A Good Guy with a Gun

Scene on Radio S4E1: Rich Man’s Revolt

Long Shadow - The Right to Bear AR-15s

<p>After a devastating, now largely forgotten, mass-shooting prompted lawmakers to take aim at assault weapons in the 1990s, their ban backfired — and caused gun sales to explode.</p>

The Right to Bear AR-15s

A note for listeners, this episode contains descriptions of gun violence.

In October 1997, one time NRA lobbyist Richard Feldman found himself in an unlikely position.

He was at a ceremony honoring that year's top police officers in the White House Rose Garden.

Shaking hands with President Bill Clinton.

The American Shooting Sports Council is pleased to join you, Mr President, and these esteemed police

They were announcing a new initiative, trigger locks for guns, intended to protect children from accidental death or injury.

We believe devices which enhance safe storage can be useful in continuing to reduce child accidents.

President Clinton had made gun regulation a key component of his

1992 presidential campaign and a top priority during his years in office.

And he wasn't exactly a friend of the NRA.

As is well known, this administration and the gun industry

from time to time have stood on different sides of various issues.

But he saw this policy as a rare opportunity to find common ground with gun manufacturers

and the NRA, which had frequently touted its national gun safety program for elementary school kids,

a campaign that featured a cartoonish mascot named Eddie Eagle.

The April 1999 massacre at Columbine High School hurtled the United States into an era of mass shootings. Now, a quarter century later, the horrors of that day have become an almost regular facet of American life, and gun violence a record-smashing epidemic. Clad in both camouflage and Kevlar, 21st-century America is a bastion of freedom where workplaces require active shooter protocols, schools run lockdown drills, and the Second Amendment has become a religion unto itself.Guns are a uniquely American problem, but the U.S. wasn’t always like this. LONG SHADOW: IN GUNS WE TRUST explores the story of the people — some names you'll know, some you won't — who changed the way America relates to guns, for better or worse. This season, host Garrett Graff, in collaboration with The Trace, chronicles how firearms moved from being an ordinary part of the background of rural life to a menacing element of modern American life.Crackling with rich archival tape and riveting eyewitness and expert interviews, this narrative podcast examines threads of history that are vitally relevant to our current political climate. In LONG SHADOW’s first season, Graff, a Pulitzer-finalist and a best-selling author and historian, examined the lingering questions of 9/11, the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil. Season two chronicled how bloody tragedies at the hands of federal agents led to the rise of American far-right extremism and ultimately the January 6 insurrection. Season three will help listeners understand how simply carrying firearms has become its own act of defiance, and how a very specific, carefully manufactured fear has driven explosive demand for guns across America. How did we get here? Subscribe and listen to LONG SHADOW to find out.LONG SHADOW: IN GUNS WE TRUST is produced by <a href="https://www.longlead.com">Long Lead</a> and <a href="https://www.campsidemedia.com">Campside Media</a> in collaboration with <a href="https://www.thetrace.org">The Trace</a>, and is distributed by <a href="https://www.prx.org">PRX</a>.

0:00.0	A note for listeners, this episode contains descriptions of gun violence.
0:04.8	Please take care while you listen.
0:06.8	In October 1997, one time NRA lobbyist Richard Feldman found himself in an unlikely position.
0:18.0	He was at a ceremony honoring that year's top police officers in the White House Rose Garden.
0:24.8	Shaking hands with President Bill Clinton.
0:28.0	Good morning.
0:29.4	The American Shooting Sports Council is pleased to join you, Mr President, and these esteemed police
0:36.2	heroes being honored here today.
0:39.2	They were announcing a new initiative, trigger locks for guns, intended to protect children from accidental death or injury.
0:48.8	We believe devices which enhance safe storage can be useful in continuing to reduce child accidents.
0:58.0	It was an unusual alliance.
1:01.0	President Clinton had made gun regulation a key component of his
1:04.8	1992 presidential campaign and a top priority during his years in office.
1:10.4	And he wasn't exactly a friend of the NRA.
1:14.0	As is well known, this administration and the gun industry
1:18.0	from time to time have stood on different sides of various issues.
1:22.0	But he saw this policy as a rare opportunity to find common ground with gun manufacturers
1:28.0	and the NRA, which had frequently touted its national gun safety program for elementary school kids,
1:35.0	a campaign that featured a cartoonish mascot named Eddie Eagle.
1:40.0	If you see a gun, stop, don't touch.
1:44.7	I'm Eddie Eagle, and I like you so much.
1:47.2	Please be safe.
	...

The Right to Bear AR-15s

Long Shadow

Long Lead & PRX & The Trace & Campside Media

Summary

Audio player

Transcript