veterans mental health with frank larkin of the true foundation and mike lee talks about rising gas prices ahead of t biden will participate in a wreath-laying ceremony and give remarks at arlington national cemetery at noon. look for that on it c-span and our app. several legislators spoke about the potential for bipartisan gun legislation. the discussions looking at changes to background checks, more money to protect schools among other proposals. when it comes to gun reforms or changes, what changes would you support? here is how you can let us know. (202) 748-8000 four democrats.

(202) 748-8001 republicans. independents (202) 748-8002. gun owners can call us at (202) 748-8003. you can also post on facebook, on twitter, call the show on instagram. the organization took a poll on where they agree when it comes to changes to current gun laws and where they disagree. the results of that poll show most come to agreement when it comes to things like background checks on all sales and expanding mental health screening and treatment and banning gun sales to people declared dangerous by dental health providers. they come to some agreement when it comes to banning assault weapons to people under the age of 21.

where they disagree largely would be among the topics of requiring awaiting time for gun purchases, banning sales to people under 21, banning high-capacity magazines, also banning assault weapons. that's where they come to some disagreement. the morning console is where you can find that. when it comes to gun legislation stemming from the events, several legislators talked about it, including chris murphy. he talked about discussions that took place over the weekend. what potential legislation might look like. here is a portion of that from yesterday. >> after these mass shootings, there are talks. they never succeed. there are more republicans interested in talking about finding a path forward this time than i have ever seen since sandy hook. i may end up in heartbroken.

i am at the table in a more significant way with republicans and democrats than ever before, more republicans will talk now then were willing after sandy hook. >> senator mcconnell has tasked john cornyn to take part in this negotiation. can you bring us inside the room. you're having zoom conversations now. what is going on. what you hearing from corn and. >> we have continued to work through the weekend. i was in touch with senator toomey, other republicans and democrats yesterday. these are serious negotiations. we are going to continue to meet through early next week to find common ground. i am not going to let the perfect the enemy of the good. i would like to ban assault weapons. that's the most impactful way to stop the shootings.

i would love universal back ground checks. what we are talking about is not insignificant. we are talking about red flag laws, strengthening and expanding the background check system. we are talking about safe storage and mental health resources. more security dollars for schools. the package could have a significant downward pressure on gun violence in this country and break the logjam. they be that's the most important thing, show that progress is possible. >> that was on some of the sunday shows. we will show you what other legislators have set about the topic of gun legislation. when it comes to reforms like the ones senator murphy talked about, what changes would you support? (202) 748-8000 democrats.

republicans (202) 748-8001. independents (202) 748-8002. you can text us your thoughts at guest: -- (202) 748-8003. you can post on facebook and on twitter. let's start with tony in florida. reforms you could support, go ahead. caller: good morning. we need to ban all machine guns. i think the geo pay takes bribes from the nra. they don't call it a bribe. they call it donations. they need to be voted out. they work for the nra. they don't work for the american people. we can donate those machine guns to the ukrainian army so they can kill the russians that are

raping women and killing babies and children. there killing people in the street execution style. this is getting insane. in florida, what happened in the massacre, they raised the age from 18 to 21. they need to take psychological tests to buy a machine gun, especially young people whose brains aren't fully functioning. let's hear from a gun owner. host: this is from maryland. you are next up. caller: thanks for having me. i am a first time caller. host: you are on. go ahead. caller: i am concerned because i'm a democrat and a gun owner. i feel that if nothing is done it, my rights will be taken away. it's important to know that

assault rifles are civilian versions of the m4. it only allows you to shoot one bullet pull. people need to understand that they are not machine guns. they don't have three round bursts or automatic fire. i believe that currently if you're licensed in one state, that does not transfer to another state. what i would do is i would have universal background checks in exchange for universally being able to take your state issued license to any other state, similar to a drivers license. host: you don't have to answer, but are they handguns or long guns? caller: there is no difference

between a hunting rifle other than the fact one is wooden and one is made out of a different material. they use the same ammunition. i have those in handguns. you might have a handgun for self-defense. there is more to it than self-defense. there is target shooting, there are other applications. some of us look at it as a sport. there are actually sports out there and leagues where you can do target shooting and take your family out and have fun. a lot of the misunderstandings of gun rights and owning a gun is a lot of times people don't what to listen to each other. host: that is michael in maryland. let's hear from colorado. you are next. hello. caller: i just want people to know that if they can guarantee

me that nobody could ever get a gun again, guarantee me that nobody could get a gun again. they will never get rid of the second amendment. get over it. host: that was eva in colorado. these are a sampling of calls we will take in this first hour. if you want to share your thoughts, things you can support, the lines are democrats (202) 748-8000. republicans (202) 748-8001. gun owners can call us at (202) 748-8003. you can access -- text us at (202) 748-8003. the new york times takes a look at what's happening on the state level when it comes to gun laws. new jersey, the governor urged firearms safety measures including raising the age to 21

and exposing gun makers to civil lawsuits. in new york, an 18-year-old was charged with creating a mass shooting, the governor would speak to ban people under 21 from purchasing rifles. in california, there was a politically motivated mass shooting at a church, the governor fast tracked control and firearms. it also says further down that in state houses, the moves to evoke an opposite reaction. kathy is up next in michigan. caller: good morning.

i've got three little stories. the latest was last week after the shooting, a first grader in a school who is a very happy child, she was crying uncontrollably. the turmoil on her face was heartbreaking. at the beginning of the school year when we had a mock lockdown, i was in the room with a little boy, a first grader when it happened. they asked me afterwards, what if somebody got into the room. i said the person would have to get by me first. the other incident happened six years ago. i was in a very rural middle school. the teacher came in. i was subbing for her. the alarms went off. she locked the door. the kids took assigned positions and lowered the shades. everybody shuffled behind the desk.

the teacher walked over to a cabinet, opened up and pulled out a hollow metal pipe, heavy pipe. she smacked it into her left hand from her right and said what do we do when there is a lockdown? we fight back. one kid took scissors out of the container on the desk. i don't remember much after that. host: thanks for the stories. when it comes to changes, how do those instances inform what you think or what should happen? caller: first of all, these high-powered guns in the hands of teenagers is wrong. i don't own a gun. my father had a hunting rifle.

he used for hunting. we weren't exposed to it. there is so much exposure to violence anymore, particularly relating to guns. we're not doing very well as a nation. it is not healthy. this is just so -- i can't even describe it. something's got to change. a lot of things have to change. host: that was kathy in michigan. let's go to south carolina. caller: good morning. can you hear me? the mission that goes into these ar-15's is a 22 caliber lid on steroids. if you get shot with it, there's a good chance you are going to die. they need to make civilian bullets a lot different from military rounds. that would go a long wait.

another thing is they need to turn the security over to companies that no how to secure buildings. that's it. host: that was south carolina. that he is joining us from alabama. she identifies as a gun owner. caller: good morning. my question is why isn't the news media asking the military weapons to be taken completely off the street? you don't even military weapon to go hunting. you don't need a military weapon in your home. i have a problem with that. my next thing is the politicians need to get together. i don't know a democrat from a republican anymore because one minute they are democrat, the next they are republican. host: you talked about the first

weapon, what do you own? caller: i just own a little 25. host: is this for your own protection? caller: that's correct. host: do you think it's ok for that kind of ownership? caller: military weapons should not be on the street. if the military didn't wanted during the vietnam war, because of how dangerous they are, they will fight in a war. why is it those weapons are on the street? no military weapon needs to be on the street. host: that was betty in alabama. let's hear from adam kinzinger on abc yesterday. he talked about the areas where publicans and democrats could work together on gun legislation. >> the right to keep and bear

arms is important to republicans. for some reason, we've got locked in this position of what her things were we can make a difference. you mentioned in florida, raising the age to 21. the red flag laws. this is florida, this is rick scott, ron desantis. there was no blowback. let's do that kind of stuff now. it's ultimately a mental health issue. some of you has to make a decision to pull a trigger. can an 18-year-old by an assault rifle to david's birthday with hundreds of round of admonition and then buy a second one and make it sure he was to shoot an elementary school and still kill 20 people? what are the things we can do to mitigate that? you know as well as i do, i talk to people overseas all the time. this is embarrassing. they look at the united states

and think what is going on? we can have this rich tradition of individualism. i'm a staunch advocate of concealed carry if you are trained and you know what you were doing. this wild west i'm going to carry a gun around because it looks cool, come and take the gun out of my cold dead hands attitude, you're not doing anything to defend your rights. you are playing camp out there well real people are dying. >> before you go, the ar-15 which you say you own. las vegas was in ar-15. the pulse nightclub, sandy hook, so many of these are with that weapon. what do you say to chris murphy who says they are 15 should be banned -- ar-15 should be banned? caller: i would love to have a conversation with him about it. i think we need to have this real discussion.

i don't mean this as politicians. if there is a way to maybe when it comes to aars, if there is a special license to own them, are there ways we can ensure that those who own them are the ones? 99.9% of owners are not walking and having mass shootings. is there way to make a distinction there? >> some we are responding on social media.

those are some of the thoughts for you on social media. you can text us at (202) 748-8003 or give us a call on the phone lines during this first hour. the president plans to participate in several events, including a wreathlaying at the tomb of the unknown soldier. there will be remarks at arlington national cemetery. those will start at noon. if you want to watch those, you can go to our website and follow along on our c-span now app. you can watch it on the network at noon today. the president is back from texas where he spent the day visiting the victim families, first

responders, also attending mass while in texas. those are pictures from yesterday of the president visiting. it was reported that president biden told a local lawmaker while visiting that the federal government may provide resources to raise the school. he said i'm going to bring resources. we are going to look to build a new school. the sender who represents uvalde , i can't tell you how many little children don't want to go into that building. they are just traumatized. when it comes to gun reforms you could support, you are next. caller: hello. host: are you steve or dean? caller: dena.

host: go ahead. caller: i'm 74 years old. i was drafted and i was 19. why don't they ring up the draft. that would keep a lot of these kids off the street. host: ok. let's go to joe in new jersey. caller: good morning. i would like to send my condolences to all of those in texas, buffalo, other states that of witness the tragedy of our children and babies being killed. the callers before look for legislation that would restrict purchases, background checks. this is all good and wonderful. murder after murder, there is no legislation at coming forward.

