0:02

Captured our cell phone video, the chilling

0:04

moment that rapid gunfire broke out

0:06

in Alexandria this morning. you know,

0:08

I I fall down. I I

0:11

I'm trying to get away, but I can't, so I start

0:13

crawling.

0:14

I stopped being fired, and there are

0:16

people running softly.

0:19

your body does sort of shut down

0:21

the pain that you should be feeling. But

0:23

a new, okay, what do I do next

0:26

when I can't move anymore? And that's when I

0:28

just said I've gotta pray. There's nothing

0:30

else I can do. I gotta put this in God's hands.

0:32

Hello,

0:33

everyone. Today we're gonna be

0:35

talking about the second amendment. our

0:38

right as Americans to

0:40

bear arms. Now the second

0:42

amendment says a well regulated militia

0:44

being necessary to the security of a free

0:46

state The right of the people

0:49

to keep and bear arms shall

0:51

not be infringed. Now

0:53

there's a debate going on in our country right

0:55

now in some place is about whether or

0:58

not the second amendment is relevant today.

1:00

Well, let's go back to

1:03

the basics. Our founders passed the second

1:05

amendment out of a recognition that every

1:07

one of us says Americans has a right

1:09

to defend ourselves and our loved

1:11

ones, and to serve as a

1:13

check on a tyrannical government that

1:15

seeks to take away our god given freedoms

1:17

enshrined in the constitution. Now,

1:20

if you were like me, I once

1:23

thought that's not something that we

1:25

would ever have to do in America, protect ourselves

1:27

from a tyrannical government. This is the land of

1:29

the free.

1:29

The whistleblower says the FBI directed

1:31

agents TO USE COUNTER TERRORISM MEASURES

1:34

TO TRACK PARENTS CRITICAL OF THEIR

1:36

SCHOOL BOARD.

1:36

THE NATIONAL SCHOOL BOARD ASSOCIATION

1:39

SAYS THAT THIS is what a domestic

1:41

terrorist looks like. News broke that the

1:44

FBI had raided a couple of homes connected

1:46

to Project Veritas, and now the FBI has been

1:48

going through Project Veritas's private attorney

1:50

client communications and leaking them

1:53

to the New York Times. While FBI agents

1:55

raided the home of a pro life FATHER

1:57

OF eleven IN TENNISY EARLIER

1:59

THIS

1:59

MONTH. PAWAN IS THE PRESIDENT

2:02

OF TENNISY PERSONHOOD.

2:03

HE AN NEARLY

2:05

A DOZEN OTHER prone lifers were

2:07

arrested and charged with

2:09

violating the freedom of access

2:11

to clinic entrances act. Incident

2:14

happened more than a year ago. And at that

2:16

time, Vaughan was not arrested

2:18

by local police, but now he

2:20

faces up to eleven years

2:23

in prison.

2:24

Is this administration weaponizing

2:27

the justice department and the FBI against

2:29

political opponents? Peter,

2:31

the president believes in the rule of law,

2:34

the president

2:34

believes in the independence of

2:36

the

2:36

Department of Justice? Yes or no.

2:38

No.

2:39

That is no. It's a yes or

2:41

a no for you. I'm answering the question.

2:44

You may not like it, but I'm answering the

2:46

question. And I'm

2:47

no. Well, I'm

2:48

answering the question and I'm telling you

2:50

that we are not going to comment.

2:53

But

2:53

as we see Democratic leaders in Washington,

2:56

continue to push more

2:58

authoritarian like policies who

3:01

are using law enforcement

3:03

agency weaponizing them to go

3:05

after political opponents, targeting

3:08

law abiding Americans as extremist

3:10

and domestic

3:11

terrorists For

3:13

committing the offense of opposing the

3:15

agenda of those in power, we

3:19

realize that our right to bear

3:21

arms is the deterrent our founders

3:23

intended to push back against this

3:25

threat of government tyranny,

3:28

this abuse of power. So my views

3:30

on the second amendment have changed over the years.

3:32

I grew up in Hawaii in

3:35

a state that still has very restrictive

3:37

gun laws. So I didn't have much

3:39

exposure to firearms growing up. My dad

3:41

took me to a shooting range a few times as a teenager.

3:44

I think he had a glock. but

3:46

that was really it. It wasn't until I

3:48

enlisted in the military when went

3:51

through basic training that I

3:53

had ever held a rifle in my hands.

3:56

For those who have gone through basic training

3:58

in any branch of the military, safety

4:01

standards are always high. That's the mantra of the military.

4:03

Safety first and there was

4:05

a good amount of training, but it wasn't

4:08

extensive. There's a limited amount of time.

4:10

They taught us about, you know,

4:13

safety rules, muzzle

4:15

discipline, you know, to

4:17

zero your rifle, and then to qualify.

4:19

And once you qualified, then that was done. You moved

4:21

on. given my

4:23

experience and exposure up

4:26

until that point, you know, it seemed

4:28

reasonable to me when people said, hey, you know what,

4:30

we should have comments comments sense

4:33

regulations around owning a

4:35

gun for the sake of public safety. I

4:38

too quickly dismissed arguments. I

4:40

heard from some of my Republican friends

4:42

and later my colleagues in congress

4:45

who when hearing of these common sense gun

4:47

regulations warned, hey, this is just

4:50

a slippery slope that will eventually

4:52

lead to the government coming and taking

4:54

our guns. And when I ran

4:56

for president, I had

4:58

a great opportunity and privilege of

5:01

traveling

5:01

the country and spending time

5:03

with people in big cities and small

5:06

towns, north, south, east, west, mid

5:08

west, and hearing

5:10

from them

5:10

their perspective and the experiences that

5:13

formed their views.

5:15

I remember in particular, there was there was

5:17

a town hall that I had in New Hampshire where

5:20

literally on one side of the room,

5:22

there were a few very avid

5:25

and vocal supporters of the second amendment,

5:28

and a few seats of way

5:30

on the other side of the room, there

5:32

was a mom who was

5:34

really, really worried about her young

5:36

child going to school and becoming

5:39

a victim of yet another mass shooting.

5:43

it was a very emotional

5:46

moment hearing from both of them.

5:48

And rather than me

5:51

taking over and, you

5:53

know, kind of dictating whatever my views

5:55

were I wanted to hear from both of them.

5:58

I wanted to better understand where

5:59

both of them were coming from. And

6:02

that town hall, most of that

6:04

town hall was spent listening.

6:07

listening to these

6:09

two different people talk

6:13

to each other. it

6:15

had this really powerful

6:17

effect on me and think a lot

6:20

of people in the room of of recognizing,

6:22

hey, this is tough. this is

6:25

a complex conversation. But

6:28

ultimately, the outcome

6:30

of that conversation was

6:33

these two people,

6:35

they walked

6:35

out in agreement on both

6:38

that we have to protect our

6:40

constitutional rights

6:41

and freedoms

6:43

and work together as

6:45

a community, as a society to

6:48

keep our kids and our families

6:50

safe. These

6:53

are the kinds of conversations that

6:55

people in Washington should be having.

