Shooting in Denver - Jeff fard

backbone camp posted over at the center for american progress is blocked think progress of one of the press believe weapons used by the issue here i'm reluctant even put his name out there you know these people his in his name and face rollover it's what they want and uh... i would not put his face if i on the website that did news and america the uh... using his name frankly but you know that one of principle weapons used by this guy in the referred dark knight shooting uh... we see air fifteen rifle it would have been illegal if the violent and crime control and law enforcement act of nineteen ninety four which was passed using reconciliations that expired at the entertainers if it had been renewed now there is the assault weapons ban also the clerk he had at with that i elation aloft pretty pretty amazing stuff uh... in the meantime brother jeff jeff art is with us take a brother jeff writer historian and community organizer anti-gun actress brother jeff dot com is website uh... project welcome the program tom thanks for having me thanks for joining us tell us about yourself the work that you're doing there in the denver area well um... around ninety five i created a cultural status call brother just cultural center in its in northeast ima five points and it was in direct uh... response to a lot of gangs drugs and violence that was happening in the community and we have sought a lot of gun violence a lot of youth violence in we've created a hump and organization and an institution to address that through education early truck childhood education unemployment in et cetera so we've been involved with this issue of of gun violence for quite some time what are your thoughts on what happened last night well you know i'm i also have a date uh... community newspapers call the five points news and the tragedy is is that colorado in in this area has been going through a lot recently we've just gone through the uh... killing of a police officer at a jazz festival and then i woke up at around five this morning to hear that you know individuals that just showed up to the movie theater it's anticipating that show uh... where they thought were faced with a massacre so i was in disbelief and it's kind of like the way in the sales come come out promote from beneath you and then you just are hearing from everyone calling in this scene if their loved ones are writing you know our state right now is in the state of disbelief and i just cannot come say enough to the families in terms of condolences and you know a lot of prayers are going out right now tom uh... it jeff our brother jeff do you have any sense about whether this finally i mean columbine happening colorado now this uh... colorado is a state that uh... historically has not been uh... yeah release a majority of coloradans have not been fans of things like the assault weapon ban do you think that there might be some state legislation comes out well i think you know um... there's something about uh... power structure that seems to bring this stuff to the forefront make us take a good hard look at it columbine is a perfect example it but you violence in in guns and at the forefront took it to the congressional level and let me tell you tom i woke up at like i said five in the morning i had worked i the the the place where the theater was only about two minutes away from my home so i went over there to see what was going on and solve all of the uh... police in everything being blocked off but also went over to am the gateway high school which was the staging area for those people who were looking for a loved ones because it was just total chaos people trying to find missing loved ones and you know i i can only imagine the uh... the the despair that was happening in the theater because if you could listen to the sounds that were coming out of the school the horror of the the trauma you know the tears this shall be and uh... the total despair it was a scene that i don't even think that the movie that they were going to see cover eiffel so do you think that there will be what he is there an appropriate legal response to this well you know right now are salazar city in our state is going through that process it's kind of like disbelief uh... indian they're going to move into what needs to happen next i'd believe that there's going to be a a larger national discussion as you know the president will be coming back to town uh... people are going to be wrestling with why did this happen and they're going to look at the profile of this uh... the the the the one that was arrested nego say well you know what educated uh... ph d uh... seeking individual could have been anyone of us and so now we can't just limited to some crazed a fringe group we have to take that uh... deeper look at what's happening around guns these laws this access they're going to start talking about where he got the guns where they lay dole where you got the bullet proof vest all the stuff that is so readily accessible people are going to say while why is this all readily accessible and what's the need for a bulletproof vest was the need for you assault weapons accelerant and i believe it's going to bring this discussion right to the forefront once again and it's going to be handled eventually or it's going to continue to happen yeah why can tell you where you get the guns you bought them at the uh... bass pro shop and gander mountain guns legally and one of them being are fifteen apparently had a high capacity quip which would have been banned by the nineteen ninety-four legislation which experiment two thousand for star renewed by the bush administration this this to me i i would think that if nothing else this is an opportunity for people to say okay i know for ready uh... you know we'd yet at the people wanna have a handgun to protect themselves you know in their homer to carry in their purse around in their car something like that but who needs an air fifteen with a twenty five clip around clip and that's the tragedy that's that's that's what we want to bring to the forefront say you know what of course protect yourself but if you could listen to uh... the commentary that's happening in everyone's response or many responses are i'm going to get my concealed carry permit i'm going to rearm myself i'm going to get more in bigger guns i'm going to make sure that i'm safe when i go you know to the gas station wanna make sure that i would say for michael to the movie theater i don't know if more and more guns as the response i think we need to look at it deeper um systemic approach to why is this type of behavior seeming to continue to bring itself to the forefront and hit others there's a an enormous amount of evidence that on equal society societies where the richer richer the poor are poor of the middle class gets smaller which uh... d_n_c_ singaporean you care the most unequal societies on earth right now at least among the major developed countries uh... have much higher rates of this kind this exact kind of thing we we have mass murders year on average in the united states and study countries that are more equal that they don't canada at the holland if if philip and even though there's a horrible one in norway that it's like the only one in like fifteen years and it's a they're very very rare in countries that have less equality do you see other societal factors in addition to that that we should be addressing well you know what i mean it would have been eat within easy for me to kind of wrap my mind around is headed say if it was the that power upon but and so-called urban you know um... he was mysterio typical missing man in the house in all of these different things but when you talk of these type of situations at the white stallion with a gas mask and you know it's firing in throwing out smoke bombs in doing all the things that she was to be in some kind of attack action movie or something that is so far beyond what anybody can imagine i don't even know how to wrap my mind around their yeah this is this is essentially a military assault and and i by fighting credible they they're the guys in the right there are gone well it's just probes are very fair brady again the theater aragon everywhere in finding out both fly all over the place but now i would they have to have a gun they would've had to have a gas mask is a go through these these jury s cantors canisters and waited for them to explore the foresters shouldn't and so nobody can even see what was going on uh... maybe he did that with thinking that somebody in the theatre had a gun and so bottom line is not you know he if you want extend that n_r_a_ logic everybody they don't want from now on when you go out don't don't just pack you're gone where gas mask carrier nightline get beijing goggles and wear a flack jacket that's that's the new america this is insane bridesburg brother jeff thanks for being with us brother jeff back on the website appreciate your dropping by thank you tom thank you sir