it deals with money. money deals with the nra and the gun manufacturers taking on these politicians, putting money in their pockets to get reelected. we need a change of politicians for many reasons. including this most dramatic reason of our children being massacred. i hope they disclose some investigation. who is taking money on both sides of the equation. they need to get people who are going to do something about it and represent the interests of our children. nothing is going to be done. there will be no legislation. there are too many murders occurring already. host: james is in new jersey. caller: [inaudible]

host: ok. that was james there in new jersey. when it comes to investigations, the justice department issued one over the elementary school. the goal of the review is to provide an independent account of law enforcement actions and

responses that day. to identify best practices to help first responders prepare for and respond to active shooter events. the review will be conducted with the community oriented policing. the assessment will be transparent and independent. the justice department will publish a report at the conclusion of the review. that statement came out yesterday. there were no statements from the president during his travels in texas. this is eddie in massachusetts. you are next up on it reforms you could support. caller: good morning. where does this high school student get thousands of dollars to buy these guns and ammunition? if you notice, he shot his grandmother in the face. his mother is a druggie. where is the father?

it's the breakup of the family. wasn't at the same thing in connecticut, there was a divorced couple. he shot his mother. it's the breakup of the family. what happened with this welfare state. host: no reforms of current gun laws? caller: you can always advance them. more strenuous applications, 21 is a good age. go to 25 if you want. do the best you can. it is wrong. the gun lobby is too strong. host: we will go next to a caller in rhode island. caller: --

host: he dropped. you can continue with your calls. the hill takes a look at the history of attempts at testing gun legislation. the two major control measures that were passed by the house would be enhanced background checks, the measures installed in the senate. it was after the mask on tuesday that the majority leader initiated a process to fast track both bills. that does not guarantee they will receive a vote in the senate. he would not mutely bring gun-control bills to the floor, enacting any bill will be tough in the senate. it requires support from police

10 republicans. there are talks going on capitol hill. there may be some reforms when it comes to guns. we will hear from philip. hello. caller: good morning. the gentleman beat me to the point about where are these kids getting this money? these are thousands of dollars. if they can explain where they're getting this money from, maybe there is something hind that. host: from nelson in ohio. you are next. caller: good morning. i have so much to say about this.

people don't understand guns. that's a big part of the problem. the ar-15 is a semi automatic rifle. if the same size as a 22. it's the same gun that has been around since the 70's. it looks like a bad gun. in the early 1960's, winchester's automatic does the same thing. it's not like this hasn't around. i am ready to make a deal. i will give up the ar-15. in return, bandit. in return, no kids until they

are 18, no social media, no video games. i'm talking about the shoot them up video games. host: why do you think video games are a factor? caller: it's high-powered automatic weapons that are illegal. they shoot and kill people. it is so real. nobody can tell me that doesn't affect kids. doing that day after day. you get desensitized to killing. host: that was nelson. let's go to virginia beach. hello. caller: i think colin and assault rifle is like putting

racetracks on the smart car. i think making additional gun laws is silly to fight this violence in the schools. the problem that we have is not a secondary problem. we've got news programs that radicalize people. we have gun manufacturers that are sneaking the marketing of weapons to our children. by the time they are 18, they know how to use them. how are we radicalizing our fellow citizens? host: joyce is in pennsylvania. she tax us.

-- texts us. texting this is how you can do that as a means of letting your thoughts be known. (202) 748-8003 is the same number you can call us if you are a gun owner in the audience and you what to talk to us or share your thoughts on reforms you could support. larry is in north carolina. you are on. caller: i am a goner. i've got 41 guns. i've got a concealed carry permit. i think anybody that carries them anywhere and kills people as a mental problem. anybody that attacks the capital of the united states has a mental problem. i don't think anybody should get an ar until they are at least

21. host: why do you put an age to it? larry? caller: if you can't drink or buy cigarettes, you shouldn't be able to get a gun. you've got to be mature to have a gun. host: ok. robert is next in texas. hello. caller: yes. i think all the reform laws should be -- can you hear me? i deftly think we should -- hold on. we definitely should have the reform laws. they should be completely

reformed where they can't get guns until a certain age. it's a combination of all of it put together. i don't see any need for these war weapons to be on the street. they are out arming the police hundred the police and -- were afraid to go in. i know they are supposed to go in anyway. i am 100% for taking these weapons off the street. host: that is robert in texas. taking a look at the supreme court and the topic of guns, the court will soon issue its first major opinion on the second

minute. they are expected to rule in coming days a dispute over the new york state women's on concealed carry. experts say that while it's unclear how broadly the supreme court would rule, the law is likely to be invalidated and decision that could have remedied -- ramifications in the country. it seems clear the court is going to strike down the new york law and make it harder for states to restrict concealed carry of firearms. it remains to be seen exactly how broad the supreme court goes. as mass shootings become more of an issue, the court will take options away from lawmakers on the basis of the second minute. you can find that on line. lydia is in minneapolis on our line for independents. caller: a shout out to all the

washington journal hosts who are so evenhanded. as a community radio person, i never do talk shows because i couldn't have that sense of calm. i had the experience of having spent the first half of my life in texas and the second half here in minnesota. i have a perspective around the gun culture there. it's obvious beyond belief that we have to have more thorough background checks. you don't get the gun in three days, even if they finish the check. information cannot be voluntary. it's got to be given -- required from law enforcement. we desperately need red flag laws.

they've got to be immediate. we have to error on the side of safety. having a gun with you 24/7 is not as important as protecting lives. let me give you a quick story. i grew up in a family of guns. my father was very responsible. my brother who died suddenly last fall, he had an arsenal. he was one of those guys you hear about, 50 guns including an ar-15. when the el paso shooting happened and all we knew was white guy in small town outside dallas, i hoped it wasn't my brother. he had an altercation with some men who drove into the ditch across the road from his mobile home. he literally flashed his gun at those men, even though he did help them out of the ditch. i'm sure they were terrified.

when he died, i was sorry. my first thought within 10 minutes was i'm glad he passed away before he hurt somebody. we have to get serious about this. my final thought since you mentioned the supreme court, everybody needs to read scully is -- scalia. he was very conservative. he wrote the majority opinion which affirmed the right to have a gun. he said a great deal about it. having this right does not mean no regulations of time, place, kind of gun. host: thank you for that. you are not the first person to mention that. if you go to our website, if you want to read more about the

decision, you can type that into the search box and look at how the court has handled gun laws over the years. you can do that at c-span.org. she mentioned red flag laws. that's when the question that was asked on sunday shows yesterday. here is dan crenshaw. >> i think there are a lot of problems with red flag laws. when it comes to criminal law that should be democratically decided at the local level, -- >> would you support one in texas? >> no. we are trying to do with the red flag law is enforced the law before it's been broken. that's a difficult thing to do. it's difficult to assess if someone is a threat. if they are threatening someone with a weapon already, they've already broken the law. that's the question critics ask.

it's unclear how they are enforced. these things have to be reported for them to matter. you have a troubled teenager. he did some very strange things. he cut himself, said crazy things. does this reach the level where you involuntarily commit him or take his property? those things could be applied to 20 few teenagers. >> there is a big golf between committing somebody and allowing him to bioweapon of war legally in texas. >> let's get to a solution we could agree on. maybe improving our background check system.

he went through a background check. the problem isn't that this could have solved it. the background check didn't capture the full person. host: george is in new york. you are next. caller: good morning. two things have to be brought back. one would be the blue law and the second would be the draft. host: why those two things? caller: we destroyed the family when they took away the blue law. no one has any respect in the last 40 years. host: how do you think those things would resolve the gun issue? caller: mainly because if you have people that don't know and you put the family back

together, at least a family would see the problem. no one is looking at the problem from within. we have to get the family back together. all these people want to kill people, let's put them in the army. have a good day. host: this is jessica. hello. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i did want to share with you a couple of things. i do agree with the background checks. i really think we need to understand where the former police chief was coming from when they set up the initial understanding where they could communicate from state to state across the nation. i think we need to take that a step further with artificial intelligence. we have the ability to have artificial intelligence do

assessments that could be in concert with the cia, the fbi, state agencies. i believe the responsibility to report anything you hear or see on facebook or around your community is the equivalent of actually taking action like a citizens arrest situation or standing up like the george floyd thing. somebody could've said something to the officers. there is a point where citizens need to speak and be heard. there is a point where artificial intelligence needs to come into play where if you see something on facebook, you can always reported. you can report something straightaway if it seems suspicious. more people need to take this into consideration.

we could have circumvented what happened when that young boy said he was going to shoot his grandmother or when -- host: that was jessica in nevada. michigan is next. caller: thank you. all i can say is the states that have the highest gun control have the most crime. the states that have the least gun control have the least amount of crime. what are you going to do about it? that's just the facts. host: would you call texas gun laws strict? he hung up. there is an op-ed in the hill website. it's by a woman name tracy walden. she makes the argument against the idea of teachers carrying guns. she says this:

there is more if you want to go to the ribs -- website. hello. caller: thank you for letting me speak on c-span. i think there ought to be a minimum sentence of at least 20 years if you commit a crime with a gun. that would get some of these criminals off the street. they can receive more time or hang it over their head. they can't purchase a gun anyway. we have to make a deterrent to begin with. host: robin is in florida. caller: yes. good morning, everybody. i don't on a handgun. i've never touched one. i do leave in your right to protect yourself.

i don't think it's just a teenage problem. we can't forget about the guy in las vegas who shot them. they all need to be the answer. thank you very much. host: linda is in virginia. hello. caller: my opinion is with everything i've seen and i've taken a course in private investigation, with everything i've known from being raised in a small community there was very poor and what i've learned in life itself, these high-powered rifles are not needed. they should be in military or police hands. you don't need them for hunting. you don't need them to defend yourself.

they are for taking out mass numbers of people. they are not needed. my other opinion is mental health. i have a daughter that was neglected through school. sometime it can be a spectrum disorder that makes them slower than other kids. people throw medication at them. we need to start at the front line, which is in school, gathering these kids when they are having trouble fitting in. there is something going on between them and their emotional well-being. if we don't intervene, this shooter could have been prevented. host: mark is in new mexico.