6:58

Instead, what we see are these self serving

7:00

politics petitions who care only about power in the next

7:02

election, using this issue,

7:05

weaponizing it as a political football

7:07

to rile up voters and fundraise on either

7:09

side. We see the

7:11

news media framing these stories

7:13

with a very specific narrative. Whatever agenda

7:16

it is that they wanna push on whichever side

7:19

they're on. But at that town hall

7:21

in New Hampshire, we had real

7:23

conversation with real people

7:27

taking what is often a

7:29

fiery and complex issue with

7:31

people on both sides drawing

7:33

that line in the sand immediately

7:36

saying, I'm against you and you're against me. Instead,

7:39

in that town hall, this became

7:42

a real conversation that went

7:44

toward

7:45

the

7:47

the truth, which is how

7:49

do we work together to uphold our freedom and

7:51

keep our community safe. So for me, per

7:54

These experiences that I've gone through combined

7:56

with the Democratic Party's increasing authoritarian

7:59

instincts have really driven

8:01

home the truth. that

8:04

protecting our freedom to defend ourselves

8:06

in those we love and protecting

8:08

our rights and freedoms enshrined in the constitution

8:10

against the terrannical power is exactly

8:14

why we must ensure that our right to bear

8:16

arms shall not be

8:18

infringed. Today's Democratic party,

8:21

however, does not believe in our constitutionally protected

8:23

right to bear arms. They don't believe

8:25

in the constitution. So instead

8:28

of being open minded to listening

8:30

to the conversations like I did,

8:33

the Democratic Party's hatred of the second

8:35

amendment is getting worse.

8:38

Now, you don't have to go back very far back in

8:40

twenty twelve, the Democratic Party platform

8:43

at least acknowledge that the second amendment

8:45

guarantees our individual right to bear arms.

8:48

Fast forward a few years, all

8:50

mentions of the second amendment were removed from both

8:52

the twenty six steam and twenty twenty

8:54

platforms. It says a lot

8:57

about what their priorities were. The

9:00

Democratic socialist of America who have

9:02

an increasing presence and influence within the

9:04

Democratic Party and in Congress, published

9:07

a piece in twenty eighteen that

9:09

was literally titled The

9:11

second amendment is a threat to

9:14

us all and made

9:16

their forceful argument for

9:18

its complete abolishment. Now

9:20

the ACLU, the American Civil Liberties

9:22

Union, once a widely respected

9:25

and principled institution that

9:27

stood up for our constitutionally protected

9:30

freedoms has now

9:32

turned into a purely partisan

9:35

political organization. They recently said,

9:38

quote, racism is foundational to

9:40

the second amendment.

9:42

What?

9:44

This goes right along with

9:47

another problem that

9:49

these these, you know,

9:52

woke insane fanatical

9:55

ideologues and the Democratic Party

9:57

are propagating because they're racializing everything.

10:00

Now

10:00

even someone with the most

10:03

basic knowledge or understanding

10:05

of US history can tell you that the ACL's

10:07

ACLU statement is patently false

10:10

and ridiculous. It

10:12

has been government's attempt

10:15

to control gun ownership, not

10:18

gun rights that our government has

10:20

weaponized for racism. enslaved

10:23

African Americans and even those who were

10:25

freed for decades were

10:27

either barred from owning a firearm completely

10:30

or they were required to obtain

10:32

a license subject to

10:34

the approval

10:34

of our government. A different standard

10:37

than those who were white. Democrats

10:39

in Washington say that the second amendment is

10:42

no longer relevant, that we do not have

10:44

the right to bare arms, that our founders

10:46

could have imagined that we would live in the world

10:48

that we live in today. But

10:51

the exact opposite is true.

10:54

and a recent ruling by the supreme court

10:57

that struck down a New York law that

10:59

restricted people from carrying a concealed firearm

11:01

stated very clearly just how

11:04

wrong today's democratic party

11:06

is. And I'm gonna quote here,

11:09

just as we do not need to seek a permit

11:12

stand on the street corner and exercise our

11:14

right to free speech, we should

11:16

not have to seek permission for a law

11:18

abiding citizen to carry their firearm.

11:21

We, as a society, don't get to pick and

11:23

choose which of our rights in the

11:25

constitution are more worthy of protecting

11:28

than another. There's

11:30

no disputing that our founders sought

11:32

to make our freedom and

11:34

right to bare arms a constitutional right

11:36

not only as a means for self defense, but

11:39

as an insurance policy against tyranny.

11:43

Having just defeated the British army who

11:45

sought to rule over the colonists' subjects,

11:48

imposing their will as an authoritarian

11:50

regime, our founders understood how easily

11:53

power corrupts. So

11:55

an armed citizenry serves

11:57

as an ultimate guardrail, a deterrent

11:59

against the worst impulses of human

12:01

of humanity when people seek

12:04

to be rulers and tyrants and

12:06

abuse their power, taking

12:08

away the rights and freedoms of others. Now,

12:11

sometimes you'll hear Democrats usually

12:13

when they're running for office, usually

12:15

in more conservative states where

12:17

the second amendment is a very important issue. They'll

12:19

say, oh, yeah. you know, I support people owning

12:22

firearms for hunting or sport,

12:24

but not for any other reason. You've heard

12:26

this recently, I think this is the policy

12:28

in Canada. that Trudeau outlined taking

12:30

away people's rights even to purchase a

12:33

pistol. We're

12:34

introducing legislation to implement

12:37

a national freeze

12:39

unhandgun ownership.

12:41

What this means is that it will no longer

12:44

be possible to buy, sell,

12:47

transfer, or import handguns

12:51

anywhere

12:51

in Canada.

12:54

Owning a firearm remains the most effective

12:56

and accessible way to protect not only

12:59

ourselves, but those

13:01

we love and and we the American

13:03

people instinctively know this. And

13:05

this explains why Democrats in Washington

13:07

as they push to defund the police,

13:10

as they demonize our police, violent

13:13

crime has risen over the past two years,

13:15

and as a result, gun

13:17

sales are at record highs. The

13:20

biggest increase in purchases of firearms

13:22

is coming from first time gun owners

13:25

more so now than in modern history breaking

13:27

all the stereotypes of who gun

13:29

owners in America are. These

13:31

are millennials who are living in

13:34

suburbs and in cities, not

13:37

people who the Democratic Party often

13:39

demonizes as those who

13:41

cling as President Obama

13:43

once said to their guns and their religion.

13:46

Our constitution makes clear that we have an

13:48

inherent god given right to protect ourselves,

13:51

which is the basis for that

13:53

ruling in New York. the

13:56

case between the New York State

13:58

Rifle and Pistol Association versus

14:00

Brewin. That New York law being

14:03

challenged required its citizens to show

14:05

proper cause to obtain

14:07

a concealed carry license. And this

14:10

vaguely defined standard of proper cause

14:12

as you can imagine empower the

14:14

government officials in your

14:16

home state or community to decide

14:20

whether or not you deserve to exercise

14:22

your second amendment. Right?

14:25

Now Hawaii's had similar laws.

14:27

They're in the process of changing

14:30

directly because of that Supreme Court ruling

14:32

on the case with New York. But a few

14:34

years ago, I had

14:37

direct experience with with the

14:39

negative impact of these restrictive laws.

14:41

I had a credible threat on my life.

14:44

There was someone who was stalking me, who was

14:46

threatening to cut off my head with a sword.

14:48

Our local police or tracking

14:51

the case, or helping with security, I was

14:53

serving on the city council, and then in Congress at

14:55

the time. And given there was a very credible

14:57

threat on my life, and

14:59

our state laws similar to New York

15:01

requiring probable cause for

15:04

a concealed carry permit to be issued before

15:06

going through the whole

15:07

process of filing the application, which you could

15:09

do, I just asked I

15:11

asked a senior leader at our local

15:13

police department, hey, if I'm gonna go through all this

15:15

trouble and apply for a

15:18

concealed carry permit for the purposes of self

15:20

defense, given a credible threat that police

15:22

were very very familiar with, would

15:25

it be approved? He said

15:27

immediately, no. It

15:29

won't. He said you can apply, but I'm telling

15:32

you it won't because it never

15:34

is. revealing this

15:36

facade of the laws. Like, oh, yeah. Sure. Prove

15:38

probable cause, and then we'll consider it. No.

