May 31, 2017 - Rubin Report - Dave Rubin
04:43
| 
| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
|
unidentified
|
[MUSIC] | |
| One of the issues we haven't dove into too deeply around here is gun control. | ||
| The contentious, often venomous debate about guns has been part of some of the conversations we've had here on the Rubin Report, especially when talking about limited government, constitutional authority, states' rights and even freedom of speech, but it rarely has been the focus of those conversations itself. | ||
| Interestingly, gun control is one of the issues that I get the most emails about, with people usually asking me my personal feelings about the second amendment and whether I believe in a right to bear arms. | ||
| You're not going to believe this, but I do think that there is a sane middle ground that we can find in the gun discussion that falls somewhere between everyone should own a bazooka and nobody should be able to have a handgun. | ||
| First off, very clearly, and without reservation, I am a supporter of the Second Amendment. | ||
| The Second Amendment specifically states, quote, a well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, end quote. | ||
| This is interesting wording because it guarantees the right of a citizen to protect themselves from both other citizens and the state itself by having the ability to own a gun. | ||
| The guarantee to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness which is enshrined in the Declaration of Independence isn't only for the government to ensure for you. | ||
| Actually, it's quite the reverse. | ||
| It's incumbent on you to protect your life, your liberty and your pursuit of happiness, even from the government if need be. | ||
| In many ways, this is the essence of individualism. | ||
| While the state and the government are an important facilitator of our rights, it's ultimately up to us, the individual, to make sure we are truly protected from people and governments who would take those rights away. | ||
| As I often say, however, two things can be true at once. | ||
| While having a populace that can defend itself is important, at the same time there really is little doubt to me that we have a gun problem in America. | ||
| Whether we're talking about school shootings, which happen all too often, or assassinations of police officers, as happened in Dallas last year, there can be no doubt that the gun is the weapon of choice when someone wants to indiscriminately kill as many people as possible. | ||
| I should pause and separate mass shootings from terrorism specifically, where terrorists usually use some sort of explosive to kill as many people as possible, although recently we've seen guns, knives, and even cars and trucks thrown into the mix. | ||
| And it's also important to remember that the weapon itself doesn't make the distinction between a criminal act or terrorism, it's the ideology behind the act that does that. | ||
| The fact that there are many ways to kill people, though, does bring up an interesting idea about guns. | ||
| If I had an assault rifle or any other gun, I wouldn't go into a school or a church or anywhere else and randomly kill people. | ||
| Likewise, I've got some pretty great kitchen knives right down the hallway here, and I don't go into mosques or temples and stab anyone. | ||
| This shows that the gun itself is just the tool, and the issue around gun control is much deeper. | ||
| We should be having an honest conversation about issues like mental health, the overuse and side effects of prescription drugs, the insidious nature of evil ideologies, the access to guns that mentally unstable people have, and much more. | ||
| Unfortunately, we only seem to have these conversations at the worst possible times, usually right after another shooting. | ||
| This gets the anti-gun crowd in a frenzy to take away all guns, and it gets the pro-gun crowd to think that the government is going to come to their house and take away their guns. | ||
| Don't believe me? | ||
| Well, just check how gun sales skyrocketed under President Obama, but have now dipped under President Trump. | ||
| All of these issues are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to guns. | ||
| I think that there are good people on both sides of the debate who just see a different solution, partly because they are seeing a different problem in the first place. | ||
| Some see this truly as a problem with guns themselves, while some see this as a larger societal problem with mental health, but perhaps, just perhaps, there's merit to both arguments. | ||
| Joining me today to unpack this highly charged discussion is Antonia Okafor. | ||
| Antonia is a Second Amendment advocate who spends most of her energy pushing for legislation to allow women to carry guns on college campuses. | ||
| As a young black conservative, she's found herself on the outside of what the mainstream says someone who looks like her should believe. | ||
| We'll talk about her political evolution from an Obama voter to a Trump supporter, and why she thinks that a woman's right to defend herself by herself is so important. | ||
| Without the reactionary hysteria we're usually caught up in when discussing guns, can the two of us find some common ground? |
Export Selection