from colorado is an n.r.a. member and has a penchant for high caliber weapons i grew up in a household were if i was a good kid and i did all my chores and i did what my parents asked me to do i would actually get incentive by them giving me ammunition to shoot by a 22 caliber rifle. honestly the main thing i worry about is that someone is going to endanger myself or my family or my friends and do i have the ability to protect myself and those i care about around because unfortunately as you very well know where you are uniformed france it's a big bad world out there. alan also trains other n.r.a. members in his free time he expects actions not just words for his $1500.00 lifelong membership or state senator john morse concedes in his recall race tonight's historic vote leading to the 1st recall in state history national rifle

association is attempting to coordinate the recall of a state legislator who is being punished as he goes for passing gun restriction legislation in his state. democrat john morse spent 7 years as a state senator in colorado shortly after his appointment as president of the senate in 2013 he successfully proposed new legislation to restrict the sale of assault weapons the n.r.a. retaliated by launching an initiative to force morse and other legislators out of office via a recall vote. in december of that same 2012 newtown happened and we had. nearly 2 dozen people killed there most of them 6 and 7 year old children so our sessions. in january and i knew that we needed to do something about gun

violence in colorado since much of that violence that occurred here in colorado so by that time the n.r.a. had gin up support for its position and so one of the days when we heard these bills in the senate they surrounded the capitol with about 20 cars that just drove around the block from about 8 30 in the morning until about midnight that night just honking their horns trying to disrupt the hearings so gun lobby did a great job of making it look like people were really opposed to these mass of these measures senate president john morse is taking come true full and in the wrong direction forces pushing major changes strictly list for the n.r.a. invested over a $1000000.00 in a media campaign to oust the state senate president to protect paid for the

national rifle association committee to restore coloradans winnings this is pretty much their standard stick you know i mean they just lie cheat and steal and for whatever reason too many americans buy into it in as a result too many americans and the dead just pure lies all the way through but you can see it's just marketing and there's very little that's very specific in there you know morse is going to give us freedom how is that even possible. after serving careers in the police force and then in politics morris now works as a certified accountant in denver colorado but he continues to observe how the n.r.a. has been increasing its political clout in the state senate and house of representatives . you know my biggest disappointment in losing was that it sent a very clear message to elected officials around the country that if you do

anything even if it's just common sense gun safety we took out the president of the colorado states we can take us to and it has worked. there hasn't been much in the way of gun law changes in the entire country since what we did and we did barely anything and the fact that it actually costs human lives and we're willing to pay that cost i mean it makes me ashamed very ashamed to be an american at this point in time. when john morse had to leave office in 2013 the n.r.a. was headed by david keene an experienced strategist considered a powerful opponent and then president barack obama he has since openly acknowledged his role in the removal of the colorado senate leader claiming that there was simply too much at stake back then. we would i went out there lobbied against it. as did every other organization 2nd amendment that was very important

in that in that whole battle that was going on. because you could almost hear state house doors all over the country closing. where they were saying oh no it's not something that we should be looking at because the fact is that there are consequences to to to to passing legislation that really riles up your constituency political revenge and the demonstration that if you if you go against the 2nd amendment there's a price to be paid. the n.r.a. tries to ensure its opponents pay that price and that politicians and public officials are aware of that threat. the conservative state of texas had never caused major problems for the n.r.a. people in the south have traditionally been firm supporters of the 2nd amendment.

so the emergence of opposition to the gun lobby here came as something of a surprise a few weeks before the midterm elections in 2018 the city of austin hosted a debate on gun violence former soldier and n.r.a. critic stephen claiming ran for election in the texas state senate. you know that you can ignore me no no no i was. his grassroots activism made him a popular candidate and despite pressure from the lobbyists he was not afraid to confront the n.r.a. and make guns the key theme of his campaign. i just you know ari is really just a lobbying organization for the firearms industry they make billions and billions of dollars in this the united states a very unique and open market where nothing strays like that makes the united states it's one reason the united states is the foremost export of weapons both

legally and illegally and i would stress the last i care about moral clarity and i care about making sure that we give a voice to the people but haven't had one of the n.r.a. wants to come in here and challenge me i'll take that challenge any day. among those participating in the forum discussion who are a former police officer and a number of victims of gun violence as well as public officials all of them determined to bring about change every year the united states registers up 260000 incidents involving firearms in 2019 they cost the lives of almost 15000 people and left 28000 others injured or in most states reaching the age of 18 in titles you to purchase a gun. and without having to prove that you can use one responsibly many americans say those laws are too lax but the n.r.a. makes a huge effort to ensure that those laws are not compromised it invests millions of