15:40

It's up to them. They make the decision. and

15:43

in this case, they never

15:45

found probable cause for

15:48

anyone. Now

15:49

in this ruling that we're talking about with

15:51

New York, the Supreme Court stated

15:53

that our constitutional right to protect ourselves

15:55

is

15:55

not something to be granted

15:57

or denied by government official.

16:01

This

16:01

seems like a very rational view,

16:03

right, for anyone who values freedom

16:05

and autonomy. But the reaction

16:08

that this ruling had from common

16:10

and democratic leaders says

16:12

otherwise.

16:14

And I'm sorry this dark day has come.

16:17

They were supposed to go back

16:19

to what was in place since

16:22

seventeen eighty eight when the constitution

16:24

United States America was ratified. New

16:27

York's governor, Kathy Hockel,

16:30

immediately promised to double down

16:32

on even more aggressive forms of gun control

16:35

even as violent crime was

16:37

surging in her own state. Governor

16:39

Hockel and other elected New York

16:41

Democrats instead believe that

16:43

the answer is more restriction

16:46

taking away New Yorker's ability to

16:48

defend themselves and their loved ones.

16:52

President Biden likes to say that our second amendment

16:54

is not absolute, pretending as though

16:57

we don't currently have tens of thousands

16:59

of laws already on

17:00

the books. In fact, there are more laws

17:02

regulating this individual right

17:05

than any

17:05

other mentioned in the constitution. But

17:08

those laws, those existing laws on the books,

17:11

frankly are are not even being

17:13

enforced and yet they want to place

17:15

even more restrictions on us.

17:19

The scorn and mockery that's become

17:21

common amongst this condescending

17:24

self serving democratic elite Perhaps

17:27

there is no worse example than

17:30

Wisconsin Democrat and Senate nominee

17:32

Mandela Barnes. who's not only

17:34

openly stated that he, quote,

17:36

really could not care less about a second amendment.

17:39

Right. End of quote, but

17:41

who callously shrugged off

17:43

the attempted assassination and near

17:45

fatal shooting of my

17:47

friend and former colleague, Republican congressman,

17:50

Steve Skalise, belittling his

17:53

pain, his suffering and

17:55

the fact that he was in a coma

17:57

for days and almost died as,

18:00

quote unquote, taking one

18:02

for the team.

18:06

My friend, Steve scalise, joins me today.

18:08

He is one of the most credible and

18:10

staunchest defenders of the second amendment.

18:13

And man who we almost lost In

18:15

June of twenty seventeen, when he

18:17

and other members of congress were out during an

18:19

early morning baseball practice, when

18:22

a gunman showed up and

18:24

open fire.

18:36

Hey.

18:40

Is that guy okay out

18:42

there? The

18:44

guy's was that guy having Shazzy okay?

18:47

Anyway talk anybody talking to him?

18:56

Despite

18:56

shattering his pelvis, a

18:59

near fatal sepsis infection requiring

19:01

twenty units of blood, equivalent of two

19:03

people, and enduring months

19:06

of agonizing rehab just so he could

19:08

walk again. Today, Steve

19:10

is thriving. And he attributes

19:13

his survival and miraculous comeback

19:16

to his personal relationship with god,

19:18

the faith, the power

19:20

of prayer, the

19:22

love and support of his family

19:24

and friends and colleagues and millions of Americans

19:27

who he's never met across the country.

19:30

and the heroic actions of his security

19:32

detail who put their lives

19:34

on the line to protect him

19:37

and others. as well as the first

19:39

responders and medical team

19:40

who saved his life.

19:50

I don't know if you can see

19:51

me or hear me. I can

19:53

see you just fine. There you are.

19:55

Alright. Alright. And

19:57

looking at fancy background you've got.

19:59

Yeah. I know. My husband's like I didn't get a

20:01

fancy mic. Scrap. Yeah. You're

20:03

in Hawaii. I'm in Hawaii. Now

20:05

I'm really gonna get jealous. I need to come out

20:07

there. I need to do this in person next time

20:09

to do this out. I see I

20:12

see your wood flag in the background to

20:14

with your challenge coin display. Yeah.

20:16

You can see that in that cool. I love that. It's

20:18

great. Are you you're in DC right

20:20

now? No. I'm in New Orleans. Oh,

20:22

okay. Good. That's good. It's always

20:24

Yeah. Gonna see. Gonna see pit bull

20:26

tonight in New Orleans. Oh, wow.

20:28

That sounds like fun. It is.

20:31

Just an average Thursday night. I

20:33

was in I was in Palm Beach yesterday

20:36

raising money. I'm gonna be in California tomorrow,

20:38

so kinda moving your way and then I'm hitting

20:40

all a a bunch of a whole bunch of West Coast.

20:43

What is it? I got California, Washington,

20:46

Oregon, and Nevada. So

20:48

hitting a bunch of those districts.

20:49

Nice. Cool.

20:52

We are ready.

20:53

I wanna go back to pit bull for a second.

20:56

Is that is that Is that for fun? Or is that for fun?

20:59

I wouldn't wouldn't pegs you as a pitbull guy. Oh, it's

21:01

for fun. You know what I mean? That's so cool, man.

21:03

I've got a fifteen year old daughter and a thirteen

21:05

year old son. So Oh, that'll be today

21:07

is my birthday, so my wife and kids are taking

21:09

benefits tonight. Oh my gosh.

21:11

Happy birthday. Thank you so much

21:13

for making time for me. on your birthday.

21:16

I'm glad you're home for it.

21:18

I I just wanna start out by saying

21:20

how much I appreciate you and your

21:22

friendship over the years. I

21:25

I often reflect back at the

21:28

the culture of Washington as you know very

21:30

well. Very often is just purely transactional.

21:33

It's one of the things that I first noticed when I first

21:35

went there is, you know, you go to a social function

21:37

or, you know, you go and hang out with friends after you

21:39

meet different people and it's it's very

21:41

clearly like, okay, who are you?

21:43

And how how do you matter

21:45

to me and whatever it is I'm trying to accomplish?

21:48

And it's been such a turn off ever

21:51

since I was there as a legislative staffer

21:53

for senator O'clock out here, but

21:55

you've really really stood out even from a lot of

21:57

our colleagues when I was there because you

22:00

know, I I had no I

22:02

had no ability to positively impact anything

22:05

you were doing. You had no reason to stop and say

22:07

hello and be kind to me in the halls or

22:09

know, ask how my family was doing, but you always did

22:12

anyway.

22:12

And that really that

22:14

really touched me

22:16

and I just I just really appreciated it

22:18

over the years and So thank you for being

22:20

who you are. Oh, thanks. I

22:22

I really appreciate that. And and

22:24

look, I mean, you know, we we run

22:26

for office in four hundred and thirty

22:29

five of us get the the honor to serve

22:31

in Congress. And we go there because we

22:33

have things we believe in. but we're

22:35

all individuals and, you know, look,

22:37

I served in a state legislative body and think

22:40

that's where I learned it from because you serve

22:42

with Republicans and Democrats and sometimes

22:44

the people that are against you on a bill a day are gonna

22:46

be the allies helping you get your next bill

22:48

passed tomorrow. And if you hold grudges

22:51

or you look at everybody with this some label,

22:53

you're not gonna get anything done. And

22:55

and, also, you you really do meet genuine people.

