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The Mother Jones Podcast

Trump, Guns, and 2020: One Hunting Family Tackles America's Biggest Debates

The Mother Jones Podcast

Mother Jones

Scoops, Investigations, News, Journalism, Elections, Politics

4.5 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 14 October 2020

⏱️ 31 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week’s presidential debate may be canceled, but debates are still roiling around kitchen tables, on social media, and in family iMessage groups. It’s 2020 and opportunities for a fight are everywhere: Maybe you’re having a hard time convincing your parents to take masks seriously; or you and that cousin who is deep into conspiracy theories spread on YouTube are battling on Facebook about the election; or your partner or spouse is being a bit nutty about quarantine restrictions—too rigid or too relaxed.

On today’s show, Mother Jones Podcast host Jamilah King talks to a father and two of his adult sons about one of America’s most fraught cultural battles: gun control. John Neal, 66, and his two sons Fisher, 36, and Tyler, 33, are all gun owners and avid hunters. But over the years, their views about gun control have evolved and, in some cases, diverged. The complexities of their views around guns are captured in One Shot One Kill​, a new documentary film directed by Nancy Schwartzman that follows the three men as they embark on a deer hunting trip in rural Tennessee, a deeply held family tradition that connects the Neal family to the beauty of the land and the tradition of hunting. The Neals joined the Mother Jones Podcast team to talk about the film, and how some of the biggest issues of 2020 are playing out in just one conservative-leaning family. They get into the 2020 presidential election, the personal costs of partisanship if you break away from the tribe, the fight for the Supreme Court, the future of the National Rifle Association, and how to fight the scourge of vigilantism—all packed into a lively, civil, and quite personal discussion about gun control. We didn’t want you to miss this chance to eavesdrop on a conversation that’s taking place inside a gun-loving family.

By capturing this intimate, cross-generational conversation, One Shot One Kill, produced by Chicken & Egg Pictures and co-presented by Mother Jones, portrays some of the nuance that can get lost in the national debate, as the men discuss which restrictions they support, and which bring them into conflict with their identities as sportsmen, environmental stewards, and, ultimately, with each other. Catch it at motherjones.com.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

You know, I think teaching the boys hunting was just a natural part of our lives.

0:11.2

They just took it like ducks to water.

0:15.2

That's John Neal on a hunting trip with his sons, Fisher and Tyler. This is the Mother Jones podcast. I'm Jimmy La King in Chicago.

0:27.0

This is the Mother Jones Podcast. I'm Jimmy King in Chicago.

0:33.0

On today's show, on today's show,

0:37.0

on today's show, what's your family fighting about?

0:44.0

2020 is full of conflict, it seems, even for families that get along.

0:49.5

Maybe you're having a hard time convincing your parents to take masks seriously.

0:54.0

Or you're fighting on Facebook about the election with that cousin who's deep into

0:58.6

conspiracy theories they found on YouTube.

1:01.6

This week's presidential debate is cancelled, but lots of debates

1:04.8

are still happening around kitchen tables on social media and family group chats.

1:10.0

Today, how some of the biggest issues of 2020 are playing out in one family.

1:17.0

Well I'm a lifelong Republican.

1:19.0

Trump troubles me.

1:21.0

Recent events have really shaped my point of view as we take a look at one of the biggest

1:26.2

cultural issues in America, guns.

1:29.2

Social media seems to have the power to motivate people to take these kinds of vigilante actions.

1:35.0

Stick around.

1:37.0

Is this true for you? Oftentimes the most heated arguments happen with the people

1:48.3

you love the most about the things you care about the most. John Neal and his sons Fisher Neil and Tyler Neil are all avid hunters and gun owners.

1:58.0

Fisher and Tyler grew up going on hunting trips with their dad in Knoxville, Tennessee.

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