-- new hampshire. go ahead. caller: good morning. a long time caller and viewer, the previous caller was right about the mental health situation. bullying is still rampant through the schools. it's interesting to listen to the different opinions. no one is attempting to touch on the other for and in the room. why was that door unsecured? this kid knew exactly where to go to perpetrate his crime. why was that door unsecured? you can throw all the money you want and everything and make the laws, but if you don't follow the laws you have, if you don't follow the requirements like keeping the doors closed, this wouldn't have happened. no one is talking about it.

host: one of the things brought up on the sunday shows, val from florida served as a former police department chief for the city of orlando. here's a portion of her comments from yesterday. >> we all know there is no time to waste. the officers on the scene are expected to go into those situations. we trained on it at the orlando police department. everyone went through active shooter training. obviously, that did not happen. the other important thing, those early minutes after the shooting, there is a demand for more information. the information we get when we say a school resource officer

went in and engaged the suspect and bullets were fired, that's not true. we have to make sure that is clear and accurate. there is a lot of work to do there. we have more questions than answers. i know we are going to get to the bottom of it. >> should there be some sort of federal probe or safety board at the federal level? >> what we do know is there were multiple agencies involved area i think the wrong agency was in charge of that scene. i wasn't there on the ground. i know police officers a tough job. they are usually outgunned. we know that. we must demand an investigation.

the fbi would be my vote for a federal investigation. since there were so many agencies on the ground, it's important that we know which role every agency played and we know if there were any discussions about going in. there were 19 officers in the hallway. where there other discussions from other departments. we must know the answers to those questions. i think an investigation is in order. host: richard is in north carolina. caller: i just want to say that children are our most prized possessions. we have to do everything necessary to protect them. my opinion is when we have these teachers, they are learning how to teach children. they also need to be trained to protect the children. if that means they have to have

a gun on their side, someone there is an active shooter, they go to the corridor or the hallway and after they have talked the children away, they can have the same authority as protecting and serving those children. host: why do you think teachers would have that kind of skill? caller: we have to train them. if they can go to college, they can learn like we train police officers. children come first. when there is an active shooter, the teacher has to understand their lives are on the line for these children. host: that is richard in north

carolina. senator dick durbin, the head of the initiate committee, said he was not certain the tragedy would move enough republicans to show courage in a tough situation. let's go to al in mississippi. caller: thank you for taking my call. i am a blind gun owner. i can distinguish light from dark. back in my earlier years, i sold

guns. there is no telling how many i sold. late one night, a perturbed person came in to buy a gun. i would not sell him one. he went to a pawn shop, they sold him a gun. he put six shots into another man. the reason i'm calling, i had trouble. i want to know why i couldn't get a carry permit being in the condition i'm in. i've got a pump shotgun that i keep at home. i am 25 minutes from any kind of

response team. that's why i've got it to keep me safe. host: let's hear from nancy in cedar falls. caller: i was the product of divorce at the impressionable age of 12 after my dad slept with other women. i seldom saw him during the day. after the divorce, my mom had a breakdown and became a raging alcoholic. my brother was out of the scene. i had the means to buy a gun. i had a mental illness, bipolar disorder. i did not buy a gun and shoot. the u.s. needs to have a buyback of guns not used by law enforcement.

gun restrictions including buybacks have been used by countries like great britain, australia, canada, new zealand. after mass gun violence in a society where guns were prevalent. the incidence of shooting, murder, suicide went down dramatically. my source is the new york times. my son was a constant user of violent video games. he never got into guns either. host: a couple of stories away from the topic of guns, the san francisco chronicle reports that the husband of nancy pelosi was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol. according to the highway patrol he was arrested saturday. he was booked into the

department of corrections on sunday. sunday afternoon, he was released on bail. that's in the san francisco chronicle. a story you may watch in coming days, democrats are growing concerned that a spike in premiums could hit this fall before the midterm elections. the american rescue plan temporarily increased financial assistance under obamacare. that will expire at the end of the year causing an increase in premiums for enrollees unless congress acts. notice will be sent out shortly. those are a couple of things to watch for. this is justin in wisconsin. go ahead. caller: i think having stricter gun laws would probably be a good idea obviously.

at the end of the date, a psycho is going to figure out a way to kill people without guns. the question people should ask is why does america produce so many psychos, especially psycho children. a collar made the point about not giving children access to the internet until they are 18. i think that would be a fantastic idea. the idea that we are getting kids access to the internet, social media, where they are getting influenced by crazy racist groups exploiting these lonely young kids,. host: this is david and georgia. this is the last call. caller: i am a gun owner. i've listened to these

conversations now over and over again. there is an old saying, talk is cheap. i never use my gun. it's never been used. it probably never will be used. i would consider turning all my guns in when the congressman start turning there's in and the president of the united states starts turning his in. host: why did you buy the ar-15 and the first place? he hung up. that's the last call. the president will later on today visit the tomb of the unknown soldier for a wreath lane. also expected to make remarks at arlington national cemetery. you can watch on our network. you can also follow along on our app. up next, we will be joined by troops first and discuss how you

can reduce the number of suicides among veterans. later on, mike lee discusses rising gas prices and the actions to provide relief for consumers and the outlook on those gas prices over the summer. those conversations coming up on this memorial day. we will be right back. ♪ >> c-span's the weekly podcast brings you over 40 years of audio recordings from our video library, comparing the events of the past two today. on this episode. -- of the past to today. on this episode. [booing]

>> that is how bill clinton was greeted when he arrived at the vietnam veterans memorial in washington, d.c. on may 31, 1993. hail to the chief, applause and boos and jeers, people yelling draft dodger. bill clinton's first memorial day as president. that is what we remember on this episode of c-span's the weekly. >> find it on c-span now, or wherever you get your podcasts. >> after months of closed-door investigations, the houston you were a six committee is set to go public. starting june 9, tune in as committee members question key witnesses about what transpired and why, during the assault on the u.s. capitol. watch live coverage beginning

thursday, june 9 on c-span, c-span now, or any time online at c-span.org. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. >> c-span brings you an unfiltered view of government. our newsletter recaps the day for you, from the halls of congress to daily press briefings, to remarks from the president. scan the qr code to sign up for this email and stay up-to-date on everything happening in washington each day. subscribe today using the qr code or visit c-span.org/connect anytime. >> >> "washington journal" continues. host: joining us on this memorial day is frank larkin, the chief operating officer of the troops first foundation, and the warrior call. thank you for joining us today.

about those organizations, what is troops first foundation? guest: it is an outreach organization that was established in the late 2000s to connect with our warriors that we are deploying overseas. initially it was a number of golf personalities who went forward into the iraq, theater, to interact with the troops and subsequently were so moved by that experience, came back and decided to establish a foundation that would help outreach to those warriors who have served. host: and then the warrior call? guest: the warrior call is an evolution of the initial troops first initiative. we are trying to connect with active duty and veterans, who are struggling, those who are

disconnected or isolated. host: talk about that disconnection. guest: you've heard a lot about posttraumatic stress disorder. not enough about moral injury, which is a key factor. substance use disorder and so forth. we refer to this as a rubric of invisible wounds. many times you will see veterans come home, they will have visible wounds as a result of some disfigurement or amputations, but the majority of them are posting what we call invisible wounds, those on the inside that we cannot see, that are just as damaging. what we try to do is make a connection with them, especially if they are disconnected from services that may be available to them, or they just don't know how to navigate into the system to get help. host: that invisible wound you

talk about, as far as how that expresses itself, how does suicide factor in? guest: when somebody gets into a dark place, isolation is one of the key factors we have seen in a lot of these suicide cases, where they become disconnected from their tribe, so they left their military unit, in many cases they have disconnected from family, friends. they get into a dark place, a position of hopelessness and then bad things happen. host: according to the statistics from veterans affairs. 6200 suicides last year. they say that is 400 fewer since 2019 and 2018. in 2019, the average suicides decreased to 17 per day. what does that tell u.s. far as those going down and those overall trends? guest: i'm not exactly confident

that those figures are correct. as an old homicide detective, i know from doing many death investigations, deaths occur in the gray zone. in our times of opioid crises and substance abuse challenges, we are having a lot of deaths we cannot rule as a homicide, or clearly as a suicide that is unintended. i believe there are a number of veterans who fall into that gray zone category and are not being counted. just like any statistical reference, depending on how you manipulate the variables, numbers can come out different ways. i believe our numbers are probably up, not down, and we have not seen the worst of it yet. after 20 years of consistent conflict, we will see the wake of the servants to the nation. a lot of these men and women have stepped forward and

volunteered to protect our security, protect our freedoms, and this is what this day is all about, to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice. to include those who have died from suicide, potentially as a result or a consequence to the service to this nation. host: it takes on a personal meaning for you. can you tell our audience about that? guest: from a personal perspective, five years ago, my son took his life. he was a highly decorated revered navy seal. after he came home from his last deployment to afghanistan, two hard, deployments to iraq, afghanistan, lebanon and other points of conflict around the world. like many of our veterans that we hear about, especially those with invisible wounds, he started having sleep disorders,

problems with anxiety, depression. he became short fused. his whole personality changed. he started spiraling over the course of two years. as he stepped forward to get help, the system really did not respond. it failed him. he fell through the cracks. it was not an easy solution. it became ugly. the v.a. and defense health agencies that we depend on to kate -- to take care of them failed. subsequently, he took his life. he had said to me before the day he died, if anything ever happens to him, i want you to donate my brain for traumatic brain injury research, for

breach or syndrome research. all along he said something was wrong with his head, but nobody was listening. they kept telling him he was crazy. we tried to rescue him over the course of two years. he was prescribed over 40 different medications. over-the-counter creams and lotions, even to psychotropic drugs that made him feel like he was not not even in his own skin. as you go and talk to other veterans, you hear the same reflections over and over again. we've had this pattern that has really been illuminated as growing, but we still don't have a lot of answers as to why we are dealing with the number of suicides we are dealing with, and why they continue to go up. my belief is that they are going up, not down, despite some statistical references that the v.a. has put out. host: let me invite the audience

into the conversation, if you want to ask questions of our guest, you can do so. for those of you who have questions in our veterans, (202)-748-8000. if you are active duty, (202)-748-8001. all others, (202)-748-8002. -- all others, (202)-748-8003. traumatic brain injury, this idea that it is something you need to look at more closely, especially when looking at the aftereffects. can you expand on that? guest: there is a growing body of evidence connecting traumatic brain injury to suicide, a very clear line. i am an evidence-based individual. there is a growing body of research and evidence as a result of that research that is pointing to undiagnosed brain injury at the microscopic level. this is what my son suffered

from. two months after his death, we were able to get his brain donated to a research project at will reed, the national military medical center, into a study that was researching traumatic brain injury from blast exposure. two months later, they called us in and said your son had an undiagnosed severe level microscopic brain injury, uniquely related to blast exposure. this is not unlike what we see with our contact sports players with cte, but a distinct pattern of injury with blast exposure that is different from cte, but both of those conditions are handicapped in that we don't have the diagnostics to see it in the living person yet. i believe we are starting to get there, but this is where we need to research.

