07/11/22 07/11/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> i am runng for core. theris no tuing it aunat th point. >> joing us nos briell giffds. pr. obama: gabbwas a sr. >> yriancé mark kly, wh is who >> an asonaut. i was the command of the

space uttle athe time. gabby knew theisk. tus out, she had the rk. >> congressmaniffords s the rget. pres. oba: i've just come fr the mecal cent where o friend gabby courageously fight to recover. >>ith an iury tbraid wit a gunshowound, ls tn 10% ey wouldven surve. >> she's beginning several months of rehab. >> gabby suffered from a language impairment. amy: "gabby giffords won't back down." today, as mass shootings continue to rock the country, we'll look at a new film premiering across the country. it follows the former arizona congresswoman as she fights to recover from an attempted assassination in 2011. it deals with aphasia and emerges as one of the most eloquent activists in the u.s.

battle against gun violence. we will speak th the fi's award-winning directors julie cohen and betsy west, makers of the filmsmy name is pauli murray" and the academy award nominated "rbg." all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. mass protests in sri lanka have forced the country's president and prime minister to agree to resign as the country faces a dire economic crisis. on saturday, thousands of protesters stormed president gotabaya rajapaksa's home and set fire to the prime minister's residence. protesters have vowed to keep occupying the president's home until he fmally resigns. many people were filmed swimming in the president's pool. demonstrators condemned the

president for living in luxury while sri lanka faces an economic crisis. >> there president and the prime minister and to have a new era for sri lanka. also, i feel very sad they had not gone earlier. if they had gone earlier, there would not be destruction. it is time we got our stolen money back to the country. while people don't have electricity in their homes. amy: voters in japan went to the polls for parliamentary elections on days after a gunman sunday, two assassinated former prime minister shinzo abe while he was campaigning for a candidate. in sunday's election, abe's right-wing liberal democratic party won in a landslide, gaining enough seats with its coalition partners to form a supermajority in the upper house. by picking up more seats, the

ldp appears poised to rewrite the country's pacifist constitution which bars japan from using or threatening to use military force. the rewriting of the constitution was the longtime goal of shinzo abe, something he never accomplished while alive. ukrainian officials say at least 18 people have died after russian rockets hit a five-story apartment complex in the town of chasiv yar in the eastern ukraine region of donetsk. rescuers say they fear two dozen people may be trapped in the rubble. meanwhile, ukraine is also accusing russia of bombing a school and children's health center in kharkiv. a meeting of foreign ministers of the g20 ended in indonesia on friday without any new agreements on the war in ukraine. russian foreign minister sergei lavrov attended the talks and said he is open to negotiations with the west over ukraine but

accused the united states of abandoning talks with russia. at the meeting, u.s. secretary of state antony blinken, who refused to hold a formal meeting with lavrov, accused russia of not engaging in what he called meaningful diplomacy. the wnba held its annual all-star game sunday as one of its biggest superstars, brittney griner, remains locked up in a russian jail. after halftime of sunday's game, every player came out of the locker room wearing shirts with griner's name and her number 42 on the back. abc news is reporting former new mexico governor bill richardson is expected to travel to russia soon to attempt to secure the release of griner as well as paul whelan, who has been held since 2018. brittney griner is expected back in russian court on friday. a former spokesperson for the far-right oath keepers is set to

testify publicly on tuesday at the next hearing of the house january 6 committee. tuesday's hearing is expected to focus on the role of the oath keepers and proud boys in the deadly insurrection. justice department prosecutors have accused members of the oath keepers of bringing explosives to washington, d.c., and for maintaining a death list of election officials in georgia to target. this comes as donald trump's former advisor steve bannon has informed the committee he is willing to testify publicly. bannon was due to be tried this week for contempt of congress. on friday, the january 6 committee spent eight hours privately questioning former white house counsel pat cipollone. one member of the committee, democrat zoe lofgren, said cipollone did not contradict the testimony of previous witnesses. in other election news, wisconsin's supreme court has

