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Nov. 1, 2022 - Tulsi Gabbard Show
58:46
2nd Amendment: Why our right "shall not be infringed" - with Steve Scalise | The Tulsi Gabbard Show
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Captured on cell phone video, the chilling moment that rapid gunfire broke out in Alexandria this morning.
You know, I fall down.
I'm trying to get away, but I can't, so I start crawling.
The shot's being fired, and there are people running, possibly victims involved.
Your body does sort of shut down the pain that you should be feeling, but I knew, okay, what do I do next when I can't move anymore?
And that's when I just said, I've got to pray.
There's nothing else I can do.
I've got to put this in God's hands.
Hello, everyone.
Today we're going to be talking about the Second Amendment, our right as Americans to bear arms.
The Second Amendment says 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.
There's a debate going on in our country right now in some places about whether or not the Second Amendment is relevant today.
Let's go back to the basics.
Our founders passed the Second Amendment out of a recognition that every one of us as Americans has a right to defend ourselves and our loved ones and to serve as a check on a tyrannical government that seeks to take away our God-given freedoms enshrined in the Constitution.
Now, if you were like me, I once thought that's not something that we would ever have to do in America.
Protect ourselves from a tyrannical government.
This is the land of the free.
The whistleblower says the FBI directed agents to use counterterrorism measures to track parents critical of their school boards.
The National School Board Association says that this is what a domestic terrorist looks like.
News broke that the FBI had raided a couple of homes connected to Project Veritas, and now the FBI has been going through Project Veritas' private attorney-client communications and leaking them to the New York Times.
Well, FBI agents raided the home of a pro-life father of 11 in Tennessee earlier this month.
Paul Vaughn is the president of Tennessee Personhood.
He and nearly a dozen other pro-lifers were arrested and charged with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.
The incident happened more than a year ago, and at that time, Vaughn was not arrested by local police, but now he faces up to 11 years in prison.
Is this administration weaponizing the Justice Department and the FBI against political opponents?
Peter, the President believes in the rule of law.
The President believes in the independence of the Department of Justice.
Is that a yes or no?
No, it's a yes or a no for you.
I'm answering the question.
You may not like it, but I'm answering the question and I'm telling you that we are not going to comment.
But as we see Democratic leaders in Washington continue to push more authoritarian-like policies who are using law enforcement agencies, weaponizing them to go after political opponents, targeting law-abiding Americans as extremists and domestic targeting law-abiding Americans as extremists and domestic terrorists for committing the offense of opposing the agenda of those in power, we realize that our right to bear arms is the deterrent our founders intended to push back against we realize that our right to bear arms is the deterrent our
So my views on the Second Amendment have changed over the years.
I grew up in Hawaii, in a state that still has very restrictive gun laws.
So I didn't have much exposure to firearms growing up.
My dad took me to a shooting range a few times as a teenager.
I think he had a Glock.
But that was really it.
It wasn't until I enlisted in the military, when I went through basic training, that I had ever held a rifle in my hands.
For those who've gone through basic training in any branch of the military, safety standards are always high.
That's the mantra of the military.
Safety first.
And there was a good amount of training, but it wasn't extensive.
There's a limited amount of time.
They taught us about safety rules, muzzle discipline, how to zero your rifle, and then to qualify.
And once you qualify, then that was done.
You moved on.
Given my experience and exposure up until that point, it seemed reasonable to me when people said, hey, you know what, we should have common sense regulations around owning a gun for the sake of public safety.
I... Two quickly dismissed arguments I heard from some of my Republican friends and later my colleagues in Congress who, when hearing of these common sense gun regulations, warned, hey, this is just a slippery slope that will eventually lead to the government coming and taking our guns.
Now, when I ran for president, I had the great opportunity and privilege of Traveling the country and spending time with people in big cities and small towns, north, south, east, west, midwest, and hearing from them their perspective and the experiences that formed their views.
I remember in particular there was a town hall that I had in New Hampshire where literally on one side of the room there were a few very avid and vocal supporters of the Second Amendment.
And a few seats away on the other side of the room, there was a mom who was really, really worried about her young child going to school and becoming a victim of yet another mass shooting.
It was a very emotional moment hearing from both of them.
And rather than me taking over and kind of dictating whatever my views were, I wanted to hear from both of them.
I wanted to better understand where both of them were coming from.
And that town hall, most of that town hall was spent listening.
Listening to these two different people Talk to each other.
It had this really powerful effect on me and I think a lot of people in the room of recognizing, hey, this is tough.
This is a complex conversation.
But ultimately, the outcome of that conversation was Was these two people, they walked out in agreement on both, that we have to protect our constitutional rights and freedoms and work together as a community, as a society, to keep our kids and our families safe.
These are the kinds of conversations that people in Washington should be having.
Instead, what we see are these self-serving politicians who care only about power in the next election using this issue, weaponizing it as a political football to rile up voters and fundraise on either side.
We see the news media framing these stories with a very specific narrative, whatever agenda it is that they want to push on, whichever side they're on.
