05/25/22 05/25/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! pres. biden: as a nation, we have to ask when in god's name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? when in god's name do we do it we all know in our got needs to be done? >> i am here on this floor beg, to literally get down on my

hands and knees to beg my colleagues, find a path forward here. amy: as families buried loved ones killed in the buffalo massacre, a gunman in texas shot dead 19 children and two teachers tuesday in an elementary school in uvalde, texas, the deadliest since almost a decade ago. democrats are demanding action on gun control, while trump and republican lawmakers are set to address the national rifle association's annual meeting friday in houston. we will speak with nicole golden of texas gun sense, michael spies, and with manny oliver, father of joaquin, one of 17 students killed in the 2018 massacre at marjory stoneman douglas high school in parkland, florida. >> this is not only an issue

that happened in a parkland, right now while we are talking, there's another shooter planning to do this -- actually, maybe right now someone just died because of it. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. 19 children and two teachers were shot dead at an elementary school in texas in the city of alde on tuesday. the attack on the robb elementary school was carried out by an 18-year-old who attended uvalde high school. families have begun sharing the names of some of the victims. they include nine-year-old uziyah garcia. nine-year-old amerie jo garza. 10-year-old jose flores. 10-year-old xavier lopez. 10-year-old annabell guadalupe rodriguez.

and two fourth grade teachers, eva mireles and irma garcia. robb elementary school is a school with about 600 students in just three grades -- second, third, and fourth. the school is about 90% latinx. thursday was scheduled to be the last day of class for the year. the school district's superintendent hal harrell spoke on tuesday. >> my heart is broken today. our small community. we need your prayers to get through this. amy: the gunman has been identified as salvador ramos. he reportedly bought at least one of his guns on his 18th birthday, a few days ago. he was shot dead in the school. earlier in the day, he shot and critical he shot and critical wounded his grandmother. tuesday's attack was the deadliest school shooting since the massacre at sandy hook in connecticut when a 20-year-old

gunman shot dead 26 people, including 20 childrebetween the ages of six and seven. on tuesday night, president biden addressed the nation. pres. biden: as a nation, we have to ask, when in god's name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? when in god's name will we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done? amy: the shooting in uvalde came just 10 days after an 18-year-old self-described white supremacist attacked a grocery store in the heart of buffalo's african-american community. he shot dead 10 people, all of whom were black. on tuesday, a funeral was held for 65-year-old celestine chaney. today the senate will hold a confirmation hearing for stephen. about to have the bureau of alcohol, firearms, explosives. the agency has been without a permit leader for seven years.

in the past, he has supported the federal assault weapons ban and universal background checks. voters went to the polls for primaries in georgia, alabama, arkansas, and texas on tuesday. georgia's republican governor brian kemp and secretary of state brad raffensperger both won their primaries, defeating challengers endorsed by donald trump. governor kemp, who defeated former senator david perdue, will face democrat stacy abrams in november. she ran unopposed in the democratic primary. in other closely watched georgia ces, former football star and trump ally herschel walker won the republican senate primary. he will face senator raphael warnock in the general election. far-right republican congressmember marjorie taylor greene easily defeated five opponents in her primary. another winner tuesday was democratic congressmember lucy mcbath, who beat fellow congressmember carolyn bourdeaux. the two had to face each other due to redistricting.

mcbath is a longtime gun control activist 217-year-old son jordan davis was shot dead by white man in 2012 after a dispute over loud music at a gas station in florida. in texas, the race between democratic congressmember henry cuellar and progressive challenger jessica cisneros is too close to call. the democratic establishment as well as aipac lined up behind cuellar who is an anti-choice, pro-gun democrat whose home was raided by the fbi in january. cisneros was endorsed by bernie sanders and elizabeth warren and new york congressmember alexandria ocasio-cortez. she's a supporter of medicare for all, the green new deal and reproductive rights. president biden has wrapped up his first trip to asia as president as tension remains high in the region. earlier today, south korea accused north korea of test launching three ballistic missiles, including a possible intercontinental ballistic