we need good science to tell us what is going on, which may explain why some of these cases, this complex rubric of ptsd, moral injury, substance use disorder, is so hard to deal with and why the traditional approach of treating the symptoms with drugs is not working. i don't want to be irresponsible and say that the drugs are not -- do not play an important role, but time and time again, we hear stories about how the overuse of drugs, off label, prescribed by people who don't have the background in psychiatry or rental health, our prescribing drugs for depression and other behavioral health conditions that are just turning our veterans and active-duty folks in distress upside down. we need to find a better way, and i believe science can help eliminate that path --

illuminate that path. i did not have confidence that our defense health agency or the v.a. will solve this problem. we need to partner with nonprofits, with academia, with folks on the outside that have parts of this effort and pull them together for a unity of effort and sharing of data, that i believe will illuminate the path forward as far as traumatic brain injury and the solutions that can potentially help the men and women who have served this nation. host: how specific -- how set up our the centers to help with suicide? guest: i will say the v.a. is getting better. my initial contact with them in support of my son was not a good one. it was very bureaucratic, it was

hard to navigate, and as i am trying to help him navigate through the system, i'm thinking, how do somebody who doesn't have assistance navigate through this, especially when they are upended with a number of these conditions? i think we have a long way to go, to be honest with you, and we've been in this for over 20 years and we really have not moved the ball very far. i find it distressing, two immediate reports came out, one where i believe the army secretary was referencing the fact that recruitment is getting harder because the gen z generation is concerned about the rate of suicide, military sexual assault, and hazing. it is turning them away from service.

the other is the report that came out yesterday, where the department of defense is offering up $3 million for novel ways to control suicide. i see that as not a positive sign, but a sign of desperation. host: $20 million -- up to $3 million. guest: and then they formed a new commission which is going to be led by a mental health expert , heavily pop elated by mental health experts -- and again, i don't want to criticize the panel, they are all very notable people who have a great passion to solve this very difficult challenge, but i don't see a cadre of folks with a neuroscience background, with the research background to either confirm or deny whether we are dealing with a level of

traumatic brain injury or other biological root causes that could be influencing the problem, not solely mental health. host: we have some calls lined up for you. this is gerald, a veteran from north carolina. you are with our guest, frank larkin of troops first foundation. go ahead. caller: hello sir. i believe that the answer to our gun problem in this country is to not amend the second amendment, but to offer an additional amendment to the constitution, whereby any state, city or county can opt out and make its own rules for the people living within their jurisdiction. host: i apologize caller, you

may be referencing our previous segment. but to the point he is making overall, access to weapons as far as mental health is concerned, especially amongst veterans. what do you think needs to be done? guest: it is important when you have a veteran getting into a critical stage of behavior or -- where they may be having suicidal ideations, talking about suicide, may exhibiting signs of severe isolation, depression, so forth. access to those weapons is a real concern. any time we can either with the insist -- with the assistance of law enforcement, family, friends, teammates, remove those guns from easy access because a lot of these suicide incidences are very spontaneous. if they don't have immediate access to weapons, i think at times, it does prevent a horrible act from happening.

part of our mantra at warrior call is to make a call, take a call and have an honest conversation with a veteran or active-duty warrior, with the idea of connecting to them, and sensing whether or not they are in a bad place and if so, get them connected to a warm handoff , to resources that potentially can help them pull out of that dark place, pull out of that position of desperation, which too often we see ends in suicide. host: andrew is next in new jersey, also a veteran. caller: hello, mr. larkin? guest: hi andrew. caller: good morning on this memorial day. we must remember your son and all the others. my question, we've been dealing with this traumatic brain injury for years, with the soldiers,

the navy seals in afghanistan, with multiple deployments like your son. why is the veterans administration treating them with drugs, which is masking the problem and not get to the root of the problem? first of all, the data they are saying about veteran suicide is inaccurate because have you ever heard of mission 22? guest: yes, i have. caller: mission 22 estimates that a veteran commits suicide every 22 minutes. i personally believe -- i may be wrong -- the government sends these kids off to these long-term multiple deployments, they were overwhelmed, they never expected this to happen. thank you for the work you do, because we need people like you to pick up the pieces so that this can be prevented. guest: let me pick up on that, if i may. this is where we need the

research. we are going to continue to default towards a mental health diagnosis that refers to the dsm -v diagnostic chart which is very often tied to how these clinicians get reimbursed for their services. they have to come up with a diagnosis according to this chart to get reimbursed. we need the science to prove that the world is round and not flat. until then, much of this, if not all of it is going to continue to default toward a mental health diagnosis, incorporating these very heavy drugs and other options that have not been working that well. i want to clarify, it is not to say that this is not a hand and glove relationship but if there is an underlying biological injury, then these people are

not crazy. they very well might be injured, injured as a result of service to this nation and this is how we should be approaching this. the fact that we cannot see it is not an excuse for not moving in this direction to confirm or deny whether this exists or not, and that is all i am asking for. for five years, i have been pushing the department of defense and the v.a. to tell me through research, what is the level of blast overpressure that starts to cause this microscopic injury? we have collected a lot of data off the battlefield and training and it is interesting because much of this exposure, we assess 80% or more, is coming from the training environment, training to go to combat as opposed to being in combat. when you are in combat, it is anything goes, but if we can develop a sense of where our

risk thresholds are, as they relate to weapon systems that we use, as they relate to explosives, improvised explosive devices that we confront on the battlefield, then i think we can buy down the risk of exposure and tbi, if this proves to be a significant component into why this is so difficult. host: is it only veterans affairs doing the research you have talked about or has it expanded to any other research bodies of the federal government? guest: all of them play a role in different ways. nih is doing some interesting studies on imaging, trying to detect changes in the brain, following blast overpressure exposure. the department of defense has put $1.5 billion towards tbi

research, but not a lot to show for it. the other thing i will say is since 9/11, there has been a lot of legislative action that has been put in the pipeline, and having been the former senate sergeant at arms for four years, i got an eye on that but when you look at the amount of legislation that has been written to address tbi, moral injury, substance use disorder, ptsd, other combat related or deployment related issues that affect our military, very little has come out the other end. there needs to be accountability for when this legislation and direction is given to the department to do x. is somebody following up, to verify that has been done or has

been done to the level of expectation? this is part of the problem that we have been experiencing on why we have not moved closer to the end zone on this. host: let's hear from john, in virginia on our line for veterans. you're on with frank larkin. caller: can you hear me? host: we can, you are on. caller: thank you for your work. i know you probably don't get much praise working holidays but we do appreciate it in the general public. i know you would rather be home with your family. i have post-traumatic stress disorder when i came back from korea. i understand what it is like to go from these experiences. i also knew a veteran, i was living in nebraska. he did take his life. somewhere between five and 10 vietnam veterans take their lives each day in this country. let's not forget us, even those

vietnam era veterans. i work for the department of defense. these are the issues i see here as well. there are other groups that should be involved like the american foreign legion and the veterans of foreign wars. that is all i wanted to say. host: john in virginia, thank you. guest: you bring up a valid point. this is about unity of effort and sharing data. this is about putting a level of urgency on this. it is not because we lack intellectual ability or capacity. we just need to organize, like we did against cancer, against hiv/aids, against covid. we've got the ability to solve this, but we've just had all of these boutique disconnected efforts that have been going on

for the past 20 plus years and we really need some leadership and that leadership needs to come from an individual who's got skin in the game, who understands this problem, not a doctor or researcher, not a mental health expert, but somebody that has got a business acumen, understands organizational dynamics, project management and can drive this thing to get results. it is really the veterans and our active-duty warriors, if it does not connect with them, if it doesn't impact their quality of life, you've got to ask the question, so what? host: the president last year put a series of initiatives into take a look at the topic of suicide, and when they released those ideas or concepts, they wrote, and the coming months, agencies will collaborate to raise awareness among service members, veterans and families, evaluating the effectiveness of

existing and new programs that may reduce access to lethal means. this will include designing and launching a campaign to increase the safe storage of firearms and medications and the use of safety planning and intervention by providers. how do you think the white house is doing on this issue? guest: if it is not resonating at the deck plate level, the ground-level with the veterans, our warriors and their families, then you have to say where are the gaps? very often a lot of these initiatives sit at the national policy level, much higher in the stratosphere and it is not connecting at the local level. this is really a community level challenge. to be able to put the training and education in the hands that are closest to the people that are struggling. for active duty, this includes leadership from the top down, giving them the tools to be able

to deal with these situations. this is very often where inside the uniformed services that we see the problem. this is a leadership issue for dod and without the education, without the training or the ability to remove the stigmas and barriers of entry, you will have people like my son fall through the cracks as a result of the service to their nation because you have to remember, when they voluntarily enlisted or were commissioned into service, they were deemed to be healthy and 100% ready to serve. something has happened in between that date and the way we see them now. we've got to understand that. without the tools and education and the points of entry that we can effectively get to these folks early, with good diagnostics, good triage

processes, then we will continue to see these suicides. i don't think we have seen the worst of it yet. if we don't get on top of this and make it a national priority -- and when you look at the calculus of what brain injury costs us in our health care system and impact to our society, it is trillions of dollars. host: do you know of any trends that have occurred for those that are from afghanistan it comes to suicide, maybe even going as far back as iraq, overall what we are seeing? guest: transition is very difficult, this issue of isolation. i have asked this question before, bringing up korea and vietnam. as i have been told from prior campaigns of war, it took many months to get those folks home, and there is a belief that during that time, they went

through some levels of decompression. they were with teammates, they talked about their experiences and they were able to offload a lot of that stress, whereas the further we have advanced to modern day, we are removing people from the battlefield and they are home in the states within 24 or 48 hours. they are walking through the front door of their homes and everybody expects them to be normal after the experiences they have had. especially when we have talked about moral injury, we raise our kids to value human life, respect the law, respect each other, and then we train them up to be these warriors and send them places around the world where that is not exactly how things operate. they come home burdened with these moral challenges. host: there was a recent hearing from the senate side, angus king talking to the army about how

they develop transition programs and make that transition you spoke about and suicides over all. i will play a little bit of the exchange and we will get your thoughts. [video clip] >> i work with a lot of veterans in maine. one of the problems we -- that keeps coming up is the weakness of the transition from active duty to veteran status. the handoff from the defense department to the v.a., i believe i don't have the data in front of me but many of the veteran suicides take place in that relatively short period of time between active-duty and civilian status. i believe that you should put as much resources time and effort into transitioning people out as you do with recruiting people in. can you address that problem because from everything i've learned on the ground, this is a serious issue. >> certainly.

