His examining politics podcast and news of the day. We will take your calls as always it you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. Washington journal is next. Host this is the washington journal for august 5. The flag at the u. S. Capitol at halfstaff after the shootings that resulted in multiple deaths in dayton ohio dayton, ohio, and el paso, texas. President trump expected to make statement at 10 00. Some are calling for the president to strongly condemn White Nationalism and some are calling for the senate to come back into session. In the first hour of our program this morning, we are asking you how washington should respond to the recent Mass Shootings. Here is how you can let us know. Republicans, 2027488001howdem. And independents, 2027488002. If you are a gun owner and want to give your thoughts on how washington should respond to the 24 plusf the last hours, you can join us on twitter and post on our Facebook Page. On the senate side, several members of the senate calling for a stop of the summer break to come back and take care of or address the issues of issue of the shootings by legislation. Chuck schumer calling for the majority leader to call the senate into session. Senator mcconnell, a enough is enough, stop blocking gun safety reforms. Immediate action on the bipartisan housepassed universal background checks legislation. Lindsey graham this morning saying the el paso shooting is sick and senseless. Time to do more than prey. Time to enact common sense legislation and congress to. Mpower states usa today takes a look at the legislation referenced saying it was february the house of hr 8. Entatives passed democrats the bill would prohibit most persontoperson firearm transfers unless a background conducted. E not taking any action on the bill since the house passed it. Would extend 10 days the amount of time firearms dealers must wait for a background check before they can make the sale. That bill passed february of 240190. The Senate Taking no action on that. When it comes to red flag laws, some republicans have spoken in favor of these laws which allow family members or Law Enforcement to limit a persons access to firearms if they are deemed a potential threat to the public, including senator Lindsey Graham tweeting in favor of such laws and there is the assault weapons ban. That lapsed in 2004. Legislation banned the of assault and sale weapons and large capacity magazines. It was in part bump stocks or attachments that allow auto michael semi likeatic weapons to behave automatic. Speak on the issues 10 00 about the events of el paso and dayton. You can also listen on the cspan radio app. How should washington respond to these Mass Shootings . 2027488001 for republicans. 2027488000 free democrats. Aunt for democrats. And independents, 2027488002. If you are a gun owner, call and let us know your thoughts at 2027488003. Wanda starts us off in lancaster, california. It democrats line. How should washington respond . Caller i think they should ban those assault weapons and i fore fox news and trump these racist attacks and i think trump should be man enough to step down. He should not have to be impeached. Host when you say banned the assault weapons, why do you think that is the way to go . Caller they are too dangerous, there is too many people they can take out in a minute. Host that is wanda in california. We will hear from mike in maryland. Republican line. Also a gun owner. Caller good morning. I was wondering if we can talk sex for a second. There is no difference in semi automatic ar15 than any other rifle. These laws do nothing but curtail our rights. Lets talk another fact. How many guns purchased at gun shows have been used in a mass shooting . The answer to that is 0. We need to talk about facts and stop talking about emotional issues. Host as far as the response from washington, you are saying none should be done in light of these recent shootings . Caller absolutely not. Any difference in the two Mass Shootings . , acould have used a van truck, could have used another gun. Is there going to be any discussion of facts . Would you accept red flag laws where there is no due process question mark we would not accept that with freedom of speech or freedom of religion, why would we accept that with the basic right to defend ourselves . Host lets hear from bob in wisconsin. You are next up. My prayers go out to everyone out there right now. I am a veteran. If you go on the internet, you can find ways to run people over, how to make chemicals to kill people. More gun laws have not stopped any mass shooting. I disagree with the woman who called first. This is not about racist react. Obama did nothing to stop the violence in chicago. More gun laws have taken away my rights as an american citizen. They dont stop any mass killings. Stop pointing the finger at each other. Still tell grandma threats tell democrats to stop pointing the finger. Have you say more gun laws taken away your rights. How have your rights been curtailed because of gun laws . Caller lawabiding american citizens are losing the right to have a weapon. I have never committed a crime with a weapon. I have never thought to kill anybody because of a collar or religion or anything, but look has turned toy has turned to that. Lets get mad at a black person. Host just to clarify, gun laws have they curtailed your right to own a gun or not . Caller yes. Host how so, specifically. Caller you just said ban automatic weapons . How is banning an automatic weapon that is my light my right to have one. I have never broken a law. Why am i being punished . Host lets hear from jim in little valley, new york. Independent line. Caller good morning and thank you for doing what you do. M a godfearing american native american scotch irish born. I use them for hunting and defending my house. This new legislation they are coming out with, all they are doing is restricting