people that electrified this crowd today. You need great mechanics and candidates,
and you need them both. Thank you very much, God bless you. We endorse about 1,400 candidates
each year at various levels. If you have an incumbent
who's an A-rated officeholder and a challenger who's A-rated,
then the incumbent gets the advantage because his record is real,
because he didn't just talk. He or she didn't talk, they voted on it. That can influence people
who aren't in that group of NRA members. It's because recent polling suggests that out of all the Americans
who don't own a gun, more than half of them
think about owning a gun in the future. When the NRA comes out and says, "Don't vote for this candidate
because they're anti-gun," or "Vote for this candidate
since they're pro-gun," they can send signals to people
that though they don't own guns, they might feel ambivalent
about guns themselves. A few miles west of Austin, Texas, the very young
learn how to handle firearms before they can even read. That's me shooting. That's you shooting when you were elder,
and your first time was at age four. It was my first time shooting. Yes, I shot the target. Kate is six years old today. She already has her own rifle
with telescopic sights. Her father has turned her
into a real little sniper and a star in gun magazines. Depicted on the cover is Kate
with her 22-caliber rifle. This is the one that she mostly shoots. That's what she started with. It's easy for her to use it
because it's very small and lightweight, and it fits her pretty well. I like to shoot it. It's fun shooting it, and it's pink. This is Kate with her ammunition for sale. Ammunition stands like a lemonade stand. There she is with her rifle. She trains jujitsu, and she does ballet and other things
that help develop the strength she'd need to shoot heavier guns. -There, hi.
-Hi. How are you? This Sunday, there are no martial arts
or dance classes for young Kate. She's out with friends, firing off a few rounds
in the Texan desert, where it's 40 degrees in the shade. Right now,
but we will do the theory later. With these kinds of rifles, you want to have something nice and high
and a little pocket on your shoulder. Okay? You don't want to have it too low,
you want to have it nice and high. I'm ready to shoot, dad. What's that, Kate? I'm ready to shoot,
I've got my aim on the target. Okay, so let's do the first one dry. Down on the target, slack out, and press. Good, one more. Down on the target, slack out, and press. Okay, nice work. Be up a bit. Here, there's no minimum age
for handling firearms. These children
are between six and 12 years old. The smaller ones, like Kate,
fire low recoil 22s. Try to do it again. Although light and fast,
they are still lethal weapons. Okay, nice job, Kate. Daddy says the numbers out loud,
and I shoot it. Why? Why do you like it? I like it because it's fun,
and I like using my gun. Five. Good shot. Nice. Texans aged seven to 77
defend the Second Amendment by brandishing
this famous rifle, the AR-15. The gun is at the heart
of the firearms debate, and using it
has become almost a militant act. The AR-15 is not only the favorite rifle
of little girls in Texas. It is, above all, the weapon of choice
for mass murderers in the United States. Parkland and Pittsburgh in 2018. Then Las Vegas, Orlando,
San Bernardino, and Sandy Hook. On every occasion, dozens were killed
by bullets fired from an AR-15. In the United States,
15 million of them are in circulation. The AR-15 has come to symbolize the war
between the pro- and anti-gun lobbies. Some states have age restrictions
of up to 21 to buy handguns, but not AR-15s. You can buy an AR-15 legally
when you're 18 years old. You don't have to show any ability
to be able to use it. You don't have to show
any real mental competency. There's no waiting period
to get one, either. You will walk out with an AR-15 and a hundred rounds
of ammunition 20 minutes later. That same guy
can't go buy a six-pack of beer. There is no better firearm
to defend their homes against realistic threats
than an AR-15 semi-automatic. It's easy to learn and easy to use. I think there are two reasons
people find this attractive. One, it gives a sense of power. Second, people are also afraid
that if you limit that weapon, you will also limit other weapons. There is this purity, the sense that we have
to have no limits at all. It's what the NRA argues. The NRA does not defend the AR-15
as the AR-15. They defend the right to own all guns. It's now become a focus in America because people
who want to enforce gun control say that there's no reason
for someone to have an AR-15. There's no good reason. They're not great for hunting. Its purpose is to kill
the maximum amount of things in the shortest amount of time. In total, the gun industry
is estimated to have gifted between $19 million
and $60 million to the NRA. That's an estimate because there are no official figures. In return for those donations, the gun industry
gets a powerful defender in the NRA. The NRA is funded primarily
by the arms industry, with members of the organization
contributing annually. Like Aaron's company, many manufacturers
donate some of their sales to the lobby. Far from concealing it, Ruger, for example,
proudly spells out on its website that $2 is given to the NRA
for every gun sold, with the aim
