08.06.12 08.06.12 >> from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> we are treating this as a domestic terrorist incident. therefore, the fbi has the resources necessary to investigate. >> 6 sikh more strippers are killed after a white gunman opened fire on a sikh community. >> said things have happened. it is unexpected. we never thought these things

would happen to our temple. people go over there to pray for everybody. unfortunately, this happened. >> we will speak to reporter john nichols in madison, colin goddard, survivor of the virginia tech massacre, and jaisal nor will review his story on 9/11 hate crimes. >> they would affiliate you with bin laden. i would not focus on my education at all. i would focus on the safe. >> all that and more coming up. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

at least seven people are dead following a shooting spree at a sikh temple in oak creek, wisconsin. the attack occurred when a gunman opened fire, killing six people, critically wounding three others, before a police officer shot him dead. authorities have not released the entity of a shooter and it is said that he is a white male who was previously discharged from the army. >> we are treating this as a domestic terrorist-type incident. therefore, the fbi has the resources necessary to investigate that. the police department is assisting 88's of this. >> the attack comes two weeks after the shooting massacre in, that left 15 people dead and 28 injured.

" violence continues to rage in syria where government forces and rebels are clashing in the two main fronts of damascus and aleppo. earlier today, at a bomb struck a building injuring several people. there are reports of 20,000 troops surrounding the city. at the united nations, ban ki moon expressed concern for aleppo residents. >> aleppo, one of the most ancient and storied cities in the world, a unesco world heritage site, is the center of a battle. the acts of brutality that are being reported may constitute crimes against to manatee or war crimes. such acts must be investigated and the perpetrators how to

account. >> the regime meanwhile has suffered in other -- another major defection. riad farid hijab announced he had fled to jordan and joined the syrian opposition. the deadly violence erupted near violence -- egypt's border. the militants were attempting to cross from sinai into israel and ambushed the border guards. israel says the militants were likely planning to capture israeli soldiers on the other side of the border crossing. the egyptian government says foreign fighters carried of the assault. meanwhile in the gaza strip, one palestinian was killed and another wounded in the israeli air strikes. both were members of the popular resistance committee.

officials were due to meet with envoys from the movement to discuss plans to revive the palestinian statehood bid at united nations next month but the israeli government said it would only allow delegates with countries with which it has diplomatic relations, leaving the others to cancel their trip in solidarity. at least 45 been -- people have been killed in a suicide bombing in yemen. the attack targeted a funeral. at least 40 people were arrested in bahrain on friday in a government crackdown on a pro- democracy rally. forces fired tear gas and bird shot to disperse the crowd, wounding at least 45 people. among those detained was zainab

alkhawaja, the daughter of abdulhadi alkhawaja. bahrain is a key u.s. government ally hosting the navy's fifth fleet. japan is commemorating the 67th anniversary of the u.s. bombing of hiroshima today amidst mounting protests over the country's nuclear woes. the acute effects of the 1945 hiroshima bombing eventually killed an estimated 156,000 people. japan, meanwhile, have seen a record number of people take to the streets to demand an end to the use of nuclear power. in a ceremony marking the occasion, officials remembered the bombing. >> with the cataclysmic disaster at the nuclear plant, it has become difficult for humanity for -- to forget.

even now, those try to live with the aftermath of the disaster, their experience of a lapse with those who experienced that day 67 years ago. >> celebrations are being held today in jamaica and around the world celebrated the come into a country's independence. jamaica is celebrating the day with national festivities, as are members of the jamaican t.s. perhaps around the globe. a new study from one of the nation's leading climate scientists concludes the recent spate of extreme weather in the u.s. and around the world cannot be attributed to anything but human cause global warming. the study concludes the odds of extreme temperature occurrences 1ve grown from 1 in 300 to in 100 today.