But at that town hall in New Hampshire, we had real conversation with real people, taking what is often a fiery and complex issue with people on both sides, drawing that line in the sand, immediately saying, I'm against you and you're against drawing that line in the sand, immediately saying, I'm against you
Instead, in that town hall, this became a real conversation that went toward the truth, which is how do we work together to uphold our freedom and keep our community safe?
So for me personally, these experiences that I've gone through, combined with the Democratic Party's increasing authoritarian instincts, have really driven home the truth that protecting our freedom to defend ourselves and those we love and protecting our rights and freedoms enshrined in the Constitution against the tyrannical power is exactly why we must ensure that our right to bear arms shall not be infringed.
Today's Democratic Party, however, does not believe in our constitutionally protected right to bear arms.
They don't believe in the Constitution.
So instead of being open-minded to listening to the conversations like I did, the Democratic Party's hatred of the Second Amendment is getting worse.
Now, you don't have to go back very far.
Back in 2012, the Democratic Party platform at least acknowledged that the Second Amendment guarantees our individual right to bear arms.
Fast forward a few years, all mentions of the Second Amendment were removed from both the 2016 and 2020 platforms.
It says a lot about what their priorities were.
The Democratic Socialists of America, who have an increasing presence and influence within the Democratic Party and in Congress, published a piece in 2018 that was literally titled, The Second Amendment is a Threat to Us All.
And made their forceful argument for its complete abolishment.
Now, the ACLU, the American Civil Liberties Union, once a widely respected and principled institution that stood up for our constitutionally protected freedoms, has now turned into a purely partisan political organization.
They recently said, quote, This goes right along with another problem that these woke, insane, fanatical ideologues in the Democratic Party are propagating because they're racializing everything.
Even someone with the most basic knowledge or understanding of U.S. history can tell you that the ACLU statement is patently false and ridiculous.
It has been government's attempt to control gun ownership, not gun rights, that our government has weaponized for racism.
Enslaved African Americans, and even those who were freed for decades, were either barred from owning a firearm completely, or they were required to obtain a license subject to the approval of our government.
A different standard than those who were white.
Democrats in Washington say that the Second Amendment is no longer relevant, that we do not have the right to bear arms, that our founders never could have imagined that we would live in the world that we live in today.
But the exact opposite is true.
And a recent ruling by the Supreme Court that struck down a New York law that restricted people from carrying a concealed firearm stated very clearly just how wrong today's Democratic Party is.
And I'm going to quote here, just as we do not need to seek a permit to stand on the street corner and exercise our right to free speech.
We should not have to seek permission for a law abiding citizen to carry their We as a society don't get to pick and choose which of our rights in the Constitution are more worthy of protecting than another.
There's no disputing that our founders sought to make our freedom and right to bear arms a constitutional right not only as a means for self-defense, but as an insurance policy against tyranny.
Having just defeated the British army who sought to rule over the colonists as subjects, imposing their will as an authoritarian regime, our founders understood how easily power corrupts.
So an armed citizenry serves as an ultimate guardrail, a deterrent against the worst impulses of humanity when people seek to be rulers and tyrants and abuse their power, taking away the rights and freedoms of others.
Now, sometimes you'll hear Democrats, usually when they're running for office, usually in more conservative states, where the Second Amendment is a very important issue, they'll say, oh yeah, of course, you know, I support people owning firearms for hunting or sport, but not for any other reason.
You've heard this recently.
I think this is the policy in Canada that Trudeau outlined, taking away people's rights even to purchase a pistol.
We're introducing legislation to implement a national freeze on handgun ownership.
What this means is that it will no longer be possible to buy, sell, transfer, or import handguns anywhere in Canada.
Owning a firearm remains the most effective and accessible way to protect not only ourselves, but those we love.
And we, the American people, instinctively know this.
And this explains why Democrats in Washington, as they push to defund the police, as they demonize our police, violent crime has risen over the past two years.
And as a result, gun sales are at record highs.
The biggest increase in purchases of firearms is coming from first-time gun owners, more so now than in modern history, breaking all the stereotypes of who gun owners in America are.
These are millennials who are living in suburbs and in cities, not people who the Democratic Party often demonizes as those who cling, as President Obama once said, to their guns and their religion.
Our Constitution makes clear that we have an inherent God-given right to protect ourselves, which is the basis for that ruling in New York.
The case between the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association versus Bruin.
That New York law...
being challenged required its citizens to show proper cause to obtain a concealed carry license.
And this vaguely defined standard of proper cause, as you can imagine, empowered the government officials in your home, state, or community to decide whether or not you deserve to exercise your Second Amendment right.
Now, Hawaii's had similar laws.
They're in the process of changing directly because of that Supreme Court ruling on the case with New York.
But a few years ago, I had direct experience with the negative impact of these restrictive laws.
I had a credible threat on my life.
There was someone who was stalking me, who was threatening to cut off my head with a sword.
Our local police were tracking the case, were helping with security.
I was serving on the city council and then in Congress at the time.
