On Monday's Access Utah we'll conclude our series on Mass Shootings in America with a discussion about guns. President Obama said recently that America is facing a "gun violence epidemic" and that "we are the only advanced country on Earth that sees this kind of mass violence erupt with this kind of frequency. It doesn't happen in other advanced countries. It's not even close." The president announced that he is implementing several gun control measures by executive action.
A recent UtahPolicy.com survey finds that 76% of Utahns support one of those measures: expanding background checks for gun purchases over the internet or at gun shows. At the same time, an Associated Press review found that while the measures announced by the president are seen as crucial to stemming gun suicides - the cause of two-thirds of gun deaths - by blocking immediate access to weapons, they would have had no impact in keeping weapons from the hands of suspects in several of the deadliest recent mass shootings.
While most agree that America has a problem with violence--when it comes to guns, we seem to talk past each other. We'll ask our guests if they think any agreement or collective action on guns is likely or possible.
We'll hear from Liz Peek, columnist for The Fiscal Times; William Rosen, Counsel for Everytown for Gun Safety<http://everytown.org/>; Penny Okamoto, Executive Director of Ceasefire Oregon; and filmmaker Thomas Wood, who wrote recently in Medium that "the issue is not guns: the issue is people and their identity with guns." He says we need to change how we talk to each other on this issue.
