← Free Thinking Through the Fourth Turning with Sasha Stone
Free Thinking Through the Fourth Turning with Sasha Stone
The Gun Control Lie I Once Believed In
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Hi, this is free thinking through the fourth turning. My name is Sacha Stone. The gun control lie I once believed in. Like everything else, it is a way to deflect from failure. As a lifelong Democrat, I always thought the problem of gun violence was easy to solve. Just get rid of the guns. It was one of the most important issues for us as Bill Clinton rallied voters to the polls in 1992. But back then it wasn't mass shootings that we were worried about, it was handguns. Just look at this scene from Aaron Sorkin's the American president released in 1995, where Michael Douglas has to bury protecting the climate to pass a weapons bill. But by the end, he realizes he doesn't have to sacrifice anything. He can and will have both. Bob Rumsen is not the least bit interested in solving it. He is interested in two things and two things only. Making you afraid of it and telling you who's to blame for it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections. You gather a group of middle aged, middle class, middle income voters who remember with longing an easier time. And you talk to them about family and American values and character. And you wave an old photo of the President's girlfriend and you scream about patriotism. You tell them she's to blame for their lot in life. And you go on television and you call her a whore. Sidney Ellen Wade has done nothing to you, Bob. She has done nothing but put herself through school, represent the interests of public school teachers and lobby for the safety of our natural resources. You want a character to debate Bob, you better stick with me. Cause Sidney Ellen Wade is way out of your league. I've loved two women in my life. I lost one to cancer and I lost the other. Cause I was so busy keeping my job I forgot to do my job. Well, that ends right now. Tomorrow morning, the White House is sending a bill to Congress for its consideration. Its White House Resolution 455, an energy bill requiring a 20% reduction of the emission of fossil fuels over the next 10 years. It is by far the most aggressive stride ever taken in the fight to reverse the effects of global warming. The other piece of legislation is the crime bill. As of today, it no longer exists. I'm throwing it out. I'm throwing it out and writing a law that makes sense. You cannot address crime prevention without getting rid of assault weapons and handguns. I consider them a threat to national security and I will go door to door if I have to. But I'm going to convince Americans that I'm right and I'M going to get the guns. We've got serious problems and we need serious people. And if you want to talk about character, Bob, you better come at me with more than a burning flag and a membership card. If you want to talk about character and American values, fine. Just tell me where and when and I'll show up. This is a time for serious people, Bob. And your 15 minutes are up. My name is Andrew Shepard and I am the president. Four years later, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold would become famous by shooting up Columbine High School with illegally purchased weapons. That led to the renewal of the now expired 1994 assault weapons ban, originally implemented after Patrick Edward Purdy killed five children at an elementary school in Stockton, California in 1989. Did you say you had confirmation on this? That's affirmative. We have confirmation that 15 children have been shot. Establish about a Level 3 on your disaster plan then. It was a crime motivated by racism and hate. Most of the rounds were fired there, fired this way at the school. It ushered in a new era in America. His reign of terror was over, but for the victims and the community, it had just started. In all, five children between the ages of six and nine were dead. 27 other children were wounded, along with two teachers. On his jacket, Purdy had written things like PLO, Libya, Earthman, Freedom, and Death to the Great Satan. One can only assume he meant Satan. He had also drawn an American flag with a slash through it. He scratched the word Hezbollah into the stock of his rifle. We had a joke back then called going postal, referring to the same kind of person who would open fire on post offices or other office buildings. It seemed like men reacted violently to being rejected, either by a job or a woman. School shootings were rare, but Columbine hit differently than any tragedy that came before it. We were getting word that Leawood Elementary School is locked down. Yeah, sick. You are just joining us. Two young men, apparently dressed in long black trench coats, opened fire about an hour and a half ago at a high school just outside of Denver in Littleton, Colorado. At least three students have been injured and possibly as many as eight. We know that victims have been taken to area hospitals. One student has apparently been critically injured. And we know that one of the victims may be an adult woman. There is a huge presence of police and sheriff's deputies and six to eight outside. We don't know who's injured inside yet are still believed to be inside the school, as are many students. Joining us now, NBC News correspondent Dan Abrams, who has just arrived in Littleton Dan, what can you tell us? It's an eerie sight to see so many sort of scenes from an everyday school event. It wasn't just the crime itself. It was the pleasure the shooters took in carrying it out, performing for the security cameras, the casual cruelty, and later, how they became subversive icons. All of these years later, many of our early theories about them turned out to be