22:58

I mean, you and I got to work out in the morning sometimes.

23:00

And I think that's probably where we really got to

23:02

know each other. Exactly. and I think it just brings

23:04

it back to remembering that

23:07

we have to see past all the labels and

23:09

we are. We are just people and

23:11

we've been sent there sent there to do a job and

23:13

we've got to be able to to

23:15

get along and to try to find ways

23:17

ways to work together and and you

23:20

know, it's we're we're in such

23:22

a divided time in the country, and

23:24

it feels like it has gotten more and

23:26

more divided as time has gone on.

23:28

And There are different things that have

23:30

led to that, but it just seems like when

23:32

we look back to how

23:35

United the country was after nine

23:37

eleven, There are very

23:39

few examples of of that

23:41

sentiment and that feeling of unity,

23:44

both in the country, but also in the congress,

23:47

ever since then. But I

23:49

I remember distinctly that

23:52

day in twenty seventeen

23:54

when when you came

23:56

back to work. And

24:00

it was it was such a

24:02

powerful and emotional feeling

24:04

that was in that room where

24:06

we had Democrats and Republicans standing

24:09

and not just applauding, but standing

24:11

really with full

24:14

hearts and joy in

24:17

in seeing you walk back in those doors.

24:19

And if you don't mind, I wanna play

24:21

play that clip that that brings

24:23

us back to that moment.

25:20

all

25:33

The chair wishes to mark the

25:35

return to

25:37

the chamber of our

25:37

dear friend and colleague from Louisiana

25:40

mister Steve scalise.

25:54

We

25:54

were very happy, Steve. We were

25:56

very happy. This is gonna For

25:58

for those two, I'll dump Didn't

25:59

catch can only imagine. So

26:02

am I? This this

26:06

this went on, obviously, for for quite

26:08

some time. And in your book,

26:10

back in the game, I just wanna

26:12

read a short excerpt from that. You you

26:14

wrote, as I spoke what I'd hoped

26:17

might happen was happening.

26:19

My colleague seemed to feel that my being

26:21

on my feet reflected something

26:23

important about them and the people

26:26

they represented. On the day of the shooting,

26:28

speaker Ryan had addressed the house saying

26:30

an attack on one of us is an

26:32

attack on all of us. I

26:35

was made to feel in those crucial days that that was

26:37

absolutely

26:37

true. That's how everyone

26:39

treated me. But if we'd all been attacked,

26:41

then we were also all responsible for the

26:43

comeback. My colleagues had closed ranks

26:45

around me, and this wasn't just my return.

26:48

It was return for

26:49

the whole house.

26:53

man, Hada. It was

26:55

one of the most special days. I mean, obviously,

26:57

you think of the birth of your kids and

26:59

you know, your wedding day. But to be able

27:01

to come back, I mean, of course, there were days

27:03

and then you know this well till see where where they

27:06

weren't sure. I was gonna make it. know, the first

27:08

few days after the shooting, my doctors

27:10

didn't know if I was gonna make it through

27:12

the night and, you know, and for my wife

27:14

and my my young kids at

27:16

the time. It it was a real emotional time,

27:18

and it was a tough recovery. It was three and a half

27:21

months in the hospital. And,

27:23

you know, if you you saw up in the gallery

27:25

there that day, my life was there, but also my

27:27

medical team -- Mhmm. -- the doctors and

27:30

nurses who helped get me back to

27:32

life. You know, the the the

27:34

the brave heroes. I mean, David Bailey and Crystal

27:36

Greiner. They're two members of Capitol Police who

27:38

who didn't just say me that day. There were over a

27:40

dozen members of Congress who would have been taken

27:43

out that day. that they saved.

27:45

And, you know, they were both shot during the shoot

27:47

out. So I wanted them to be there too. And, you

27:49

know, to to just have that feeling

27:51

of warmth. And, you know, and it

27:53

shows you in times, I mean, we we see the

27:55

toxic side of politics a lot.

27:58

You know, but but there's genueness

27:59

too, and and that was a day of just raw

28:02

emotion, where people were wonderful

28:04

and welcoming me back. I wanted

28:06

to come back, but to be back there. And, you

28:08

know, I could hardly walk. I'm looking, you know,

28:10

back then and, you know, I was struggling.

28:13

I had to to actually practice how

28:15

to get up to that podium

28:18

without fallen over just because III

28:20

was just learning how to walk again, you know, today

28:22

I don't even need crutches. God has performed miracles.

28:24

But a lot of emotion that

28:27

day, but God was you know, God

28:29

was there all the way through to to give me

28:31

strength and to perform miracles and

28:33

and then to to be able to share that with my

28:35

colleagues on the house floor

28:37

was just a treat that I'll never forget. Howard

28:39

Bauchner: And

28:40

we should we should all never forget that,

28:42

you know, for for everyone as every one

28:44

of us as Americans and as a country because

28:47

I think when we see so much of, you

28:50

know, the strife and the hatred and the

28:52

the animosity city in the back and forth.

28:54

And, hey, I'm on this team. You're on that team.

28:56

I'm against you. You're against me. All of

28:58

this stuff. You know, you you've

29:01

been very vocal

29:03

and and very open about, you

29:05

know, your faith in God and and

29:08

how prayers, both your prayers, the prayers

29:10

of those around you and and prayers

29:12

from millions of strangers across

29:14

the country helped

29:17

get you through that time when you

29:19

didn't know that you would survive.

29:21

And and to me, it's that that

29:23

spiritual foundation in

29:26

this country that that we've gotta find a

29:28

way to get back to to

29:31

be able to see past and get past

29:33

again all of this kind of darkness

29:35

and deviceiveness and animosity. Right?

29:37

Yeah. And look, I I still get

29:39

to to this day, you know, and I I travel

29:42

lot in in my job, especially

29:44

in leadership where you're going around the country, doing

29:46

events for other members, and inevitably,

29:48

no matter where I am, someone will come up

29:50

and say, you know, I prayed for you when you were

29:52

in the hospital and it still touches me.

29:55

And you know, and I know people, no

29:57

matter where you are, you're you're

29:59

you're

29:59

asked to pray for a friend, you know, oh, my

30:02

my brother was just diagnosed with cancer.

30:04

Can you say a prayer form? And and maybe

30:06

you wonder, you know, what is it gonna

30:08

affect or matter? If I do that, it matters.

30:11

And I felt the prayers. And and

30:13

he can't explain it. was a powerful thing,

30:16

but but it's something that I I really

30:18

appreciated because I could just feel

30:21

being uplifted by strangers

30:23

that didn't even know maybe that they were doing

30:25

something that was helpful to someone they had never

30:27

met before. And so anytime

30:30

that somebody is is down and out or

30:32

asks for a prayer for a friend, I

30:34

always do it because I know it. It really

30:36

it really helped me and it and it really mattered

30:39

So just just I still pass that on

30:41

to them too. I say thank you for the prayers because I

30:43

felt them. Yeah.

30:44

Absolutely. For

30:46

those who, you know, may have just

30:48

seen kind of a quick headline or two

30:51

on what happened in June

30:53

of twenty seventeen that change

30:56

your life, change the lives of those

30:58

who are protecting you and and many of

31:00

our colleagues I wanna go

31:02

back again and just point to

31:05

some of your words that you wrote in

31:07

your book. was

31:10

the last practice of the congression

31:12

before the congressional baseball game. You

31:15

were obviously on the republican team going against

31:17

the Democratic team. This is big annual event

31:19

that happens in Washington every

31:21

year at the nationals stadium.