i think there is data that shows that transition out of the service into the civilian community can be a critical time. we do try to work closely with the department of veterans affairs to ensure that there is a warm handoff and with the transition programs that we have from folks getting out of the army, we try to make sure that they have the resources to know what to expect, to be able to link them to employment resources and things like that, but i think that is something we can continue to work on and frankly, i've heard some folks say the transition programs helped me learn how to tie a tie and do a resume, but psychologically making the adjustment to going back into the civilian world isn't something that i've heard people say that they get as much emphasis on. i think that is something we can

work on. host: mr. larkin? what do you think of the questions by the senator but also the response from the army secretary? guest: they are valid. transition is an important part. we've seen too many times where our veterans have left active-duty service, jumped out of those planes, so to speak without their parachute. they have not thought about their transition. they have jumped out with a parachute but have not identified where they are going to land. you have to support yourself when you come out. they've got to think about this in advance of stepping across the line and going through the exit door. as far as the transition programs go, it depends on where you are and how serious that command is taking the transition. you've got to remember, our military operations, army, navy,

marines or air force, it is about operations. they are looking out the windshield, not in the rearview mirror. when somebody transitions out, it is almost like it is not our problem anymore. the issue with transition is a factor in i would say the downward spiral of many of the veterans we have seen, if they don't have a good place to land. this means, how do you take the skill sets we've had in the military and cross them over into the civilian theater? very often, there is a translation issue. definitions or job descriptions in the military side are not exactly well understood on the civilian side. we need to do a better job of that. transitioning is very important. it needs to be a holistic approach, not only from the military, but also the catchers

met on the private sector side, on the civilian sector side, how they help receive. and it goes hand in glove with mental health resources, with being able to respect them and provide them with a sense of dignity once they separate service, and to maintain that momentum so that again, we don't get that tribal sense of separation which so often leads to that destructive isolation. host: we are having a conversation of frank larkin with troops first foundation and warrior call. ron in michigan, on our veterans line, thank you for waiting. caller: yes or. i am trying -- yes sir. i am trying not to fumble this. you sound like you know what you are talking about. what i would like to know is what do you do about people like

me? i've lived 50 years in perpetual depression. i'm not going to kill myself. i don't want to make a mess like that. i don't want to die with a sour look at life. a little bit of help right now would go a long way. three times i sought help from the v.a., and basically end up with a kick in the ass. the mental health care i have gotten was stuff i paid for out of pocket, no insurance. i'm 75. at $125 a session, i can only do that for short periods of time. it worked but i can't get it without paying for it.

a little bit of physical help to cut the grass or something, that would go a long way with me. does anybody do anything like that? host: thank you for calling. guest: ron, we've heard other reflections like that from other veterans, and i would say my recommendation is locally is to tie up with your veteran service organizations, vfw, other groups that are local, and talk to veterans like yourself. some options that may exist locally in your area. i go back to the local because if it goes outside that local geographic parameter, then it is very hard for a lot of these folks to connect to. they have to travel 200 miles to

get to a level of services, that is not going to be something that is of great utility for them, unless there is a very specific need that only that facility can address. i would say the vfw and others. the american legion. they are great organizations with great resources and can potentially help with other options. what a lot of us try to do is partner together, not reinvent the wheel. warrior call is pretty much a broker to try and identify those resources that we can do more handoffs, with these veterans who are struggling, like ron. host: from wisconsin, this is our line for others. we will hear from dennis. caller: hi there. this is dennis from wisconsin. guest: good morning. caller: good morning sir. i would like to bring up the aspect of -- being used for tbi.

i was in a car accident at the age of 14 in the 1970's and my dad was in the military, so i was at a military hospital. they installed these cochlear implants that send messages over negative decibels, and i was not fully apprised of it until 1990 when one of the wires decided to exit from inside of my mouth when i was driving. there is a technological aspect and a natural aspect to kinesis. i've had brain injuries since then, and i've been able to recover. one way was learning a different language. learning latin alongside the

king -- the king james version helped a lot in those gray areas that pharmaceuticals love to map out. it just helps rewire the brain by learning another language. host: thank you for your input. i suppose outside of medication, there are other ways to deal with the issue, like mental counseling and things like that. guest: this goes back to the holistic approach. we have to listen to these folks. that is the number one task, listen to them and understand their challenges instead of trying to put a round peg in a round hole with a cookie-cutter approach. there is no silver bullet, but it really is understanding that individuals' challenge and then guiding them to the appropriate options, with the understanding that it may not work and you may have to pull them back in and cast them back out.

but it is a holistic approach. there is another piece of this. we have some tough love conversations with our veterans. they've got to ruck up and be willing to change some lifestyle issues, especially if they are drinking too much or engaged in other activities that potentially are not contributing to pushing them in the right direction to solve their problems. we are willing to get them to resources and work with them, to improve their condition and many of these veterans can say if you can help me feel better by 15%, i would be grateful. we are looking at this in increments. there is not one option that suddenly ends all of their problems, it is really a journey and it is getting them on that positive pathway, taking about the future, that hope is still alive and that is why this

outreach approach of making a call to a veteran, taking a call from a veteran and having that honest conversation peels that onion down to the core to understand what we are dealing with, so we can more appropriately assist them. the other piece of this is a go back to the research. the research is going to help us understand what is working and what is not working and right now, we have this dynamic tension with folks in the research community or in some of our government bureaucracies. the research does not support treatment acts. i got that because the research has been -- has not been done to a level that is satisfactory to confirm or deny but i've got a group of veterans coming out and saying this is helping me, this has gotten me to a better place, this has pulled me back from the edge of darkness, then there has to be value. we've got to listen to that.

it is like a railroad track. one track trying to push the research, the other tract dealing with veterans right now in distress. host: veteran affairs offers several lines of support if you are so many else needs counseling. the crisis line. you can also text. also their website, veter anscrisisline.net. our last call, ricky. caller: good morning and thank you for being here today. i'm calling because i'm agreeing with john. i am a vietnam era veteran and i believe sometimes they are overlooking us, because it has been a while since we were in the service. the cmt process is one of those things that i believe could really contribute to a lot of these suicidal thoughts because you go in and you try and get

help, you try to tell people what is going on with you and they diagnose you completely wrong. the research is not lining up with what is going on in our bodies. as an african-american veteran, i'm finding that we are not being taken care of especially through the cmt process. do you have anything that could help us out with a thought or direction about the cmt process, because that is very disheartening, to go and try to get some help and because that is the only way we are going to get some help is through that process, but it is failing so many others who have been in the service earlier and we are not being addressed. host: ricky in texas, thank you. guest: i am not familiar with

the cmt process. i've got to look that up. i will on your behalf contact the folks i know at veterans affairs to become a little smarter on that, to see if that is a barrier to you all getting help. we cannot forget our vietnam and gulf war and korean veterans, and we still have a number of world war ii veterans still alive. they are. all part of this calculus -- they are all part of this calculus. it is not just the war on terror veterans we are talking about. the other thing i want to make clear is we have to help the veterans administration and the defense health agencies succeed. this isn't about constantly putting a stick in their chest, criticizing them. they are big bureaucracies, it is slow to turn that battleship, but with good science, with

constant pressure and advocacy from the vsos and others, we can get to a better place. we have seen improvements in the v.a. since this has become an issue in the last 10 years. has it moved as fast as we wanted it to? no but we have to keep going in the right direction. host: this is frank larkin with the organization, troops first foundation, also the chair of the warrior call. troopsfirstfoundation.org is the website. mr. larkin, thank you for joining us. guest: i want to say thank you to all the veterans, their families and for those who are still around us in a different form, who sacrificed for this nation, that is what this day is all about. host: up next, joining us, e&e news reporter mike lee. he will talk about rising gas prices in the united states, what is expected in the summer months and what is expected from the congress and white house.

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and c-span.org/ukraine -- free mobile app, and c-span.org/ukraine. >> "washington journal" continues. host: joining us now from texas is like lee, he is with e&e news . he is here to talk about efforts when it comes to gas prices. thank you for joining us on this holiday. guest: happy memorial day. host: if you look at the aaa website, they tell us the average price for a gallon of gas is $4.61. what do we expect as summer goes on? guest: the word i keep hearing, talking to people over the last couple of weeks is unprecedented. nobody has seen gas prices this high and nobody is sure what is going to happen next. there have been a few research

notes and interviews of people that have said perhaps we are seeing this idea of demand destruction were people change what they are doing. they drive less. that could possibly push down the price of gas but i don't think anybody knows. host: what factors have to come into play, to see gas prices go down? guest: there are a bunch of things that have been pushing up the price of gas. going back to that word, unprecedented, the price of oil cratered at the beginning of the pandemic. the price of gasoline went under two dollars a gallon. when all that happened, a lot of the oil industry cut back production. several refineries shut down. since then, people have come roaring back to life, the economy has picked up and they are buying gasoline again and there is less of it to go around

and less refineries to refine it . all of that has been pushing up the price of oil and gasoline before the russia-ukraine war started. when that started there was even more disruption. it is a complicated mess and there is not any one thing that could fix it. host: if those are the factors at play, is it a matter of supply or rate of refinery? are there other things to determine as far as looking at the actual price of a gallon of gas? guest: the amount of oil being produced. the supply is increasing but not as fast as the demand and the number of people out there buying gasoline or companies buying oil. until those get into balance, what the economists tell us is the price is going to stay high. complicating that, there are

fewer refineries out there to take that oil and turn it into gasoline and diesel. host: when you look at the price of a gallon, some of the legislators on capitol hill have paid the fact that people go to different areas of the country and find different prices. why do those differences happen? guest: it is always more complicated than it sounds from washington. some of it is individual states having higher or lower taxes. some of it is the west coast states have different fuel economy standards and blending standards and that tends to push up the price on the west coast. host: mike lee is our guest with e&e news, joining us for this conversation. if you want to ask about gas prices and things you have heard at the pump and on capitol hill,

you are invited to call. democrats, (202)-748-8000. republicans, (202)-748-8001. independents, (202)-748-8002. if you want to text us your thoughts, you can do so at (202)-748-8003. mr. lee, from a refiner's perspective or oil company's perspective, how do they look at the actual price and what is coming from the public as far as how high those prices are? what has been the response from the producers? guest: they are sympathetic. they understand that people are hurting out there. the ceo of exxon made that comment this week. they are also in kind of a fix. they could conceivably go out and pump more oil and push the price down in the future, but a lot of these companies got badly burned in the mid-2000's when the price of oil crashed and

they don't want to get overextended. host: meaning what? guest: meaning they don't want to borrow money to drill more oil and then see the price crash. that happened in 2014 and 2015 and a lot of companies went out of business. host: some as far as capitol hill is concerned, you heard president biden directly target oil companies, saying that they are a major factor, as far as the actual price is concerned. how much of that is true? guest: it is really hard to say. the oil companies themselves, particularly american oil companies did not set the price of oil. that is way more complicated than it sounds in washington. opec has a lot of sway over the price of oil and they so far have not taken any action to bring the price down.