wrong. They weren't bullied. For them, it was more about the thrill of killing and gaining fame for it. By 1999, two significant changes had occurred in American society. The 24 hour news cycle thanks to the O.J. simpson trial and the rise of the Internet, which could give us our news even faster. However, it did something else as well. It allowed ordinary people to become famous overnight. That's still true. Anyone can get famous for anything. Mass shooters also have their influencers and platforms. But even more importantly, like the Columbine shooters, they're all caught up in the romance of building a mythology behind their planned shootings, their grand statements against society as they carry out their evil acts. They seem to have empathy for the other shooters. They want to be like them. They want to be feared and remembered. The more evil the deed, the greater the myth. The end game always seems to be suicide. Go out with a bang. Solving that problem, understanding it, trying to get ahead of it, proved too difficult. So we pivoted to the guns. Always the guns. Just get rid of the guns and the problem will be solved. Like these tiktokers. Do you know what we're not going to do after this most recent shooting in Minnesota? We are not going to make trans people the problem. We are not going to push false narratives that trans people are inherently dangerous because the statistics do not support this. 98% of all mass shootings in US history have been committed by men. Cis men, cisgender men. And not members of the LGBTQ community. And not trans people. Don't you dare say thoughts and prayers again while you have a goddamn arsenal in your basement and you're guarding it like ego. No more. We want action. Thoughts and mirror thoughts and prayers are absolutely meaningless. How are you guys gonna thoughts and prayer this one? Because they were in a church praying. So I'm just wondering, like, how are you gonna get this one through? Because I don't know how much closer to your God they could have been than in their mass praying. People with mental health issues are more likely to be victims of violence than they are to be themselves. Inherently violent. Do not blame this on mental health. It's the guns. And I'm not gonna sit here and censor myself so this doesn't get suppressed because people are dying while other people are making excuses like mental health problems. As if countries all around the world don't have people with mental health issues yet they don't have mass shootings every month. And I know you don't think that it's mental health issue because if you did, you would advocate for people to have access to mental health care, yet you continually go and vote for people that cut that kind of access for people. So you don't care and you don't actually believe that. And this timeline that we're in is particularly unique because we get to see all of these people that kept telling us our entire lives that they would stand up to a tyrannical government. That's why they needed their 2A rights. But now we're seeing firsthand that that is absolutely not the case. That they're a bunch of cowards who will fall in line with tyranny. The shooter's trans. The shooter's trans. I'm sorry. If he was a straight, white cisgender male like most of them are, would that make it okay? Are we done? Are we done throwing thoughts and prayers at a problem that we think it's gonna solve when it's not? Because here we are again with kids getting killed. How many more kids have to be hurt? How many more parents have to go through the pain of burying their child for us to do something about it? Here's the deal. Your thoughts and prayers. Another damn school shooting. Your thoughts and prayers don't matter. Flying the flag at half staff doesn't change a damn thing. It does not bring back children who were murdered this morning in Minneapolis. It won't prevent kids from dying tonight or tomorrow or the next day from gun violence. What is the leading cause of death for children in the US? Guns. For 20 plus years, Republicans have been on a crusade to convince their voters that any attempt to reform gun laws is somehow a tyrannical attack on your constitutional rights that cannot be accepted, much less even trying to fund mental health programs which are rejected every time by the Republican Party. When are we even going to try to prevent this from happening again? I used to believe that. I also demonized people who carried them. And it was an easy excuse to blame the other side. What else is new? At least we want to do something about it, I would say. And for this reason, I began studying mass shooters. I thought if I could identify the one thing they had in common, maybe we could find a way to reach them before they decided to pick up a gun. And every time I brought it up to anyone I knew on the left, I would always get the same answer. It's the guns. Take away the guns. Solve the problem. They didn't want to talk about anything else, but if you lived through the Oklahoma city bombing in 9 11, it would seem obvious to you that if people want to kill, there are other ways. Just look at suicide bombers or people who drive trucks through crowds or go on stabbing sprees. No, guns just made it easier. But taking them away is not only impossible, it doesn't solve the problem. In my research I came across a site called gunviolence.org they laid out just how rare mass shootings are compared to the rest of the shootings in America. I was shocked when I actually looked at the numbers. Here is their 10 year review for podcast listeners. A chart that goes from 2015 to 2024 showing mass shootings at 332 people killed in 2015 to 500 people killed in 2024. But the number of murder suicides is higher, 532 in 2015 and 667 in 2024. Gun deaths are part of the