missile. it was the 17th missile test by north korea this year. south korea and the united states responded by launching their own land-to-land missile tests. meanwhile, japan has accused china and russia of flying warplanes near its airspace tuesday while japan was hosting other leaders from the quad, which includes the united states, australia, and india. china said the flights were part of an annual military cooperation drill with russia. china has accused the quad of becoming an "indo-pacific version of nato." during its summit, the leaders of the quad agree to launch a new maritime surveillance system in the region. the war in ukraine is now in its 91st day. russia is facing growing calls to end its blockade of ukrainian ports on the black sea that is preventing ukraine from exporting grain. david beasley of the u.n. world food program condemned the blockade. >> to keep the ports closed as

the harvest season is now coming in in ukraine, july and august, it means a declaration of war on food security. if you could not get the -- ukraine grows enough food to feed 400 million people. at a time on a planet earth where we are facing extraordinary food crisis before ukraine, fuel costs, commodity prices, already doubling or tripling, quadrupling. amy: earlier today, a top russian official said moscow would consider allowing for a humanitarian corridor for ships carrying food to leave ukraine but only if the west agreed to lift some of its sanctions on russia. separate investigations by the associated press and cnn have both concluded that it was israeli forces who shot dead the palestinian-american al jazeera correspondent shireen abu akleh two weeks ago in the occupied west bank. abu akleh was one of the best known tv journalists in the

middle east. cnn reports it has obtained evidence suggesting that abu akleh was killed in a targeted attack by israeli forces. cnn reports, "there was no active combat, nor any palestinian militants, near abu akleh in the moments leading up to her death." the israeli military has responded saying "the claim that the shooting was intentional has no basis." united nations human rights chief michele bachelet is on a six-day trip to china. her visit will include time in the xinjiang region where china has been accused of the mass imprisonment and torture of uyghurs and other muslims. on tuesday, a coalition of news outlets published a series of articles based on internal chinese police documents obtained by hackers. the trove documents include thousands of photographs of detained uyghurs, as well as details about a shoot-to-kill policy targeting anyone who tried to leave the detention camps.

in news from nigeria, at least 50 people, including many farmers, have been killed in an attack in borno state by the militant group boko haram. one survivor said the militants arrived on motorcycles armed with guns and machetes. roughly 40 climate activists disrupted shell's annual shareholder meeting tuesday in london. three protesters were arrested and shell was forced to temporarily suspend the event. climate activist lauren macdonald spoke outside the meeting. >> while millions of people have been displaced iu.k., shell has just announced a record 7 billion pounds of profit for q1 this year. this is completely outrageous and we need a windfall tax now. we need the government to impose a windfall tax on these obscene profits while millions are struggling. we need that money to be redistributed to the people. amy: the fbi joint terrorism task force has arrested an iraqi

man living in ohio for aiding and abetting a plot to assassinate former president george w. bush. authorities say the man, shihab ahmed shihab shihab, told an fbi informant in november that he wanted to target bush because he was "responsible for killing many iraqis and breaking apart the entire country of iraq." authorities say bush's life was never at risk. two undercover informants played key roles in the alleged plot by providing shihab with cellphones and cellphone data cards and by helping him devise a plan that never materialized to smuggle members of isis into the country -- the united states to assist him. in indiana, trans girls will no longer be allowed to compete in girls schools sports after republican lawmakers overrode a veto by indiana's republican governor. indiana is one of 35 states that have passed or proposed

anti-trans legislation this year alone. meanwhile, glaad has condemned a new netflix special by comedian ricky gervais for including what the group called "dangerous, anti-trans rants masquerading as jokes." and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman in new york, joined by democracy now! co-host juan gonzález in new brunswick, new jersey. hi, juan. juan: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: we begin today's show in texas, where 19 children and two teachers were shot dead at an elementary school in the city of uvalde the attack on the robb tuesday. elementary school was carried out by a teenager armed with guns he just bought on his 18th birthday. the gunman died in the attack. earlier in the day on tuesday,

