See all LastWeekTonight transcripts on Youtube

Speaker 1

00:00

-♪ ♪ -♪ ♪ The aftermath of the shootings in Orlando. Everyone has had their own ideas on the root of the problem, and it will not surprise you to hear where the worst of those ideas came from.

Speaker 2

00:14

I've been talking about it for a long time. And I've been saying it's going to happen. We are taking in thousands of people into our country.

Speaker 2

00:23

We have no idea where they come from. We have no idea who the hell they are. Okay.

Speaker 1

00:30

There is... There is a great deal wrong with that, not least the fact that we know exactly where this shooter came from, because he was born in Queens, about 8 miles from where Donald Trump was born. Presumably, when a racist fairy brought a butternut squash to life.

Speaker 1

00:47

Now, for their part, Democrats chose to focus less on the shooter and more on the weapons he used, even springing a surprise filibuster on the floor of the Senate.

Speaker 3

00:56

Democrats led by Chris Murphy of Connecticut held the floor for nearly 15 hours, pushing for new regulations to stop people on the terror watch list from buying guns and to expand background checks. After nearly 15 hours, Murphy said he had gotten signals that his 2 measures would get a vote.

Speaker 1

01:13

Wait, is he absolutely sure he saw those signals? Or was that a hallucination brought on by ammonia poisoning after holding his pee in for 15 hours? -...

Speaker 1

01:23

To be fair though, those proposals are actually coming up for a vote. But before you get your hopes up, there may be a bit of a problem.

Speaker 4

01:30

Let's not kid ourselves. The Republicans control the House of Representatives. There is never gonna be any gun control that passes.

Speaker 1

01:38

That's true. Closing the gun show loophole in this Congress is incredibly unlikely. Even regulating the gun show Paul Ryan puts on every day is pretty much a lost cause at this point.

Speaker 1

01:50

Which means, here we are again, after another mass shooting with weak legislation doomed to failure. And there is clearly a disconnect between public opinion, which favors to varying degrees a number of different gun control measures, and any practical action in Washington. And it is pretty clear what is standing between those 2 things. And it's the National Rifle Association.

Speaker 1

02:13

Like PETA, but for guns and effective. And to be fair, to be fair to the NRA, it's not surprising they take a hard line on gun legislation. They're an advocacy group. It's what they're supposed to do.

Speaker 1

02:26

What is shocking is just how successful they've been at it. Just look at the last big failed attempt at gun control, known as the Manchin-Toomey Amendment. There were high hopes for that, partly because it didn't really do much. It just called for background checks at gun shows and for online sales.

Speaker 1

02:43

But mainly because Joe Manchin, who co-sponsored it, had some credibility regarding firearms.

Speaker 5

02:48

As your senator, I'll protect our Second Amendment rights. That's why the NRA endorsed me. And I'll take dead aim at the cap and trade bill.

Speaker 1

02:57

Holy shit! That is a guy so comfortable with guns, he basically just used 1 as a hole punch. His office's three-hole punch must be fucking terrifying.

Speaker 1

03:10

And Manchin did everything he could to appease the NRA. He even inserted several of their direct requests into his bill, including allowing firearms dealers for the first time since 1968 to sell handguns across state lines. Which is a weird provision to put in a gun control bill. It's like letting Jose Cuervo convince you that the seventh step in Alcoholics Anonymous should be tequila shots.

Speaker 1

03:37

But despite all that, the NRA turned on Manchin and the bill, and then punished him by running ads like this in his home state.

Speaker 5

03:46

Manchin is working with President Obama and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Concerned? You should be.

Speaker 1

03:53

Yes, the NRA stabbed Manchin in the back. Although, it would have been more on brand of them to shoot him in the back and then argue it never would have happened if his back had had a gun. And...

Speaker 1

04:05

And the thing is, whenever any potential regulation comes up, the pushback is always the same.

Speaker 5

04:11

And there's just no evidence that these gun laws would prevent these shootings.