And given there was a very credible threat on my life and our state laws, similar to New York, requiring probable cause for a concealed carry permit to be issued before going through the whole process of filing the application, which you could do, I just asked a senior leader at our local police which you could do, I just asked a senior leader at hey, if I'm going to go through all this trouble and apply for a concealed carry permit for the purposes of self-defense, given a credible threat that the police were very, very familiar with...
Would it be approved?
He said immediately, no.
It won't.
He said, you can apply, but I'm telling you, it won't because it never is.
Revealing this facade of the law is like, oh yeah, sure, prove probable cause and then we'll consider it.
No.
It's up to them.
They make the decision.
And in this case, they never found probable cause for anyone.
Now, in this ruling that we're talking about with New York, the Supreme Court stated that our constitutional right to protect ourselves is not something to be granted or denied by a government official.
This seems like a very rational view, right?
For anyone who values freedom and autonomy.
But the reaction that this ruling had from prominent Democratic leaders says otherwise.
And I'm sorry this dark day has come.
They were supposed to go back to what was in place since 1788 when the Constitution of the United States of America was ratified.
New York's Governor Kathy Hochul immediately promised to double down on even more aggressive forms of gun control, even as violent crime was surging in her own state.
Governor Hochul and other elected New York Democrats instead believe that the answer is more restriction, taking away New Yorkers' ability to defend themselves and their loved ones.
President Biden likes to say that our Second Amendment is not absolute, pretending as though we don't currently have tens of thousands of laws already on the books.
In fact, there are more laws regulating this individual right than any other mentioned in the Constitution.
But those laws, those existing laws on the books, frankly, are not even being enforced, and yet they want to place even more restrictions on us.
The scorn and mockery that's become common amongst this condescending, self-serving Democratic elite, perhaps there is no worse example than Wisconsin Democrat and Senate nominee Mandela Barnes, who's not only openly stated that he,
quote, really could not care less about a Second Amendment right, end of quote, But who callously shrugged off the attempted assassination and near fatal shooting of my friend and former colleague, Republican Congressman Steve Scalise, belittling his pain, his suffering, and the fact that he was in a coma for days and almost died, as quote-unquote, taking one for the team.
My friend Steve Scalise joins me today.
He is one of the most credible and staunchest defenders of the Second Amendment, and a man who we almost lost in June of 2017, when he and other members of Congress were out during an early morning baseball practice when a gunman showed up and opened fire.
Hey, is that guy okay out there? is that guy okay out there?
The guy's been shot, is he okay?
Anybody talking to him?
Despite shattering his pelvis, a near fatal sepsis infection requiring 20 units of blood, the equivalent of two people, and enduring months of agonizing rehab and enduring months of agonizing rehab just so he could walk again.
Today, Steve is thriving.
And he attributes his survival and miraculous comeback to his personal relationship with God, the faith, the power of prayer, the love and support of his family and friends and colleagues and millions of Americans who he's never met across the country.
and the heroic actions of his security detail who put their lives on the line to protect him and others as well as the first responders and medical team who saved his life I don't know if you can see me or hear me I can see you just fine.
There you are.
All right.
All right.
And look at that fancy background you've got.
Yeah, I know.
My husband built it.
You've got a fancy mic?
Scratch, yeah.
You're in Hawaii?
I'm in Hawaii.
Now I'm really going to get jealous.
I need to come out there.
I need to do this in person next time.
You do.
How does that sound?
I see your wood flag in the background, too, with your ChallengeCoin display.
That's awesome.
Yeah, you can see that.
Isn't that cool?
I love that.
Yeah, it's great.
No, I'm in New Orleans.
Oh, okay.
Good.
That's good.
It's always...
Yeah, going to see Pitbull tonight in New Orleans.
Oh, wow.
That sounds like fun.
It is.
Just an average Thursday night?
I was in Palm Beach yesterday raising money.
I'm going to be in California tomorrow.
So, kind of moving your way.
And then I'm hitting a whole bunch of West Coast...
What is it?
I got California, Washington, Oregon, and Nevada.
So, hitting a bunch of those districts.
Nice.
Cool.
We are ready.
I want to go back to Pitbull for a second.
Is that for a fun, or is that for fun?
I wouldn't have pegged you as a Pitbull guy.
No, it's for fun.
That's so cool, man.
I've got a 15-year-old daughter and a 13-year-old son, so today's my birthday, so my wife and kids are taking me to Pitbull tonight.
Oh my gosh.
Happy birthday.
Thank you so much for making time for me on your birthday.
Absolutely.
I'm glad you're home for it.
I just want to start out by saying how much I appreciate you and your friendship over the years.
I often reflect back at the culture of Washington, as you know very well, very often is just purely transactional.
It was one of the things that I first noticed when I first went there is you go to a social function or you go and hang out with friends after you meet different people and it's very Very clearly like, okay, who are you?
And how do you matter to me in whatever it is I'm trying to accomplish?
And it's been such a turn-off ever since I was there as a legislative staffer for Senator Akok out here.
But you really stood out, even from a lot of our colleagues when I was there, because...
I had no ability to positively impact anything you were doing.
You had no reason to stop and say hello and be kind to me in the halls or ask how my family was doing, but you always did anyway.
That really touched me and I just really appreciated it over the years.