dollars into the election campaigns of politicians to ensure that the status quo is maintained. so this is a picture of the incumbent senator donna campbell she's chosen not to be here today she felt like this wasn't a friendly forum we tried to give her assurances that we would be respectful and that we will listen to all sides of this issue her position isn't really but she doesn't really have a position she defers to the n.r.a. for her position and that i think is part of the problem is they use their heavy handed tactics when it comes to. our elections are pouring money into them and overwhelming the other side of the argument with with money oftentimes foreign money is a big part of the problem and why are legit our gun legislation is don't reflect the popular will. the n.r.a. is constant push for political leverage has given a major boost to the careers of prominent members of congress in washington the majority of them republicans. the n.r.a.

spends a considerable amount of its resources in influencing our lawmakers in order to prevent them from cathy or even proposing gun legislation. senator john mccain for example received $8000000.00 richard burr from north carolina $7000000.00 roy blunt representing missouri 4 and a half 1000000 and marco rubio from florida $3000000.00 for the gun lobby also donated 30000000 dollars to donald trump's $26000.00 election campaign an investment that paid off. the true friendship of the white house no longer federal agencies becoming after a loss. abiding gun owners. behind the scenes that political influence is meticulously documented by the n.r.a. and elected politicians are assessed according to their usefulness to the gun lobby

and those grades have a big impact on their chances of reelection. and ari does rate political candidates and elected officials on a scale that we rate our school children on so a is good at is bad and all of the major candidates will get an n.r.a. rating which they often do is they take all the speeches that the person running for office has done they have people that work for them at the n.r.a. and they scanned all of the speeches and of course you can do this on computers as well for any type of comments that might seem negative and you know just a few negative comments is enough to you know basically push their button and they go after you so you know typically if you want to a plus you have to basically you know bow down to the n.r.a. you have to basically come out and you know in favor of the 2nd amendment without any types of restrictions but i want to say at the outset that from there mark you

just heard this is a guy that gets it you know think you do this is donald trump's later chief of staff ryan's priebus back in 2013 this is a guy that built and helped elect the kind of people that electrified this crowd today you need great mechanics and you need great candidates need them thank you very much god bless you have. probably. endorsed about $1400.00 candidates each year that it various levels if you have an incumbent who's in a rated. office holder and a challenger who's a rated then the incumbent gets the advantage because his record is real because he didn't just park. he or she did they actually voted. it's not uncommon for children in the u.s. to learn to shoot a gun before they can read and write. just outside of austin texas we find what is

for gun reform activists a shocking example of elementary education 6 year old kate. about school she struggled with you and your 1st time when you were 4 right yes. first time shooting. a shop at target and the picture on the cover is kate with her $22.00 caliber rifle so this is the one that she shoots the most as what she kind of started with is easy for her to use it because it is very small and lightweight. and he fits her pretty well kerry should get it right she did it. oh absolutely. there she is with a rifle. she trained jujitsu and she does ballet and other things that helped develop the strength that she would need to have your goal i mean i don't know it's

sunday morning and a group of families made up that a shooting range. kate and her friends have come out here to the desert with their parents to let off a bit of steam. but this is no toy gun so her dad gives her some practice lessons so let's do the 1st one dry ok. target for us. ok good more. of the targets and i am pretty ok nice work. the children here are aged between $6.12 texas has no minimum age for firing guns kates $22.00 caliber rifle it does not have a strong recoil but it's as deadly as most other common firearms. but a nice piece that gave them days out loud they don't shoot game play where did i get all the time. i like can't be counted when.

you want this shot tonight kate's gun is a semi automatic a r 15 which is not just the weapon of choice for some elementary school girls similar guns were used in parkland and the pittsburgh synagogue shooting in 2018 as well as notorious mass killings in las vegas orlando semed bernadino and the sandy hook elementary school shooting each ended the lives of dozens of people americans now own an estimated $15000000.00 a ar 15 s which has become an almost iconic symbol of the gun control debate some states have age restrictions up to 21 to buy handguns but not in our 50 and so you can buy a ar 15 legally when you're 18 again all you can do you don't have to show any ability to be able to use it you don't have to show you know any sort of real mental competency you know you you there's no waiting period to get one either walked out with a ar 15 and

