First Person: Why One Progressive Public Defender Hoped for an N.R.A. Victory

Interesting Times with Ross Douthat

New York Times Opinion

New York Times, Journalism, News, Society & Culture, Ross Douthat

4.0 • 7.2K Ratings

🗓️ 13 July 2022

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today we're bringing you an episode of another Times Opinion show, First Person. Hours after this episode was released, the Supreme Court overturned New York State’s gun-permitting system — a decision with major implications for the regulation of guns outside the home. The case was, unsurprisingly, backed by the National Rifle Association. But it also found supporters in typically liberal public defenders, like Sharone Mitchell Jr. Mitchell is the public defender for Cook County, which includes Chicago, a city with some of the strictest gun laws in the country. Growing up on the South Side, Mitchell was raised to believe that guns are dangerous and harmful, a view that was reinforced by his experiences as a public defender and gun control advocate. But those experiences have also led him to believe that gun-permitting laws are harmful, as he explains to Lulu Garcia-Navarro in this episode.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Jane.
0:08.4	This week, I'm bringing you the latest episode of the New York Times Opinion Show first
0:12.2	person.
0:13.4	It's about gun control, and unfortunately, it's very timely, given the recent shooting
0:18.1	in Highland Park, Illinois.
0:20.5	Since this episode first aired, President Biden has signed into law the first major
0:24.5	gun safety legislation passed by Congress in nearly 30 years, and the Supreme Court has
0:29.1	struck down a New York state law that puts strict limits on carrying guns outside
0:32.6	the home.
0:33.6	I'll be back next week with a new episode of the argument.
0:36.8	In the meantime, subscribe to first person in your podcast app, and here's how to do
0:40.9	Lulugar, Sia Navarro.
0:50.1	Gun violence in America is near an all-time high, with a series of recent high-profile attacks
0:56.3	in places like Uvalde, Texas, and a constant barrage of killings on the streets of major
1:01.5	American cities.
1:03.9	In response, Congress is discussing a bipartisan plan to strengthen gun safety laws, but the
1:09.9	Supreme Court might be headed in the opposite direction.
1:13.5	They're expected to rule any day now in a case that could loosen gun restrictions, limiting
1:18.6	the ability of states to decide who can and can't carry a gun outside the home.
1:25.1	That decision could dramatically expand the scope of the Second Amendment.
1:30.4	Unsurprisingly, the NRA is backing the case, but surprisingly, they have found some unlikely
1:36.8	allies, typically liberal public defenders in several large cities across the country.
	...

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