Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 20121222 : vimarsan

Lashing speech that included violent movies and video games as he said his plan would train those to guard our schools. In this edition of todays program, were going to begin the first 45 minutes of the program to talk about the nras response to the shootings. They broke their silence yesterday with executive director and Vice President wayne. Well talk more about what he had to say. But we want to get you involved in the conversation. So the numbers on your screen. Guest we also have a special line this morning for members of the n. R. A. 202 5853883 this is for n. R. A. Members. You can also reach out to us at twitter. Com cspanwj and f. S. A. And facebook at and the headline face of the n. R. A. Mountains a forceful defense advocate of armed School Guards excels at lighting fires under supporters and critics alike. Guest well get back to more of the newspaper articles this morning regarding the n. R. A. s response to the newtown shootings. First up leslie from wash burn, maine. Leslie, go ahead. Caller yes. Im originally from northern maine and moved here from Northern New York and i personally had a secondgrade and thirdgrade teacher killed from mentally unstable students. One used a knife and one beat a teacher. I personally believe this is a Mental Health problem and everybody knew they had problems. Until they take care of the Mental Health problem, youre going to continue to have deaths. Host so you say youre in support of having armed guards in schools around the country . Yes, i am. Caller im a 23year army veteran and ive hunted and fished all my life. Host there were reports that there was an affirmed guard at columbine and that didnt seem to deter those boys from doing causing the mayhem that they had. Caller that was a large campus at columbine, and youve got to have gareds at the gate and if you have a huge place, you need more than one guard. Ive been in combat in the army. Host where were you . Thank you for your service. Caller id like to make a couple of points, the n. R. A. And republicans are wrong. To have armed guards in our school, the republicans have been telling us that our country is going down and we have no money but all of a sudden were going to have money to fund guards at our schools . And another thing, the n. R. A. Makes movies that are being sold to our children that fund all these video games that show the guns being shot and people being shot up by the guns. And another thing, when republicans support the n. R. A. , do you really feel the n. R. A. Really cares if you or your child gets shot or murdered by somebody with one of these assault rifles . They dont care if they get killed. Youre just helping them make their money, their dollars, and youre doing their bidding when you support what they are doing. And it was george bush that let the n. R. A. Sell assault rifles to our people. Its wrong. And you cant have everybody being armed with guards at all of our doors. Even in our public streets . Youre going to have armed guards . Is that what you really want . Think about it. Host in this mornings daily news, a little story about the columbine guard we referred to earlier. Joe kemp writes host back to the phones. Weve got kenneth in you are the botville, pennsylvania. He is a member of the n. R. A. Kenneth, how long have you been with the n. R. A. . Caller probably for 2530 years. Host and what did you think about what mr. Lapierre had to say yesterday . Caller i thought it was well overdue, and i thought it was dead on as far as the need what we need to do in our country. Host so youre in favor of having armed guards in schools . Caller i am. I think its a sad testament of where our society has gone with regards to the video games and the violence in the movies. I sadly listened to the woman that preceded me, and she is spouting the rhetoric that the liberals tried to ezzpows like the assault rivals. The government dyeds what decides what type of firearm every person in the United States of america is allowed to own or not allowed to own, that is the start of the loss of the Second Amendment, and that will be the disarming of the United States of america. Host kenneth, you talked about the liberals. But in this article, the New York Daily News this morning, they quote several republicans, among them, senator tom coburn, also objected to lapierres plan, sort of. He said host what are your thoughts to those responses from those republicans . Caller i agree with those comments. Let me say this, as far as the more broad sense of this issue with regards to the connecticut shootings. Its perfectly clear that the young man that committed that atrocity was troubled individual. The problem with our society is that we need something to recognize, deal with, and stride help with, for the people, the families, the parents that have to do that. Ive read a number of articles since then where by sthradse have that Mental Illness, but when they go to seek the help from the Law Enforcement officers, etc. , they are advised that they should today . Contact with their police, because theres not intervention unless the individual breaks the law, and then they are thrown in with the common lawbreakers in the jail. Thats not the way we should treat the sick individuals. We have a society. If obama wants to do something, and anybody, i dont care if youre democrats or republicans, start dealing