Speaker 6

04:14

There is at least, an absence of certain proof as to the efficacy of gun ownership laws in the past.

Speaker 7

04:20

To think that somehow gun control is, or increased gun control is the answer in my view, that would have to be proved.

Speaker 1

04:28

Ah, yes, it's the old, I'm not doing anything until you can prove it argument. The same argument favored by climate change deniers and fathers of the baby on Maury. -...happy Father's Day.

Speaker 1

04:39

-... And, and that brings us... The point is, that brings us to perhaps the most ingenious and insidious NRA tactic. Because they don't just manage to block legislation concerning guns, they've managed to block information concerning them, too.

Speaker 1

04:56

For instance, 1 of the major funders of academic research, the Centers for Disease Control, has been hamstrung in studying how best to prevent gun violence for the last 20 years.

Speaker 4

05:06

In 1996, the NRA successfully lobbied Congress to put this restriction into the CDC's budget. None of the funds made available may be used to advocate or promote gun control.

Speaker 1

05:19

Now, the CDC was already banned from advocating for gun control laws, or indeed, any form of legislation. But the 1996 Dickey Amendment, named after both its sponsor, Jay Dickey, and after the fact it was an extremely dicky thing to do, had a chilling effect on the CDC funding any gun research at all.

Speaker 4

05:39

CDC funding into gun violence research has plummeted 96% since 1996, to just $100,000 of last year's $5.6 billion CDC budget.

Speaker 1

05:51

The only other things that have dropped 96% in the last 2 decades are LICO searches and Tickle Me Elmo-related stampedes. -♪ TICKLE ME ELMO THEME PLAYING ♪ -♪

Speaker 5

06:00

TICKLE ME ELMO THEME PLAYING

Speaker 1

06:00

♪ And it's not just the CDC struggling to collect reliable gun-related information. For decades, the NRA has successfully lobbied to prevent the ATF from having a database that is electronically searchable by name when tracing the origins of firearms. So, for instance, this is what they have to do with documents from gun shops that have gone out of business.

Speaker 8

06:21

Workers here are left with an antiquated system to trace 350,000 guns a year, requiring them to review by hand tons of paper records and 500 million entries on microfilm. Many of the records are barely legible.

Speaker 6

06:35

So, for example, these are records that we received as a result of Hurricane Katrina. We had to dry these out in the parking lot.

Speaker 1

06:43

That is clearly absurd, because that does not look like a present-day record of gun ownership. It looks like the manifesto from a Spanish galleon that sank in 1610. So, how the fuck has the NRA managed to accomplish all of this?

Speaker 1

06:59

Because the truth is, They're not that large an organization. They claim they have a membership of around 5000000, but that is 3000000 fewer members than Planet Fitness. And the members of Planet Fitness have almost no power. Most of them don't even have the power to actually go to Planet Fitness.

Speaker 1

07:19

And that is true. That is true. By mid-January, that place is nothing more than a storage facility for grape-colored exercise bikes. And while the NRA does spend a lot of money lobbying, They are frequently outspent by even the NAR, or National Association of Realtors.

Speaker 1

07:38

A group of wily bastards who've somehow convinced all of us we need to live indoors like a bunch of nerds. --But the real power... --AUDIENCE LAUGHS ...of the NRA is in its members, who are highly motivated and can be mobilized quickly. Just look at the website of the NRA's political action committee.

Speaker 1

07:55

You will find alerts for practically every piece of legislation around the country. And not just write your congressman alerts, alerts like, the following bills are scheduled to be heard on June 14th at 9 a.m. In room 126 of the state capitol. Because they know their members often show up.

Speaker 1

08:14

And 1 of the reasons they're able to rally their base so effectively is they have an appealingly simple message.

Speaker 9

08:20

It's all about a single issue. There's no four-point plan that they have to defend, and I would point out, they only have to say no. So they're not for anything, they're against something.

Speaker 9

08:31

A single issue, 1 word, no.