he shot and critically wounded his grandmother. families have begun sharing the names of some of the victims. they include xavier lopez, 10 years old, jose flores, 10 years old uziyah garcia. ,nine years old. amerie jo garza. annabell guadalupe rodriguez. 10. 10. in two fourth grade teachers eva , mireles and irma garcia. robb elementary school is a school with about 600 students in just three grades -- second, third, and fourth. the school is about 90% latinx. thursday was scheduled to be the last day of class for the year. the school district's superintendent hal harrell spoke on tuesday. >> my heart was broken today for our small community. we need your prayers to get through this. amy: tuesday's attack was the deadliest elementary school

shooting since the massacre at sandy hook in connecticut when a 20-year-old gunman killed 26 people, 20 of them children between the ages of six and on seven. tuesday night, president biden addressed the nation. pres. biden: as a nation, we have to ask when in god's name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? when in god's name but we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done? amy: the shooting in uvalde came just 10 days after an 18-year-old self-described white supremacist attacked a grocery store in the heart of buffalo's african-american community. he shot dead 10 people, all of whom were black. many of them were grandmothers. on tuesday, a funeral was held for 65-year-old celestine chaney. this comes as the national rifle association plans to host its annual meeting friday in houston, texas, with more than 55,000 people set to attend and

hear speeches by former president trump and republican texas lawmakers, including governor greg abbott and senators ted cruz and john cornyn. for more, we go to texas go to the capital, austin, speak with nicole golden, executive director of texas gun sense. welcome to democracy now! on this horrific day. first of all, our condolences on the horror that has taken place in uvalde. i was just saying 10 days ago to the people of buffalo. but if you can respond to what happened, the climate in texas, and what you think needs to happen. >> i will be honest, we are all barely hanging in there. it is nothing compared to what the community must be experiencing. i'm sitting here talking to while i'm exhausted and my own kids are getting ready for

school. have to compartmentalize what happened in order to do the work that i do, but is so critically important. i have been involved in gun violence prevention in texas for almost a decade. i have sat through brutal hearings, state legislature. i have heard unbelievable arguments to are very sensible ask for common sense gun laws, laws that most texans support, law-enforcement support, laws that are working to prevent gun violence in other states. but we have a political climate here that makes it such that our work has basically been shut down but we are here for the long haul. we are not going anywhere. i am certain at some point -- the political will is there, we will have built the infrastructure to see real change. until then, we will keep

chipping away, working in our communities to pass meaningful change and continuing with this extremely strong movement that we have created over the past decades. juan: nicole golden, texas attorney general ken paxton only hours after the shooting, this horrific massacre that occurred, said that teachers should be armed as well. your response? >> look, you probably have heard this before, if more guns made a safer, we would be the safest country in the world. that experiment has obviously failed us and yelled our children completely. guns in schools is not supported by educators. there try to love and support and educate their students. we do not think that is the answer. we will push back if brought for

the next legislative session. juan: and the alleged gunman here, salvador ramos, reportedly bought two assault rifles just last week. how easy is it to get a weapon like that in texas? are there any age restrictions at all? >> you know, that vy well could have been illegal purchase -- a legal purchase. that does not make it right, of course. it is far too easy to walk into a number of good retailers, and federally licensed dealers have to run a background check and a texas according to federal guidelines, but you can also purchase again through online sales or at a gun show from a collector, for example, with no questions asked. so there are many different ways for somebody to purchase a deadly firearm. some states have closed their loopholes so there is a background check required on

every gun sale to prevent -- we cannot prevent every shooting, but we can definitely prevent some by trying to keep guns out of the hands of potentially dangers individuals. that measure has not succeeded in texas to close those loopholes as well as other measures we have tried to pass at the state level. amy: nicole golden, the nra is meeting on friday in houston. you have cruz that is going to speak, not only paxton, but cruz, saying the answer is to arm the teachers. the studies that have come out that show there are 400 million guns in the united states right now, more than every man, woman, and child in this country. and the difference between the number of shootings -- for example, i think there have been