a 100 rounds of ammunition 20 minutes later. the same guy you can't go buy a 6 pack of beer there is no better fire on the from their homes against realistic threats than your 15 semiautomatic it's easy to learn. i think there are 2 reasons people find these attractive one and it gives the sense of power 2nd people are also afraid well if you limit that weapon then you allow limits on other weapons too so there is this purity this sense that we have to have no limits at all which is what the n.r.a. argues the n.r.a. does not defend the a r 15 as the a r 15 they defend the right to all or all guns it's become a focus in america now because people who want to enforce gun control say that there's really no reason for someone to have an ar 15 there's no good reason and they're not great for hunting. it what it really is purpose is to kill the maximum

amount of things in the smallest amount of time. the biggest donor to the n.r.a. is the arms industry itself various companies make direct financial contributions confident that their investments will bring their own kind of dividends. connecticut based group makes no secret of the fact that it diverts $2.00 to the n.r.a. from every weapons totaling $4000000.00 over a period of 2 years just one of countless examples that explain why the lobby group boasts an annual budget of a quarter of a $1000000000.00 money that ultimately translates into a handsome payback for the arms trade. the obvious reason the manufacturers would give to the n.r.a. is because the air n.r.a. drive sales i mean every time there was a shooting. people would buy more guns because they thought this is the one where they're going to start taking away our guns and they're going to start making it harder to buy guns. and sounding that alarm was the n.r.a. the n.r.a.

was driving those sales. and so it's no surprise that gun manufacturers and gun shops would have these arrangements where they give back a portion of the profits to the n.r.a. . and in return the n.r.a. promotes the sale of firearms in the u.s. which amount to around $3000000.00 guns every year but that's not all the n.r.a. exert its influence on lawmakers to ensure that votes on legislation go the right way in 2005 for example congress passed a law exempting arms manufacturers from liability should their products be used in a crime for the n.r.a. its biggest triumph on the legal front in recent history. when the bill is passed last amended. we lobbied congress very heavily we made it

a priority we judge people on the basis of their position on that. ultimately they agreed and they supported the. republicans and democrats alike it was a very important to the foreign ministry and it was very important to american gun owners and very important to the to the survival of the 2nd amendment as something real what it has served to end up doing really is for moving guns from the conversation so it was impossible to talk about guns and relations in these mass shootings and you see that now today sort of the chain reaction of events of consequence is that there was a commission stood up to such studies school safety in the wake of parkland and last week that sort of os who is the secretary of education who's the head of the commission announced that they weren't going to look at guns they weren't going to talk about guns at all with regards to school safety. and she cited this act as part of it the say well you can't you can't blame guns say you know we have

an act in congress that says guns aren't the problem here is or it's this whole guns don't kill people people kill people argument that you know it's just because the bad person who had a gun the gun has nothing to do with it and so the n.r.a. really pushed it again to protect the manufacturers that are. giving them money that are supporting them. the n.r.a. is shapes the national agenda and has ensured that firearms have become sacrosanct and an inviolable right. the lobby's young critics want to challenge that. like 60 percent of americans they want to see new stipulations on the purchase of weapons a clean police record and they want to ban on the sale of assault weapons to those under the age of $21.00 today those young activists are protesting outside congress in washington. st thomas and. jonathan

who waved. and since the parkland high school shooting survivors have attended a number of demonstrations to mark new killing spree together with other gun reform activists they want their fellow americans to sense their anger and frustration over the government's inaction. i am tired of politicians who sat down there were 4 before actually sitting down and having this discussion i'm tired of interim leadership good lord mocking but don't bounce awareness in bashing young people who are changing the world. marcel mcclinton from texas is part of a gun violence prevention group today he's organized a diane in symbolic memory of the parkland massacre a demonstration that is also an indictment. those who are dying by massive bodies will visit you later on and you may. want to write your. 100 year old

ones knowing how building bridges with your son of a capital makes so much money from the n.r.a. what you don't care about they only care about the money and they speak on behalf of how dollars they get and i want to have to go to the wall he said if you want to consider also what. marcel mcclinton has himself experienced the horrors of a mass shooting in his hometown of houston in 2016 he recalls how the murderous rampage began one sunday morning. 2 years ago in my church and there was a shooter on on the campus. it was outside of the parking lot and. he killed i think just one person but injured 6 and i want to say you've shot 2 police officers were there 15 this sounds going to your head and. says you know what. at the time i get i didn't get into government activism i didn't think