barred the use of absentee ballot drop boxes anywhere in the state outside of election offices. in her dissent, wisconsin justice ann walsh bradley wrote -- "the majority/lead opinion blithely and erroneously seeks to sow distrust in the administration of our elections and through its faulty analysis erects yet another barrier for voters to exercise this 'sacred right'." the biden administration is facing pressure to scrap plans to build a u.s. embassy in jerusalem after a palestinian legal group revealed the proposed embassy is located on land that was illegally confiscated by israel from palestinians in 1948. the historical documents were made public by the palestinian legal group adalah ahead of president biden's trip this week to israel and the occupied west bank.

the group's legal director suhad bishara said -- "this plan is a serious escalation in u.s. legitimization of israeli expropriation of land from palestinians. if the biden administration doesn't abandon it, then there is no other way to interpret the move than siding with israel's racist policies." president biden is looking into possibly declaring a public health emergency to expand abortion access after the supreme court overturned roe v. wade. biden was asked about the issue sunday while taking questions ahead of a bike ride. >> one of the things they're asking for is a public health emergency. is that something you're considering? pres. biden: that is something i have asked the people -- the administration to look at, whether i have the authority to do that and what impact that would have. ok? amy: biden's comments came on the same day as some 10,000 reproductive rights activists

rallied in washington to urge the administration and lawmakers to do more to protect abortion. >> we are demanding the federal government do something to legalize abortion now. that waiting until november is not enough. amy: on friday, biden signed an executive order to ensure access to abortion medication and emergency contraception while urging congress to pass legislation to codify abortion rights. the white house has defended biden's response of part of the supreme court ruling. outgoing white house, occasions director kate bedingfield said in state saturday, "joe biden's goal and a responding to dobbs is not to satisfy some activists who have been consistently out of step with the mainstream of the democratic party." meanwhile, louisiana has become the 10th state to ban almost all abortions following the supreme court's ruling.

on friday, a judge in louisiana lifted a temporary stay on the states' trigger law from going into effect. environmental and indigenous groups are expressing concern the biden administration may move ahead on a massive oil and gas development in northern alaska known as the willow project. on friday, the biden administration issued a new environmental analysis for conocophillips multibillion-dollar plan. one key backer of the project, republican alaskan senator lisa murkowski, said she hopes construction can begin this winter. kristen miller, conservation director of the alaska wilderness league, said -- "if approved the willow project would be bigger than any other proposed oil and gas project on our nation's public lands, and it poses an unparalleled climate and biodiversity threat that puts president biden's climate legacy at risk." in california, a fire near yosemite national park has grown

to or 1600 acres. it is threatening the park's mariposa grove which is the home over 500 giant sequoia trees. as of sunday, the fire was 0% contained. meanwhile, in utah, the halfway hill fire has grown to nearly 8000 acres. deforestation in the amazon has reached a new record during the first half of the year. according to the brazilian space agency, near 4000 square kilometers have been deforested this year. that's an area five times the sizef new yorkity. deforestation has surged under the right-wing predency of jair bolsona. this is manoela machado, a wildfire and deforestation researcher aoxford unirsity. >> the first semester and at the amazon is when we have the rainy season, so we should not be seeing these high numbers, this

historically is not -- the peak of deforestation shoulnot be happening while it is raining. we have a combination of drier climate with more motivation to do forest. this is extremely bad news. amy: scientists say preserving the amazon is crucial in addressing the climate crisis. in other news from brazil, a supporter of bolsonaro shot dead a local official of brazil's opposition workers' party on saturday. the attacker reportedly shouted words of praise for bolsonaro as he shot marcelo arruda who was at a party celebrating his birthday. the workers party is led by former president luiz inacio lula da silva who is running against bolsonaro in this year's election. in business news, the world's richest man elon musk has notified twitter he wants to withdraw from a $44 billion deal to buy the social media company. twitter's board, which initially