>> what we have shown is there is a connection to these extreme weather event we have been seeing. the probability of these unusually hot spells, forest fires, and extreme drought increased substantially over the past few decades pay them more than 131 daily heat records were set in the u.s. last month. in an article previewing the study, he writes is no longer enough to say that global warming will increase the likelihood of extreme weather. our analysis shows for the extreme hot weather of the recent past, there is virtually no explanation other than climate change. firefighters continued to battle 18 wildfires in oklahoma amidst the wildfire drought covering most of the united states.

record heat wave in oklahoma has brought the state its highest temperatures since the dust bowl of 1936. oklahoma city set an all-time high on friday with a high of 113 degrees. new figures show the official to unemployment rate rose to 8.3% in july, up from 8.2% the month before. at the white house, president obama welcomed the newly created jobs and said republican policies would only further weaken continued growth. >> we have created 4.5 million jobs over the last 29 months. 1.1 million new jobs this year. those are our neighbors and family members finding work. and the security that comes with work. but let us acknowledge, we still have too many folks out there that are looking for work. we have more work to do on their

behalf. the last thing we should be doing is asking middle-class families, who are already struggling to recover from this recession, to pay more in taxes. >> mitt romney meanwhile seized on the unemployment news saying that president obama's policies have failed. >> the official unemployment number, 8.3%. that is the longest period of time, 42 months, we have had unemployment above 8% in american history. this is an extraordinary record of failure. the president's policies have not worked because he thinks government makes america work. he is ron. >> -- wrong. >> the suspect in arizona's shooting sprees is expected to

plead guilty. jerry loughner was initially declared unfit to stand trial after undergoing psychiatric about elation. he is currently being treated for mental illness. protesters continued to target the fast-food chain chik-fil-a, openlyhe company's owner criticized the marriage of same- sex partners. on friday, activists across the nation held a national kiss-in at locations around the country. >> he is promoting hatred, people need to be in the closet. we are born from all sides. i am ok with someone exercising their first amendment rights, but not if it is hatred against

someone else. >> a nasa science rover has landed safely on mars after an eight-month maturity. the rover, curiosity, had traveled 3.5 million miles as part of the mission. >> landing the mars scientist rover was the most challenging mission ever attempted in the history of robotic planetary exploration. if anybody has been harboring doubts about the status of u.s. leadership in space, there is a one-time automobile-sized piece of american ingenuity sitting on the surface of mars right now, and it should certainly put any such doubts to rest. >> the mexican singer chavela vargas has died at age 83.

she was a musical legend coming out as a lesbian. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. two weeks after the collar bottom of the massacre, another killing spree has stunned the nation. on sunday morning, a gun man entered a sikh temple in oak creek, wisconsin and killed at least six people and wounded 3 others before a police officer shot him dead. cnn is reporting the shooter is a 40-year old white man named wade michael page. the fbi is considering this an act of domestic terrorism. women were preparing a community meal known as a langar, part of the sikh tradition emphasizing equality and common roots. the officials voiced dismay over

the shootings. >> it is very sad the way things have happened. it is unexpected. we never think these things would happen to our temple because the people go there to pray, to pray for everybody. unfortunately, this is really said. >> police initially did not release any details about the dead man or a possible motive for the shooting. abc news, citing anonymous sources, say that the shooting occurred the result of a white supremacist. orders reports that the attacker had a tattoo commemorating the 9/11 attacks. >> this is a domestic terrorist- type of incident, so therefore, the fbi has the resources necessary to investigate. the police department is also

assisting us in the shooting portion of the investigation. >> president obama and mitt romney expressed their condolences for the victims of the shooting. obama said, as we mourn this loss which took place at a house of worship, we are reminded by how much our country has been enriched by sikhs. mitt romney said that this was a tragedy that should never be called a house of worship. many members of the community say the massacre has shaken their sense of security. sikhism is the sixth largest religion in the world. following the september 11, 2001 attacks, sikh americans faced many of the discriminatory conditions that other arabs in the country experienced. because of their appearance, they were often targets of