31:24

And it is it is one of those

31:26

times when it's it builds that camaraderie,

31:29

it builds those relationships, some friendly competition

31:32

on on the baseball field. But

31:34

this morning was different

31:37

as as you were wrapping up practice. In

31:39

your book, you write, the man

31:41

emerged from his van carrying

31:44

an SKS style semi automatic

31:46

rifle with a forty round banana

31:48

clip, a fully loaded nine millimeter

31:50

Smith and Wesson pistol and hip holster attached

31:53

to his waist band, an extra fully

31:55

loaded forty round clip for the rifle, and

31:57

an extra loaded magazine for the pistol,

31:59

enough ammunition to kill all of

32:01

us several times over.

32:04

The morning chill had cooked off to make way for

32:06

a pure early summer heat, and

32:08

then there's a bang. I think

32:11

that's okay. It's nothing. I'm

32:13

still standing there in the sun thinking about

32:15

strategy and Cedric's fastball

32:17

and my family and my son's first YouTube

32:20

concert and a tractor. I

32:22

see a tractor and the noise makes sense

32:24

except there's no one on the tractor. There's

32:27

another noise and I can't force it out

32:29

anymore. I have to allow this new reality

32:31

to press itself in on me that

32:34

someone is shooting. It's

32:36

strange though, gunfire and baseball don't fit

32:38

together, and it's also strange that there's

32:41

a kind of numbness around my waist,

32:43

a kind of pressure, like alignment

32:46

has lowered his shoulder and given me a

32:48

shove, but it's not a shove.

32:50

It's a large seven point six two

32:52

caliber bullet moving at high velocity that's

32:55

entered my hip and hit my femur

32:57

and my leg has effectively detonated.

33:01

The bones explode. My

33:03

femur explodes. My pelvis explodes.

33:05

A puff of bone and metal fragments fly

33:07

through my pelvis and abdominal cavity.

33:10

turning my body into a shrapnel packed

33:12

bomb going off in a confined

33:14

space. The support struck

33:17

that keeps the whole architecture of my body upright

33:19

is now a broken apart puzzle and

33:21

there's no exit won't. So there's nowhere for

33:23

all that energy to go. Hard

33:26

things ricochet around like pinball, severing

33:28

veins, and slicing open organs, shredding

33:30

through my intestines, and destroying

33:33

my digestive tracked, rattling nerves,

33:35

making everything bleed all

33:37

at once. But

33:38

all the damage is internal, except for

33:40

one almost acceptably small hole

33:42

in my baseball pants, invisible from

33:45

the outside. I'm trying

33:47

to move on pulverized leg bones

33:50

I feel like someone else is controlling my

33:52

legs. My

33:53

legs stop working. It's

33:55

not pain exactly, and I don't know that

33:57

the reason I'm falling is because My

33:59

whole foundation has imploded. I

34:01

feel instead like the wiring that connects

34:03

my brain to my legs has been unplugged.

34:06

I fall. Now, I'm

34:08

on my hands in the dirt facing the outfield.

34:11

I don't know why I'm facing the outfield when

34:13

I was just facing the other way. I

34:16

don't know that the force with which bullet

34:18

hit me has spun me almost all the

34:20

way around. Things I

34:22

don't know or replaced by

34:24

things I do know. The shooting

34:26

hasn't stopped. I know that. I can hear

34:28

more and more gunfire. I know that

34:30

to survive, I have to run away from it.

34:32

I know I can't run away from it because I can't

34:34

move my legs.

34:36

I have to crawl.

34:40

At

34:40

this point, you don't realize it, but you're bleeding

34:42

out.

34:44

Yeah. Yeah. That's you know,

34:48

it was all so fast,

34:50

but but everything slowed down and

34:52

you don't know what's going on until you

34:54

realize what's happened.

34:56

And then, you know, I I fall

34:58

down. I

35:00

I I'm

35:01

trying to get away, but I can't. So I start

35:03

crawling. Somebody actually taken a

35:05

picture that that I put in the book,

35:07

that it's about twenty foot rail

35:09

from second base where I was playing in

35:11

the infield to the outfield because

35:14

the shooter was behind third base. I never saw

35:16

him, but I could hear. So I'm just trying to get

35:18

away from that. And so as you start crawling,

35:21

away to the outfield until everything gave

35:23

out. My arms gave out. And then I'm

35:25

just laying there and still hearing lots

35:27

of gunfire. And at that point, you you

35:29

just know, okay, something bad's going on

35:32

inside. I don't know how bad it is. Didn't

35:34

surely didn't feel as bad as it was because

35:36

I I almost didn't make it through

35:38

that day, but your your body does

35:40

sort of shut down the pain that you should

35:42

be feeling. But a new, okay,

35:44

what do I do next? when I can't move anymore.

35:47

And that's when I just said, I've got pray.

35:49

There's nothing else I can do. I gotta put this

35:51

in God's hands. And and

35:53

I I said some very heavy prayers

35:56

and, you know, just, you know,

35:58

I wanted to see my kids again, wanted to see my

36:00

family, and and

36:02

God delivered it, you know,

36:04

the things I was asking for that day were

36:07

very direct personal conversations, but

36:10

you know, he came through. He was on that field

36:12

that day. What

36:14

was the last thing you remember?

36:17

you know, there

36:19

were a few, you know, once the shooter

36:22

went down, seemed like probably a half an

36:24

hour, it might have only been ten minutes. But

36:27

Brad Wenstrom, my colleague from Ohio,

36:29

you you and I served with -- Yeah. -- he was a medical

36:32

doctor, trauma surgeon who served in Iraq

36:34

just happen to be there. Normally,

36:36

he would have left earlier, but he had a meeting

36:38

that had canceled, so he stayed behind a little

36:40

longer. And and look, again, miracles

36:43

happened on that field that day, I wouldn't be here

36:45

if Brad had his normal schedule because

36:47

he would have been gone. And, you know, my trauma

36:49

surgeon told me I would have bled out on the field

36:51

if not for what Brad did to repair me.

36:53

So I made it to the hospital with a

36:55

zero blood pressure, by the way. So, you

36:57

know, literally not even a minute left. And

37:00

and so Brad immediately put turn it get

37:02

on. He he started doing some work on me

37:04

before the paramedics arrived, and then

37:06

paramedics get me in put me in an ambulance.

37:09

they're they're gonna drive me to probably

37:11

George Washington Hospital, but

37:14

it's morning. It's like around seven in the morning,

37:16

Virginia traffic. I would have never made it.

37:18

and then a helicopter comes. And it was

37:20

a parks department helicopter. And

37:23

so they turned around and and

37:25

the whole time I'm thinking, why why are we going back?

37:27

We get get I don't and they bring me

37:29

out on the ball field again to transfer me to

37:31

the helicopter. I don't know all this. I'm just

37:33

thinking, why am I back on the ball? Because,

37:35

like, I I am gonna and I'm feeling my body

37:38

shut down. So I'm thinking, like, god, I don't

37:40

wanna bleed out on this ball field. And

37:42

next thing you know I'm on the helicopter, and that's really

37:44

the last thing I remember. And

37:47

I I do remember III

37:49

picked up the I asked the the not

37:52

the pilot, but one of the the other people that

37:54

was in the helicopter if he had a phone,

37:56

and he gave me his cell phone. And I I

37:58

called my wife and and

38:00

she didn't remember the amount the she didn't

38:02

know the number, but it was also about six in the morning in

38:04

New Orleans. So she didn't answer, and so

38:06

I left a message. And and at at that point, I thought

38:08

this this might be it. And I just left a message,

38:11

you know, that that you just

38:14

don't

38:14

wanna have to leave, but of course, that

38:16

that was the last thing I remember. And then

38:18

three days later, I wake up out of a coma

38:21

and, you know, had made it. and

38:24

your wife was there when you woke up?