our rights of freedom of choice. They dont have the right to do that. They only reason the only reason they want to take guns away from lawabiding citizens so these corrupt politicians, i am not naming either party, can have the people of the United States under their thumb like you nameler, stalin, it, so they can run us. Theyd kingdom, australia, banned guns. Then they started having more knife attacks, bombings, people running over people with cars and trucks, so what good did it do . Host the legislation that was considered in the house, that went to the idea of background checks or expanding the current round of background checks. Is that something you can agree with . Caller i have a background check any time i would buy a rifle or pistol for my house. I am disabled and my wife is disabled. We live in a rural area. They come out here and invade my home, how long would it take police to get here . My wife had an aneurysm february 14 this year. Emtsk the emptys alone 45 minutes to get to my house and they had to drive fly and our to do emergency surgery. The police cannot be here to protect me. These gang members that do the killings and steal the guns from lawabiding people, they are the ones committing it. Lets take murderers off the street and instead of supporting them and letting them live in penitentiaries, execute them. York. That is jim in new the president sending a couple of tweets on this topic saying we cannot let those killed in el paso, texas, and dayton, ohio, die in vain. For those wounded, we cannot forget them and many who came before them. Republicans and democrats must come together and get strong background checks. Perhaps marrying the legislation with immigration reform. We must have something good, if not great come out of these events. The president set to speak at 10 00 on the issue of those acts that on cspan. You can also listen to it and monitor it on our radio app. It is the Washington Examiner this morning putting out this editorial about the events of the last couple days and what the president should do. Ae president should deliver primetime speech as soon as possible that names the people at play and denounces it. He has rightly condemned the actions in el paso and now he needs to address the nation and condemn the motivation. The president needs to make clear he hates White Nationalism as something unamerican and evil and ought not dilute the attack by talking about many or both sides. That is from the Washington Examiners piece this morning. Tim is next, democrats line, virginia. Go ahead. Caller thank you, pedro. I used to own a bunch of assault weapons. Andd an ar15 and ak47 some other guns. After the shooting last year in las vegas, i was so disgusted i called the police and had them confiscate them. But were legally purchased, i had told them i dont want you guys to keep them, i want them destroyed. I had them for years and i enjoyed shooting and stuff, but i thought about it i used to go hunting. I thought about it, why do i own these things . Host going forward, is there a specific washington should focus on when it comes to this issue . Aller background checks have countries psychological profiles, et cetera. Should not be able to just go to a gun show and by one. Selling one that is not registered, that makes no sense. The problem is people are stuck in their ways and we have 40,000 people a year being killed. Politically,lt it will take 100 years, but eventually we are going to probably have a country where there is not going to be guns. It could take a long time. Host ted in washington, new jersey, republican line. Caller thank you for taking my call. This is a very serious issue and a very serious at a very serious time and what disturbs me is the New York Times and cnn, they will not highlight the Mental Health access for many people. These killers, they know where ever they shoot, wherever they attack, they know the people are defenseless. At these events, these awful, tragic events, who had a gun to fight back . I wish Chuck Schumer and the others would say one 800 Mental Health. If people dont have good insurance, they cannot get Mental Health care. That is the problem. The guns are the guns. The knives or cocktails will always be there. People are not in church they are not learning we need to get along with each other. Trump needs to tone it down a little bit, but he is not the fault and it is not the fault of white supremacist. I have never met a white supremacist and i am a white guy. I worked with children, i worked in schools. A lot of young people today are lost. Caller the expansion host the expansion of Mental Health services by the government should be the focus . Caller it would be a start. Right now, there is none. A lot of these kids these days, these people who are disturbed, there is nothing they can go. If you call a Mental Health clinic, the first thing they ask about is your Health Insurance and they dont even take you in. It is not just the guns, it is. He fact these people are angry you want to say crazy, it is crazy. To kill people is crazy. I wish schumer, any of these democrats a listening, running for president , lets look at the Mental Health, too. Int lets hear from john annapolis, maryland. Independent line. Caller thanks very much for taking my call. Just wanted to say i think the weapons are the issue. People are angry, but if they did not have the assault weapons, there would be fisticuffs. They would be driving cars on sidewalks. Assault weapons have no place in civilian society. Their only purpose is to kill vast numbers of people. We have to get them off the street. Host you heard the tweets from the president on this topic and what should be done about it. He is set to speak at 10 00. Castro talking about not only the shootings, but other issues related to it and here is some of his thoughts from yesterday. [video clip] anybody who has the ability to see and hear and