When 20 children died in a hail of gunfire in Sandy Hook, Connecticut there was an outpouring of global grief, a sense of national shame and a growing sense that this was an atrocity that would dramatically change minds and perhaps America's gun-toting ways.
Just a few months on those hopes and the political will to reform gun-laws receded fast. For one big reason: The NRA.
When deadly mass shootings happen, Americans don't put down their guns, they race to the store to buy more, such is the success of the National Rifle Association's spin, rhetoric and influence. How do they do it?
This Foreign Correspondent story was originally broadcast as “Inside the NRA” on 26 February 2013. In the decade since, there have been more than 80 ‘mass shootings’ across the United States.
Chapters:
00:00 – Intro: A Mother’s Plea
03:48 – Sandy Hook Was Different
05:18 – A Formidable Opponent: The NRA and David Keene
07:33 – “We Take it Personal, It’s Against Us”
09:04 – Richard Feldman
10:42 – Debra Maggart and Obama, the “Anti-Gun Duo”
13:10 – We Like Kids More Than We Like Guns
15:34 – Wayne LaPierre Said No
16:37 – Goal to Sell More Guns: Josh Sugarmann
18:15 – Gabby Giffords: “Americans are counting on you”
19:21 – Mayors Against Illegal Guns
19: 51 – The NRA Blames Everything but Guns
22:02 – Gun Owners Galore
23:24 – “Politically Impossible”
For more information visit Foreign Correspondent’s website:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-02-26/inside-the-nra/4541548
https://www.abc.net.au/news/programs/foreign
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