30 shootings in schools in the united states this year alone, over 300 over the past 10 years, comparing it to mexico and texas. i mean, it is alone in the world. >> yes. we already had so many guns in circulation and during the pandemic that number increas, and so did gun violence. the most recent data show us here in texas, we had over 4000 texans killed by guns in 2020. that was an increase from previous years. so we have a clear crisis, and this more guns is the answer narrative that has been peddled is truly outrageous. again, it is not supported by the people teaching our kids. it is largely not supported by law enforcement. the last legislative session when lawmakers removed

requirements for training and licensing to carry handgun in texas, we stood side-by-side with people from major law-enforcement associations, faith leaders, survivors, teachers -- i can't name the ll list -- pleading to please not do this. the legislature passed it anyway. the gun lobby here in texas seems very proud of itself. and look where we are. juan: i wanted to ask about the gun lobby's efforts in recent years to market weapons, especially high-powered weapons, to children. they have developed in recent years a version of the ar-15 assault rifle, the junior 15, jr-15 for they say "our vision is to develop a line of shooting platforms that will safely help adult introduce children to the shooting sport." this new jr-15 supposedly built

with ergonomics geared toward children, lighter and smaller. there is an actual effort by the industry to market and many of the shootings that we're seeing in recent years rving committed by 18, 19, 20-year-olds. your sense of the responsibility of the arms industry in terms of this new marketing effort? >> not only is it shameful and dangerous and disturbing, but also i really thk that is not in line with what most voters think across this cntry and in texas, regardless of your background politically, whether you are a gun owner. i think most people stand with us and we say we need some reasonable guard rails on this. when it comes to children and

guns, i think there are families who can responsibly own guns and if families choosto do that together, i think there is a way to do it that is safe. they have to lock up their guts safely. that should be mandatory. everybody should be telling everybody to do it. everyone should be asking when their kids go somewhere, our guns locked safely at your home? this is just the most simple way to prevent unintentional shootings and suicides or guns being stolen or lost and then used in a crime. save gun storage has a huge role to play and it is an adult's responsibility, not a child's responsibility. amy: i want to ask about a race that happened yesterday in texas, the incumbent anti-choice pro-gun henry cuellar versus progressive jessica cisneros, responding to tuesday's mass

shooting, alexandria ocasio-cortez tweeted "on the day of a mass shooting weeks after news of roe, an utter failure of leadership." i know you have to leave for another interview. your thoughts? >> we are a bipartisan organization and we are proud of that because people join us from a variety of backgrounds and we all stand together with one strong voice on the nd for gun violence prevention strategies in texas. i cannot really comme on specific rac except to tell you i do think texans and voters across the country are going to be looking for a leader who can lead as into a safer direction. i think people should continue to push that message in their campaigns and voters should be paying attention because we know

we can't go on like this. amy: nicole golden, thank you for being with us executive , director of texas gun sense. speaking to us from the capital of texas, austin. when we come back from the break, we will be talking about the supreme court. it is poised to deregulate guns even further. and we will talk about the meeting at the end of the week with the national rifle association in houston, texas. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "we did it all wrong" by the texas musician kevin morby. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. as we reported the nra plans to

host its annual meeting friday in houston, texas, with more than 55,000 people said to attend. they will hear speeches by former president trump, republican texas lawmakers including governor greg abbott and senators ted cruz and john cornyn. this despite two days massacre -- tuesday's massacre at uvalde. the death toll so far is 19 children, mainly nine and 10 and two fourth grade teachers. for more, we're joined by michael's please, a -- michael spies staff writer at the trace , a and a contributor to the new yorker. let's begin with the response of congress, the division with republicans and democrats, and what is happening this week -- it reminds for, i believe after columbine, there was also a major gun meeting. but what is happening with this meeting of the nra and what it