38:27

Yeah. Yeah.

38:28

Yeah.

38:29

You know, your your

38:31

experience And

38:33

frankly, that of your wife and kids is

38:36

one that not very many people.

38:39

Obviously, not very many people have directly,

38:41

but but that

38:43

experience of of really,

38:45

really knowing truly the

38:47

fragility of life and that

38:49

our time could come literally at

38:52

any moment. You just don't know. You don't

38:54

know. And and obviously, this is something

38:57

you know, when I was deployed to Iraq during

38:59

my first deployment, it was

39:02

early two thousand five. We had just gotten

39:04

to the camp where we would be based

39:06

about forty miles north of Baghdad at one

39:08

of the gates of that camp. It had

39:10

a huge sign in in big block letters. I don't

39:12

know who put it there, but it said

39:15

is today the day. Mhmm.

39:17

And it was that ever

39:19

present reminder, obviously, being in

39:21

the middle of what was then called, you know, the soon

39:24

triangle. It was a very heavy

39:26

time in that war.

39:29

You know, that reality is something I worked in a

39:31

medical unit, and that reality is something that

39:33

you know, every service member who's who's gone

39:35

and deployed into a war zone knows firsthand,

39:37

but very few people, you know, at

39:39

home, very few of our colleagues

39:42

know and understand what that is.

39:45

How

39:47

how did the way you see life

39:49

and the world and your work and those

39:51

you love change after

39:53

going through what you went through.

39:55

Yeah. because it

39:58

surely makes you look at at

40:01

life as as as precious as

40:03

it is. And, you know, we we we always take

40:05

things for granite, you know,

40:07

not even intentionally, but it

40:09

really, for me, it just put a sharper focus

40:11

on what's important. You know, we've

40:14

got busy jobs, we have busy lives, you

40:16

know, but you kind of scale

40:18

it back and and say, what are the things that

40:20

really matter? And and make

40:22

sure never, you know, it's not like you can spend

40:24

every minute with your your your your kids and your

40:26

wife, but you know, when you're when you're with them,

40:29

you gotta be all in. You gotta be there. You

40:31

know, when I'm home on weekends. I mean, we're not doing

40:33

other stuff. We're just you know,

40:35

that we're we're doing stuff for them because

40:37

you you don't wanna miss anything. And

40:40

so I think if anything, it just it just

40:42

puts a sharper focus on what's important.

40:44

You know, you still have other things you have to do,

40:46

but you you really the trivial

40:48

things just don't matter as much

40:50

anymore. It doesn't, you know, it doesn't

40:53

get you down. If something doesn't go your way that's

40:55

minor, who cares? but

40:57

it really matters, you know, I'm lucky to be alive.

40:59

I'm playing with the house's money, so that's all. Right.

41:02

It really really matters. Yeah.

41:04

I I can relate to that in

41:06

in so many ways. You know,

41:09

I I came back different person

41:11

you know, through through

41:13

after that first deployment and and my yeah.

41:15

Say say, you know, definitely not

41:17

the same thing that you went. through in any way,

41:19

shape, or form, but in my own way. But

41:22

still, you you put yourself in a position

41:24

where it could have been that day, and

41:26

and you did it anyway. And thanks for your service

41:28

because it's a sacrifice that

41:30

very few people will understand

41:33

who haven't been there. So, you know,

41:35

it's it's why we pray for our troops. It's why.

41:37

you know, we appreciate your service to

41:39

our country. I'm I'm grateful. I'm

41:42

I'm grateful to to stand with

41:44

with so many incredible great patriots and

41:46

heroes and to and frankly,

41:48

to have that perspective of of of doing

41:50

my very best to not waste

41:52

moment because every day and every breath is

41:55

such a blessing.

41:56

I'm curious about,

41:59

the

41:59

you know,

42:00

I've I've spoken with and met with

42:03

families who have

42:05

lost a loved one because of

42:07

a mass shooting or,

42:10

you know, a drive by shooting in

42:12

Chicago, for example. and

42:15

often those experiences inform

42:19

kind of their their first feeling of, like,

42:22

what could have been done to prevent this

42:24

what should we be doing now with

42:27

our laws to to prevent these

42:30

these tragic shootings and tragic loss

42:32

of life sometimes

42:35

that reaction is, well,

42:37

we should just get rid of guns. If we get

42:39

rid of guns, then no

42:41

more shootings will happen. Yes, violence

42:43

is another story, and, you know, it's

42:46

it's a bigger, deeper kind

42:48

of foundational problem. As a country we need

42:50

to case about these violent

42:52

crimes. But, hey, maybe if we just get rid

42:54

of guns, then we can prevent

42:57

some of these tragedies

43:00

from occurring

43:02

the in

43:03

the wake of your experience. How

43:06

how did you feel? How did your family? How did those

43:09

around you feel?

43:11

Yeah. You know, and and look,

43:14

nobody wants to see somebody

43:16

else die unexpectedly. And, you know,

43:18

we'd all like to think we're gonna die

43:20

of old age in our sleep and, you know, and

43:22

of course, every day there's tragedies. There's

43:24

all kinds of tragedies. you know,

43:27

it just seems like when when it's when it's

43:29

a gun, that's the, you know, the weapon

43:31

of choice. There there are people that just

43:33

want to rush immediately gun control

43:36

and not really dig and say, okay, what happened

43:38

here? And how do we stop it? And was it

43:40

somebody, you know, have you I'm grateful. I'm

43:42

I'm grateful to to stand with

43:44

with so many incredible great patriots and

43:46

heroes and to and frankly

43:48

to have that perspective of of doing

43:50

my very best to not waste

43:52

moment because every day and every breath is

43:55

such a blessing.

43:57

I'm curious about

43:59

you know, I've I've spoken

44:02

with and met with families who

44:05

have lost a loved one because of

44:07

a mass shooting or,

44:10

you know, a drive by shooting in

44:13

Chicago, for example, and

44:16

often those experiences inform

44:19

kind of their their first feeling

44:21

of, like,

44:22

what could have been done to prevent this?

44:25

What should we be doing now with

44:28

our laws to to prevent these

44:30

these tragic shootings and tragic

44:32

loss of life, sometimes

44:35

that reaction is, well,

44:37

we should just get rid of guns. If we get

44:39

rid of guns, then no

44:42

more shootings will happen. Yes, violence

44:44

is another story, and, you know, it's

44:46

it's a bigger, deeper kind

44:48

of foundational problem. As a country we need

44:50

to case about these violent

44:52

crimes. But, hey, maybe if we just get rid

44:55

of guns, then we can prevent

44:58

some of these tragedies

45:01

from occurring

45:02

the in

45:03

the wake of your experience. How

45:07

how did you feel? How did your family? How did those

45:09

around you feel?