opposed musk's purchase, is expected to sue musk this week for pulling out. a major new investigation by the guardian and international consortium of investigative journalists has revealed how uber secretly lobbied governments and flouted laws to ruthlessly grow and expand across the globe. the probe is based on 124,000 leaked internal documents, including many from france, which show how emmanuel macron signed a secret deal when he was the french economy minister to help uber's lobbying efforts. the leaked documents also show uber helped evade government regulators by using a "kill switch" during raids to prevent police from obtaining internal data. in albuquerque, new mexico, a 15-year-old black teenager named brett rosenau died thursday from smoke inhalation after a police swat team fired multiple rounds

of munitions into a house during a standoff targeting another individual. authorities are investigating whether police officers started thhouse fire by firing tear gas canisters into the home. the target of the swat team escaped the fire and has been hospitalized with burn wounds. and in south africa, at least 15 people have died in a mass shooting at a bar in johannesburg. nine people were critically injured. there are reports a group of men carried out the attack. four other people died saturday in a separate shooting at another tavern in the south african city. the incidents came just after weeks after 21 south african teenagers died under mysterious circumstances at a bar in the city of he's london. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. when we come back, gabby

giffords won't back down. today as mass shootings continue to rock the country, we look at a new film premiering across the country this week following the former arizona congresswoman as she fights to recover from the attempted assassination in 2011 and emerges as one of the most effective activists in the u.s. battle against gun violence. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "i won't back down" by tom petty. the theme song of the film we spend the hour on today. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. today president biden is hosting to mark the signing of the savior community's act, new law made to reduce gun violence.

the measure was inspired in part by the mass shootings in buffalo, new york, and uvalde, texas, and was soon overshadowed by yet another mass shooting in highland park, illinois, killed seven people at a july 4 parade. today's white house event includes survivors and family members of more than 10 high-profile mass shootings. the new bill will incrementally strengthen requirements for young people to buy guns, denies firearms to more domestic abusers, and helps local police remove weapons from people considered dangerous. today as mass shootings continue to rock the country, we spend the hour looking at a new film premiering across the country and in more than 200 movie theaters. it follows gabby giffords as she fights to recover from an attempted assassination in january 2011.

emerges as one of the most effective activists in the u.s. battle against gun violence. this is the trailer for "gabby giffords won't back down." >> ready? i runningorongres there is no turni around th point. joing us now is gabriell giffor. pres oba: gabby was a star >> good ea is good ea is a good ia. >> yr fiané? >> astronaut. >> gab knew the risk involved. turns t she had the riskyob. >> conesswoman gifrds waa targ of the ss shootg. pres. ama: i've jt co from e medicacenter wre gabby couragusly figs to recover >> typical with annjury to the brain with aunshot wou, it is lesshan 10% ey would even surve. >> she's begiing seral nths of reb.

>> givme five. >> gby suffed from a language iairmen >>ou're not alled tquit on me. look at you he good newss ngressman gabbgiffordsas discrged tod from the hoital. s said e people w electeme need meone whcan gi them onat a pernt. >> g to st down. the's work t d a uniquway of communiting wi facial pression a touc >> she lghs at mjokes even when theare b. >> this ishe modelhey built -- theords a in my brain iustan't get em out

gby gifrds, makg her y back tthe capol. >> too many ildren a dying o manyhildren weusto sothing. esobam none cld hav been more comlling thn gabby was thatay. hlo, my fellow arinans! i loveo talk. i am gabby. amy: the trailer for "gabby giffords won't back down." for more, we spend the hour looking at her remarkable story with the films directors julie cohen and betsy west. that follow the former congresswoman as she fights to recover from her attempted assassination on january 8, 2011, when she and 18 others were shot during a constituent meeting held in a supermarket parking lot in arizona and at