is representing and pushing for? >> it is the annual meeting, so it comes up every year and it is planned we in advae of the timings horrible as it is, is coincintal. what it really represents, especially now, is i guess you could call it a republican pep rally. that is the main point is to hold this big event and theater where some of the most important republican lawmakers come together to make speeches, to talk about an absoluteist vision of the second amendment. that is sort of the purpose, to bring people together to rally around that idea. juan: mike, the nra was wrapped by major financial scandals just

a few years ago. how has it been able to survive and remain intact as such a potent force on the right? >> i think it is barely surviving and i think it is -- the president made a mistake when he talked about the country being beholden to the gun lobby becae i' not sure thats so much the case anymore. i think for a long time, the nra was a potent force. did an exceptionally good job at socializing as members and most specifically, republican constients, intobsorbing its ideaabout the second amendment and its messaging and the fear mongering and all that. but i think it is sort of the machine works on autopilot now and i think the republican party effectively absorbed that platform and is now just hold into its platform, sort of the monster he created. but i do think t nra disappeared tomorr, i'm not sure the party would be able to

move its position or would be willing to. that isort of the bigger issue. there used to be a little more gray area but now it is the republican someone site and the democrats on the other. if thereas a repubcan senator who is willing to break ranks with the exception of maybe like -- unique position in utah, but if republican lawmaker was willing to break ranks, i think just a primary opponent would surface and would use the issue to sort of breach the incumbent over the head, and that is sort of the predicament we are in. juan: you have been followi, especially the supreme court and it's possible upcoming case on pistol permits, could you lk about that as well? >> for a long time and it water

to get a permit to carry a concealed weapon and a the city of new york where the state of new york, rather, there were a number of boxes you had a checkup. one was you had to provide a goodeason for needing to carry a gun. there are other things yet to do, to come along with training, have to pay a fee, you have to undergo reference checks, which are especially important because as you can see when it comes to the background checks, there are a lot of factors that are not part of that process. that case has now been challenged in the supreme court and the decision should be coming down eminently about whher or not their premises to be in new york is constitutional. it seems likely the supreme court will find in favor of the plaintiff and will probably strike down the idea of whether

or not it is constitutional to reque applants to say whether or not -- or to require applicants to have to provide good reason for needing to carry a weapon, but there's a larger potential issue which is that it seems also plausible that the supreme court could do away with the concept of permits tirely. and th would obviously -- it is hard to overstate what a change that would be in new york. amy: you're talking about open carry. >> notpen carry, concealed carry, meaning right now the permit you need in order to carry a concealed handgun in new york, you ed to get a pmit and go to otr processes ju mentioned. in some ways, to be totally honest, open carry can be -- it is unnerving to see on the one hand. on the other hand, you can see

someone who is carrying a weapon and that provides its own -- there's some sort of -- it is a signal. when you're living in a city of 8 million people and you all of the said it is the case where it formally was very unlike anybody would be legally carrying a concealed firearm, changing to virtually anyone could be caring a concealed firearm -- i don't know how -- it is very hard to imagine how law-enforcement struggled to do with effective policing and at the city of new york. i'm not sure how you deal with that. i'not sure how that plays out on the subway, rht? it isn't coarable to other states that have gun laws that make it easy to carry concealed firearms. there is no other city and at this country that has 8 million people in it, no other city we have people are crammed on

subways, where they bump into each other on sidewalks, or just excessive traffic all the time and people are in a bad mood. there are many reasons why it is a completely different situation here that anywhere else. also other states that have restrictive permitting laws like california, etc., the city of los angeles or san francisco. the culture of those places are totay different than say tennessee or vermont oreorgia, states that have fewer people than just the city alone does. amy: today mike, the said it is holding of -- senate is holding hearing. they been without a permanent leader for years. he has supported universal background checks and assault weapons ban. can you comment? >> i think the atf, as i'm sure