anything of it. it's this gusting as a country as we call ourselves the leading country in the world and yet we kill most of our people and i say we call our people because our politicians are the ones who are nothing about it and so there's blood on their hands and yet they have the nerve the audacity to say that we're the number one country in the world i know i think i'm proud to be an american i love their lives i wouldn't live anywhere else but it's sad that as a country we can't come together as one and say this is a problem let's fix it. marcel mcclinton and his fellow activists know that bringing about change is immensely difficult his native texas is a stronghold of the gun lobby and it was no coincidence that the n.r.a. chose dallas to host its annual convention in 2018 the organization boasted of $80000.00 freedom loving patriots attending the event including guest of honor donald trump. the president pledged his unwavering support to make his point

about gun ownership he mimicked the budget plan massacre they killed 89 people in paris in 2015 they were brutally killed by a small group of terrorists this. they took their tongue and gun them down one by one whom oh come over here boom come over here boom oh but if you want to employ. we're just going to take she had a gun. or everyone with her in this room. had been there was going. to record. the to loose would have been shot and it would have been a whole different story thank you. both in the short run he's a very good president for the n.r.a.

because he does their bidding he does what they want in the long run he's a terrible president for the n.r.a. because he's a useful adversary to mobilize the other side right with the n.r.a. really would like would be someone like george w. bush because george w. bush is a gun owner a gun user but he's not so offensive to people on the other side don't worry about the n.r.a. the rumors you guys hear for yourself through to the n.r.a. there's nothing to be afraid of i think the clearest example of how the. n.r.a. influences present time the trouble ministration is the fact that you have the president sit down with members of congress at that meeting at the white house that was televised and you had you know the president sit with some of the victims from parkland and from other shootings. and appear open to the policy ideas that would specifically help reduce easy access to guns we wanted to work

with the youth. in the middle somebody and then that evening he had dinner with wayne la pierre and chris cox from the n.r.a. and we've never heard. about any of these policy ideas ever again. but those ideas have not been forgotten by young gun control advocates who have managed to secure some progress. students at the florida high school that was the site of the shootings are taking a road trip for change florida has now raised the age limit on buying a ar 15 guns from $18.00 to $21.00 courts in the state can have weapons taken away from individuals considered potentially dangerous but tyra hammonds and other activists are already planning the next steps in their campaign of prevention which also involves calling for action from the nation's centers for disease control and

we have our template policy which is the c.d.c. saying that they need to understand that this is an epidemic that is happening and it's crucial because they still don't believe that this is a problem in our society so they have not made it a priority to let the public know that gun violence is a huge topic that is or what we've been doing a 2nd is the safe storage policy that we want parents to know that we've got to keep your body see and believe the 1st part of the gun owners should know where your gun is because you are the one who talked to the store and purchase it and you're the one who walked out and he's only responsible and of course universal background checks there's a couple more but like those are these are made in. place sooner survivors of parkland and other school shootings are now adding their voices about rage to the debate on the country's gun laws but so far those voices have been falling on deaf or closed ears meaningful reforms still seem unattainable but the n.r.a. is not lowering its guard because this younger generation is determined to see a less violent and safer america. they're able to keep up. their call

they're able to mobilize people they become public figures. when i talk to people who work for america they they often ask me you know why don't you just. get rid of them i don't know why you make guns illegal i try to remind people that there are so many calves we have so many hundreds of millions of guns in america. that's beginning to change because the way change happens in american society is we go into a part of the cycle people see how bad it is and then they revolt the other way this is the beginning of something moving forward we'll see that change there is plenty that can be done short of banning guns that could happen in the future it's just a question of you know are we out of the inflection or are we at a point where it actually is changing. or is the n.r.a.

going to remain the powerful institution of the day it's america's deadly love of guns is hugely divisive an ongoing battle for power corporate influence and money. from. beirut 2 months after the devastating explosion at the port. it affected countless people including many artists studios and galleries have been destroying their creative work in pageant water mains music and i think lebanese government. 3000. and 30 minutes on d w. d coke for. those symbols of long.

gray crowned cranes bring good fortune to the environment to my last gig in kenya their numbers are sinking dramatically. now volunteers are go. locals interested in protecting these majestic good luck charms. every 2 seconds a person is forced to flee their home. the consequences of the disastrous our documentary series displaced depicts dramatic humanitarian crises from around the world. focus thing we don't have time to think i didn't go to university to kill people who don't know i threw it back in february and hang. people feel for

their lives and their future so they seek refuge abroad but what will become of those who stay behind. displaced starts october 16th on d.w. . this is it on the news and these are our top stories the u.s. is urging a peaceful solution and restraint in kurdistan it's faced violence since sunday's parliamentary election handed a big gains to allies of pro russian president soren baiji backoff protesters say the vote was manipulated they stormed government buildings after at least one person had died in clashes with security forces.