tucs metrolitan ar. in aemarkabl sry, sh wen on to erge aone of t mos effectivactivistin the u. batt agast gun volce. bby giords reived a presidenal medalf freed at thwhite houseast thursday for her work. this is president biden. pres. biden: truth that will not grown-up to the epidemic of gun violence in this nation. ruth we can channel the pain and sorrow see too often in america and a movement that will prevail . with her husband -- [applause] with her husband united states senator mark kelly, by the way who was the astronaut you will remember, she is more consequential -- john amy: that is president biden awarding the medal of freedom to gabby giffords, the subject of "gabby giffords won't back down." we're joined now by the directors of the film julie cohen and betsy west. that made many award-winning

documentaries together, including "julia," "my name is pauli murray," and the academy award-nominated "rbg." welcome back to democracy now! what a moment to be focusing on the life of gabby giffords in the midst of this horrendous continued wave of mass shootings across the country. take us back to january 8, 2011, julie. and talk about why gabby giffords was in this parking lot and what happened next. >> yeah, this was a meet and greet with constituents. gabby was then congresswoman giffords, was very much i go out to the people, meet with constients, here what is on their mind. democrats and republicans were at this event to get an update

for the congresswoman who at that time had just been reelected for her third term. a gunman emerged. it is a morning event. he emerged and shot gabby pretty much point-blank right in the brain and also opened fire on a crowd of people, killing six of them and injuring gabby plus 12 more. absolutely horrendous mass shooting and one that rendered gabby initially in the hospital in a medically induced coma, unclear at first if she was going to survive. and once she pulled through, what will her life be? will she ever be able to walk again or talk again? our film sort of picks up when she is in the hospital and shows with the remarkable assist from mark kelly who has some

cinematography training as an astronaut and had the good sense to set up a camera in the hospital to kind of give you this remarkable insight view of every moment of this heroic and epic recovery in the fight this woman has had to come back herself and come back as a public figure fighting to try to do something about the epidemic of gun violence in our country. amy: right after she was shot in -- and a number of people killed, we interviewed daniel hernandez, then he was 20 years old. he was an intern for gabby who was credited with likely saving her life immediately after the shooting that left six people dead and 20 wounded. daniel, welcome democracy now! why don't you describe what you did saturday morning around 11:00 your te and at the supermarket parking lot. >> i am an intern with the

congresswoman's office and i was helping withn eve where the congresswoman had the opportunity to speak with her constituents one-on-one. that is one of the things i've always admired about gabby, she took timout to really listen to her constituents. she said representative is not a job title,t is a jo description. we were doing this event in about 10:00 a.m. we started. i was in charge of controlling traffic and signing people in post of about 10 minutes into the event, the first shots were fired. the first thought that came into my head was, if there is a gunman, gabby is likely to be a target and anyone around her is likely to get injured. so i ran toward where i knew the congresswoman would be. when i got there, i noticed there were a few people who have been injured. i started checking pulses and checking to see who was still breathing.

the first rule of triage is find out who is stable enough, get them the help they need, then move on. i was only able to get to two or threeeople before i noticed the congresswoman had been hit. she been hit in the head. because she was so breathing, still alert and conscious, she became my first and only priority. i then tried to do what i could for her. the first thing i did was lift her up because of the position she was in. there was blood loss and she was starting to inhale some of her own blood. i sat her in an upright position propped up against my chest so she could breathe properly. i started looking for other wounds. there was the only one obvious will it wound to the head -- bullet wound to the head. i started applying pressure. amy: daniel hernandez was 20 years old, intern for a few days

at the time. we spoke to him just a few days after the assassination attempt in the killing of six others. betsy west, the horror of this, the youngest to die was little christina taylor green, nine years old. talk about the others. >> a federal judge john roll who was a friend -- a republican and friend of gabby had stepped up next to her right before the shooting started. he was instantly killed. one of gabby's risin promising young staff members gabriel was also shot and instantly killed. severa other bystanders who had just come to ask gabby questions