harassment. in april, the number of threats against sikh americans led congress member joseph crowley of new york to send a letter to eric holder, urging the f.b.i. to collect data on hate crimes committed against the sikh community. according to the letter, two men in california were killed at a temple and another man was beaten in new york. for more, we start in wisconsin. we go to the president of the sikh religious community in washington. he leads a temple in washington 15 miles from the side of the shooting. he was in oak creek until last night. our condolences on the killings and woundings in your community. can you talk about what you understand happened, as you

spent yesterday in oak creek? >> first of all, we are all shocked and saddened by this crime. our sympathy and prayers are with all of the families and victims and all of the police enforcement who came over to rescue. we are hoping the wounded will survive. we are hoping for them. everybody is shocked that we are getting over it. hoping for the best. >> describe the events, as people told you. if you could reconstruct what happened. the name of the shooter came out just as we went to broadcast. according to sources in the army, page in listed in the army and was given an honorable

discharge. served in texas. he was last stationed at fort bragg. the details of his discharge were not immediately clear. >> ultimately, the problem comes down to gun-control. i do not know how many lives it will take before something is done. the matter who the person is, if they did do not have access to guns, hopefully the violence will not be as much as we see today. we have seen this in months before, it has happened time again. someone has to be serious and do something about it. >> yesterday, the morning

prayers were beginning at 11:30. this took place at 10:30 as people were coming to the temple? >> yes, the morning session begins early. people on get there around 8:00, they prepare for the services. the main crowd comes down at around 11:00, and then that goes until 2:00. we were lucky that it was not that crowded. it could've been worse. >> how did people describe him? >> people are describing him pulling into the parking lot and beating to shoot. he shot two people in the parking lot and then went into the praying room in the temple, shot a few people in there. there were people who had locked themselves in the closets and pantries. he went to a nearby room and one

of the priests were there with a few other people. he shot those people. we could not find out all the information until last night. it took a long time before we could find anything about that. even now, we do not know the names of all the victims, other than the president of the temple. >> tell us about the president of the temple, the head priest pete and he survived. he had minor injuries. -- >> he survived. >> and your temple not far from there, gurcharan grewal, former gov. tommy thompson was speaking? >> yes, he was supposed to

speak. he was at our temple for about a half hour. he had to cancel his speech. he had another appointment where he had to go to. we are taking all precautions we can on our side. >> he did not speak because of what took place at pope creek? >> yes, everybody was so shocked. i do not want to politicize this, but he did have another engagement that he had to go to. >> the police officer who shot and killed the gun man, he was also critically wounded? his partner? >> the shooter shot one of the police officers.

he is critically injured. the second officer shot the attacker. he was the one that killed the attacker. the one police officer that is injured is in serious condition. we are praying for him. if those people were not there, the situation could happen a lot worse. >> the gun-control laws in wisconsin. can you explain how they work? how strict are they? >> it is all over the country, not just wisconsin. somebody has to get serious about this, as i said before. i do not know how many lives will take before something is done. i do not know when we will wake up and start to think about it. and there are people with problems, but if they did not have easy access to automatic

rifles and things like those, i think we would do good for the community. >> gurcharan grewal, thank you for being with us. when they come back, we will be joined by the head of the sikh washington coalition. [♪]

>> ek omkar - rang de basanti. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are joined by john nichols, political writer for "the nation. " welcome to democracy now!. talk further about what took place at the oak creek temple, where the gun man, who has now been named reidy cnn says it is believed he was a way to premises, was in the army. cbs is now reporting that he was at a psychological unit at fort bliss as well as another unit. wade michael page is his name. talk about the sikh community. >> wisconsin has deep roots with india. the sikh community has been there for a long time.