45:11

Yeah. You know, and and look,

45:14

nobody wants to see somebody

45:16

else die unexpectedly. And, you know,

45:18

we'd all like to think we're gonna die

45:21

of old age in our sleep and, you know, and

45:23

of course, every day there's tragedies. There's

45:25

all kinds of tragedies. you know,

45:27

it just seems like when when it's when it's

45:29

a gun, that's the, you know, the weapon

45:31

of choice. There there are people that just

45:33

want to rush immediately to gun control

45:36

and not really dig and say, okay, what happened

45:38

here and how do we stop it? And was it

45:40

somebody, you know, I've met with with

45:42

kids that that were in involved

45:45

in school shootings that were at a school, where

45:47

they had school shooting. I mean, just, you know, those

45:49

kind of tragedies. And one of the things

45:51

we see in those is that typically,

45:53

like, well over eighty percent of the school shooting,

45:55

somebody knew that it was gonna

45:58

happen before it happened. You know, they they

46:00

told somebody else, they put it on social

46:02

media. and every now and then they're prevented,

46:04

but sometimes people just don't think,

46:06

hey, can I say

46:08

something? Should I say something to stop, something

46:10

bad from happening? And and

46:13

if somebody wants to go do harm to somebody

46:15

else, you know, the best thing

46:17

you can do is is identify it and

46:19

try to stop it before it happens. to

46:21

think we can pass a law that's

46:23

gonna stop bad things from happening. I wish

46:25

there was a law that would do that.

46:27

And and it's it's selling fool's goal to people

46:29

to think. You can you

46:32

can just prevent bad things from happening.

46:34

You can try to create safe environments

46:36

for people But, look,

46:38

the the shooter in my case came from Illinois.

46:41

They've got some of the strictest gun control laws

46:43

in the country -- Mhmm. -- and yet

46:45

it still happened. Again, you go look at some of the cities

46:47

with some of the worst worst

46:50

incidents of of violence in

46:52

the streets, and they and a lot

46:54

of times have some of the strictest laws. So,

46:56

you know, if if a criminal's gonna

46:58

go out and commit a crime and kill people, they've

47:00

already tried violated ten other

47:02

laws, you know, it it's it's just trying

47:04

to stop bad people from doing

47:07

bad things, you know, and that's where we need to focus.

47:09

But to say taken away guns, from law

47:11

abiding citizens is never gonna be the answer

47:14

because, frankly, everyday people are

47:16

are able to use guns to defend themselves. I

47:18

mean, the reason I'm alive is because there were people

47:20

there with guns to counter the bad

47:22

guy who had who had guns in

47:24

every intention of taking us all out. you

47:26

know, and if would say at the beginning of that day,

47:28

if, you know, as I laid out all the

47:30

things that happened before he pulled pulled

47:33

the trigger, If I would say at the end of the day,

47:35

everybody would be alive at the except the shooter,

47:37

nobody would believe you. And yet that's

47:39

what happened because there were there were

47:42

people with guns that were able

47:44

to stop bad things from happening

47:47

to all of us. you

47:49

know,

47:49

what what do you say? Your your shooter,

47:51

one of one of the firearms

47:53

that he had was a semiautomatic rifle,

47:56

and often the instinct after

47:59

every one of these tragic mass shootings

48:01

that are unfortunately occurring

48:05

seemingly more often than maybe

48:08

ten, twenty, thirty years ago.

48:11

The the knee jerk reaction from

48:13

a lot of democrats in congress is

48:16

we

48:16

need to ban assault weapons. This

48:19

is something president Biden has doubled down

48:21

on saying he wants to reinstate the assault weapons

48:23

ban. There

48:26

are other measures

48:30

that are being put forward but

48:32

this one seems to be the one that pops

48:35

to the forefront every single time.

48:38

You know, I think we can

48:40

we can look at a lot of different motivations. I

48:42

think there are some people who are very well intentioned

48:45

who feel like, hey, we've gotta do

48:46

something. And if this If this contributes

48:49

in some way to help prevent a mass

48:51

shooting and mass loss of life, then

48:53

maybe it's worthwhile. there are others,

48:55

I think, of our colleagues

48:58

who

48:59

look at the past and and recognize, well,

49:01

hey, this this didn't really work

49:04

before, but this is something that's a

49:06

good talking point and it's something that we can push

49:08

forward and kind of use to fire up the

49:10

base and so on. Like, you basically use it just

49:12

for political purposes. Why

49:15

why is this the thing that keeps coming up?

49:17

I think the most And how do

49:19

you respond to those coming from

49:21

both camps? Kind of those who are using it as

49:23

a political football for their own selfish

49:25

political gain? And then also those

49:28

who may not have grown up with

49:31

firearms around the house or or

49:34

have never, you know, shot a firearm

49:36

before in their lives, but they're thinking like, hey,

49:39

maybe if this guy didn't have access

49:41

to a semi automatic rifle,

49:43

then then maybe it would have saved life. lives. Howard

49:45

Bauchner: Yeah,

49:47

you know, and again, I know there's

49:49

a temptation that people want to say, okay,

49:51

geez, something bad happened. if only

49:53

there was a law passed to stop that from

49:55

happening -- Yeah. -- again, murder's

49:57

already illegal. So many of the other

49:59

things

49:59

that criminals do leading up

50:02

to and during any

50:04

kind of act of violence is already illegal

50:06

and there are not a

50:08

lot of the gun laws that are on the books. I mean, we've

50:10

got books of gun

50:12

laws already in place that aren't being

50:14

enforced. you know, and and so you

50:16

you see people lying on gun forms,

50:19

for example, and those aren't even

50:21

being prosecuted, and yet they wanna add more

50:23

laws that usually end up making it harder

50:25

for law abiding citizens, not for the

50:27

criminal, you know, why don't you go after

50:29

the people that are breaking the laws that you're

50:31

letting out. Right? Today, right now, in

50:34

most communities. The people

50:36

that are committing a lot of the crimes, especially

50:38

violent crimes, murders, are people

50:40

who were let out for something else just weeks

50:42

before how about you enforce

50:45

the laws that are on the books instead of

50:47

trying to make it harder for people to defend

50:49

themselves? I mean, gun sales are through the

50:51

roof right now.

50:53

not because criminals wanna go out and buy

50:55

more guns to to kill people, but because

50:57

people see crime in their communities and they

50:59

want guns to defend themselves. And that story

51:01

is never told. I mean, you could literally

51:03

do a story every single day on somebody who used

51:05

a gun to save their own

51:07

life or or that of a of a loved one.

51:10

because they had a gun to

51:12

to counter somebody who wanted to do something bad.

51:15

So again, it it just seems like they

51:17

only wanna tell one side of the story go

51:19

enforce the laws that are already on the books that are

51:21

being ignored and stop

51:23

people before they go commit murder

51:26

when they're committing other crimes that they're

51:28

just being let out on the reads for. And

51:30

I I think a lot of people would support that

51:32

approach as, you know, usually somebody

51:35

that commits a murder, it's not their first crime,

51:37

and yet they were let out for so many other

51:39

things. And then you all of sudden get concerned

51:41

after they kill somebody when you should have been

51:43

concerned when they were breaking all the other laws

51:45

that you ignored, that's the focus

51:48

that we really ought to have. Clearly, mental

51:50

health breakdowns too. There are a lot of

51:52

breakdowns in our mental health system. And

51:54

and I think we've tried to put more emphasis on

51:57

that as we should so that you

51:59

can address these problems before they become

52:01

a tragedy.