also g down. one of the sheriff's who arrived on the scene early told us how horrific it was the bullet had gone through the glass windows of the grocery store and all the way to the back. it was horrific. luckily, several of the bystanders wer able to tackle the gunman and get the gun away from him before more damage was done. it was very shocking. i think we all remember in america, even those of us who did not know who gabby giffords was, or just horrified -- were just horrified by this mass shooting which really was one of the first to grab people's attention back in 2011. amy: isn't true mark kelly, now senator, an astronaut, was in houston, here's about the

shooting, the horror, and as he is flying to be with her in arizona, he hears the media reports that she has died? >> that's right. a friend had a plane on which he was flying and he was watching television news trying to get every ounce of information he could about what was going on with his wife. they had only been married a little more than three years, romantic newlyweds, a lot -- unimaginable happens and all he really knows is that she has been shot and a number of news outlets, based on the chaotic situation in an incident like this, where people are hearing from people on the ground and of course she looked extremely severely injured, so several news outlets started reporting that she had died officially. mark kelly, her young husband, sees this on a news report on an airplane, is absolutely devastated by this news and for

a full half-hour he thinks his wife has died until he sees again on in his report still on the plane, like we have the news reports and are from somebody saying, "oh, no, wait, she is alive." in his airplane lands, he rushes to the hospital in tucson to see how his wife is doing and get a sense is she going to survive and can she recover. amy: this is truly remarkable, the video footage you have. this film is about gun control and fighting to end the scorch under this country, alone in the world in dealing with these mass shootings, well over 300 not killings of people, but mass shootings this year alone, far more number of people died. but it is also a story about this woman who it was believed she would absolutely die, but

she doesn't. her fight against aphasia. let's go before that. this is a clip from your film "gabby giffords won't back down," a president barack obama, president at the time, reflecting on seeing former congress member giffords after her tragic shooting. he visits her with michelle in the hospital in 2011. pres. obama: we heard gabby have been shot, we were heartbroken and scared. i knew gabby well, i knew mark. when i visited with gabby, she was out and uncommucative. a few minutes after we left her room and some of her colleagues from congress were in her room, gabby opened her eyes for the first time. [applause] has opened her eyes for the first time.

pres. obama: even in the darkest, most difficult times, there is i was been a glimmer of hope. amy: betsy west, if you can talk more about that moment that she open her eyes for the first time? and they had removed a part of her skull. >> they had in order to allow the swelling of her brain and really to save her life. i think that gabby's shooting was a single moment for barack obama and his young presidency. he visited gabby in tucson, had that very emotional meeting with the tucson community. and then he put himself behind the issue of trying to do something about gun violence. when we interviewed him, you could see how much emotion there

s there. former president obama is not that generally an emotional person, but you could feel his feeling for gabby, who he knew and really understood was very promising, rising star in the democratic party. i think in some ways, like barack obama, someone who was bipartisan, had reached across the aisle, and was just a natural polician. to see her cut down in the prime of her political career, and then of course, two years later when the newtown shooting occurred, all those young children were killed, barack obama tried very hard to pass gun safety legislation and gabby threw herself into that effort and it failed. he told us it was really the

most disappointed and that angriest that he had ever been as president. amy: so you talk about sandy hook and she does, too. it is hard to believe that within something like two years, she will be addressing congress. but i want to turn back to a short scene from your film "gabby giffords won't back down" showing gabby giffords' remarkable recovery. >> i could not walk. i could not talk. ♪ happy birthday to you ♪ >> ♪ happy birthday dear gabby ♪ >> now i am giving speeches again. i am studying for my bar mitzvah. ♪

and i am riding my bike more, 25 miles. amy: julie cohen, this recovery is truly remarkable. people who the lighthearted singing, but if you can talk about the human brain and gabby giffords being shot in the left side of her brain, losing access to her ability to speak at the beginning, and why singing was ch a ctical part of speaking? >> music has been a huge part of gabby's life her whole life. she loves to sing. she loves every kind of music, showtunes, pop music. when she was in high school, she played annie in the school production of "annie." she knows every 1980's hit. after she was shot, music took