with the Mental Health issues that are enabling these people to be put out on the street and have to be concerned and burdened with their family members. Like guns are doing away with guns and doing away with the private ownership of guns, and i dont care what kind it is. Yes. Theres a difference of opinion as far as i have many of the individuals that i know that are Law Enforcement Police Officers that have them for their personal thing. I respect that. I dont know move them. But that doesnt mean that somebody else doesnt. Host kenneth, were going to live it there. Member of the n. R. A. In pennsylvania. We want to show you more from yesterdays News Conference that featured n. R. A. Executive Vice President Wayne Lapierre. He explains further that what the n. R. A. Is willing to do to develop a model of National Schools shield response program. This is a little bit more about what he had to say at yesterdays News Conference. [video] the n. R. A. Is going to bring all its resources to develop a Model National School Shield Emergency Response program. For every Single School in america that wants it. From Armed Security to Building Design and access control, to information, technology to student and teacher training. This Multifaceted Program will be developed by the very best spirits in the field. Experts in the field. Former congressman hutchison will lead this program. With a budget provided by the n. R. A. On whatever scope the task requires. Host that was Wayne Lapierre, n. R. A. Executive Vice President in a News Conference here in washington yesterday. More on the discussion and response by the n. R. A. This is steve from covington, georgia on our line for independents. Steve, youre on the washington journal. Caller good morning. Id like to say to your last caller. Ive got two little girls. They are twins, 7 years old. They came running in here crying and i got up to see what they were watching, and they were calling for blood in the streets. The union was calling for blood in the streets up there, and it scared them to death. They said daddy, are they going to kill us . I said, no, i dont think. So if were going to have to limit our clitches to 10 bullets, the union is going to have to limit their members to 10 people, because they get on jeeps and yelling stuff, and its scaring people to death. Host jerry . Caller im not a gun owner but im also not antigun. I do shoot rec creational like when i visit my friends and stuff, but i think its ridiculous that we cannot come to a consensus in this country that these things are dangerous. Like, its not about democrat or republican. If anybody shouldnt agree that we shouldnt have semi automatic rifles that spew bullets at a rapid pace, this is not good. As far as armed guards in schools, this is ridiculous. Instead of having people shooting up mass amounts of people, youre going to have a fire fight inside the school . This is ridiculous. I come from a neighborhood in brooklyn where people have gunfights and its not a nice place, so why would you even suggest no. Im not antiguns. I believe in the right to bear oorms but the fact that this country is so split apart that we cant agree that they cant have these highpowered weapons is ridiculous. Host robert is a member of the n. R. A. Your response to the comments made yesterday by executive Vice President Wayne Lapierre. Caller well, we have actual Police Officers and deputy sheriffs in our schools and county. Have had them for a long time. They are called a resource officer, and it works very well. We have very few incidents of anything in those schools. They have even called in for checks on drugs and everything. They do more than just patrol. Im a fulltime Mental Health counselor as well, and i have no problem doing that in schools, but we have got to come out and talk about Mental Health. Its not about just that. Mental illness is the same as any other disease. Lets have an open discussion about that. Host among other things executive Vice President lapierre mentioned, he talked about violence in television and video games, as a Mental Health professional, do you see a correlation between video games and the actions and behavior that has been prevalent over the last couple of years . Absolutely. Those things. Remember how we have r. Ratings on music and movies . Little children should not be playing these video games or watching the movie like that and i remember when dirty harry came out of the, i wanted to get a big gun. That was an influence on my own psyche about watching a fabts and fable show. And we are influenced by what we see, hear, and do. And just like some of the music puts women in a low position and degrades women, that kind of garbage needs to stop, because some people live what they hear and see. Host robert, the n. R. A. Crawls from its hiding hole and they finish out the editorial by saying people like lapierre want us to believe that civilians can be trained to use lethal force in moments of fear and crisis that, requires a willful ignorance about the facts. Police officers know firing a weapon is a huge risk, thats why they avoid doing it. In new york city Police Officers opened fire an man and killed him and wounded nine people, a Police Officer called the weapon used in newtown a machine gun and fires the most powerful ammunition available. Thats not true. Whats true is that theres a growing call in america for stricter gun control. Caller i was a