everyday reality for many working class families living in high crime cities. And yet in the post George Floyd America, even talking about black on black crime is strictly verboten. It has to be the guns. But on August 27, the same day as the most recent mass shooting in Minneapolis at a Catholic school, several other people lost their lives to gun violence like this. Podcast listeners. A notice from Roanoke Rapids Police Department. Upon arrival, Decyon L. Banks of Roanoke was found deceased at the scene. Outside of the establishment, a second individual, Anthony Sheeran of Roanoke, was found inside the store suffering from gunshot wounds. Due to the complexity of the situation, no additional details are being released. And this from ABC Chicago. The shooting happened at about 11:54am A 19 year old man was standing near the sidewalk when he was approached by two men, police said. Both men pulled out guns and started to shoot at the victim. The 19 year old was shot in the head multiple times through the body. And this a man shot in his home in Mississippi. And two more hours after the Minneapolis mass shooting, two more fatally shot in separate incidences. How about this shooting captured on Facebook live and viewed by millions in Chicago. The same party that thinks guns are the problem have not only refused Trump's help to bring in the National Guard to clean up crime, but have also attempted to defund the police, called all police racists all through 2020 and continued to ignore crime in the cities like Los Angeles, where all the products have to be locked away and criminals aren't even prosecuted for theft under $1,000. There is no question that the Democrat brand lately stands for defending and protecting criminals and crime rather than protecting citizens. They won't talk about how residents in D.C. are relieved to be able to walk on the streets and feel safe at night. This latest shooter, Robert Robin Westman, bought his guns legally. Giffords.org gives Minnesota a grade of B. Yet here are their suggestions to improve that grade. Require the safe storage of firearms Pass gun industry accountability legislation Improve lost and stolen firearm reporting Ban guns at polling places none of these improvements would have stopped Westman from shooting his gun through the window while Catholic students were praying on the second day of school. He did it because he knew they were too trusting and that there would be few barriers in his way. For a guy like Westman or any of the latest trend of trans and non binary perpetrators of violence, wearing a mask of a woman offers an extra layer of protection, but it also reveals someone who doesn't want to be who he is in a society that no longer has any use for men. Not only won't they look into it, but their greatest fear coming out of the event was whether they would offend the transgender community. Hey everyone, I'm Megyn Kelly. Welcome to the Megyn Kelly Show. When we were planning today's show, I knew there was nobody better to start it with than Matt Walsh. He's host of the Matt Walsh show on the Daily Wire. He's here with us today. And all the left wants to talk about, Matt, is guns. That's it. The guns are the problem. And also, by the way, they're sick and tired of our thoughts and prayers. I'll give you Jen Psaki in Sat 9. All they should be hoping to do is have someone to sit with at lunch or someone to play with on the playground. And they should be waiting to hear an update when they get home. And that is not what these parents of the school experience today. As we have been here so many times, so many times, and yet again, like clockwork, half the politicians in our country have little more to offer than thoughts and prayers. That is all they are offering. You're going to start seeing narratives. You're already seeing them. They're already out there about how the shooter was trans. You're going to see narratives about how the shooter appeared to be anti Trump and anti Semitic and clearly was in the midst of a mental Health crisis. Weaponizing the shooter's identity is meant to distract from what matters. That is what they are doing, trying to distract from what matters. Here's what matters. Today's shooter bought the what rifle, handgun and shotgun. They used to do what they did today. Legally. It's the guns everyone. It's not really a secret. Thoughts on it, Matt? Yeah, well I, first of all, you want to talk about guns. Okay, so this was a trans killer. So I don't know. Jen Psaki, are you saying that what we should, we should stop trans identified people from owning guns? You want to have that conversation? Okay, let's have that conversation. I don't think she does. And I think this stuff about thoughts and prayers, well we gotta do more than just pray. Yeah, we all know that. Okay, first of all, that is obviously a direct attack on and an insult against the actual victims themselves, as many people have pointed out. Of course it's true. These people were in a church, they were praying. And now here you are being dismissive and contemptuous of prayer. So obviously you're directly insulting the people, the kids who were just killed, which makes you just an absolutely vile scumbag. But also, as every Christian knows that yes, we pray, we believe in the power of prayer, but no one thinks that, well, you should just pray and do nothing else. You pray and you beseech God for his mercy and for his help, but then you have to also go out and do things. And when it comes to, to cutting down on these kinds of incidents, it just so happens that most conservatives, there's a lot, there's a lot of, there are a lot of act like actual things that we want to do that we are proposing. Yes, we should pray, but also we should stop transing the kids. Okay. Also we should shut down the