viewers no, has been largely toothless agency thahasn' had just been able to provide effective oversight at all, ally, in quite a long ti. not having a leader was one of the ways in which has made possible i think -- one thing the atf should focus on is -- it has not been able to, and this is part of the larger issue, when it comes to owning more guns, is focusing more on how to better regulate gun dealers. one thing that has routinely, is this idea of bad apple gun dealers, shops that are routinely and clearly selling weapons to people or selling weapons to people that intend to traffic them is a known issue

that has not been effectively policed at all. there is another problem, which is if you did not know, gun stores are not required to secure their wares in a way that is any different than any other place of business, which is to say it is incredibly easy and it happens quite frequently, incredibly easy for robbers and burgers to break into gunshots and steel easily weapons and those wind up also going through the legal pipeline, adding two more guns on the streets, as we were saying before, hundreds of millions of weapons in the country right now, more than people. amy: go spies, thank you for being with us, senior staff writer at the trace. next up, we will speak with manny oliver, the father of joaquin, one of 17 students killed in the mass shooting and

marjory stoneman douglas high school in parkland, florida. and we will also hear the senate floor speech of senator chris murphy who had just been elected to the senate but was still a house member when sandy hook took place in his district, the massacre 10 years ago. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "wildfires" by sault. during that break, we showed images of george killed two years ago today and at the protest that ensued. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez.

after tuesday's massacre that killed at least 19 children between second and fourth grade and two fourth grade teachers at uvalde elementary school in texas connecticut senator chris , murphy spoke passionately from the senate floor in a call for action on gun control. murphy came to congress representing the district that included sandy hook elementary school, where 10 years ago 26 students and six staff were killed. this is senator murphy's full address. >> mr. president, 14 kids dead in an elementary school in texas right now. what are we doing? what are we doing? days after a shooter walked into a grocery store to gun down

african-american patrons, we have another sandy hook on our hands stop what are we doing? there were more mass shootings than days in the year. our kids are living in fear. everything single time they set foot in the classroom because they think they're going to be next. what are we doing? why use been all this time running for the united states senate? why do you go through all the hassle of getting this job, putting yourself in a position of authority if your answer as our kids run for their lives, we do nothing? what are we doing? why are you here? if not to solve a problem as

existential as this? this isn't inevitable. these kids are not unlucky. this only happens in this country and nowhere else. nowhere else to little kids go to school thinking they might be shot that day. nowhere else to parents have to talk to their kids as i have had to do about why they got locked into a bathroom and told to be quite for five minutes just in case a bad managers that building. nowhere else does that happen except here in united states of america. it is a choice. it is our choice to let it continue. what are we doing? in sandy hook elementary school after those kids came back into those classrooms, they had to

adopt a practice in which there would be a safe for the kids would say if they started to get thoughts in their brain about what they saw that day. if they started to get nightmares during the day, reliving stepping over their classmates' body as they try to flee the school. in one room, that word was "monkey." kids would stand up and you monkey and a teacher would have to go over to that kid, take them out of the classroom, talk to the about what they had seen, work them through their issues. this community in will never be the same. why are we here? it's not to try to make sure that fewer schools and fewer communities go through what sandy hook has, through, what uvalde is going through.

her heart is breaking. every ounce of love and thoughts and prayers we can send we are sending. but i am here on this floor to beg, to literally get on my hands and knees and beg my colleagues, find a path forward here. work with us to find a way to pass laws that make this less likely. i understand my republican colleagues will not agree to everything that, support, but there is a common denominator that we can find. there is a place where we can achieve agreements. that may not guarantee that america never ever again sees a mass shooting, that may not overnight cut in half the number

of murders that happened in america -- it will not solve the problem of americans violence by itself, but by doing something, we at least stop sending this quiet message of endorsement to these killers whose brains are breaking, who see the highest levels of government doing nothing shooting after shooting. what are we doing? why are we here? what are we doing? amy: "what are we doing?" connecticut senator chris murphy asks on the floor of the senate in a passionate call for action on gun control just hours after the massacre of 21 people at the uvalde element or school in texas. for more, we end today's show

