This is Words Matter with Norm Ornstein.

What's the difference?

The differences access to these guns and especially to these AR-15s.

And Dr. Kavita Patel.

What more do we need to do to argue that we need a National Institute on Gun Violence?

Hello and welcome to the Relanche of Words Matter.

Each week Norm Ornstein and I will talk about the issues facing our country as we head into the midterms and what our leaders are saying and doing about them.

We hope you like the show and we'd love to hear your feedback as we continue to shape it moving forward.

Do you have any comments? Feel free to send us an email at podcasts at the DSRnetwork.com.

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Now on with the show.

So today we're going to be talking about guns and I was struck as we have a podcast on Words Matter going back to the second amendment which says a well-regulated militia being necessary for the security of a free state at the beginning.

But too many people have ignored those words. And of course we've had this mass shooting epidemic plaguing the country even since you've all day.

We have had almost a dozen mass shootings just in that recurreative time.

Last week President Biden spoke to the country about the epidemic of mass shootings plaguing us.

In the speech he highlighted how intractable the issue has been in Washington.

After Columbine, after Sandy Hook, after Charles and after Orlando, after Las Vegas, after Parkland, nothing has been done.

This time that can't be true. This time we must actually do something.

So Cavita, Joe Biden we know has been focused on this issue for a long time. We also know that when we had a ban on assault weapons that we did not have this kind of epidemic of mass shootings and that it has soared since the ban basically died because in the George W Bush administration.

Ten years on in 2004 they refused to continue it. There were 400,000 assault style weapons, the AR-15 being now the core example. Back at that point now there are 20 million in the United States.

And we know that we have a continuing problem getting the focus for any length of time. Every time we have one of these horrible mass shootings that involves children especially there is a national wave of discussed and horror and a desire to do something.

And then in part because Republicans and Democrats who are gun advocates stall and wait until the attention span of the public moves on to something else. Nothing happens. Is this time going to be different?

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