gender affirmation industry entirely. Also we should start holding the big pharmaceutical companies accountable for, for all these psychiatric drugs that they're putting on that they're putting all these people on. We should do that. Also we should have, every school in the country should have armed security. I mean, unfortunately we're at a spot now where every church also probably needs armed security. So there's like, I don't know, there's four or five things I just listed actual active things that we can do and that many conservatives have proposed the exact same thing. So this idea that we don't want to do anything but pray is just a ridiculous and insulting strawman. She won't talk about it, she won't talk about any of those ideas. She just wants to act exasperated in front of her audience, that it's all about the guns, that a madman like this wouldn't have found an alternative way of hurting these children. And that in Jen Psaki's world, you know, you just take away the guns and then they'll. They'll never hurt somebody again. The gun solution is totally impractical. It's never happening. Even if the United States, if the people wanted it and voted for it, there's no way of getting 400 million guns out of the United States of America. It's not a possible thing to do. And even if you did it, you'd still have mass death, because mad men do what mad men do. The solution is to look at the mad men and figure out how to keep them away from the rest of us. If you can stop the deterioration, which is what you're talking about with the crackdown on the. On the trans enablers, great. But if you can't, I'm all for institutionalizing these people when it's clear that they're a danger to society. And at a minimum, we should be fortifying all the soft targets that we know we. We know they want to hit. We've now had way too much evidence that schools are vulnerable and that places of worship are vulnerable. You see how easy it is to blame the guns? Then you never have to look at anything else. Uncomfortable things, things no one can even talk about. And for those complaining that the Republicans are politicizing a tragedy, know this. All the Democrats have done for the last 30 years is politicize tragedies. Never let a crisis go to waste. And the answer is always the guns. Because if it's the guns, we never had to face what we'd done to contribute to making this country worse. We never had to confront what the feminist movement had done to men. Listen how these women talk on TikTok. It isn't just that men have fled the Democratic Party. It's that they've been abandoned by them. And worse, they've been demonized. To me, the male loneliness epidemic comes down to a simple metaphor. It's like a man standing in a room full of open doors. He's complaining to anyone who will listen that he's trapped not because there's no way out, but because he refuses to walk through a door unless there is a cold beer, a round of applause, and a woman on her knees waiting for him there. Women aren't asking for that much. They're just highlighting the ways that they have been robbed historically and are currently still being robbed as men weaponize feminism against them. They want a mother figure who they can have sex with anytime they want and who will raise their children and will also pick up a job if for some reason their household isn't making enough. I don't know about y', all, but but if I were really that desperate and lonely, I would look in the mirror and figure out why women are not fawning over me. Over the last few years, I have completely decentered men from my life. And when I tell you it is the most incredible gift I have given myself, I'm not exaggerating. I live my life with no regard as to how a man is going to perceive it. I do nothing to please men. I work primarily for women. I have almost all female friends. My mother is my best friend. I'm married to a woman. My spirituality is centered around the feminine, the earth, my female body, my feminine wisdom. I don't take advice from men and I have never been happier. These men are dead inside and we're alive. First and foremost, I would like to thank all of the incels and loser men who drove all of the attraction to my page in the last few days. Freaking out about my video, about posting photos of abusers who knew my little seven second clip would warrant so much vitriolic hate. This idea that conventionally attractive women are more likely to be abused is rooted in just patriarchy misogyny. It's disgusting. And to all of the women replying to the comments, absolutely bashing the men, I want you to know that's what they want. They're desperate for attention. They're lonely. They want you to address them and speak to them because they feel nothing. They have no worth. So ladies, while I love you, just don't even give it the time of day. I gave up politely listening to white men who believe that they should have the floor because of their age or their gender. I gave that up a long time ago. Yes, I am contributing to the declining birth rate. Great. But you want to know what else? I'm doing? Whatever I want. I heard a woman on this app say that a woman's real power isn't in her beauty, but in withholding that beauty from unworthy men. So if you see me on the Internet looking ragged, either mind your business or join the resistance in the political climate we have right now. Do not have children. Do not have children. If you are planning on having children, I would highly consider you severely changing your mind. I have a child and having a child right now, that is a baby is the scariest shit in my life right now. I can't just think about that. I have to think about how am I going to survive so that I can make sure my child survives. I am not. Stop focusing on getting small and