the university of wisconsin was very welcoming two sikh scholars over the year. as a result, this area has an old sikh community. it has grown tremendously in the past few years, particularly in milwaukee along south side near oak creek. one of the deep tragedies of this shooting is that many of the people who were killed or wounded yesterday were folks who had built the temple. in fact, they had built that community over several decades. this is a deep loss, but it is also a deep loss for the neighboring community. a state legislature -- legislator in the area were literally breaking down in tears. one of the reasons is, this community is very integrated, has been a part of the milwaukee

area, and has done of lot of outreach to political leaders. amazingly enough, yesterday morning, at the same time that this shooting was taking place, tommy thompson of the bush administration, was speaking at another sikh temple 20 miles away. >> in fact, we were just speaking with the leader of that temple who said, at the end, he did not speak, because they were learning about what took place. the tradition in wisconsin with the sikh community? >> and aware and unconscious tradition, not an unspoken one. sikh scholars came to the states. obviously, he was none of this faith, but he went to the university of wisconsin during the days of the colonial struggle.

there are connection that go back in a deep way. i do want to emphasize this particular community we are talking about, the temple that was attacked, was largely made up of recent immigrants, folks that had come to wisconsin and had become successful in a variety of businesses and also in medicine and academia. this is a remarkable community. i have been in this area, at that temple. frankly, i have to tell you, most people in public life in wisconsin, most people in gauged in public life in wisconsin, were aware of this and other sikhs in our state. >> we're also joined by the president of the sikh coalition in washington, d.c.

talk about how you learned about what was happening yesterday and how this fits into the larger picture of what is happening to sikhs in america. >> we learned about it like everyone else. we were shocked to see the news reports breaking over the tv networks and on social media. as we continue to learn more about the assailant and his motives, we are going to have to start thinking about the larger context of hate crimes and other forms of discrimination against sikhs and others in the post- 9/11 environment. >> talk about what has happened to the sikh community since the 9/11 attacks. >> unfortunately, the prevailing stereotype, which has been perpetuated by the media, is that if someone wears a turban,

they are associated with extremism. that is obviously not the case. unfortunately, ignorance is a breeding ground for bigotry and discrimination and sikhs have been subjected to not only crimes but school bullying, job discrimination, and racial profiling. >> the number of incidents of hate crimes against sikhs. can you talk about specific instances and what authorities are doing about them? >> it is very difficult to give an exact number of hate crimes involving sikhs, in part, because the fbi does the document and crimes against sikh americans. we know anecdotally they have been targeted. one of the first high-profile casualties of 9/11 backlash was a sikh gentleman who was shot

and killed on september 15, 2001 by somebody in arizona. over the years, from time, there have been similar incidents. you mentioned some of them earlier in the show. last year, two elderly men were shot and killed outside of sacramento in what authorities believe to be a hate crime. unfortunately, just when we think things have sort of abated, we get another rude shock and realize we still have a lot of work to do. >> rajdeep singh, talk about the history of your religion, to introduce us to your community. >> the sikh religion is the fifth largest religion in the world with about 25 million adherents throughout the world. it was founded over five

centuries ago in south asia. essentially, the fundamental pillars of the sikh religion is that there is one god and all human beings are credit equal, regardless of their gender, race, other categories. for us, what matters is that we're human first and the content of our character as human beings ought to be of importance to people, not our religious labels and other affiliations. >> what brought sikhs to america? >> they began to migrate to the u.s. at the end of the 19th century. many of them settled on the west coast and worked as farmers and laborers. in fact, there were eight incidents. there were actually race riots in which sikhs were targeted in

the early part of the 20 century. notwithstanding some of the bigotry and overt hostility, they built successful careers as farmers, professionals, agriculturalists. people are not aware that sikhs have been in this country for over a century. we are thriving in the profession we pursue, but ironically, we are still facing the existential challenges in the form of hate crimes and other forms of discrimination. >> can you talk about your dress, one man shoes to wear a turban? >> it is a religious requirement for a sikh men. it is something which signifies a commitment to upholding the traditions and principles of the sikh religion. sort of a declaration of a sikh

identity and says to the world, we are sikhs, we are bound to our traditions, and we are committed to protecting people against any form of tyranny or oppression. what is ironic for us is, ideologically speaking, sikhs are among the most american of americans. i believe in religious pluralism, and justice for all. the turban is something that signifies the commitment to those values. nevertheless, we continue to be regarded as something them -- other than american in this country. >> what are you hoping now will come out of this or which took place in wisconsin? what are you calling for? >> in the near term, we hope the families of the victims get

