rifle killed 19 students and two teachers in Buffalo,

New York. A white supremacist shot and killed

ten people at a grocery store.

Shortly after the initial shock and grief, renewed

momentum for gun safety picked up steam in

Washington, D.C.

before.

We have not seen this type of bipartisan type of coming

together to push this legislation in decades.

Recent mass shootings have mobilized gun safety

advocates, but their efforts did not result in

meaningful legislation.

Now, with a new gun safety bill signed by President

Biden, the shootings in Uvalde and Buffalo may have

spurred the most meaningful changes to firearms laws in

decades.

All of us who have met with survivors in the wake of the

tragedies have heard their message loud and clear.

We must do something.

That's not stopping backlash from Second Amendment

advocates. Today they are coming.

After Americans, law abiding American citizens, Second

Amendment.

Liberties. A lot of people have AR 15 that's used for

for sporting events, for sporting activities all the

time. That's pretty common.

In a recent Supreme Court case, could have a huge

impact on concealed carry laws.

This decision has made every single one of us less safe.

From gun violence.

With so much changing, can the gun industry survive a

polarized nation?

And what is the future of guns in America?

Recent mass shootings in Texas and New York have been

carried out by semi-automatic rifles, which

means they have a higher rate of fire.

And they also can have larger magazines, which

allows for more ammunition, which means more people can

be killed or wounded in a shorter time span.

Semi-automatic weapons and these large magazines can

kill a lot of people before a good guy ever arrives.

Not all think that the weapons used are at the root

of the problem.

I know this is sort of grotesque and uncomfortable

to think about, but when you give an individual who

is bent on violence 78 minutes to barricade himself

in a room with fourth graders, it doesn't matter

what his magazine capacity is, it doesn't matter

whether he has a shotgun or a revolver or a

semiautomatic rifle without a pistol grip.

At that point, you are going to see horrific

carnage and the failures come before that.

Gun safety proponents hope that by breaking down and

fixing certain problems with gun ownership, that

some issues can be addressed politically.

What do you think is the main cause of gun or the

main category of gun deaths in America?

Suicide. And the biggest chunk of the murder is 90%

of the murders. It's mostly gang and gang violence in

the cities that we have mass shootings, we have

accidents, and we have other things like domestic

abuse situations.

But the idea now is to take each of those different

problems and each of those require some different

solutions.

Meanwhile, the evolving technology of guns since the

founding of the nation, which now fire quicker, have

more powerful bullets and are much easier to use, have

run into the political realities of the modern

United States.

Predominantly, most Republican lawmakers are

hesitant to pass new legislation, which could be

seen as curtailing gun rights.

Nationally, there tends to be little movement on major

bills because of this that could be changing with the

Safer Communities Act.

This bipartisan bill passed in both the Senate, in the

House and signed by President Biden will create

tougher background checks for gun buyers who are 21

and under. It will close the so called boyfriend

loophole restricting gun purchases by domestic

abusers. It will also fund mental health initiatives,

grants to assist red flag laws and moves to increase

school safety.

I think for those in the movement who have longed for

change, the idea that we could get ten Republican

senators to endorse any kind of package is a big

deal. And we should celebrate that.

That some parts are very promising, other parts

perhaps less so.

I also think it falls short of both what what President

Biden was was hoping for, but also falls short of what

we might, as researchers say, is is the best case

scenario, which might be closing the private sale

background check loophole and perhaps trying to

implement a licensing system for purchasers.

In some Democrat controlled states.

New pushes to increase gun safety are resulting in

legislation in Republican majority states.

It appears unlikely that any new legislation that

puts new restrictions on guns could gain traction.

States are an incubator for this issue, and of course

you're going to see things moving forward and things

moving back. When I look at the landscape in the States,

though, it's much more advancement for gun safety

than Byzantine laws that make us all less safe.

They're not actually getting at any root causes, and they

all have very serious constitutional concerns.

When you look at raising the minimum age for gun

purchase or possession to individuals who are 21.

You're dealing with a fundamental right of

citizenship and a segment of the population that, for

all other intents and purposes, are legal adults.

18 to 20 year olds vote.

They serve on juries.

One final hurdle for national legislation is the

Supreme Court. The conservative wing of the

court currently holds a 6-3 majority and will for years

to come. This also presents a problem for states that

try to pass gun control legislation as these laws

can be challenged in court and eventually struck down

as unconstitutional.

In the last three months, the stocks of Ruger and

Smith and Wesson, two publicly traded companies

that make firearms, have had mixed success.

They've begun to bounce back since the Supreme Court

ruling that overturned New York state concealed carry

rules. Stock prices for these same companies have

seen constant gains over the past several years,

despite the growing number of mass shootings like the

one in Las Vegas that left 60 dead and more than 400

injured in 2017.

One point of contention in the gun debate is the amount

of liability that these companies should hold.

In California, for example, some lawmakers are calling

for gun owners to hold liability insurance.

Other states have their own proposals.

Delaware, that is thinking about removing the

restriction on suing the gun industry for its

products.

So this goes back to to their 2004, 2005 law called

the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act.

And again, I think there's a lot of misunderstandings

about what this law does.

It is not some broad sweeping immunity for gun

manufacturers or sellers.

What it does that is at its core is say you cannot try

to sue gun manufacturers and sellers who legally sell

their firearms in compliance with state and

federal laws. You can't sue them for damages that that

occur after someone somewhere down the line

takes that firearm and uses it illegally to harm others.

If there's so many things which are dangerous to

society. The tobacco industry went through that.

Other industries, you know, at the very least civilly,

you know, they should have to pay the the cost of what

their products are inflicting on our society if

they want to make money off this.

There's two sides to that equation. So they should

have to pay the cost as well.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has ruled on a case out of

New York that could have ramifications for concealed

carry throughout the US.

In light of today's ruling by the United States Supreme

Court in this case, we cannot idly stand by and

just watch our streets be flooded with guns due to

more people being permitted to legally carry firearms in

public.

So I think this is just going to be the court

telling these minority of states, look, it's time the

Constitution demands this.

You've got to sort of get get on board with this

constitutional framework.

There are many state laws that are in place now that

might be challenged and many new ideas, new policy

proposals might have to overcome another hurdle

before they're passed.