look at some of the most recent figures. more mass shootings than days this year as of now. nearly 296 mass shootings in the united states. pew research center looking at data. latest available from 2021 said nearly a 25% spike in gun deaths from 2019 to 2021. certainly a situation that lawmakers are trying to reverse, yet we see shootings time and time again. they want to can do more. biden and gun safety advocates want to do more, but it s tough to see that succeeding. i wonder is there hope as you see it to accomplish something there? reporter: you know, look at some of the major reforms gun safety advocates called for. stalled. including university background checks across the country before someone can actually purchase a firearm. look at polling data. interesting. nearly 90% of american people agree with university background checks but those have not made their way through congress and
the vast majority of americans hold, like 90% of them support university background checks. he gets criticized for these views while we have an on going mass shooting where we know there are already eight fatalities. i guess the irony was lost on them but should not be loss on the american people that we need a person. i was able to convince republicans to support him. i m not sure that is going to happen at this time but the key is we need someone in place running that agency. i was struck in your remarks today. i wanted to play that clip of you talking to the nominee because you singled out one of
block things like university background checks, these things wouldn t continue to happen. understand this is not anything against nra members. we know the nra does teach some safety lessons and do advocate for safety. there s also a different part of the organization that advocates actively against things like universal background checks, not because they don t support them, but because when they have in the let me ask you about the title of your book, never again. those of us who remember history, yourself included, i believe, know that never again is really an historic cry that we never have a holocaust again, what happened in europe in the 1940s where 6 million jews were killed and others were killed. is that too strong a title, do you think? obviously not. in your case, you think it is. why is your call just as vivid? since the beginning of this, when we made the hashtag, we worked through that, and we talked about it. i bring this up a lot. i talk about this in the book spec
i think the president, going back to what mark said, i don t think that no matter what he said today would have been the right thing. somebody would have been upset with him. he has spent a lot of time with victims, not just at parkland, but other victims. he s been out there. he s listening, the conversations are going on, and i think he s doing what he should be doing. whatever is done, i personally and i said it with barack obama and i ll say it with this president i don t think it should be done through executive action. i think it s congress s job to lead and get it done legislatively. unfortunately they fail every single time they re given a chance. after sandy hook, we saw with over 90% support, because republicans and the nra didn t back it at a crucial time and some red-state democrats, and 99% say they support university
18-year-old should have military-style weapons. we re talking about a military burial for a high school student because they re in jrotc. a military burial for a high school student. that is outrageous. i think he deserves it, by the way, but the fact that that s even a thing that could happen in this country is outrageous. we can have this debate about mental health issues and making sure those people aren t don t have the ability let him finish. there should be a real conversation about how if people have been flagged from mental health issues, again, if you ve been visited 39 times by the police, if there are mental health issues, these should be flagged before you re able to buy a gun. no disagreement on that issue. i would think i think i saw a statistic, 90% of gun owners and nongun owners agree on that issue. will you support university