with manuel oliver, manny oliver, father of joaquin, one of 17 students killed in the 2018 mass shooting at marjory stoneman douglas high school in parkland, florida. he is an artist come activist. he has never stopped the activism since his son was killed. i chance come he was in el paso painting a mural in 2019 when a far right gunmen carried out a mass shooting at the walmart store there, killing 23 people, most of them latinx. yesterday it was uvalde. manny, i want to say our condolences again to you. you are cofounder of change the ref. for you, i'm sure this never stops. can you respond to what happened yesterday? what senator markey is saying -- murphy is saying, what you think needs to happen now? >> thank you for having me on

your show. it is always a pleasure. what happened yesterday is not a surprise to me. what murphy is doing is a surprise to me. i know murphy personally. i know he stands along with us in despite, but -- in this fight, but it is time to speak out to all his colleagues in the senate and congress and do things like what he did yesterday. that is why we elected come to do what he did. it was not for them to wait for 19 people to die, 19 kids, babies, to die, so they could take action. we have been try to put things together for the last five years. what they're doing today, we have done every single day without resting, trying to prevent it from happening.

the president, members of congress, the senate, and now you see now they're paying attention. i still don't believe we will see results. in the meantime, we will keep what we to best, keep fighting back against gun violence. juan: there have been over 27 school shootings in the united states in just five months of this year. we're seeing an alarming increase in suicides among young people between the ages of 10 and 24, increased 42% over the last decade. according to a recent report. i raised this to an earlier guest today, the nra and a gun manufacturing industry focusing on young people, marketing their products to young people? >> i think there are new

demographics being attracted to guns. however, this is the result of that not having any restriction. it is the only history in america come delayed of restrictions, that actually has no restrictions at all, the gun industry. they have the ability to put their products and at the hands of whoever they want. i also have to say that school shootings represent probably less than 2% of gun violence in america. but regardless, we always react in a more shocking way because now we're talking about kids. but this is the united states. 110, 112 people will die today after that shooting yesterday. and the gun industry seems to

not be concerned about it. they will keep moving on and politicians who actually depend on them for their campaigns will also support those ideas. it is a hard battle and it is going to take way more than what we have done so far. i also wanted to ask about the remarks that were made by one of the most famous basketball coaches yesterday steve kerr of the golden state warriors -- golden state was playing the dallas mavericks in texas. i think we may have a tape of it. yes, if we can, let's go to the tape of steve kerr talking not about basketball, but about what happened in texas. >> since we left, 14 children were killed 400 miles from here. and a teacher. and in the last 10 days, we have

had elderly black people killed in a supermarket in buffalo. we have had asian churchgoers killed in southern california, and now we have children murdered at school. when are we going to do something? i am tired. i'm so tired of getting up here and offering condolences to the devastated families that are out there. i am so tired -- i'm sorry. i am tired of the moments of silence. enough. there are 50 senators right now who refuse to vote on hr 8, a background check that is been sitting for two years. there's a reason they won't vote on it, to hold onto power. so i ask you, mitch mcconnell, i ask all of you senators who refused to do anything about the

violence and school shootings and supermarket shootings, i ask you, are youoing to t your own desire for power ahead of the lives of our children and our elderly and our churchgoers? because that is what it looks like. that is what we do every week. so i am fed up. i've had enough. we're going to play the game tonight, but i want every person here and every person listening to this to think about your own child or grandchild or a mother or father or sister, brother. how would you feel that this happened to you today? we cannot get numb to this. we cannot just read about it go, well, a moment of silence. go, doves. come on, mavs. that is what we're going to do, play a basketball game. 50 senators in washington are going to hold us hostage. do you realize 90% of americans,

regardless of political party, what akron check -- universal background checks? 90%. we are being held hostage by 50 senators who refused to put it to a vote despite what we the american people want. they won't vote on it because they want to hold onto their own power. it is pathetic. i have enough. juan: that was steve kerr, the head coach of the golden state warriors talking in dlas, texas, last night before the game with the dallas mavericks. manny, your response to steve kerr's plea to the nation? >> we are friends. we know each other. he did the right thing. steve lost his dad to gun violce, so he knows exactly what this means. he just did what a regular human being will do.