Police Officerful time while i went to college. We trained and did the best we could. But you never know how youre going to act until that moment happens and your body is stressed at the moment. Host have you ever had to pull a gun on somebody . Caller yes. As a Police Officer. I did, because the situation changed in a moment, a second. I pulled, they dropped their gun. Host weaver going to move on to mark in Virginia Beach for our republican line. Caller i dont know what more can be done. I think the n. R. A. Has a constructive decision or suggestion. The gentleman from tennessee, School Resource officers really prevent they prevention and other benefits from a School Resource officer. Being in schools like a child may have an improper home situation. So i think the n. R. A. Made constructive suggestions on what needed to be done. I really dont have a problem, because in the south beach we have something in our Public Schools called School Resource officers. Host james from san antonio, a member of the n. R. A. How long have you been a member . About eight years. Host what kind of guns do you own . Caller a variety. A semi automatic handgun, shotguns and rifles. Host anything reaccidentalibling the bush master rival used last week . Caller no. But i have trained, because i was a corrections officer in the state of texas and we used the a. R. 15, thats 2 primary weapon for towers. Host what did you think about what mr. Lapierre had to say yesterday in his News Conference caller well, see, the thing is, actually, he should have came out and with the facts. The facts show that every country that has a ban. Every country that has banned weapons, the crime rate has soared because bad guys know now that the good guys cant protect themselves anymore. So i mean, what do we do . We need to make sure that the guns dont get into the hands of people that have psychological issues that thats a big problem, and im really sorry about what happened there in newtown. It was a tragedy, you know . But i believe it was the mothers fault, because she should have made sure, knowing that her son had these psychological issues, so this was the actions of one individual, but her being a teacher. Come on. She had to know, so its totally ridiculous. But the way things are going down, its like it was a group of people that was terrorists that came through with this, you know . And it shows that when people arm themselves, they are less likely to come in somebodys home, because of the fear of being shot. Host thats another member of the n. R. A. In an article in this mornings New York Times, they quote senator Dianne Feinstein who was at a News Conference on friday, she is the california democrat who is leading an effort to reinstitute a ban on salmt rifles. She wrote host i want to show you more of what she had to say at the News Conference yesterday saying that the n. R. A. s blanket call to narms our schools is nothing more than a distraction. This is more of what she had to say. [video clip] if the schools want to hire armed guards, i support that. Its a decision each School District should make and many School Districts already have armed guards. In fact 28,300 Public Schools. Thats act 1 3 of all Public Schools, have Armed Security staff. In fact, there were two armed Law Enforcement officers who twice engaged the shooters at columbine. That didnt prevent 15 from being killed and 23 wounded. Copies of the sheriffs investigative transcript with exactly what happened are available right at the back of the room. The n. R. A. s blanket dual arm our schools is really nothing more than a distraction. Its a delay tactic. Its a distraction from the veilibility of militarystyle assault weapons on our streets, in our schools, used at malls, and workplaces and movie theaters. And they allow for much death and destruction. Its a distraction from the prevalence of large ammunition feeding devices that allow shooters to expel 20100 and more bullets. And its a distraction from how easy it is to purchase weapons at gun shows with no background checks at all. Host california senator Dianne Feinstein at yesterdays News Conference near washington, d. C. Were talking about the n. R. A. s response to the newtown shootings at sandy hook elementary school. The New York Daily News, just 0 minutes after a moment of silence for newtown victims the nut blames everyone and everything except the guns and they say he is the craziest pan on earth. The New York Post on their front page, gun nut, n. R. A. Alone in bizarre rant over new town. They write National Rival Association executive Vice President Wayne Lapierre went off the deep end in the gun probes comments. On our line for democrats kevin, youre on the washington journal. Caller hello. Ive been listening to this for a week now and i really believe everybody is missing the point. Host whats the point . Caller its the same as you ever got to stop everybody from going in. Every teacher and bus driver and parent has an i. D. If youre not on the visitors list you cant get in. The schools can hire are couple more combleas to monitor the hallways and outside and you have to get through a gated Community Get in. I go on golf courses and see three or four guards before i see the way to get to the golf course. You have to stop the people from getting on the property. You cant expect a teach tore get into a gunfight. Host we want to take a look at a couple of tweets that have come in t