President Bill Clinton: Reinstate the Assault Weapons Ban Now

Last week was another week marked by multiple mass shootings in America, including attacks in Houston, Southern California, and a particularly heinous, racially-motivated massacre in Buffalo, N.Y. in which 10 people were killed in a supermarket—the deadliest mass shooting in the United States so far this year.

In the wake of these tragedies, Americans have a responsibility to denounce domestic terrorism and stand up to those who promote the racist ideology that motivated the Buffalo shooter.

But elected officials, especially, must go beyond offering thoughts and prayers. Mass shootings keep happening, on a near-weekly basis, and the one thing we know can make them less frequent and less deadly has not been done: namely, reinstating the assault weapons ban and the limit on high-capacity magazines that were in effect from 1994 to 2004.

For this episode of Why Am I Telling You This?, we revisit commentary from President Clinton (originally published in TIME in the wake of two mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio on the same weekend in the summer of 2019) calling on Congress to institute universal—and more thorough—background checks, and reinstate the ammunition limit and ban on assault weapons—sensible measures that worked before, and can work again.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Last weekend, thirty one people were murdered dozens more injured
in two mad shootings just hours apart in El Paso,
Texas and Dayton, Ohio. The death though may still grow.
The shooters killed the young and the old, men and women.
In El Paso, the white nationalist shooters intent was to
claim as many Latino lives as possible. In both cities,

(00:24):
the victims had their tomorrows taken or their futures forever
altered a domestic terrorists as they were simply shopping or
enjoying an evening out everyday activities we all expect to
pursue in safety, and in both cases, the gunmen used
military style assault weapons that were purchased legally. America is

(00:44):
reacting as we've come to expect in the wake of
mass shootings. Thoughts and prayers are offered as they should be.
Communities come together as they should in vigils to remember
those lost and injured, and to remind ourselves that we
shouldn't keep letting this happen. Elected a shill speak about
the need for change, but the tragedies do keep happening. Well.
The one thing we know that can reduce the number

(01:07):
and the death tolls of mass shootings has not been
done reinstituting the ban on assault weapons and the limits
on high capacity magazines that were in effect from until
two thousand and four. Assault weapons are designed to infect
maximum harm in a short period of time. I studied
by Every Town for Gun's Safety found that shootings where

(01:28):
assault weapons were used resulted in a hundred and fifty
five more people shot and forty seven percent more people
killed than gun incidents with other types of weapons. It
should come as no surprise that when we see high
death and injury totals from Sandy Hook to Las Vegas
to park Land, to help Passo to Dayton, the killers
have used these weapons. The Dayton killers shot forty one

(01:52):
bullets in thirty seconds before the police got him. He
killed nine people and wounded fourteen others, almost one victim second.
I worked hard to pass and was proud to sign
the ban on these weapons of war and the law,
and the results were clear. Mass shooting fatalities declined while
they were in effect and have risen sharply since they
were allowed the lapse. For too long, America has allowed

(02:15):
a determined wealth and nance group to pretend to grieve
with us, while spreading paranoia among those who responsibly use
guns for hunting, sports, shooting, and self protection. For too long,
the gun lobby and their elected allies as stalled, deflected,
and changed the conversation until the pressure passes and they
can get back to business as usual, heedless of the

(02:36):
killings still yet to come. It pains me to see
people in the culture I grew up in buy into
the argument that banning weapons of war threatened the Second
Amendment and their way of life. Assault weapons man shows
deaths from mass shooting fell, while the number of hunting
licenses actually increased. No one has to give up their

(02:57):
culture to save lives of innocent people, so many of
them very very young. The gun lobby often invokes the
Democratic losses in the midterm elections after passing the assault
weapons ban and the Brady background Check Bill to try
to scare lawmakers of both parties into maintaining the status quo.
Those who lost their seats in that election did cast

(03:18):
brave votes to make our country safer and give our
children a chance to grow up and live their dreams.
Two thousand and eighteen elections, thanks to the pass and
activism of citizens groups across the country proved that it's
a different world now Today. Members of Congress will be
supported if they reinstate the assault weapons and large ammunition
magazine bands, and if the Senate passes the universal background

(03:40):
check law already passed by the House of Representatives. Of course,
no single action can completely in mass shoutings and the
wave of gun violence that plagues communities all across America.
We all have to stand against, not inflame, the racial, religious,
and gender based bigotries that often drive the delusions of
mass killers. The red Flag law is a good idea. Also,

(04:02):
we can and should do more to prevent, treat, and
manage mental illness. But the incidents of mental illness in
America is similar to that of other wealthy nations, yet
we have far more deadly mass shootings. What's different is
the sheer number of guns per capita and the widespread
accessibility of weapons of war. We know reinstating the assault

(04:23):
weapons ban and the ammunition limit and making improved background
checks universal will help. A recent RAND study found that
policies that could bring about a drop in gun deaths
as small as one per cent would translate to fifteen
hundred fewer deaths in the us in a decade, and
we can do better than that. We've talked, tweeted, and
delayed long enough. This is about who we are as

(04:46):
a country, what America will look like ears from now,
and whether our children and grandchildren will be safer and
freer to grow up. I've always believed in the inherent
goodness of people. I still do as fed of my life,
trying to advance the idea that our common humanity matters
more than our interesting differences, and working for a world

(05:06):
in which we're coming together, not being torn apart. We
can take a big step forward that world by keeping
a thought weapons out of the hands of those who
wish to destroy it. Why am I telling you? This

(05:35):
is a production of our Heart Radio, the Clinton Foundation
and at Will Medium. Our executive producers are Craigmanessian and
Will Manati. Our production team includes Jamison Katsufas, Tom Galton,
Sara Horowitz, and Jake Young, with production support from Liz
Rafferee and Josh Fornham. Original music by What White. Special

(05:56):
thanks to John Sykes, John Davidson on Hell, Orina Aganstley,
Kevin thurm Oscar Flores, and all our dedicated staff and partners.
At the Clinton Foundation. Hi, this is Bill Clinton. I
hope you're enjoying. Why am I telling you this? I
started the Clinton Foundation on the belief that everyone deserves

(06:18):
a chance to succeed, Everyone has a responsibility to act,
and we all do better when we work together. In
the more than twenty years since the Foundation first opened
its doors in Harlem, we've brought people together across traditional
divides to address some of the most complex and pressing
challenges of our time. The need for cooperation has never

(06:41):
been more urgent than it is now. The COVID nineteen
pandemic has ripped the cover off long standing and equities
and vulnerabilities across our global community and here at home.
The existential threat of climate change grows every day and
all around the world, the forces of division are tugging
at the fabrary of our common humanity. That's why this

(07:03):
year we're relaunching the Clinton Global Initiatives Annual Meeting in
New York in September, bringing together heads of state and
other government officials, leaders of NGOs and philanthropic organizations, prominent
voices and business, labor and finance and youth leaders, and
grassroots activists to drive progress on inclusive economic growth and recovery,

(07:25):
climate resilience, and health equity. While the challenges we face
our steep, our work has always been about what we
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(07:46):
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