the oil companies are making fairly healthy profits off of the high prices. they are also under a lot of pressure from their own investors who got burned in 2014, to pay some of that money back in share dividends and buybacks. host: here on capitol hill, there is a debate calling for more transparency in how oil companies do their business, especially when it comes to pricing. it was senator maria campo of washington state, talking about those efforts and talking about oil companies. i want to play a little bit of what she had to say and then get your response. [video clip] >> these companies are very adept at manipulate in the futures market and the physical market to get their best gains. we are asking our colleagues to vote for transparency in the physical markets of indexes

traded after the product is refined. we know there is a world oil price. we know that it is refined. what we can't figure out is after it is refined, why on the west coast is it at exorbitant rates? well over the national average and paying well over what we think market fundamentals determine. we saw at a hearing that we had before the commerce committee, energy experts testified some of these fundamentals do not make sense, that something else is going on in the market. why turn down the opportunity for us and the federal government to get more transparency in these energy markets? why would anybody want to say that more transparency over these indexes is not a good idea? host: mr. lee, let's start with the idea of transparency as far as how these markets operate. how much access can the average person get into that and what they understand it?

-- and would they understand it? guest: it is pretty opaque. it is hard to figure out what the factors are that are driving a lot of the changes. i don't know what chances the bill has of becoming law, but it is hard to understand what is pushing the price of oil and gas up right now. host: from your reporting on it, are there areas to look at, as far as getting at least a starting point or understanding how price is determined when it comes to processing? guest: there is probably some research the government could do to figure out some of the factors. i don't cover congress that much. i have checked with a couple colleagues who do, and their take was a lot of these proposals are basically messaging bills.

they don't have a chance of passing given the gridlock in washington, so the representatives and senators who introduced these bills basically to energize their voters. host: does the industry get a sense that driving during the summer months will be the same as we have seen or even increase over previous months because people are now getting out and doing more things? if so, is there enough supply to accommodate that? guest: that one i can answer. the folks i have talked to believe there is a lot of pent-up demand for people who have been locked down for two years and they want to go out on vacation, go visit family, things like that. i am in the same boat. f got a vacation planned this summer -- i've got a vacation planned this summer. that will drive up the amount of gas that gets burned. host: let's hear from ann, in maryland for our guest, mike lee. go ahead please. caller: good morning and thank

you for taking my call. what you are not talking about is this administration's war on fossil fuels. when trump was president, he was allowing drilling and all that going on here. your president will not allow that. this is all deliberate and it is all planned so they can try to force people to buy electric cars, even though electric cars are available to the same amount, people can afford it with the price of inflation and with the war on fossil fuels, all of this is part of this because so many products are made with fossil fuels. transportation costs for truckers have gone up. you refuse to say that because you know this is true. we the people are not.

i am just saying, you need to address this and let us drill so costs can come down. host: he is a reporter for a publication so i think he does not advocate on policy but the by demonstration's approach when it comes to policy matters and how it is impacting gas prices? guest: guest: the biden administration commit office thinking they could reduce the amount of drilling that happens and they been forced into a position where they have to change their tune. i would point out a couple of things. i live in texas and about 40% of the oil gets produced in texas. virtually all that happens on private lands of the government has less control over what's get -- over what gets drilled. the biden administration can make a diff -- a difference

drilling on public land. they made some strides on that and have made some strides on trying to reduce the amount of oil that gets produced offshore but then they've also been forced to reverse that because of the high prices. host: we have a viewer from twitter -- guest: the keystone pipeline could conceivably have helped and it could have brought some canadian oil down to the refineries in texas and louisiana. it would have been one factor. it wouldn't have offset the amount of disruption that happened with the war in ukraine.

it could have helped. host: let's go to alan in indiana, democrats line. guest: good morning and happy memorial day and thank you for taking my call. i'm a huge fan of "washington journal." a couple of questions or observations. when people call in and say it's because of joe biden's attitude, i don't think an attitude can raise the price of gas. biden came out his first year over 9000 permits for drilling. i was also told that trump had done an equal number. none of them have been used in the oil industry is sitting on that. isn't that true? how can you say biden has a war against fuel when his first

year, he gave out 9000 permits. second observation is the keystone pipeline, my understanding and correct me if i'm wrong, that contract was between china and the canadian energy firm. for these oilsands of they had. every drop of that was going to go to china, not on the open market, not a drop on the united states. all of it was going to go to china it was not going to subtract from what they got on the open market. it was going to add to it so that would have no effect to the american sumer. host: we will let our guest expand on that.

guest: he brought up that the biden administration is trying to reduce the amount of public drilling. i've heard about the permits but by understanding is that the number of permits that were already out there. the way public land leasing works is they line up their leasing years in advance. there are probably some companies not drilling on land they have a permit for. the oil companies will argue that they want to have an inventory of places where they can drill to keep their production up. there's arguments on both sides of that. host: let's go to kentucky, independent line. caller: my question is, after

the oil has been distilled in the big trucks that go across the country delivering goods, has there been any problems of people letting the fuel go on the ground? sort of like in world war ii where it cap the fbi busy when people would rake in and they -- would break in and they would open up the valves and let the oil spill out on the ground. guest: i haven't heard anything like that. host: steve in new york, democrats line, go ahead. caller: a couple of points and i appreciate your expertise. the price of fuel was higher in the summer of 2800 george bush, $150 per barrel.

the price in new york one day i believe is five dollars per gallon. something happened. i think there were companies forwarding oil want to make that point. second of all, we can bring oil out of the ground for $50 of barrel. i would appreciate your answer. guest: you are right, the price of oil was higher back in 2008 and the price of gasoline was a little bit lower. it got a little over four dollars per barrel in the truck -- in the summer of 2008.

it all fell in the fall of 2008 when the recession hit. that's one of the open questions right now. no one is really sure how this spike in oil prices will unwind. host: this is a viewer from twitter -- guest: that's a really good question. i don't think there is a really simple answer to that. the refineries have been shut down since 2019 will stop there were several that were shut down during the first year of the pandemic because the companies but oil consumption was going to be down for the long term. i don't know that anybody has a good answer on how to reopen the refineries.

it would take a lot of money and a lot of them believe oil consumption will stay flat or fall over time. the president cannot snap his fingers and open up an oil refinery. congress cannot snap their fingers make a company open up their oil refineries. that's a really good question. i don't think anybody has that answer. host: ohio, republican line. caller: top of the morning to you, how are you doing? i've got three things here that possibly the government can do to help out on the situation. the first one is to reenact 1975 energy policy and conservation act which would prohibit the sale or the export of u.s. oil will stop and nixon put on a price ceiling so we would

basically be setting the price ourselves. number two, you could bring in the events production act of 1950 which would make oil companies pull out more oil but making a quota. and three, you can basically nationalize these industries if they do not want to do this and the government takes over the production of oil in this country. that oil in the ground is ours, not the oil companies, to get record profits off of. if you don't want to give the government power, the don't blame the government for the rise in prices. host: you put a lot out there so we will let our guest respond. guest: that was the policy in the 1970's. since then, we've gotten away from price controls and things

like that. i think it would take a lot of work to get back to that sort of control of the gas market. i don't think it would happen quick and it wouldn't happen in time to bring the guest down this summer. if it happens at all given the gridlock in washington. host: we saw the president past the petroleum reserves to alleviate gas prices. if you look at the data comic -- at the data, -- what to those levels tell you as far as our current levels when it comes to petroleum? guest: it shows we have nearly held the reserve.

i don't know what it has been historically and if would be able to pull that out. the people i've talked to said that the president's decision to release one million barrels of oil per day that helped around the edges maybe taken some of the pain off the increase in oil prices. i keep going back to there is so many things pushing up the price of oil right now whether it's the war in ukraine were open moves everything the president does gets kind of washed out. host: do you know in general if the reserve can be tapped again or is there only a limited time?

guest: i suppose they could tap it again but i don't know what it would do for the present oil. i don't know that they can pull them out of their once. host: independent line. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. i just had a quick, and i wanted to share. it's not whole joe biden's fault. they say he's the one driving the prices. i'd don't understand why people don't take advantage of the concept of fuel points.

don't understand why people aren't talking more about how to use that for discounts to help offset how much you have to pay. i appreciate you and it's not all joe biden. thank you for taking my comments and everyone have a good morning. guest: i think a lot of folks are looking for ways to save on their gas and i am as well. host: if you are asks about oil companies that sell and what are the profits of the oil companies over the last few months? guest: they are making pretty good money. they haven't set records the last three months but they have made billions of dollars in profits.

