Hi, I'm Mormon-Alni. We're talking gun control today on this first version of To the Point as a podcast only.

Welcome to all of our current podcast listeners and to those who've come to podcasting after hearing To the Point on the radio.

It's a new adventure for me after 25 years in TV news and 25 in public radio.

It's a chance to bring some experience and perspective to bear on current issues.

Gun control is a great place to start.

I covered my first gun control story 50 years ago in 1967.

I was part of a crowd of reporters and camera crews on the steps of the state capital in Sacramento.

We were waiting for newly elected Governor Ronald Reagan to have lunch with school kids outside on the lawn.

All of a sudden, we were covering a very different story.

On the street in front of us, about 30 people got out of cars carrying guns, shotguns,

and rifles and pistols.

We backed up in front of them as they came up the Capitol stairs and into the State Assembly

chamber.

Members of both parties dived under their seats.

But this wasn't a war party, it was the Black Panther Party, including Huey Newton and

Bobby Seal.

And they were there to protest

a proposed ban on carrying loaded guns in public.

The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense calls upon the American people in general, and

the black people in particular to take careful note of the racist California legislature,

which is now considering legislation aimed at keeping the black people disarmed.

Wait, I mean, I was under arrest. Am I under arrest?

...