Full Program

Part 1

Today we focus on gun violence in America following the massacre of school children in Connecticut that outraged the nation yet no reforms followed and gun massacres continue unabated. We begin with a broadcast of “Background Briefing” from January 9, 2013 and look into what the President, who deputized Joe Biden to take on the task of reducing gun violence in this country, can achieve in the face of determined, organized and well-funded opposition. Saul Cornell, the author of “A Well Regulated Militia: The Founding Fathers and the Origins of Gun Control in America” and “The Second Amendment Goes to Court”, joins us to discuss what could be achieved through executive order short of the American people standing up to the NRA.

Part 2

Then from April 25, 2013 we speak with Michael Cohen who is a columnist for the UK Guardian and the Observer where he has an article “Why Does America lose its head over ‘terror’ but ignore its daily gun deaths?” We examine the paradox of our inordinate fear of random violence from terrorists compared to our acceptance of the daily death toll from gunsand the preventable workplace deaths of 14 Americans every day. As well as try to understand why 3,531 Americans, more than were killed on 9/11, have died from gunssince Newtown, yet a majority of Americans are not as motivated to do something about it while the 1% who belong to the NRA are highly motivated to ensure that America’s criminals and terrorists are the best-armed in the world.

Part 3

Then finally from December 8, 2013, on the one year anniversary of the Newtown school massacre, Amardeep Kaleka joins us in the studio to discuss the lack of progress on gun control and legislation to reduce hate crimes and mass shootings. The son of the president of the Sikh Temple who was murdered along with five members of his congregation by a white supremacist, Amardeep Kaleka is running for Congress to unseat Representative Paul Ryan in whose district his father was shot.