on a more serious role in her life. the language center is one very concentrated part of the brain, but music centers are throughout yo -- the whole workings of your bra. for gabby, but for also for others, music is a good way back to language. when they were first teaching her to speak, when the expert in her rogue speech pathologists that have worked with her were teaching her how to speak again, they did it with music. when you go see the film, people working with her -- they're not just teaching her to say her name, they are giving her a tune "♪ gabby my name is gabby" or "where are my glasses?" that allows the music center to be activated and then that channels -- allows you to

channel back into the language, you no, using the music centers of your brain through neural plasticity -- i am not a scientist here, but i am giving in laypersons lane which the basic way it works, that your brain can adapt itself. the music centers of her brain learned to be activated to help her get back to language. the remarkable thing now is as she has recovered so much of her language ability, although it is still a struggle every day and she still works with speech pathologists quite regularly, as language recovers, singing has remained just absolutely central . and while putting together a sentence is a challenge that involved finding all the connective boards, involves quite a bit of work with a speech therapist, gabby can extremely fluidly sing the words to i don't know hundreds or

maybe thousands of songs and she really pops into song in almost any circumstance. right, that's a? >> yeah, i mean, when we were filming, lots of times we were singing as well because gabby would just start up with a tune and it really is extraordinary to learn how the brain works, as gabby says, the brain, who knew? i think music has not only helped gabby get back languange to, but has also given her a lot of joy in her life. amy: julie, we're going to go to break. julie, can you introduce this youtube break? "i still haven't found what i'm looking for"? >> it was one of our days

filming with gabby where we had a plan that we were going to film a scene of her riding on her recumbent bike, which she does a must every day, even in tucson where it is often over 100 -- she will get up earlier in the morning so she can ride while it is still cool enough. we were in her garage with her as she and one of her nurses were getting ready to go on a bike ride. because part of her body is paralyzed, it is a little complicated to strap her into the recumbent bike. in some ways it is a serious procedure but gabby pretty quickly went to her voice-activated music system is said, u2 starts playing and with sheer joy."

." , sheer freeness, just starts belting out. . "still haven't found what i'm looking for amy: opening and theaters across the country on wednesday. let's go to that bright. only come back, we focus on her activism against gun violence. the fact she is testifying before congress within a few years of doctors wondering if she would ever speak again. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "i still haven't found amy: "i still haven't found what i'm looking for" by u2. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as we spend the hour with julie cohen and betsy west, directors of the new film "gabby giffords won't back down" opening on wednesday, which follows gabby giffords as she deals with aphasia following e attempted

assassination in 2011 in a parking lot in tucson when she was meeting with her constituents. she was the first jewish congress member from the state of arizona, now one of the most effective activists in u.s. battle against nonviolence. today she will be at the white house to mark this day, the celebration of the first gun legislation of significance in 30 years, though many say it is certainly not going far enough. i want to go back to another scene from "gabby giffords won't back down" where the former congress member testifies before the senate judiciary committee, hearing on preventing gun violence in 2013. it was shortly after the sandy hook massacre which took place on december 14, 2012. sandy hook elementary school and a, connecticut, where 26 people

were killed. 20 of them were children aged five and six. cooks who have a former member of congress here, gabby giffords, who is going to get a brief message. >> thank you for inviting me here today. speaking is difficult but need to say something important. violence is a big problem. too many children are dying. too many children. we must do something. amy: that is a clip from "gabby giffords won't back down." we're speaking to the directors julie cohen and betsy west who have made many films together

including "julia" and the academy-award nominated documentary "rbg." the new film about gun control is called "gabby giffords won't back down." julie cohen, if you can talk about this moment about her testifying -- today she will be back at the white house. last week she was just honored by president biden, given a presidential medal of freedom, the highest award that goes to a civilian in this country. >> yes. the moment of that testimony was something that took tremendous amount of work for gabby. that was the first time she was going to be giving a major public address. it was about two years after she had been shot and many people were not sure what her language ability was going to be, which is why it felt like a suspenseful moment as she is