host: independent line, this is john in pennsylvania. caller: yes, i'm wondering what is the difference between share and not sharing. the differences... guest: did we lose him? host: caller, are you still there? we've lost him. let's try john one more time in pennsylvania. we will go on to nelson in colorado, democrats line. caller: good morning, c-span. i have one quick question.the price of gas is high all the gas that's already pumped and paid for already in the ground, why is the price

going because if you already paid for the gas, white are the prices going up? guest: that's a good question. it changes from filling station to filling station. the head of one of the trade groups for the filling stations say they are on tight margins. there's maybe a penny difference in gas prices. i don't know if there is any one trend and what those guys are doing to set prices? host: a previous tweeter asked about oil company profits. guest: i keep saying the word

unprecedented. the oil companies lost a huge amount of money in 2020 and 2021. intensive millions of dollars in losses and they are turning around to making tens of billions of dollars of profit. you can picnic -- which number you want to point to. host: in tennessee, this is judy, republican line. caller: how are you doing this morning, good morning everybody. mike, is ugly and i apologize for to hear it. i believe the biden family is owned by china and they are trying to get us to use electric cars which are economy doesn't want to do and china designs the batteries and they want to keep

us in control during this lockdown. with gas prices as they are, they can keep us in one spot will stop that is my comment, thank you. host: the larger point of the caller from the perspective of oil companies, how are they looking at the sale of electric cars and the eventual transition to electric vehicles? guest: that's a wildcard. one thing that wasn't possible the last time we had a spike in gasoline like now, people wouldn't by unelected car. i talked to one of my colleagues who covers the electric car companies and they are not seeing anything except anecdotal evidence that the high gas prices are pushing people to buy electric cars. that is a wildcard that could change the demand for gasoline

in the long term. i don't want to get into the chinese influence on this. host: this is tom in west virginia, independent line stuff caller: let's go back to 2019 when i used to travel between restates, massachusetts, west virginia, alabama. they were paying a little bit under two dollars a gallon in alabama. probably because of the state taxes. west virginia in a rural part, anywhere from $2.50 to $2.50 in massachusetts $2.25 and this was before the pandemic. biden gets in office and eventually, the prices start to increase because of the changes they've made toward natural gas and the oil industry.

i'm sorry but i blame the high gas prices partially on russia but more on joe biden and the people of his administration. this first electric cars are concerned, imagine a neighborhood like mission hill boston with three families crowded next to one another. what will happen in the future? will they run an extension cord out into the street? i'm not against electric vehicles but this narrative is somehow electric cars will be a cure all to global climate change is just nonsense. host: that's common west virginia. guest: the question of how you view electric cars in these cities -- host: over the next few months, you talked about this being in on residence at time.

what is the highest that gas could go? guest: i don't know. i've never seen $4.61 b for most i think anybody called the top or the bottom. host: mike lee with e&e news, thank you for joining us today. for the remainder very time until 10:00 a.m., we will return to the question we started with -- negotiations on capitol hill and discussions when it comes to gun legislation and what reform would you support? here are the phone numbers.

gotten owners can call us as well. we will take those calls in a minute. . >> at least six prisons recorded conversations while in office. here many of the conversations on c-span's podcast presidential recordings. >> season one focuses on lyndon johnson where you will hear about the civil, the presidential campaign, the gulf of tonkin, the march on selma and the war in vietnam. not everyone knew they were being recorded. >> certainly, johnson's secretaries knew because they were tasked with transcribing those conversations. in fact, they were the one to make sure the conversations were tape as johnson was signaled to them through an open door between his office and there's. >> you will also hear blunt talk.

>> presidential recordings on c-span now, our mobile app for wherever you find your favorite podcast. >> c-span now was a free mobile app featuring your unfiltered view of what's happening in washington, live and on demand. keep up with the day's biggest events with live streams of floor proceedings from u.s. congress, white house events, campaigns and more from the world of politics all at your fingerprints.

plus a variety of compelling podcasts. it's available at the apple store and google play. >> "washington journal" continues. host: as discussions on capitol hill take place on potentially working on gun reform legislation, we want to ask you what gun reforms you would support. here are the phone numbers. senator chris murphy said on sunday he hopes for bipartisan legislation and is what it is

saying republicans and democrats need to get together on this. he said after years of it and ask -- inaction and frustration, meaningful gun legislature might pass. one of the senators on yesterday is not showing optimism when it comes to some gun legislation. new jersey democrat cory booker is part of the exchange on nbc yesterday. . [video clip] >> whatever we can get done, it saves a light, it's worth doing. i fully support that but i'm under no illusion that we will do the things that need to be done. the majority of americans overwhelmingly support significant safety. even though the cdc undermined by the gun lobby were senate republicans are ignoring basic scientific research, we know enough to know there are things

we can do that will dramatically lower gun violence. the question is when will we do it? the problem is how change has been made in america. with the bombing in birmingham when four little girls died, the nation rallied. movement continued until they demanded change and it was made and those people who did not make the change paid at the polls. until that happens, we are going to see that best incremental change but as far as the federal level, not much. >> the red flag law for its expanded background checks might not have done anything. these 18-year-old hurt -- legally purchased every they used including a massive amount ammunition and body armor. >> it feels like you are going to solve a problem that doesn't address the problem. >> this is not a one move

solution. there must be many things done. no background checks make a difference. we know gun licensing supported by the majority of americans make a difference. we know what works but i am sorry, we are at a point in this nation where we are going to have to mobilize a greater movement expressing regret or sorrow. until the redemptive power of love for all of our children is greater than the destructive power of the lover guns and money and power, until that redemptive level of our children turns into action, then nothing will change. host: that's senator booker from the sunday shows yesterday. there is a pull asking if they would support stricter gun laws and they took these from major

shootings. 65% said they would support that and 29% opposed and 6% did not express an opinion. if you go back to support for more gun laws, 60% of those that they would work that after the buffalo shooting and 60% -- and 62% from atlanta and 66% after el paso. when it comes to the reforms that could support, you can express your thoughts on our social media thoughts or call us. in ohio, and our independent line, we will start with anthony. caller: thank you for taking my call this morning. happy memorial day and let's remember our veterans because that's what it's all about stuff getting back to your question, to me it seems very simple. when we do what we did was some

other things like drinking laws? raise it up to a reasonable time when testosterone is leveling off in the mail adult is able to go ahead and reason better? at least do that and why can't we license these assault weapons? i think that would curb a lot of this, thank you very much and have a nice day. host: in oregon, democrats line, good morning. caller: good morning, i just have a few simple ideas and they sound to simple but something has to change for sure. my first idea is i understand the second amendment but they did not give everybody the right to on millions of guns for no reason. if you think you are a hunter or

you need protection, every citizen should have a right to two guns, one for hunting and one for protection, period. i don't want either one as my husband has thing guns but if you have any heirlooms, they must be locked in a gun safe. it would solve everything and none of them could be assault weapons or weapons of war. a limit of six listen each gun, thank you very much. host: four -- from missouri on our line republicans, go ahead . caller: we don't need any more gun laws. what we need to do is punish the criminals. if the criminal uses a firearm in a crime and is convicted,

it's an automatic death penalty. let's stop fooling around and giving the criminals all the rights. i am a gun owner and i am a hunter and i target shoot. i abide by all the laws, let's stop punishing the law-abiding citizen. i am a lifetime nra member. you show me where a gun has killed somebody. there has never been a gun that killed someone by the fbi. it's been an individual. host: that's william in missouri. thank you for the call. we will do this until 10:00 a.m. president biden mark the sixth anniversary of his son's death with a visit to his grave.

president biden and his wife jill visited the graves in delaware and attended a church ceremony. he spoke to military families as well stop that's from last year. my mistake. this is ron. the president is expected to go to the tomb of the unknown soldier today to lay a wreath and mark the day. he is expected later on today to go to a speech at arlington national cemetery. you can watch that on our network and follow along our website at www.c-span.org. you can follow along on the c-span app as well. caller: good morning.

i remember all my brothers and sisters who were in the military. i own guns and have since i was 11 years old. i took a gun course. just like you take a driving course. i didn't keep my arms with me unless i was in country. these 18-year-olds who get the guns, they need to take a course at a fire range and they need to take a target shoot or whatever they want. i know with those weapons can do. they don't need to have them. they need to leave them at a range. they don't need to take and have

those weapons of mass destruction. host: let's hear from another floridian, democrats line, dave. caller: it looks like the well-regulated militia was at it again over the past few weeks. we do have a mental health crisis in this country. this is obvious when you get some of these callers on the line for the mentally handicapped and the solution is we should turn the schools into some kind of military encampment to give teachers guns and give your kids a strip search before math class. host: what are the reforms you would support? caller: one thing that is obvious and it's not complicated is the difference between us and every country that has its share of lunatics is that our lunatics have access to an arsenal, and military hardware.

why is that so hard to figure out and connect the dots? people have every excuse in the book and we keep coming up with one canard after another. if you want to get down to it and talk about mental health, i think republicans should be subject to a mental health evaluation and that will take care of the problem. if they don't pass, take away their voter registration card. host: jan in arizona, gun owner, go ahead. dan in arizona, go ahead. caller: can you hear me? host: you are on, go ahead. caller: i want to thank the military first. i want to thank the veterans in this country for everything they've done and all the dead bodies across the world, we should talk about them today. we had guns in our house all our

lives even when i was little girl. i lived in a rural town with six 700 people. people come to hunt in our area all the time. my kids and our family took nra classes. they have them in the schools and biden wants to pass more laws. his own son but a son illegally. host: you wouldn't support reforms or new legislation? caller: they have all kinds of laws but they let people out of jail and they shoot people with guns.

look at the poor guy killed on the subway last week? you guys are not saying anything about these little black kids being slaughtered in chicago. host: let's go to tom in north carolina, democrats line. caller: when the second amendment was passed, there were no ar-15's. everybody knows that. another thing is, why does a family need an ar-15? what do they do with them? do they go to competitions? julie go up and shoot up a watermelon? they don't need ar-15's. we went after a wreck when they

had weapons of mass destruction and ar-15 is a weapon of mass destruction stop host: let's hear from representative adam kinzinger on the sunday shows yesterday talking about the potential of new gun legislation coming out of the discussions taking place on capitol hill. here's what he had to say yesterday. [video clip] >> the right to keep and bear arms is important to republicans and me too but for some reason, we got locked in this position of things where we could make a difference. this is florida, this is rick scott, this is ron desantis' state and there is no blowback. let's do that kind of stuff now. yes, it's ultimately a mental health issue and somebody has to make a decision to pull a trigger. if an 18-year-old can buy in assault rifle on the davis

birthday, -- on the day of his birthday, they can kill 20 people with 150 cops around? what are the things we can do to stop and mitigate that? i talk to people overseas all the time and this is embarrassing. they look at the united states and ask what is going on. we can have this rich tradition of individualism and gun rights. i'm a staunch advocate of concealed carry. this kind of wild west i will carry a gun around because it looks cool, come and take the gun out of my cold, dead hands attitude, you're not doing anything to defend your rights for the next generation and you are playing tough camp out there well real and innocent people are dying. >> the ar-15 you say you own one , las vegas was in ar-15, pulse

nightclub, sandy hook, uvalde, so many of these were with that weapon. what you say to chris murphy who says the er 15 should be banned? >> i say i would love to get a conversation with him in a good way. i think we need to have this real discussion. if there is a way maybe when it comes to ar-15's, is there a special license? are there ways we can ensure that those that own them -- we have to admit that 99 went 9% of ar-15's are not having mass shootings. is there a way to differentiate and make a distinction there. host: to show you some highlights on gun legislation, it was in 2021 that the house

democratic majority past light measure despite republicans reader entering -- reiterating objections.