of raising $4 million over two years. It helps explain
the NRA's astronomical budget of $250 million a year, which is a great help when it comes
to accessing the halls of Congress. The obvious reason that manufacturers
would give to the NRA is that the NRA drives sales. Every time there was a shooting, people would buy more guns
because they thought this was the one where they would start taking guns, so they will start making it harder
to buy guns. Sounding that alarm was the NRA. The NRA was driving those sales. It's no surprise that gun manufacturers in gun shops
would have these arrangements where they give back a portion
of the profits to the NRA. In exchange for donations
from the industry, the NRA does everything in its power
to promote gun sales, with around three million
sold every year in the USA. That's not all. Thanks to its influence on many elected
representatives of Congress, it manages to have legislation
voted in favor of its donors. In 2005, for example, Congress adopted the Protection Act
relating to the Arms Trade. It's a law
that absolves firearms manufacturers of any liability when their product
is used to commit a crime. The bill is passed as amended. The NRA declared it
to be the most important reform of the last 20 years. We lobbied Congress very heavily,
but we made it a priority. We judge people on the basis
of their position on that. Ultimately, they agreed and supported it,
the Republicans and Democrats alike. It was very important
to the firearms industry, and it was very important
to American gun owners and very important
to the survival of the Second Amendment as something real. What it has ended up doing
is removing guns from the conversation. It's not almost impossible
to talk about guns in relations
to any of these mass shootings. You'll see that today,
the chain reaction events have consequences
because a commission stood up to study school safety
in the wake of Parkland. Last week, Betsy DeVos, who's the secretary of education
and the head of the commission, announced that they wouldn't look at guns. They wouldn't talk about guns
at all with regard to school safety. She cited this act as part
of saying that you can't blame guns. We have an act in Congress that says
that guns aren't the problem but users. It's a whole guns don't kill people,
people kill people argument. It's because it's a bad person
who has a gun. The gun has nothing to do with it. The NRA pushed it again
to protect the manufacturers that are giving them money
and supporting them. The NRA sets the agenda. It has made the gun a sacred,
untouchable item. The young opponents of the lobby
struggle little by little. For 60% of Americans,
they want a framework for gun sales, a check on a buyer's criminal record, and a ban on the sale of assault rifles
to anyone under the age of 21. Martin Benitez Torres. Shane Evan Thompson. Jonathan Ay Kuere Vega. Then one Paulo Rivera Velasquez. Today in the Capitol, the leaders of the student movement,
some of them Parkland survivors, proclaim their discontent
in the vicinity of Congress. I am tired of politicians
who shut down gun reform before sitting down
and having this discussion. I am tired of NRA leadership
mocking gun violence awareness and bashing young people
who are changing the world. Marcel McClinton is one of the leaders
of the NRA opposition movement. To challenge members of Congress, he organizes what these young people
call a dyin, a reconstruction
of the massacre in Washington. A dyin is just a mass of bodies. You lay down and make a mess
so no one else can walk over you or cross where you're going. It's at the west in the Capitol building,
which is a clear shot of the Capitol. They take so much money from the NRA
and don't care about what we believe. They only care about their money. They speak on behalf
of the amount of dollars they get and not about what we want
or what we say we want, so they're all sellouts. At his side is Tyra,
the Parkland survivor. Since the tragedy,
she has attended countless meetings, demonstrations,
and speeches all over the country. It's impossible to forget what happened. I lost my best friends. Ever since that day, not being able to call your best friend
the day of a shooting to talk to someone scarred me
because it wasn't fair. We were three months
from graduating high school to go to college to be regular Americans. However, it took one person
to change my life forever in a matter of six minutes. If it could take someone six minutes
to change my life, it should take them two seconds
to change the world. Change takes time. However, for Marcel McClinton,
whose life was rocked two years ago, this is just the beginning of the fight. Back to Texas. Every time he walks past this church
in Houston, Marcel thinks back
to the day he escaped the shootout when he was just 13 years old. Two years ago, at my church,
there was a shooter on the campus. He was outside the parking lot. I think he killed only one person
but injured six. I want to say he shot two police officers
with an AR-15. The sounds don't get out of your head. At that time, again,
I didn't get into gun reform activism. I didn't give it any thought. It's disgusting as a country, as we call ourselves
the leading country in the world, and yet we kill most of our people. I say we kill our people because our politicians