we are used to keep on going and then watch a game. that is how the majority of americans live their lives. we are very arrogant to think we are making a mistake, but we are making a hugmistake here. steve kerr decided to shut the conference down for millions of americans as they come you know what? this is what is going on outside the court, we are killing each other. and you should know that. and that is more important than anything right now. almost five years ago when in washington we had a lot of hollywood faces and performers and singers and everyone was there getting involved. and now you don't see them. this is not something where you show your face once in a while to get more followers. this is something that is not over.

it is actually worse than five years ago. this is a big call to all those faces, guys, it is not over. it is actually the beginning of the fight. get involved. it is not about your money, it is about how many people you can reach. amy: as you said, steve kerr, the coach's father malcolm kerr was murdered in lebanon in 1984. he was a president of american university in beirut. i wanted to ask you about your message to the parents. you are a parent who lost a son yourself. they were there at the civic center for hour upon hour. these guns are so powerful that when their kids were shot, apparently just one class of

fourth-graders that were gunned down with their teachers. he was holed up in that space, the shooter. they had to wait hours to give dna because the kids were unrecognizable. the power of these weapons. we still don't know exactly if this is the exact number. can you give a message to them? also, talk about what the park than survivors did, people like david hogg. we had you on with him last time. emmett gonzales and others from the second this happened, demanded change. >> the story is a little different in terms of the victims because what happened in parkland, it happened to a generation that was ready to go ahead and speak out, very vocal, very rebel teenagers, most of them. so they had that energy to go

ahead and take everything by their own hands. that is not possible here because we're talking about babies, talkinabout very young kids. what the parents did, including myse, is totly something that we have no idea. we waited -- don't ask me how i was able to survive those initial moments, weeks, and months, trying to convince myself that i lost my son and i won't be able to hug him ever again. my only advice at this point, which i'm not in any position to give advice to anyone that is lost a kid because i don't do that. we all have our own personal way of reacting. is to take advantage of the media right now.veo s oethttain aid anger, of motivation, of whatever helps

for all of us to solve this problem. and the reason why i call for that is that those parents won't be there for long because that is part of the problem. we have a template. the coverage of these shootings will last probably the next week, and then we jump to the next. this is our sad reality. we need to change the reality. this is not about videogames. this is not about agile health. that happens around the planet. this is about guns and easy access to guns. juan: manuel oliver, we only have about 30 seconds, but in terms of re-able to effect if not at the national level come the state level in florida after the parkland shooting, some changes in gun policy? >> we got changes in the opposite way. now we have the governor who is

planng to leave us before getting out of the office and open carry law. god bless us unless we get rid of this guide, which i'm planning to do. amy: manuel oliver, our love to your wife. manny is cofounder of the gun reform group change the ref. father of joaquin, one of 17 people killed in the 2018 mass shooting at marjory stoneman douglas high school in parkland, florida. of course we will continue to follow his story, what is happening in congress, what is happening in texas, and what is happening around the world. families have begun sharing the names of the victims and we will end with their names again as we started. xavier lopez, 10. jose flores, 10. whose i garcia, nine. dedededededede

teachers. that does it for our show. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!] xñññññññññçñqñqñqñqññññ#ñ#ww ñ?ñ?

(sophie fouron) it's such a small plane. it's not your first flight, is it? (pilot) first flight of the day. (sophie fouron) first flight of the day! o.k. good enough. we're off to great barrier island this morning. it's a 30-minute flight from auckland, new zealand. they have incredible fauna and flora over there, as well as secluded and quiet bays and beaches. i think i could get used to this. great barrier is quite isolated.