sitting down to testify before the committee with mark kelly, her husband, not yet a senator at that point, by her side. she and her speech pathologist who is kind of a major character in our fm, they had started working together for the purpose of putting that speech together and had worked on it for weeks for her to perfect, saying exactly what she wanted to say. and then getting it down and memorizi so she would say it correctly. as i think you feel in this scene, saying it was so much feeling that embers of the judiciary committee, both democratic and republican, appear to be very moved -- although i will add that most, if not all of the republans on the committee, were not quite moved enough to move out for the legislation -- vote for the legislation she was there to endorse. really the beginning of her enormously impactful activism and work to try to prevent gun

violence and it is country. amy: i want to go to the head of the center that she has established. right after the mass shooting at robb elementary school new uvalde, texas, in may, we spoke to robin lloyd, managing director of the gun violence prevention group simply called giffords, named for gabby giffords, she cofounded the anti-gun violence group. this is what robin lloyd had to say. >> here in the united states, we don't have strong gun laws at the federal level. there is very few updates to federal gun regulation in the past 20 plus years. the last significant push occurred in the early 1990's. at the state level, it is a different story. some states like new york have very strong gun laws, but there still susceptible to the lacks

neighbors. it is easy for firearms to travel across stateline ando get into the nds of those who should not have them. other states like texas have virtually no strong gun laws. texas, unfortunately, at the gifford law center, we give a letter grade rating to every state in the country and xas has an "f" which is probably not surprising. all texas has done in recent years, despite the tragic shootings that have occurred -- el paso, sutherland springs, gaza just to name a few -- they have only rolled out gun laws. made it easier to carry guns, no requirements whatsoever for anybody to carry a concealed firearm in texas. they've made it easier to do that. really, this is by design.

the american gun lobby, supported by american gun manufacturers, is alive and well . the national rifle association, the nra, has been weakened due to self-inflicted greed and mismanagement of funds, but other organizations like the national shooting sports foundation which is the lobby arm for the gun industry and gun retailers, is alive and well. the tional shoing sports foundation spent more on lobbying against gun violence prevention measures here in washington than the nra does. they are t true face of america and corporate gun lobby and, quite frankly, there's a lot of money at stake. there is been an incredible surge of gun sales in the past decade, largely driven by fear and conspiracy promulgated by

the corporate gun lobby here in the united states. and that has meant an incredible increase in their bottom line. amy: that is robin lloyd, managing director of the gun violence group giffords, cofounded by former congressmember gabby giffords. it is her life mission right now. betsy west, after the buffalo shooting killed 10 african-americans, white supremacists come 18-year-old with an assault weapon, and another 18-year-old in uvalde that killed all of these children and their two fourth grade teachers, still all they could get, but it was very significant because after 30 years nothing was accomplished like newton and sandy hook, they could not get the assault weapons fan but now with what happened in highland park next

to chicago and in fact it is hard to believe but july 4 or people died of gun violence in chicago in highland park, do you think it is possible -- or i should say, do you think gabby giffords inks it is possible to get an assault weapons ban, something she has been fighting for for years? >> gabby giffords is a very optimistic person. i do think she thinks it is possible. ever since sandy hook, she's been very strategic about her work in curbing gun violence. and she takes the long view here. it has been almost 10 years since she started this organization. as robin said, they have had some success on the state level. gabby's strategy is really to talk to gun owners like

yourself, people who --ven nra members. the people who are in favor of reasonable gun legislation. gabby has traveled all around the country and points to over 400 state laws, red flag laws and others, which have made some progress. obviously, the federal level, it has been very discouraging. some people say this recent legislation is very modest and doesn't really do enough, but i think gabby would say and those in her organization say that it is a first step and they're hoping to keep pushing. i want to say one other thing. last year we were with gabby when her organization set up an installation in washington to memorialize the 40,000 people who die every year and it is country of gun violence.