are the ones doing nothing about it. There's blood on their hands,
and yet they have the nerve, the audacity, to say that we are the number
one country in the world. I'm proud to be an American,
I love that I live here. I don't want to live anywhere else,
but it's sad that, as a country, we can't come together as one
and say that this is a problem, let's fix it. Reforms are hard to achieve, especially in a pro-gun lobby
stronghold like Texas. It's no coincidence
that the NRA chose Dallas for its 2018 annual convention. Eighty thousand firearm fanatics gathered
to back the lobby, along with guest of honor Donald Trump. The president,
in his element and totally uninhibited, showed his unstinting support for the NRA
and argued for the carrying of weapons, using the 2015 Paris attacks
as justification. They were brutally killed
by a small group of terrorists with guns. They took their time
and gunned them down one by one. Boom, come over here. Boom, come over here. Boom! However, if one employee or just one patron had a gun, or if one person in this room
had been there with a gun aimed in the opposite direction, the terrorists would have fled
or been shot, and it would
have been a whole different story. Right? In the short run,
he's a very good president for the NRA because he does their bidding. He does what they want. In the long run,
he's a terrible president for the NRA because he's a useful adversary
to mobilize the other side. What the NRA would like would be someone
like George W. Bush, because George W. Bush was a gun owner,
a gun user, but he was not so offensive
to people on the other side. Don't worry about the NRA,
they're on our side. For the guys here
who are so afraid of the NRA, there's nothing to be afraid of. I think the clearest example of how the NRA influences President Trump
and the Trump administration is the fact that you had the president
sit down with members of Congress at that meeting at the White House
that was televised. You had the president sit with some
of the victims from Parkland and from other shootings and appear open to policy ideas that would help
reduce easy access to guns. We will be very strong
on background checks and do very strong background checks, with a very strong emphasis
on the mental health of somebody. Then that evening, he had dinner with Wayne Lapierre
and Chris Cox from the NRA, and we've never heard about any
of these policy ideas ever again. Students at the Florida high school
that was the site of a mass shooting are taking a road trip for change. Earlier, they boarded buses
bound for Tallahassee. I'm here to tell you
that this is not okay. About 20 students are going
on a nationwide bus tour in their push for stricter gun laws. They'll stop in 75 different cities
to take part in rallies and meet with voters
and elected officials. Those who do not support a student's right
to attend school without the fear of being gunned down
will feel the power of our votes. Back to Florida, where it all started. Tyra and her friends from Parkland
have been on the road for two months. Since the killings, they have won some victories
in their southern state. The minimum age to buy an AR-15
has been raised from 18 to 21, and Florida judges are now allowed
to confiscate the weapons of anyone deemed potentially dangerous. For the young survivors,
this is just the beginning of the fight. We have our ten-point policy,
which is the CDC saying, they need to understand
that this is an epidemic that's happening, and it's crucial
because they still don't believe that this is a problem in our society,
so they have not made it a priority to let the public know
that gun violence is a huge topic. That's what we've been doing. Second is the safe storage policy, where we want parents to know
that you've got to keep your gun safe, and only the person who purchased the gun
should know where your gun is because you were the one
who bought it from the store, and you're the one who walked out,
and you should be responsible. Then we have universal background checks. There are a couple more,
but those are our main points. It's a push for change. The Parkland generation,
at the very least, has had an impact
on the debate in the United States, exerting unprecedented pressure on the NRA
and the country's elected representatives. Unfortunately, it isn't enough
to get committed candidates such as Stephen Kling elected, but the younger generation
refuses to give up and promises to be the torchbearer
for a less violent, less murderous America. They're able to keep up the call. They're able to mobilize people. They've become public figures. When I talk to people
who aren't from America, they often ask me,
"Why don't you just get rid of them?" "Why don't you make guns illegal?" I try to remind people
that there are so many guns. We have hundreds of millions
of guns in America. It's beginning to change, because the way change happens
in American society is that we go into a part of the cycle
and people see how bad it is, and then they revolt the other way. This is the beginning of something. Moving forward, we'll see that change. There is plenty that can be done
without banning guns, which could happen in the future. It's just a question of,
"Are we at an inflection point?" "Are we at a point where it is changing," "or is the NRA going to remain
the powerful institution that it is?"