understand what the president has been doing since he started his campaign in 2015 knows that division and bigotry and fanning the flames of hate has been his political strategy. That is how he believes he won in 2016 and it is no accident just a few weeks after he announced his reelection bid, there he was indulging and entertaining this send her spokenhant and he has about immigrants as being invaders. He has given license for this toxic through of White Supremacy to fester more and more and we are seeing the results of that. Host we are getting your thoughts on what washington should do in response to these Mass Shootings. A gun owner, hello. Caller if an assault weapons it were enacted, i think would be a deadly, costly mistake. There are 125 million gun owners and very easily a million of those simply are not going to obey the law, period. You think of them as one million gordon pauls on steroids. They are not going to stand by and obey the van. Ban. Host anything else needs to be done as far as washington is concerned . Caller there are laws that should be strictly enforced. I went and bought a gun pistol three months ago. They did a background check on me. If something had come up, they would not have allowed me to have that done. Host how long do the background checks take and what do they ask for . Caller you need to fill out the form. You have to show your drivers license and the dealer calls it tobacco andreau of firearms. It took roughly 10 minutes. Think abouto you this idea of expanding background checks . Caller me . Host pf. This idea ofll, expanding background checks and that process. What do you think of that . Caller what more can possibly be done . Drivers license number, if you have a prison record, that should show up. If you abuse your wife, that should show up. If they are going to use it to ban weapons, that will be a costly, deadly mistake. Like i said, there is probably going to be one Million People who simply will not obey any law like that. Host that is gary in north dakota. , the bipartisan background checks active 2019. It would prohibit most persontoperson firearm transfers unless there is a background check to be conducted. It aims to close potential loopholes allowing the transfer of firearms without a background check at gun shows. This is mary, democrats line from south carolina. Caller good morning. Check you talked about, i dont believe it will help. America has become so full of hate against black and brown people. Until you can get to the root of the hatred, you can do all the background checks you want, it is not going to help because the fact that we are living in a society that people feel as though they have the right to do what they want to do to people of another race and color in this country. Until we can stop this nationalist the president that spurs hate in this country, nothing you do is going to help until you stop the hate in this country. Get rid of the kkk. I lived through it. I am 73 years old. Host it was mick mulvaney, the acting chief of staff who appeared on abc yesterday addressing the issues of the president downplaying threats of White Nationalism as he was asked by the host this topic. Here is his response. [video clip] look at what he said yesterday. He condemned this without any reservation whatsoever. I dont think that is fair. Can i read the president s words because in march, he was asked do you see White Nationalism as a rising threat around the world . His answer, i dont, really. I think it is a small group of people who have a very serious problem. He downplayed the threat of White Nationalism. Was he wrong to do that . I dont think that is downplaying. He was asked directly, do you see today White Nationalism as a rising threat around the world . . I dont, really. I think it is a small group of people who have a very serious problem. This is not the same as Nuclear Weapons, this is a serious problem, but they are sick people. I dont think it is fair to lay this into the president. There are people in this country this morning thinking President Trump was happy by this. He is angry, he is upset, he wants it to stop. I dont think it is fair to say he does not think White Nationalism is bad for the nation. You cannot be a white supremacist and be normal in the head. You know it, i know it. We have to figure out a way to fix the problem, not figure out a way to lay blame. Host the New York Times saying since 20, white extremists have carried out at least 8 active shooter attacks in the united including el paso, tallahassee, santa fe, and parkland. The National Institute of justice, the government website out of the Justice Department adds this as far as context when it comes to Crimes Involving firearms saying most homicides in the United States are committed with firearms, especially handguns. Reaching a low of 10,000 1117 to117 in 1999 before falling 10,869 in 2008. If you want to see more of those ov. Tistics, nij. G dan inlican line texas, republican line. Caller actually, i am in virginia. I do guns and i do own and ar15, which i have never fired, let whaty dont happened in el paso and that sick kid mask that there have been other Mass Shootings against homosexuals and kids in schools. There is a problem there. Anything for people to get most upset by his lawabiding gun owners. That sickness needs to be eradicated. You need a deterrent. Shame these guys. Go medieval. That is the only way you will get rid of this. Host bob is next, a gun owner, independent line. Caller i do own 8 guns. Two handguns, 6 long guns. I dont believe anybody is coming to take my guns. One of the shooters the other with a an ar style rifle. 00 round barrel clip that is not used in hunting. There is no need for rapidfire. Unting rifles like that especially such highvolume clips, that is ridiculous. You had a guy who called in and said they are no different than hunting rifles, they are way different than h