Thank you for being who you are.
Thanks.
I really appreciate that.
And look, I mean, we run for office and 435 of us get the honor to serve in Congress.
And we go there because we have things we believe in, but we're all individuals.
And look, I served in a state legislative body, and I think that's where I learned it from because you serve with Republicans and Democrats.
And sometimes I think that's probably where we really Exactly.
And I think it just brings it back to remembering that we have to see past all the labels and we are.
We're just people and we've been sent there to do a job and we've got to be able to get along and to try to find ways to work together.
We're in such a divided time in the country, and it feels like it has gotten more and more divided as time has gone on.
And there are different things that have led to that.
But it just seems like when we look back to how united the country was after 9-11, there are very few examples of that sentiment and that feeling of unity, both in the country but also in the Congress ever since then.
But I remember distinctly that day in 2017 when you came back to work, and it was such a powerful and emotional feeling that was in that room where we had Democrats and and it was such a powerful and emotional feeling that was in that room where we had Democrats and Republicans standing, and not just
in seeing you walk back in those doors And if you don't mind, I want to play that clip that brings us back to that moment.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
We were very happy, Steve.
We were very happy.
For those who didn't catch, I can only imagine.
So am I. This went on, obviously, for quite some time.
In your book, Back in the Game, I just want to read a short excerpt from that.
You wrote,"...as I spoke, what I'd hoped might happen was happening." My colleagues seemed to feel that my being on my feet reflected something important about them and the people they represented.
On the day of the shooting, Speaker Ryan had addressed the House saying, an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us.
I was made to feel in those crucial days that that was absolutely true.
That's how everyone treated me.
But if we'd all been attacked, then we were also all responsible for the comeback.
My colleagues had closed ranks around me, and this wasn't just my return.
It was a return for the whole house.
Oh, man.
It was one of the most special days.
I mean, obviously, you think of the birth of your kids and, you know, your wedding day.
But to be able to come back, I mean, of course, there were days, and you know this well, Tulsi, where they weren't sure I was going to make it.
The first few days after the shooting, my doctors didn't know.
If I was going to make it through the night, and for my wife and my young kids at the time, it was a real emotional time, and it was a tough recovery.
It was three and a half months in the hospital, and you saw up in the gallery there that day, my wife was there, but also my medical team.
The doctors and nurses who helped get me back to life.
You know, the brave heroes.
I mean, David Bailey and Crystal Greiner, the two members of Capitol Police who didn't just save me that day.
There were over a dozen members of Congress who would have been taken out that day that they saved.
And, you know, they were both shot during the shootout.
So I wanted them to be there, too.
And, you know, to just have that feeling of warmth.
And, you know, and it shows you in times, I mean, we see the toxic side of politics a lot, you know, but there's genuineness too.
And that was a day of just raw emotion where people were wonderful in welcoming me back.
I wanted to come back, but to be back there and, you know, I could hardly walk.
I'm looking, you know, back then and, you know, I was struggling.
I had to actually practice how to get up to that podium without falling over just because I was just learning how to walk again.
You know, today I don't even need crutches.
God has performed miracles.
A lot of emotion that day, but God was there all the way through to give me strength and to perform miracles.
And then to be able to share that with my colleagues on the house floor was just a treat that I'll never forget.
And we should all never forget that, you know, for every one of us as Americans and as a country because I think when we see so much of, you know, the strife and the hatred and the animosity and the back and forth and the, hey, I'm on this team,
you're on that team, I'm against you, you're against me, all of this stuff… You've been very vocal and very open about your faith in God and how prayers, both your prayers, the prayers of those around you, and prayers from millions of strangers across the country helped get you through that time when you didn't know that you would survive.
To me, it's that spiritual foundation In this country that we've got to find a way to get back to, to be able to see past and get past, again, all of this kind of darkness and divisiveness and animosity, right?
Yeah.
And look, I still get to this day, you know, and I travel a lot in my job.
Especially in leadership where you're going around the country doing events for other members and inevitably no matter where I am someone will come up and say you know I prayed for you when you were in the hospital and it still touches me and you know and I know people no matter where you are you're you're you're asked to pray for a friend you know oh my my brother was just diagnosed with cancer can you say a prayer for him and and maybe you wonder you know What is it going to affect or matter if I do that?
It matters.
And I felt the prayers.
And you can't explain it.
It was a powerful thing.
But it's something that I really appreciated because I could just feel being uplifted by strangers that didn't even know maybe that they were doing something that was helpful to someone they had never met before.
And so anytime that somebody is down and out or asks for A prayer for a friend, I always do it because I know it really helped me and it really mattered.
So I still pass that on to them too.
I say thank you for the prayers because I felt them.
Yeah, absolutely.
For those who may have just seen kind of a quick headline or two on what happened in June of 2017 that changed your life, changed the lives of those who are protecting you and many of our colleagues.
I want to go back again and just point to some of your words that you wrote in your book.
It was the last practice before the congressional baseball game.
You were obviously on the Republican team going against the Democratic team.
This is a big annual event that happens in Washington every year at the Nationals Stadium.
