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Welcome to Radioactivity, I’m Rob Lorei. Coming up— a local veterans group is calling for a ban on assault weapons. the NRA is on the offensive – having a record month of fundraising last month. They are also trying to sign up 100,000 new members in the next 100 days. It’s clear that the youth-led movement against the NRA- sparked by the Parkland massacre has energized the NRA to launch a counterattack against the gun control activists. Today on Radioactivity—we’ll get a different perspective on guns—from former military members who know firsthand what weapons of war can do.
First- let’s go to a video that was shown last month at the March for Our Lives in Washington DC where at least 800,000 people took place in the largest rally against gun violence in US history. There they saw this video about media figures that oppose gun control
Tape
That’s a video from the March for Our Lives featuring NRA spokespeople Wayne LaPierre, Dana Loesch, Charlton Heston, Ted Nugent, along with Alex Jones and Charlie Daniels….
Joining us now are three military veterans who have some thoughts about the roll guns play in our democracy—
Clint Day, Dan Callaghan, Jeff Morris, Gene Jones. Clint, Dan and Jeff experienced combat in Vietnam. Gene is a Vietnam era veteran.
They are all members of a group called Florida Veterans for Common Sense. Recently members of their group wrote an op-ed for the Sarasota Herald Tribune calling for a ban on assault weapons. The article said:
“Recently, Florida Veterans for Common Sense has taken the position that assault weapons should be banned for use by the general public. We are combat veterans who served in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq. We have experience with these types of weapons. We know the consequences of using them.
One of the main tenets of the group is that our actions should uphold the Constitution. We understand that some argue that banning assault weapons is not constitutional because of the Second Amendment. That is a hollow argument that has already been settled by the federal courts. Weapons can be regulated.
We are certainly not advocating taking away handguns, shotguns or rifles. The simple fact is that the military and the police have a need for assault weapons. The public does not.”
Source: http://www.heraldtribune.com/opinion/20180409/hannon-and-burns-veterans-call-for-ban-on-civilian-use-of-assault-weapons