support from their friends and neighbors, within the sikh community and outside of. in the long term, we hope we can have a much needed dialogue in this country about religious pluralism, diversity, appreciation of diversity, the need to not just accept each other but also appreciate each other. >> i want to thank you for joining us, rajdeep singh. i know that you have to move bond. i wanted to continue our coverage of the massacre at the sikh temple in wisconsin. we now know the name of the gun man. his name is wade michael page. he was in the military. accept each other but also appreciate each cbs reporting that he was in psychological operations at fort bliss and also for bragg in

north carolina. since then, the details of his discharge or not clear. he joined the military in 1992, honorable discharge in 1998. we want to turn then now to jail noor. your family is sikh. but in the last few years, you did a report on the sikh community. >> absolutely. to be clear, is important to say that these things happen before 9/11, but since then, they have definitely picked up. it is important to understand the sikh to community, right no, friends and family i have talked to run the country, are deeply scared. my thoughts go up to the community in washington --

wisconsin, but it could've been anywhere. >> where are the largest sikh populations in the u.s.? >> california, new york. the largest amount of hate crimes against sikhs have been in new york, los angeles, and washington. >> there is a significant community in wisconsin as well. our thoughts and prayers go out to the sikh community and muslim community. we often hear that the sikhs are confused as muslims, and there is a thought that it is somehow ok to target muslims as well. various organizations have come out in support of sikhs and standing with the community.

>> i want to look at this piece that you did before the attack. jaisal did this piece for us last year about the sikhs in the united states. >> on september 11, 2001, members of the sikh american community mourn the tragic events but they soon became afraid for their own community. they have beards and turbans and are afraid of their own safety. >> honestly, before i even began to let what was happening sink in and understand what was happening, the tragedy, i already felt fear about backlash. >> he says while growing up in north carolina, community members singled him out because of his appearance, but such

incidents increased dramatically after the attacks. >> after 9/11, and the bigotry and harassment became a lot more intense. it went from being something that i had experienced every once in awhile to something i would experience every day. >> across the country, sikhs, along with others associated with muslims or south asian for targeted. >> once we receive reports that members of the community in new york city were being physically attacked, in the cases of two communities, chased in the street near the trade -- world trade center sites. we issued a press release on the night of 9/11 sang the sikh

communities of new york are calling on the police to protect us from hate crimes. >> four days later in arizona, a sikh immigrant was shot and killed on his front lawn in what authorities called a a crime. >> the federal government refuses comment to this date, to specifically track hate crimes against sikhs. there were two gentlemen who were shot and killed in elk grove, california and prosecutors believe it was a hit crime but those two men do not have the dignity of being a statistic. if we are not tracking a problem, how can you help solve it, if you do not understand it? >> although physical attacks have subsided, many are still intimidated. 75% of sikh used in san

francisco reported experiencing bullying. >> you would expect to be called a terrorist. they would affiliate you with bin laden. they made my education miserable. i was not focused on my education. i was just focused on being safe and getting home. >> in one incident, he says he was chased down and beaten by classmates. >> he was basically hitting my head into a metal pole. i fell down on the ground at that moment because it really hurt. i got a bump on my head the them the media has neglected covering attacks on muslims and sikhs and others after the attacks. >> we are convinced the media

has done a willful job of covering the stories of our community post-9/11. >> the sikh community has launched a website. using videos and photos, it features the personal stories of people who were discriminated against. organizers say it is a way to have their store remembered. >> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. jaisal noor is here with us in the studio. you aired this fourth anniversary of the september 11 attacks last year the them i felt like the attacks on the sikh community was one of the greatest untold stories. three days before this piece aired on democracy now!, there was a hate crime incident in north carolina which caught virtually no coverage.