it goes on from there but if you want to read history of gun legislation, you can do so at the abc site. this is darrell in michigan, independent line. caller: i want focus on possibilities to stop this situation. there are 97,000 open schools in michigan. -- in the united states. we spent $905 billion on military defense spending. that's to fight enemies overseas. we can easily spend 90.5 william dollars, 10% of that coming in at tangible defense procedure for air schools. that would amount to only

$928,000 of federal grants of every single public school in the united states. the audience is saying would never cost that much. exactly that -- exactly my point. we can solve this problem within two years with federal grants and the parents can drop their kids off at school or put them on the bus and their child will be in the safest place they can possibly be for the next eight hours of every day of the week. host: we will go to gary in ohio, republican line. caller: hello, i'm a gun owner and i have an ak-47. it's a killing machine and there's no reason it should be sold.

it would guarantee the republicans to win the next primary. host: are you a republican yourself? caller: yes, sir. host: if you own such a gun, why do you have it? caller: i'd what it from a guy coming out of a pawn shop. host: let's go to mark in michigan, independent line . caller: good morning, i would say let them go ahead and work that out but in the meantime, let's focus on her children and the administration and i was looking that we have students that have student debt, young adults.

i would put them together a program as to where we create support groups within the school with these college students, with student debt. let them volunteer for 2-3 years each quarter, say every three months, every six months they can earn money to deduct from the student debt. host: how does that go back to the issue of gun reform? caller: with gun safety and gun reform, with these college students, their prerequisite is either psychology and sociology. they can put it together in the school so they can monitor children.

young adults are 18 and 19 stop this problem has been going on since junior high school and elementary stop once you put the task force together in the schools, let them monitor the children and create programs where they support teens and identify child problem. host: that's mark offering ideas as far as reforms and legislation what kind of reforms we could support. the washington times were running saying that the national rifle association's annual meeting that took place over the weekend drew a smaller than expected crowd. it added a sense that the preeminent gun lobby was on the ropes. some speculated school shooting in uvalde happen before the meeting helped fit her

attendance. it helped underscore the nra document. how many members at large of given up on the nra for the past few years with his legal problems and corruption problems. that's in the washington this morning. we will go to brad in columbia, debt -- tennessee on the democrats line. you are on. caller: how are you? host: i'm fine, thanks. caller: i'd like to thank you to all the veterans serving. and have served. without you, our country would not be here. i want to give a shout out to our veterans. in terms of these ar-15 tactical assault weapons, we have to admit that every veteran knows the power of this weapon.

it should not be in the hands of young men 18 years old and not mature enough. every mother knows that there sons are not mature at 18 years old. young women which are faster than young men will stop we have to get a grip around this. the only solution i see is to take the ar-15 tactical assault weapon out of their hands until they are at a proper age where they could use that device and it should be licensed like any car, registered license to the person who purchased it. host: how do you determine that age? caller: 21 years old. something is better than nothing. when you look at young men to jake, that's where we are losing

our future in the streets of america. host: is there a drastic change from the age of 18 to the age of 21? caller: absolutely. at 18 i was not mature. every mother knows and they look at their sons and their activities in the decisions they make. they are not mature. give young men for five more years to get a grip on themselves and find out who they are. it is basic. host: that's brad in tennessee. as far as president biden visiting his gravesite, he did once again visit the grave of his son who died seven years ago monday. he and the first lady attended the half-hour ceremony in delaware and carried a bouquet. after the service, mr. biden

walked slowly to his grave in the church cemetery. he john -- he died on may 30, 2015 and the present will participate in several events for memorial day. he will be at the tomb of the unknown soldier and will be at arlington cemetery. you can find more information on our website, www.c-span.org and go to c-span now and you can watch on the network. let's hear from joe in tennessee, a gun owner. caller: good morning. happy memorial day. my condolences to everybody in texas. everybody is all over the place this morning. a gentleman was talking about using grants. why not take that $45 billion they sent to ukraine and invest in your schools? since all this is happened in chattanooga, tennessee, we had a

shooting last night and six people were shot. two were critical on the other four are hurt pretty bad. i heard about that but just about every week, we have some kind of shooting. it was just now brought up. at 18 years old, i was in the military firing ar 16's, throwing grenades. i guess 18 is too young to be fighting for my country. last night, they had a driver go through 19 people who were run over and two were killed. i haven't heard about that this morning from you. host: we will go to joe in indiana, democratics line. caller: hello c-span and thank

you for answering my call. on this memorial day, in addition to those who have died for our country in war and i am an antiwar activist and i think we should outlaw orbit we should on this memorial day remember all the people who are dying every day in this country because of gun violence. and especially all the people who have died over the past two decades due to weapons of war. i am against those being sold. it doesn't make sense to use them in civil society says they should be banned again. i would like to read the second amendment for those who have not read it. it says eight well-regulated militia, well-regulated, being

necessary to the security of the state, provided the people to bear arms should not be infringed. that's what it says. it's all about the well regulated militia. if we are being attacked by an enemy where people can have guns -- host: that's joe in indiana. a viewer is texting us this morning out of delaware

host: that's just some of you texting us. if you want to make your thoughts known, here are the phone lines. in hamilton, virginia, this is brian, a gun owner, hello. caller: i have owned guns since i was 12. i hunt and i target shoot him it's a great hobby for me. i do believe we need more laws for background checks. virginia was one of the first states to institute thte nics background check. it's not an inconvenience. about a year or so ago, they

enacted a law that private sales must go through a federally licensed firearms dealer for a background check. i have sold a couple of guns that way and it's not a huge inconvenience. host: how long does it take? caller: normally, 15 minutes, as long as you don't get delayed which you can because of your name. you could have a common name like john smith, you will get delayed. normally, it doesn't take very long. host: do you know what would set up concerns as when you do the background check, what would raise the alarm on whether someone should have a gun or not? caller: they check their criminal history, they check for domestic violence. it goes to the state police and the fbi. it's a thorough check. i also would exempt ex military.

if somebody goes in the military at 18, they are trained on her arms. we need better mental health checks for the background. that's these people are falling through the cracks. that to me is the issue. host: let's hear from mike in ohio, democrats line, good morning. mike in ohio, hello? caller: ojai, i just want to say that i'm for stricter background checks and i am for banning the assault rifles. these are weapons of mass destruction. too many kids are getting killed in this country. it's little kids and that's the reason my son took my grand kids

out of school because he scared that something will happen. our governor in the state of ohio never signed in a law where you don't need a concealed carry permit. that's kind of stupid. this country is turning into the wild, wild west. that's all i have to say, thank you for taking my call. host: mark is next, a texan, independent line. caller: yes, god bless all of our veterans. the second amendment makes a lot of sense and i'm in favor of it will stop most americans are extremely responsible but all the schools and school teachers no matter what their college degree, maybe take responsibility test, like a

common sense responsibility test that they are responsible for our children's lives. blocking doors or propping doors open, just for convenience or whatever the reason is wrong and the teacher that does that needs to be licensed or something because it cannot happen anymore. host: when you say responsibility test, how would you determine that? caller: with drivers license, get a drivers license for automobiles but then if you run a red light or something minor like going slow through stop sign, you get pulled over and you need to take a -- you need to complete a driving course. i think teachers need to take a

defensive teaching course right off the bat. driving should be including debt should be included. same thing here. teachers need to be taught better in college i guess. host: let's hear from howard in pennsylvania, republican line. caller: yes, sir. i'm 82 years old my what my first gun when i was 12. i haven't fired a gun in 15 years. i think we have enough laws on the books. all we have to do is enforce them stop we can say uncle joe so he committed a felony so we will sweep it under the. that kind of bull is not dealt with. you cannot march down main street america and say shoot the

pigs. host: we will leave it there so let's go to one more call in missouri, democrats line. before you go and for the remainder of the calls, watch your town. -- what your town - tone. caller: i'm a gun owner and i don't know any hunter that can use an ak-47. we need to have a limit on what kind of guns you can own and the policeman that stood in the hall and let the guy shoot the kids, he had a gun. he had a bigger gun than they did. i will let you go. host: last call for this topic

and that's the end of our show. the president making those remarks about this memorial day on this holiday at about noon. stay tuned to our website for more on that. another addition of "washington journal" comes your way tomorrow at 7:00 a.m., happy memorial day, see you tomorrow. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2022] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2022] announcer: this afternoon, president biden will visit arlington national cemetery for a wreath laying at the tomb of the unknown soldier. he will give remarks at the observance ceremony. you can see live coverage on c-span starting at noon eastern. you can also watch online at c-span.org or watch on c-span

now, our free video app. announcer: c-span's the weekly podcast brings you over 40 years of audio recordings from our library. comparing the events of the past two today. on this episode -- ♪ [booing] that is how bill clinton at the veterans memorial and washington, d.c. may 31, 1993. hail to the chief, applause, and people yelling draft agger. his first memorial day as president, that is what we remember in this episode of the weekly. you can find that on c-span now,

our free mobile app, or wherever you get your podcasts. ♪ announcer: at least a six presidents recorded conversations while in office. hear many of those on our new podcast, presidential recordings. >> season one will focus on lyndon johnson. you will hear about the 1964 civil rights act, the 1964 presidential campaign, the gulf of tonkin incident, the march on selma the war in vietnam. not everyone knew they were being recorded. >> certainly, johnson's secretaries knew because they were tasked with transcribing many of those conversations. in fact, they were the ones that made sure the conversations were taped as johnson would signal to them through an open door between his office and theirs. announcer: you will also hear blunt talk. >> yes, sir?

>> i want the number of people assigned to kennedy when he died and the number assigned to me and if minor not lower, i want them right quick. i will not go anywhere. i will stay behind these black gates. announcer: presidential recordings, find it on the c-span mobile app or wherever you get your podcast. ♪ ♪ announcer: span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded by these television companies and more including comcast. >> you think this is just a community center? it is way more than that. . >> comcast is partnering with a thousand communities centers so students for low income families can get the tools they need to be announcer: ready for anything. comcast supports c-span as a public service along with these other television providers giving you a from proceeding to democracy.