It is one of those times when it builds that camaraderie, it builds those relationships and friendly competition on the baseball field.
But this morning was different.
as you were wrapping up practice.
In your book, you write, the man emerged from his van carrying an SKS-style semi-automatic rifle with a 40-round banana clip, a fully loaded 9mm Smith & Wesson pistol and a hip holster attached to his waistband, an extra fully loaded 40-round clip for the rifle, and a fully loaded 9mm Smith & Wesson pistol and a hip holster attached to his waistband, an extra fully loaded 40-round clip for the rifle, and an
The morning chill had cooked off to make way for a pure early summer heat, and then there's a bang.
I think, that's okay, it's nothing.
I'm still standing there in the sun thinking about strategy and Cedric's fastball and my family and my son's first U2 concert and a tractor.
I see a tractor and the noise makes sense, except there's no one on the tractor.
There's another noise and I can't force it out anymore.
I have to allow this new reality to press itself in on me that someone is shooting.
It's strange though.
Gunfire and baseball don't fit together.
And it's also strange that there's a kind of numbness around my waist.
A kind of pressure, like a lineman has lowered his shoulder and given me a shove.
But it's not a shove.
It's a large 7.62 caliber bullet moving at high velocity that's entered my hip and hit my femur, and my leg has effectively detonated.
The bones explode.
My femur explodes.
My pelvis explodes.
A puff of bone and metal fragments fly through my pelvis and abdominal cavity.
Turning my body into a shrapnel-packed bomb, going off in a confined space.
The support structure that keeps the whole architecture of my body upright is now a broken apart puzzle, and there's no exit wound, so there's nowhere for all that energy to go.
Hard things ricochet around like pinballs, severing veins and slicing open organs, shredding through my intestines and Destroying my digestive tract, rattling nerves, making everything bleed all at once.
But all the damage is internal, except for one almost imperceptibly small hole in my baseball pants, invisible from the outside.
I'm trying to move on pulverized leg bones.
I feel like someone else is controlling my legs.
My legs stop working.
It's not pain exactly, and I don't know that the reason I'm falling is because my whole foundation has imploded.
I feel instead like the wiring that connects my brain to my legs has been unplugged.
I fall.
Now, I'm on my hands in the dirt, facing the outfield.
I don't know why I'm facing the outfield when I was just facing the other way.
I don't know that the force with which the bullet hit me has spun me almost all the way around.
Things I don't know are replaced by things I do know.
The shooting hasn't stopped, I know that.
I can hear more and more gunfire.
I know that to survive I have to run away from it.
I know I can't run away from it because I can't move my legs.
I have to crawl.
At this point you don't realize it but you're bleeding out.
Yeah.
It was all so fast, but everything slowed down and you don't know what's going on until you realize what's happened.
And then I fall down.
I'm trying to get away, but I can't.
So I start crawling.
Somebody actually had taken a picture that I put in the book that it's about a 20-foot trail from second base where I was playing in the infield to the outfield because the shooter was behind third base.
I never saw him, but I could hear.
So I'm just trying to get away from that.
And so I just start crawling away to the outfield until everything gave out.
My arms gave out.
And then I'm just laying there and still hearing lots of gunfire.
And at that point, you just know, okay, something bad's going on inside.
I don't know how bad it is.
Surely didn't feel as bad as it was because I almost didn't make it through that day.
But your body does sort of shut down the pain that you should be feeling.
But I knew, okay, what do I do next when I can't move anymore?
And that's when I just said, I've got to pray.
There's nothing else I can do.
I've got to put this in God's hands.
And I said some very heady prayers.
I wanted to see my kids again.
I wanted to see my family.
And God delivered.
The things I was asking Him for that day were very direct personal conversations.
But He came through.
He was on that field that day.
What was the last thing you remember?
You know, there were a few, you know, once the shooter went down, it seemed like probably a half an hour, it might have only been 10 minutes, but Brad Wenstrup, my colleague from Ohio, you and I served with, he was a medical doctor, a trauma surgeon who served in Iraq, just happened to be there.
Normally he would have left earlier, but he had a meeting that had canceled, so he stayed behind a little longer.
And look, again, miracles that happened on that field that day.
I wouldn't be here if Brad had his normal schedule because he would have been gone.
And, you know, my trauma surgeon told me I would have bled out on the field if not for what Brad did to prepare me.
So I made it to the hospital with a zero blood pressure, by the way.
So, you know, literally not even a minute left.
And so Brad immediately put a tourniquet on.
He started doing some work on me before the paramedics arrived.
And then paramedics put me in an ambulance.
So they're going to drive me to probably George Washington Hospital.
But it's morning.
It's like around 7 in the morning, Virginia traffic.
I would have never made it.
And then a helicopter comes.
And it was a Parks Department helicopter.
And so they turn around and the whole time I'm thinking, why are we going back?
And they bring me out on the ball field again to transfer me to the helicopter.
I don't know all this.
I'm just thinking, why am I back on the ball field?
And I'm feeling my body shut down.
So I'm thinking, God, I don't want to bleed out on this ball field.