that was two days before the anniversary. in a store owned by sikhs in north carolina, the words go home, terrorists, were spray- painted on the side of the building. for a lot of the sikhs, this was a tragic and unexpected, but the warning signs were there. many members of the sikh community live in fear of the sort of thing happening. >> wade michael page is coming out as the name of the shooter. he was less than honorably discharged from the army, a word that he could be a white supremacist. >> the fact he is a veteran is significant. my first thought, when i heard this happen, is that in my have been a veteran. i have a family member who works

closely in the hospitals. he has been singled out, threatened himself. he wears a turban and has a beard. as part of a series that i did for free-speech medium news, on the 10th anniversary of september 11, i did a story about muslims and veterans after 9/11. this man accused of this crime, i know he was not a reason veteran. he served two decades ago. but we have more than 2 million veterans who had served in the last 10 years, afghanistan and iraq, and they are coming home and are not getting the support they need from our society. they have been exposed to a tremendous amount of violence. we cannot disconnect our foreign policy abroad, the violence that we have wreaked upon the world, and think that that will not come back. when these soldiers come back,

they bring those experiences with them. >> president obama expressed condolences, mitt romney talked about the census -- senseless act. >> calling it a senseless act is a disservice to the victims. this happened on a morning of a sikh day of prayer. this was clearly planned. the attacker knew the time when the sikh community would be gathering. this was a plan and target attack, we should be clear. also by calling it a senseless act, we are not acknowledging the problem we have in this country of whites to criticism, racial violence against all people of color -- suprematism, racial violence against all people of color. that is a discussion we need to have. the matter if you are african- american, muslim, or latino, this is a problem all over. in suburban and city areas as

well. >> thank you for being with us. when we come back, we are going to talk about gun control, in wisconsin and run the country. john nichols will stay with us in wisconsin. and we will be joined by colin goddard, a victim of the virginia tech massacre. he was shot four times.

us in wisconsin. and we will >> "enola gay" by utah phillips. in allowing gay was the bomb dropped on hiroshima. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we continue our coverage of a shooting and sikh temple and

wisconsin. the command has been identified as wade michael page. the incident is being treated as a domestic terrorist event. page in listed in 1982, was given a less than honorable discharge in 1998. he served in fort bliss, texas in 1994. he was last stationed at fort bragg in south carolina, attached to a psychological unit. the details of his discharge were not clear. police believe he used a 9 millimeter semiotic handgun that was recovered by the scene. the shooting came just over two weeks after the suspect james holmes shot dead 12 people and injured 58 at a screening of "the dark night rises" in colorado. despite the mass killings, nancy pelosi says she does not expect

congress to pass any gun-control laws. to talk more about the state of gun control, we are joined by two guests. colin goddard, survivor of the rigid tech massacre. -- virginia tech massacre. john nichols remained with us from madison, wisconsin. colin, we just had you on two weeks ago after the horror that took place in aurora. now we have this next mass killing. >> we cannot continue to keep having the same conversation over and over again after these shooting where we just express our abilities, look around at how this could have happened, and leave it at that. we have had 61 as shootings since congresswoman giffords was shot. americans are beginning to

realize that we can do better. they are demanding a conversation, demanding that everyone offers a real solutions to this problem because it is continuing and it is all our problems. >> john nichols, talk specifically about the gun control laws in wisconsin. >> it is interesting. historically, wisconsin has had pretty strict gun-control laws. wisconsin is a hunting estate. always comfortable with long rifles, many failures grew up in a hunting tradition. but there was a good set of restrictions on where those guns when and how they were transported. now many of those laws have been wiped out. the current legislature has a concealed and carry law which allowed people to carry a gun with them pretty much wherever

they want to go, except for some minor limitations, and there is also a stand your ground law, which allows folks to shoot someone who comes on their turf and is interpreted as saying that you can in cutter someone that you've got threatened by. this is an portent thing in gun- control. limitations, and there is also a stand your groundwhen yon you feel uncomfortable, you are somehow justified in taking out a gun and shooting folks. in this country, we talk a lot about religious freedom. religious freedom involves a right to feel safe in your place of worship. frankly, to express your religious traditions in the streets. this is a very old and deep- rooted american concept, and yet, when you have a situation where someone might imagine they are written by someone