52:02

the argument for, quote

52:05

unquote, common sense gun restrictions

52:07

or gun safety laws is

52:10

often made saying, hey, well, if we just

52:12

put in a red flag law or if we just

52:14

limit the number of rounds that

52:16

you can have in a magazine, whether for a

52:18

pistol or for a rifle. If

52:21

we just, you

52:23

know, ban assault weapons, what they're

52:26

calling assault weapons,

52:29

doing so in the name of public

52:31

safety doesn't violate the

52:34

intent of the

52:35

second amendment.

52:37

The counter argument to that is,

52:39

hey, even even if you're talking

52:41

about what

52:43

you may think is the smallest restriction.

52:46

It leads to this slippery slope.

52:49

What what is that slippery

52:51

slope? I think you have you have personal

52:53

experience given your background

52:55

in Louisiana on

52:58

what that slippery slope actually looks like

53:00

in real life. Yeah.

53:01

And look, I mean, some of

53:03

the people that are saying, today, let's

53:06

just go after this gun or just go after that

53:08

gun. they've also said ultimately they wanna

53:10

get rid of handguns for example. Mhmm.

53:12

So there is a slippery slope. They even wanna

53:15

go down, but It always starts with just

53:17

this today and then tomorrow they keep going

53:19

after the next thing and before you know it, you

53:21

don't have any rights left. There

53:23

is the second amendment in our

53:26

bill of rights for a reason. Our our

53:28

founding fathers did not put

53:30

a specific protection for firearms

53:32

in the original document because they thought

53:34

it was a preordained right. They just thought everybody

53:36

understands we have a right to bear arms.

53:38

It was once they saw threats later,

53:41

that they added it in the bill of rights because

53:44

it was something that in our founding fathers

53:46

had weapons, not just to

53:49

to fight against the British, but to to

53:51

defend themselves. It was it was therefore

53:53

defending you and your family and

53:55

for hunting, but it was for both. and

53:58

there are some people that wanna just say, well, only

53:59

if you're in the military, can you have a gun?

54:02

That's not that's

54:03

not the law. That's not the constitutional right

54:05

we have. And so we have that constitutional right

54:08

for a reason. And like I saw this after

54:10

hurricane Katrina, if we all remember

54:12

back, I mean, there were so many tragedies of hurricane

54:14

Katrina, you know, massive loss

54:17

of life, devastation to property. But

54:19

I saw it. I was a state representative. When

54:21

you saw law enforcement officers going

54:24

door to door, and think about

54:26

this. This was in the days after Katrina. There

54:28

was no power. There was no nine eleven. There

54:30

was no police to come and

54:32

save you if somebody was doing something bad and

54:35

they were roving games at the time.

54:37

And so people, if they had a gun in their home, that

54:39

was their only line of defense, and yet they went

54:41

door to door, and we're confiscating guns

54:43

from people. It happened in an American city.

54:45

I saw it. I passed a law when I was in

54:47

the state legislature to prevent that from

54:50

ever happening again because they were

54:52

relying on laws from the nineteen sixties

54:54

to say you can do it during an emergency.

54:56

And and again, I think it shocked a lot of people

54:59

-- Yeah. -- that you had law enforcement going door

55:01

to door. No suspicion, just knocking

55:03

on your door. Hey, do you have a gun in your house? We're taking

55:05

it from you. and and we had video of

55:07

them taking a gun beating up an old woman and

55:09

taking her gun, miss Connie, I'll never

55:11

forget it. I got her to come testify for my

55:13

bill. and people were shocked when they heard

55:16

her story that they literally went into her

55:18

house and she had a little pistol on the on

55:20

the table to defend herself. and they

55:22

took it from her and wrestled during broke her

55:24

collarbone. And she never got her firearm

55:26

back. So this happened, and it should

55:28

never happen. It's against the law. for

55:30

that to happen. And and so that's where it

55:33

goes. There is a slippery slope. I saw it.

55:35

And it was not a hundred years ago, it

55:37

was in two thousand and five. in the

55:39

United States of America. So, you know, we've

55:41

got to respect people's individual rights

55:43

and ability for them to defend themselves

55:45

and their family. That's why the second

55:48

amendment is there. I

55:50

think

55:50

that's such a great example when

55:52

when people challenge and say, hey, and I see

55:54

this argument all the time saying, well,

55:56

fine. You know, the second amendment may have

55:59

fit for the place

55:59

and time that it was included in the bill of

56:02

rights. But here we are in

56:04

twenty twenty two and it's

56:06

out of date. It no longer applies. It's

56:08

no longer relevant because, hey, back then,

56:10

they didn't have, you know, I

56:13

don't know, thirty rounds on magazines or

56:15

they didn't have the kinds of advanced

56:18

firearms that technology has created

56:20

today. But your

56:24

example, whether it's for self defense

56:26

or as a check-in balance on,

56:29

frankly, a tyrannical government I

56:32

I have just personally experienced and

56:34

seen more and more how relevant

56:36

and applicable that

56:38

second amendment is today. And frankly,

56:41

like the first amendment, how our founders

56:43

really were visionaries in recognizing,

56:46

hey, we've got to be able to strike this balance

56:48

of ensuring a truly free

56:51

society. Yeah.

56:52

And if people are breaking the law again,

56:54

we're a nation of laws. And

56:56

so if you want

56:58

to pass new laws to take away

57:00

rights from law abiding citizens while

57:03

at the same time you're ignoring laws

57:05

that are already on the books that are being violated

57:07

by criminals, I think people really

57:09

see that duplicity, and they and they really

57:12

it raises their red flag and say, wait

57:14

a minute. Why aren't you going after the criminals

57:16

that are already broken? Ten other laws that you

57:18

look the other way on now, you're gonna try to make it

57:20

hard for me to just defend myself. when

57:22

I'm looking at crime, running

57:24

a rampant over so many big

57:27

cities in America, you're gonna tell me I

57:29

can't have a gun to defend my family. I'm

57:31

sorry. And so there's a lot of pushback for good

57:33

reason on what people are seeing

57:36

by some of these gun control

57:38

advocates. Yeah. And just the

57:40

hypocrisy there again for those who are advocating

57:42

for defunding the police and

57:45

letting people letting people

57:47

go violent, criminals go. We're seeing these

57:50

increasing crime statistics, increasing

57:52

shootings in our communities and in cities

57:55

like New York city in Chicago that do have some

57:57

of the strictest gun laws in the country, and

57:59

yet these very

57:59

same people wanna take away our

58:02

right to defend ourselves. Steve,

58:05

your voice and your leadership on

58:07

this and many other issues is

58:10

is really powerful. And you

58:12

know, after having gone through what you've

58:14

been through, it'd be easy for someone to say, you know

58:17

what? Life is short. I'm

58:18

gonna hang it up and go hang

58:20

out in Louisiana with my family. And,

58:24

you know, in in my version of that in Hawaii would

58:26

be, I'm just gonna go surfing every day.

58:29

And I think I might wanna do that too, but

58:32

there's nothing wrong with it. You let me know when

58:34

you're in. with you in Hawaii. There

58:36

you go. We'll we'll get you out on the surfboard.

58:39

But I I appreciate your commitment to continuing

58:41

to serve

58:42

and to do so with

58:45

that mindset and that foundation of

58:48

serving god and serving others

58:50

and truly caring for one

58:52

another regardless of political party, regardless

58:55

of race, religion, all of these other

58:57

things that are unfortunately being used to tear us apart.

58:59

Thank you for being someone who is a unifying

59:02

force. and

59:03

dedicating

59:04

your life and with

59:06

the support of your family to

59:08

service. It's not a small thing. So thank you.

59:11

No.

59:11

Thank you. And you got to serve

59:13

in that capacity too. Very few