And next thing you know, I'm on the helicopter.
And that's really the last thing I remember.
And...
I do remember I asked not the pilot but one of the other people that was in the helicopter if he had a phone and he gave me his cell phone and I called my wife and she didn't know the number but it was also about 6 in the morning in New Orleans so she didn't answer and so I left a message and at that point I thought this might be it and I just left a message.
You know, that you just don't want to have to leave.
But that was the last thing I remember.
And then three days later, I wake up out of a coma and, you know, had made it.
And your wife was there when you woke up?
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, your experience and frankly that of your wife and kids is one that not very many people, obviously not very many people have directly, but that experience of really, really knowing but that experience of really, really knowing truly the fragility of life and that our time could come literally at You just don't know.
You don't know.
And obviously this is something...
When I was deployed to Iraq during my first deployment, it was early 2005. We had just gotten to the camp where we'd be based about 40 miles north of Baghdad.
And at one of the gates of that camp...
It had a huge sign and big block letters.
I don't know who put it there, but it said, is today the day?
And it was that ever-present reminder, obviously, being in the middle of what was then called the Sunni Triangle.
It was a very heavy time in that war.
I worked in a medical unit, and that reality is something that every service member who's gone and deployed into a war zone knows firsthand.
But very few people at home, very few of our colleagues know and understand what that is.
How...
How did the way you see life and the world and your work and those you love change after going through what you went through?
Yeah, because, you know, it surely makes you look at life as precious as it is.
And, you know, we always take things for granted, you know, not even intentionally, but it really, for me, it just put a sharper focus on what's important.
You know, we've got busy jobs, we have busy lives, you know, but you kind of scale it back and say, what are the things that really matter?
And And make sure never, you know, it's not like you can spend every minute with your kids and your wife.
But, you know, when you're with them, you got to be all in.
You got to be there.
You know, when I'm home on weekends, I mean, we're not doing other stuff.
We're just, you know, we're doing stuff for them because you don't want to miss anything.
And so I think if anything, it just puts a sharper focus on what's important.
You know, you still have other things you have to do, but The trivial things just don't matter as much anymore.
It doesn't get you down.
If something doesn't go your way, that's minor.
Who cares?
What really matters, I'm lucky to be alive.
I'm playing with the house's money, so that's all that really matters.
Yeah.
I can relate to that in so many ways.
I came back a different person after that first deployment.
Definitely not the same thing that you went through in any way, shape, or form, but in my own way.
Still, you put yourself in a position where it could have been that day and you did it anyway and thanks for your service because it's a sacrifice that very few people will understand who haven't been there.
So, you know, it's why we pray for our troops.
It's why, you know, we appreciate your service to our country.
I'm grateful to stand with so many incredible great patriots and heroes and frankly to have that perspective of doing my very best to not waste a moment because every day and every breath is such a blessing.
I'm curious about...
I've spoken with and met with families who have lost a loved one because of a mass shooting or a drive-by shooting in Chicago, for example, and Often those experiences inform their first feeling of what could have been done to prevent this?
What should we be doing now with our laws to prevent these tragic shootings and tragic loss of life?
Sometimes that reaction is, well, we should just get rid of guns.
If we get rid of guns, then no more shootings will happen.
Yes, violence is another story, and it's a bigger, deeper foundational problem as a country we need to face about these violent crimes.
But hey, maybe if we just get rid of guns, then we can prevent some of How did your family feel?
How did those around you feel?
You know, and look, nobody wants to see somebody else die unexpectedly.
And, you know, we'd all like to think we're going to die of old age in our sleep.
And, you know, and of course, every day there's tragedies.
There's all kinds of tragedies.
You know, it just seems like when it's a gun that's the, you know, the weapon of choice, there are people that just want to rush immediately to gun control.
Yeah.
And not really dig and say, okay, what happened here and how do we stop it?
And was it somebody, you know, I've met with kids that were involved in school shootings that were at a school where they had a school shooting.
I mean, just, you know, those kind of tragedies.
And one of the things we see in those is that typically, like well over 80% of the school shootings, somebody knew that it was going to happen before it happened.
You know, they told somebody else, they put it on social media and And every now and then they're prevented, but sometimes people just don't think, hey, can I say something?
Should I say something to stop something bad from happening?
And if somebody wants to go do harm to somebody else, the best thing you can do is identify it and try to stop it before it happens.
To think we can pass a law that's going to stop bad things from happening, I wish there was something.
A law that would do that.
And it's selling fool's gold to people to think you can just prevent bad things from happening.
You can try to create safe environments for people.
But look, the shooter in my case came from Illinois.
They've got some of the strictest gun control laws in the country.
And yet, you know, it still happened.
Again, you go look at some of the cities with some of the worst, worst incidents of violence in the streets, and they, and a lot of times have some of the strictest laws.
So, you know, if a criminal is going to go out and commit a crime and kill people, they've already probably violated 10 other laws.
You know, it's just trying to stop bad people from doing bad things, you know, and that's where we need to focus.
but to say taken away guns from law abiding citizens is never gonna be the answer because frankly, everyday people are able to use guns to defend themselves too.