and that is not just from mass shootings. this is from one-on-one shootings and fm other incidents and, of course, suicides. over 40,000 people last year. and this year, the number is 45,000 people. so it is a huge problem and one that gabby is really determined to tackle. she is just somebody who does not get discouraged. she is just keep on pushing. amy: julie, you have been following gabby giffords now for a few years. talk about how you first decided to make this film. >> yeah. so we were introduced to gabby by a producer -- one of the producers of our film. lisa had the thought, the

combination of us and gabby might really make for pretty amazing documentary so she set up a zoom call with us -- this is at the very beginning of covid -- and let a conversation with gabby and incident candidate mark kelly about their lives, thinking, is this someone -- can we make a full feature film about someone when language is such a struggle ana challenge? those concerns i would say were alleviated pretty quickly by the forceful personality of gabby herself who lifted her foot -- i'm not going to do the gymnastics required to put my foot by your camera -- but lifted her foot directly to the camera of zoom to show as she was wearing rbg socks. she is a connector with and without words and that was just indicative within about a minute

and a half of this zoom call starting, betsy and i were texting each other like "yes, we are making this film speaking of rbg, have a giffords that only works on the issue of gun violence, supreme court has just lifted a gun violence based here in new york making it easier for people to get guns at this horrific point in u.s. history but of course, also overturned roe v. wade. what was gabby giffords response to that? >> so gabby, like a lot of progressive politicians and humans, has been a strongly pro-choice person for years. we happen to see gabby on the day the draft opinion was released of dobbs, giving a sense of the rollback that was about to happen.

gabby, despite struggling to speak, is often incredible with leg which and, to an event we had early and said was something she wanted -- she really wanted to express and just said, roe v. wade, 50 years, backwards. backwards. of all the conversations that i had with people that day, i felt like gabby expressed the most eloquently what the stakes were and what we were about to lose in this country. amy: interestingly, did the documentary, the two of you did the documentary, julia "julia" that aired on cnn and one of the things you focus on, julia childs, the world-renowned chef, but she used her celebrity to support planned parenthood and reproductive rights. but i want to go at the end of this hour with you two to go to

"my name is pauli murray" and it premiered at the sundance film festival -- we had a long discussion about the time, whole show. it has gone on to win a peabody award and a dupont award. the film is about one of the most pivotal figures in history pauli murray, a trailblazing , black, queer, feminist, poet, lawyer and legal scholar, and priest who was discriminated against from childhood because of their race or gender, or both, and went on to question systems of oppression and conformity with a radical vision ahead of their time that influenced landmark civil rights decisions and influenced rbg and thurgood marshall. i want to play the trailer of "mname is uli murr." >> tre sompeople who now argue you cannot teach american history without teaching about pai murray >> pauli was a wter,awyer, priest, poet. >> pauli was a feisty wom. >> mna is uli murray. myhole htory h beea

strule in a socty dominad byhedeas that blks were ferior to wtes d wom werenferior en. >> pau was way ahead of the time. >> i choseor my senior paper, ould let the bqa -- plsy vers fergusobe overtned. >> this is made possible b pauli mury. ifou rip away everything, oppreson is e business of not restricting one's personhood. fo mfirst o years, was on wom in theaw schoo they did n even leme tal >> thurgood marshall is talking about jim cr. she says, what i was experiencing was jane crow. >> pauliurray was ju an aming lyer or badass

feminist, but a clear and non-binary person. the turmoil and the suffering. >> scholars largely use feminine pronouns. >> i don't know her pronoun. >> trains and binder people have always been a part of our contact. amy: that is part of the trailer for "my name is pauli murray." your remarkable body of work, if you can comment since the film, what has happened with awareness around pauli murray in this country? >> i would say awareness of pauli, which was gwing already, that is part of what we were try to document in our film and has been something forwarded by scholars, particularly like women scholars, for decades but awareness is growing more and

betsy and i have been thrilled and so has pli murray's family. to see the name get a little bit of the recognition that is so richly deserved. amy: we want to thank you both for being with us. we have to leave it there. i encourage people to go to the hour @#

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