skinny and being a hundred pounds because you're not going to be able to protect yourself. Get healthy, but get strong. Get muscular. Muscle is armor. The hate culture with men against women is only. It's only perpetuating even more. There's going to be more violence against women, more grapes, more abuse in households. Stop thinking of your dream wedding. One of my current favorite forms of microfeminism is when I walk down the street past a couple, a man and a woman. I do not make eye contact with or say hello to the man. I only greet the woman. I hate to break it to all these dudes jerking off to the idea of, like a real life handmaid's tale, but it's not gonna happen. Have you seen women in 2025? We'd rather die. We're not just gonna go quietly into submissive roles. I truly believe that being your natural self, not changing your hair, not putting a ton of makeup on f the patriarchy. So for me, being my natural self is the ultimate expression of off. I'm not excusing the violence, certainly not mass murder, certainly not of children. But how can we not even talk about what has happened to men over the past 20 years that has brought them to the point where so many of them feel like there is no place for them in society, that they are loathed at best, invisible at worst. And if we don't understand them, if we don't see them, if we don't know how to reach them, how can we possibly stop them? Oh, don't worry. We'll just take away the guns. That'll solve the problem. We never had to confront what psych meds might have done to potential mass shooters. We weren't even allowed to bring it up. Lest we offend those afflicted with mental illness. At least now under trump, we have RFK Jr. To take a look finally at whether or not these drugs had any impact on mass shootings. We're still trying to get a lot of answers to a ton of questions, but the one thing is clear, you are dealing with a. A person who's trans that was transitioning. Are you going to be examining at all some of the drugs that are used in order to make that transition happening, to see if it plays a role? Because we also know there was a trans shooter in the Tennessee situation. We are doing those kind of studies now at nih. We're launching studies on the potential contribution of some of the SSRI drugs and some of the other psych psychiatric drugs that might be contributing to violence. You know, many of them on there have black box, black box warnings that warn of suicidal ideation and homicidal ideation. So we need, we can't exclude those as a culprit and those are the kind of studies that we're doing. But what I know now is we have to do the other thing we have to pivot to protecting children, schools, churches, parks, restaurants. We must ensure buildings are shooter proof, just as we make sure they are earthquake proof. Debating about guns for 30 more years isn't going to do anything. And then we have to have a serious conversation about the deeper issues at play, not just with the most recent shooting, but with all mass shootings. How is it that they become celebrities? Why do men feel left behind? Why do they think they need something like this to be valued? Why did this shooter and so many others of late feel they had to transition or identify as something other than a man to be seen and valued? And what can we do as a society to help them? We live in a take no prisoners new world of algorithms and isolation. It will likely disrupt our species in ways we can't even fathom. But one thing I know for sure is that to make the conversation only about guns is to be unprepared for everything that's coming next. Thank you for listening to my podcast sashastone.com and thanks for all of your letters and your emails and responding to me on X and all of your contributions. They really help. And your tips, I so appreciate it. I am still in the midst of taking care of my mom who has been in the hospital the last few days. But I will be picking her up and taking her home tomorrow. It is touch and go. It's kind of rough, it's kind of hard to keep everything all together, but we make do. I have another piece coming up about the Democrats which I hope to post by the weekend. Otherwise have yourself a nice one and stay safe out there. And remember to thine own self be true. Next song is about a little boy who gets fed up with what he's doing and just wishes he could get away from it and really can't. It's of kind called Levon. Levon bears his war wound like a crown Called this child Jesus cause he likes the name and sends him to the finest school in town. Levon Levon lacks his money he makes life the same Spends his days counting in the garage by the motorway he was born a pop into a pawn On a Christmas day when the New York Times said God is dead and the world begun oh, I'm fantastic have some today and I shall believe on and I shall be a good man and the child that I leave on and so that's where my family plan and a sham I live on and shall be a gut man he shall be Leavon Levon Searle's cartoon balloons in town despite business thrives Jesus blows up balloons all day Sister on the porch swing watching them fly and Jesus he wants to go to Venus Leave leave on Far behind Take a balloon and call their name While leave on Levi slowly dies he was born a pop into a pawn On a Christmas day when the New York Times said God is dead and the world begun Rapidop today and he shall believe on and it shall be a good man and it shall be Levon and tradition with a family plan and it shall be leave on and it shall be a good man he shall believe on and it shall believe on and it shall be a good man and it shall be a leave on and protect your family plan and it shall be leave on and it shall be a good man he shall be leaving Sa he stop believing he shall be leaving he shall believe on.