I mean, the reason I'm alive is because there were people there with guns to counter the bad guy who had guns and every intention of taking us all out.
You know, and if you would say at the beginning of that day, if you know, as I laid out all the things that happened before he pulled the trigger, if I would say at the end of the day, everybody would be alive except the shooter, nobody would believe you.
And yet that's what happened because there were people with guns that were able to stop bad things from happening to all of us.
What do you say, your shooter, one of the firearms that he had was a semi-automatic rifle, and often the instinct after every one of these tragic mass shootings that are unfortunately occurring, Seemingly more often than maybe 10, 20, 30 years ago, the knee-jerk reaction from a lot of Democrats in Congress is we need to ban assault weapons.
This is something President Biden has doubled down on, saying he wants to reinstate the assault weapons ban.
There are other...
There are other measures that are being put forward, but this one seems to be the one that pops to the forefront every single time.
I think we can look at a lot of the different motivations.
I think there are some people who are very well-intentioned, who feel like, hey, we've got to do something, and if this contributes in some way to help prevent a mass shooting and mass loss of life, then maybe it's worthwhile.
There are others, I think, of our colleagues who look at the past and recognize, well, hey, this didn't really work before, but this is something that's a good talking point.
And it's something that we can push forward and kind of use to fire up the base and so on.
Like you basically use it just for political purposes.
Why is this the thing that keeps coming up, I think, the most?
And how do you respond to those coming from both camps, kind of those who are using it as a political football for their own selfish political gain?
And then also those who may not have grown up with firearms around the house or have never shot a firearm before in their lives, but they're thinking like, hey...
Maybe if this guy didn't have access to a semi-automatic rifle, then maybe it would have saved lives.
And again, I know there's a temptation that people want to say, okay, geez, something bad happened.
If only there was a law passed to stop that from happening.
Again, murder's already illegal.
So many of the other things that criminals do leading up to and during any kind of act of violence is already illegal.
And there are not a lot of the gun laws that are on the books.
I mean, we've got books of gun laws already in place that aren't being enforced, right?
And so you see people lying on gun forms, for example, and those aren't even being prosecuted, and yet they want to add more laws that usually end up making it harder for law-abiding citizens, not for the criminal.
Why don't you go after the people that are breaking the laws that you're letting out today, right now, in most communities?
The people that are committing a lot of the crimes, especially violent crimes, murders, are people who were let out for something else just weeks before.
How about you enforce the laws that are on the books instead of trying to make it harder for people to defend themselves?
I mean, gun sales are through the roof right now.
Not because criminals want to go out and buy more guns to kill people, but because people see crime in their communities and they want guns to defend themselves.
And that story is never told.
I mean, you could literally do a story every single day on somebody who used a gun to save their own life or that of a loved one because they had a gun to counter somebody who wanted to do something bad.
So, again, it just seems like they only want to tell one side of the story.
Go enforce the laws that are already on the books that are being ignored and stop people before they go commit a murder when they're committing other crimes that they're just being let out on the streets for.
And I think a lot of people would support that approach is, you know, usually somebody that commits a murder, it's not their first crime.
And yet they were let out for so many other things.
And then you all of a sudden get concerned after they kill somebody when you should have been concerned when they were breaking all the other laws that you ignored.
That's the focus that we really ought to have.
And clearly mental health breakdowns too.
There are a lot of breakdowns in our mental health system.
And I think we've tried to put more emphasis on that, as we should, so that you can address these problems before they become a tragedy.
The argument for quote-unquote common sense gun restrictions or gun safety laws is often made saying, hey, well, if we just put in a red flag law or if we just limit the number of rounds that you can have in a magazine,
whether it's for a pistol or for a rifle, if we just, you know, ban assault weapons, what they're Doing so in the name of public safety doesn't violate the intent of the Second Amendment.
The counterargument to that is, hey, even if you're talking about what you may think is the smallest restriction, it leads to this slippery slope.
What is that slippery slope?
I think you have personal experience, given your background in Louisiana, on what that slippery slope actually looks like in real life.
Yeah, and look, I mean, some of the people that are saying today, let's just go after this gun or just go after that gun, they've also said ultimately they want to get rid of handguns, for example.
So there is a slippery slope they even want to go down, but it always starts with just this today, and then tomorrow they keep going after the next thing, and before you know it, you don't have any rights left.
There is the Second Amendment in our Bill of Rights for a reason.
Our founding fathers did not put a specific protection for firearms in the original document because they thought it was a preordained right.
They just thought everybody understands we have a right to bear arms.
It was once they saw threats later that they added it in the Bill of Rights because it was something that, you know, our founding fathers had weapons not just to fight against the British but to defend themselves.
It was there for defending you and your family and for hunting, but it was for both.
And there are some people that want to just say, well, only if you're in the military can you have a gun.
That's not the law.
It's not the constitutional right we have.
And so we have that constitutional right for a reason.
And look, I saw this after Hurricane Katrina.
If we all remember back, I mean, there were so many tragedies of Hurricane Katrina, you know, massive loss of life, devastation of property.
But I saw it.