Speaker 1

08:34

Exactly. It's a lot easier to drum up support when you're just flatly against something. There is a reason that TLC insisted upon no scrubs, and not the implementation of a National Registry of Potential Scrubs, AKA Busters, that would screen for scrub-like tendencies or affiliations with known scrubs. They knew no scrubs is a lot catchier.

Speaker 1

08:58

And the truth about politics is, It's about showing up. Remember the Manchin-Toomey Amendment? Well, a national poll at that time found that 88% of people supported universal background checks, and yet Manchin's office maintains that of the calls it received, they ran 200 to 1 in opposition to the bill. And that is why it is important to actually call your congressman.

Speaker 1

09:21

You can't just hit them up on Twitter or Facebook because you won't get a personal response, or even worse, you'll get a very personal response indeed. Put it away, Carlos. Put it away. And remember, remember the Dickey Amendment?

Speaker 1

09:37

Which has effectively kept the CDC from studying gun violence? It is now opposed by both the American Medical Association and Jay Dickey, the man who sponsored it in the first place. And yet, whenever a member of Congress tries to kill it, as Nita Lowey did last summer, this is how it goes.

Speaker 7

09:53

Let's support research to prevent gun violence, protect our communities, and save lives. Thank you. The question is on the Lowy amendment.

Speaker 7

10:03

All in favor say, aye. ALL CHANTING

Speaker 5

10:06

AYE All

Speaker 7

10:06

opposed say, no. ALL CHANTING NO

Speaker 5

10:08

The

Speaker 7

10:08

no's seem to have it. The amendment's not agreed to. ALL CHANTING NO

Speaker 1

10:13

It's like watching a committee of deer voting against investigating the effects of oncoming cars. Let's stand still and like our chances. And those headlights are shiny.

Speaker 1

10:23

-♪ ♪ -And if you're thinking, well, I'm sure after Orlando, if someone tries that, they'll succeed, because we're all paying attention now. Well, here's the thing about that. Representative Tony Cardenas tried to overturn it again just this Wednesday with an amendment to a mental health bill, and this was the result.

Speaker 10

10:42

All those in favor will say aye. ALL CONGREGATIONS SAY AYE All those opposed say no. ALL CONGREGATIONS SAY NO If you need a chair, the no's have it.

Speaker 1

10:50

Are you fucking kidding me? That happened 4 days ago. And I'm guessing that you're hearing about it for the first time now.

Speaker 1

10:57

To be honest, we only found out about it yesterday, and we've been working on this story all week. And look, the Dickey Amendment is emblematic of a chokehold the NRA has over even basic gun data, and it should obviously be overturned. But the hard truth is, NRA members seem to care more consistently about preventing gun control than most of us do about passing it. Because while you might be focused on gun control right now, they were focused on it 2 weeks before Orlando, and they'll still be focused on it 2 weeks from now.

Speaker 1

11:30

So this is where I would usually say, call your senator and representative and tell them you want to repeal the Dickey Amendment. And you should absolutely do that, if you want to. But you are going to need to do more than that. You're gonna need to call them again and remind them to repeal it.

Speaker 1

11:45

Then call them on their birthday and say, happy birthday, and also get rid of the Dickey Amendment. Call them on Arbor Day and say, happy Arbor Day, whatever that is, by the way, what's going on with that Dickey Amendment? Call them on days where there wasn't a mass shooting, and I know those days are getting fewer and farther between, and say, hey, it's me again, What the fuck's up with the Dickey Amendment? Because repealing it is not asking much.

Speaker 1

12:07

It's not gun control. It's enabling us to have an informed conversation about what that could look like. And if and when a proposal you like is on the table, you're gonna have to make all those calls again. Because remember, it doesn't take much to outnumber the NRA.

Speaker 1

12:23

Planet Fitness members outnumber them. But it is time for us to learn what those members haven't. If you want to see serious changes, you actually have to show up every fucking day.