Witness Decries Gun Violence: 'If Guns Made Us Safer' US Would Be 'The Safest Country In The World'

Forbes Breaking News

During a House Judiciary Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) spoke about gun violence.  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript   Stay Connected Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com

Transcript

00:00Gentleman yields. Chair now recognizes the gentleman, the ranking member of the entire

00:03committee from Maryland, Mr. Raskin. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So, Mr. Jackson,

00:09guns are the leading cause of death for young people in America. Guns are, I learned from you,

00:15the leading cause of death for pregnant women in America. They are the leading cause

00:20of disabilities for newly disabled people, I learned from you. I know that the U.S.

00:28has more firearms than people. And I know that, excuse me,

00:36I know that we've got a firearm homicide rate 25 times higher than other comparable

00:45wealthy countries. Now, I hear the argument that because our society is swimming in firearms,

00:53that people need more firearms to defend themselves. Of course, people have a constitutional

01:03right to purchase a handgun to defend themselves, right, under the Heller v. District of Columbia

01:09case. Isn't that right? Correct. So people have that right. So it seems to me that the argument

01:17that is being advanced is a huge non sequitur. The claim is being made, pushing an open door,

01:25that people have a right to a gun to defend themselves if that's how they choose to defend

01:28themselves. And therefore, we shouldn't do anything else to try to limit the staggering

01:35amount of gun violence in society. Now, you're here to tell us that the Biden administration

01:42saw great success. Will you just give us what were the major elements of that success

01:47in reducing gun violence? Right. I mean, just to build on your statement, I mean,

01:52if guns made us safer, we would definitely be the safest country in the world, considering how many

01:56firearms are in our communities. But we knew that gun violence is about more than just solving a

02:02crime. It's about preventing a health crisis. And so we looked at strategies to help victims heal,

02:08investing in the Crime Victims Fund and VOCA, investing in violence intervention programs and

02:14law enforcement crime intelligence strategy. Were any of those things struck down as violative of

02:19anybody's Second Amendment rights? No. Okay. So why isn't everybody celebrating across the aisle

02:25that we actually saved thousands of lives through the things the Biden administration did

02:30without violating anybody's Second Amendment rights? Baffles me, because I think we should

02:35all have the same goal of saving lives. And we now have a strategy that has been proven for two

02:40years in a row to save historic lives. And our cities are frankly, I mean, Boston had an 82%

02:47reduction. I don't know how we can even debate 82% reduction in homicide gun homicides. Yes. So

02:53can you explain this to me? People have a right to a gun to defend themselves. Everybody agrees

03:02to that. You never challenged that. Did you in your office? Correct. Okay. And

03:10why is it that people are taking the position we shouldn't be doing anything to reduce gun violence

03:18other than selling more guns? You know, I think frankly, there's,

03:24you know, the gun industry is big business. We talked about there being over, you know,

03:2920,000, 30,000, 25,000 FFLs. And frankly, that may not sound big to some folks, but that's enough

03:37to fill Madison Square Garden. And there's a lot of profit to be made in selling firearms. But we've

03:42seen firsthand that that's not how we prevent violence. Guns don't make us safe. Preventing

03:47violence is what makes us safe. And that's what we proved that has worked. So the whole point

03:53of the social contract, if you read John Locke or Hobbes or Rousseau, anybody who wrote about

03:59the social contract is we'll be safer coming together with laws than we would be if we were

04:05just in a state of war, a state of violence against each other. So if we're talking about

04:13how to promote self-defense, aren't the laws that you're talking about themselves

04:18instruments of self-defense and community safety? Correct. I mean, I think we should

04:23always focus on preventing a conflict in the first place. I mean, we talked a little about

04:27stand your ground laws here today, but I'll be up front with you. If I tried to stand my ground

04:33when I was shot, I'd be dead because evading is the number one way to move. What about there's

04:40so many of these spectacular mass gun shootings at schools and Walmarts and so on where there

04:46were armed guards around, right? And there are lots of cases where they just go right through

04:53the guards. And we think about Evaldi, where we had hundreds of law enforcement, you know,

04:57where we had Buffalo, where armed folks engaged the shooter and lost. And we have to realize that

05:03the way that we can truly save lives is preventing someone from walking onto a campus or approaching

05:09senior citizens in a grocery store in the first place. Thank you. I yield back, Mr. Chairman.

05:13Gentleman yields. Chair now recognizes the gentleman from California, Mr. Kiley.

Category

Transcript

Recommended