I was a state representative.
When you saw law enforcement officers going door to door And think about this.
This was in the days after Katrina.
There was no power.
There was no 911. There was no police to come and save you if somebody was doing something bad.
And there were roving gangs at the time.
And so people, if they had a gun in their home, that was their only line of defense.
And yet they went door to door and were confiscating guns from people.
It happened in an American city.
I saw it.
I passed a law when I was in the state legislature to prevent that from ever happening again.
Because they were relying on laws from the 1960s to say you can do it during an emergency.
And again, I think it shocked a lot of people that you had law enforcement going door to door.
No suspicion, just knocking on your door.
Hey, do you have a gun in your house?
We're taking it from you.
And we had video of them taking a gun, beating up an old woman and taking her gun.
Miss Connie, I'll never forget it.
I got her to come testify for my bill.
And people were shocked when they heard her story that they literally went into her house and she had a little pistol on the table to defend herself.
And they took it from her and wrestled her and broke her collarbone.
And she never got her firearm back.
So this happened and it should never happen.
It's against the law for that to happen.
And so that's where it goes.
There is a slippery slope.
I saw it and it was not a hundred years ago.
It was in 2005 in the United States of America.
So, you know, we've got to respect people's individual rights and the ability for them to defend themselves and their family.
That's why the Second Amendment is there.
I think that's such a great example.
When people challenge and say, hey, and I see this argument all the time saying, well, fine, you know, the Second Amendment may have fit for the place and time that it was included in the Bill of Rights, but here we are in 2022 and it's out of date.
It no longer applies.
It's no longer relevant because, hey, back then they didn't have...
I don't know, 30 round magazines or they didn't have the kinds of advanced firearms that technology has created today.
But your example, whether it's for self-defense or as a check and balance on Frankly, a tyrannical government.
I have just personally experienced and seen more and more how relevant and applicable that Second Amendment is today.
And frankly, like the First Amendment, how our founders really were visionaries in recognizing, hey, we've got to be able to strike this balance of ensuring a truly free society.
Yeah.
And if people are breaking the law, again, we're a nation of laws.
And so if you want to pass new laws to take away rights from law-abiding citizens, while at the same time you're ignoring laws that are already on the books that are being violated by criminals, I think people really see that duplicity.
And it really raises their red flag and say, wait a minute.
Why aren't you going after the criminals that have already broken 10 other laws that you look the other way on?
Now you're going to try to make it hard for me to just defend myself when I'm looking at crime running rampant over so many big cities in America.
You're going to tell me I can't have a gun to defend my family?
I'm sorry.
And so there's a lot of pushback for good reason on what people are seeing by some of these gun control advocates.
And just the hypocrisy there again for those who are advocating for defunding the police and letting people go violent, criminals go.
We're seeing these increasing crime statistics, increasing shootings in our communities and in cities like New York City and Chicago that do have some of the strictest gun laws in the country, and yet these very same people want to take away our right to defend ourselves.
Steve, your voice and your leadership on this and many other issues is really powerful, After having gone through what you've been through, it'd be easy for someone to say, you know what?
Life is short.
I'm going to hang it up and go hang out in Louisiana with my family.
My version of that in Hawaii would be, I'm just going to go surfing every day.
I think I might want to do that too, but there's nothing wrong with that.
You let me know when you're ready.
I think I'll hang out with you in Hawaii.
There you go.
We'll get you out on a surfboard.
But I appreciate your commitment to continuing to serve and to do so with that mindset and that foundation of serving God and serving others and truly caring for one another, regardless of political party, regardless of race, religion, all regardless of political party, regardless of race, religion, all of these other things that are unfortunately being used to tear us apart.
Thank you for being someone who is a unifying force and dedicating your life and with the support of your family to service.
It's not a small thing, so thank you.
Well, thank you, and you got to serve in that capacity, too.
Very few of us get the honor to serve in Congress, and 435 very different people from very different places get to come together and be a part of keeping this country going and keeping the greatness of America there.
I never take that for granted.
There will be a day when I go off and do something else, but it's an honor to continue to be able to serve and represent the people of Louisiana, but also I served this great nation just like you did.
And it's something I never take for granted.
But I know one day I'll get to go do other things.
But my family's been so supportive and let me do this.
And it's a treat.
It's an awesome thing.
Thank you for your time.
Go enjoy your birthday.
Enjoy the concert tonight.
Have fun.
I hope I'm the last, like, work-ish related thing that you've got to do today.
Well, it's never worked to just be hanging out with you again.
You can come down to New Orleans.
I'll take you to some great restaurants and then we'll go to Hawaii and go serve.
You'll have to teach me how to serve because I sure can't do that.
I look forward to it.
I'm going to hold you to it.
I'm going to hold you to that.
We'll make it happen.
We'll look forward to that too.
Take care, Tulsi.
Enjoy your day.
Bye.
Aloha.
There are no easy solutions to the challenges that we face.
That much is true.
What we do know is that when we come together, treat each other with respect, treat each other with aloha, regardless of the differences in our perspectives or backgrounds or experiences, but have the tough conversations,
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