Diane Rehm Show: America’s Tolerance for Gun Violence

Hot on the heels of Friday’s appearance (if one can actually “appear” on radio) on CBC’s Q, I was on NPR’s Diane Rehm Show today for a panel discussion of “America’s tolerance for gun violence.”

The panel included psychiatry professor Dr. Liza Gold, British criminologist Peter Squires, and Wall Street Journal reporter Devlin Barrett. It’s worth a listen. Dr. Gold in particular makes the point I made on Q Friday, that mental illness is a red herring, but of course makes it from a position of much greater authority.

CBC Q: How did gun culture get this far?

With the release of Arms still two weeks out (September 15), I did a quick interview for CBC radio’s Q this morning, the key question being whether the on-air murders of WDBJ7 journalists Alison Parker and Adam Ward would represent a tipping point in the American gun control debate. You can catch that interview here.

As horrifying as these murders were, my answer is no — the same answer I gave following the Sandy Hook massacre. The gun culture is simply too entrenched. In this culture war, our positions are largely immovable. Things will get worse.