different, lax gun laws and a signal coming from government that it is somehow a ok to respond violently to a sense of a threat -- this is a dangerous pattern not just in wisconsin but across the country. people need to be thinking about a lot more. >> the kinds of laws that colin is talking about in wisconsin, can you give us a map in this country, the trend around gun laws? >> the trend has not been moving in the right direction, unfortunately. now it is easier to buy a deadly weapon that were used in numerous killings, semiautomatic weapons, weapons that hold 100 rounds. things are moving, as the previous commentator mentioned, in a more liberal direction that is more prone to use violence rather than resolving things

peacefully. clearly, he should never have had a gun in the first place. the american people want this. continually, polls show the average american person wants something to change, and it needs to happen. we cannot keep having these discussions and debates over again, looking at each other for solutions. we know we can do things and improve things. this is clearly a problem we continue to have in this country. >> since we last spoke, since the colorado massacre, at the united nations, the arms trade treaty was torpedoed by the obama administration. a regular presence during the bush creations was wayne lapierre of the national rifle

association, who has a lot of influence. we see there affect in trying to stop any regulation of weapons worldwide. talk about who you are up against when you walk the halls of congress for the brady campaign to stop gun violence. having survived the beginning tech massacre. in the case of that massacre, did the shooter had his guns legally? >> the person who shot may should have never had guns in the first place. he had a no mental illness. he was allowed to pass a background check because we have missing information in that system. that is a danger to every single person. we're up against an industry. people who profit when others purchased .... we have to engage the citizens

here to drown out the gun lobby, the industry that profits from shootings like this. we will have 32 americans murdered tomorrow with fire arms. more money will be made up of that. more money will be made after gun sales surge, when fears are stroked by groups like the national rifle association. it is beyond time for a solution, beyond time that americans come together to say that we are better than this. it is time for officials to show us how we are better than this. >> how many people did you say die of gun violence every day in the u.s.? >> 32 americans every day, including murders and suicides. >> john nichols, would you like to comment on the arms trade

treaty? it is not only about setting policy for the united states but is the largest producer, exporter, importer of weapons. at the last minute of these negotiations, the u.s. torpedoed it, while the rest of the world supported it. >> it is deeply unsettling. we have to be concerned about president obama and republicans. it has been said recently that the gun control issue has been taken off the table. it was taken off the table by republicans, but democrats who restored the were more favorable to good control, but in recent years, have become hyper cautious about the issue. i do think there is a political component here. talk also want to talk about something that colin said. there is a for-profit industry, but there is also a political industry that has developed

around this issue. we have spoken about the american legislative exchange council. that group has worked closely with the nra and the american gun industry, state by state, to make laws dramatically more lax. i cannot emphasize that enough. in addition to the legal component, there is a signal sent when you are passing laws state after state that plows and encourages gun ownership, the carrying of guns, i think you create a culture and sensibility that is unsettling, and frankly, not a healthy one, at odds with the community we are speaking about today. after these shootings occurred, the sikh community in milwaukee at this time of reorganized itself and began distributing food and water to the journalists, police officers, to the crowd that had gathered.

there is a tradition of welcoming and hospitality. i just think it is important to understand that we want that in america. we want to welcome, we want to be open to other folks. the notion that somebody might be concealing a gun as we welcome them is something that americans should think about and the unsettled by. >> colin goddard, when is the single most important piece of legislation that should be passed dealing with gun violence in this country? ownership, the carrying of guns, i think you >> there is no one thing that will solve the problems. there are numerous things. our gun laws are so weak in so many areas. after all the different types of shootings, different situations, it all comes down to, a gun was used. it would have been a different situation if he had a knife in his hands. it does matter what you have in your hands. >> we have to leave it there, colin goddard.

thank you. that does it for the broadcast. that does it for the broadcast.