Award-winning columnist, writer, speaker and editor
When the Supreme Court struck down New York’s concealed carry law last year, it set a precedent that gun control laws should be judged against “historical tradition.” But judged against actual American history, it’s the on-going repeal of gun control laws that’s an anomaly.
Guest: Robert J Spitzer, professor emeritus at SUNY Cortland, author of The Gun Dilemma.
Does this mean Democrats don’t have to be afraid anymore?
You know what I mean. Though Democratic politicians and the party itself stand for certain values and policies, sometimes, when they promote and defend them in the public square, well, they do it in a whisper. This is despite the popularity of many of these views, and despite the fact that the folks they are trying to persuade with cautious hedging were never going to vote for them in the first place.
It’s a problem Republicans traditionally have not had. No matter how extreme or unpopular the opinion, you have known exactly where they stand. Hit them with truth or logic, science or math, and you could bet they would double down. And it has worked; bluster and browbeating have the ability to drown out most everything else.
All that may be changing.
We have a lot to talk about at the Reporters’ Roundtable as we examine the top stories of the week. We have another building explosion in Montgomery County. Former President Trump runs again. Democrats keep control of The Senate… but Republicans have control of The House. The University of Virginia mourns the deadly shooting of members of its football team. HBCU bomb threats and the juvenile suspect and a Black man beaten by sheriff’s deputies in a Georgia jail.
Why do I know that Highland Park, Ill., was the backdrop for “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” a 1986 John Hughes movie starring a young Matthew Broderick as a cheeky teenage suburbanite who misbehaves? It’s because so many articles recounting the horrific Fourth of July shooting at the town’s annual holiday parade mentioned it.
The reference was used as an emblematic totem, shorthand that tracked the comments sprinkled through the articles and tweets launched that day: “probably the last place we would expect this” or “just inconceivable in a community like Highland Park.”
I mourned along with the country at the heartbreaking details, the child left without parents, the grandfather in an extended family, now left without its patriarch, the mother hit as she ran with the daughter who saw her go down but who kept running to save her own life.
Will this country ever be rid of the senseless gun violence that stains a quintessential Independence Day celebration, with marching bands, floats and children toted in strollers and wagons? Will there ever be a consensus that pushes politicians to change laws that allowed a 21-year-old suspect to obtain authorization to purchase weapons at an even younger age, with a co-sign by dad, even after incidents that drew law enforcement to the home?
Apparently not until America decides enough is enough and makes elected leaders pay a political price, which has not yet happened.
But while I mourned, I also realized, and not for the first time, that Americans mark tragedies in different ways, with wide-ranging levels of empathy, that deeply felt emotion that allows you to look into the faces of those whose lives are forever changed by violence and feel the same pain, maybe because those people remind you of you.
One tragedy replaces another in the headlines—that’s just how things go.
The Texas state Legislature isn’t scheduled to convene until January 2023, when the shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde will no longer be fresh in people’s minds, and the momentum for changing Texas’ gun laws will be long gone. One state senator, however, won’t accept that.
Guest: Roland Gutierrez, Democratic Texas state Senator for District 19, which includes Uvalde.
COVID-19 vaccines are now available in Charlotte for children 6 months to 5 years old for the first time. We’ll talk about where you can get them.
This week marks two years since a shooting on Beatties Ford Road, with still very few answers.
NASCAR Hall of Famer and founder of Charlotte Motor Speedway Bruton Smith died this week at the age of 95. We’ll talk about his long and sometimes controversial life in motorsports.
At this week’s City Council meeting, south Charlotte residents spoke out about a plan for developveloping apartments in their neighborhood.
The NBA draft starts Thursday. What are the Hornets’ prospects? We’ll get a rundown on that and what the organization plans to do after their anticipated new head coach backed out of the job.
And North Carolina sees its first documented case of monkeypox.
Mike Collins and our roundtable of reporters delve into those stories and all the week’s top local and regional news on the Charlotte Talks local news roundup.
GUESTS:
Erik Spanberg, managing editor for the Charlotte Business Journal
Mary C. Curtis, columnist for Rollcall.com, host of the Rollcall podcast “Equal Time”
Claire Donnelly, WFAE health reporter
Seema Iyer, chief legal correspondent WJZY Queen City News
“Careful the things you say
Children will listen
Careful the things you do
Children will see
And learn.”
At his death late last month at the age of 91, composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim was praised for writing for character rather than the hit parade. Playwright Arthur Laurents, who worked with him on several productions, once said that Sondheim “writes a lyric that could only be sung by the character for which it was designed.”
However, the audience for his work is everyone.
At this moment, the words of “Children Will Listen” from “Into the Woods” sadly resonate in a country where children are learning the wrong lessons from adults who should know better.
In Michigan, family, friends and classmates are mourning Madisyn Baldwin, Tate Myre, Hana St. Juliana and Justin Shilling, killed in an attack in a place that should be safe — high school. A 15-year-old was charged in the murders at Oxford High School, and in a rarity, his parents were charged with involuntary manslaughter for what prosecutors said was behavior that made them complicit.
“Guide them along the way
Children will glisten
Children will look to you
For which way to turn.”
On the Local News Roundup, the redistricting process continues for state and local elections. Legislators get into the nitty-gritty of drawing state Senate and House districts while Mecklenburg County Commission reviews three possible maps for local districts.
A local Charlotte high school goes on lockdown after a gun is found on campus. One student is arrested and charged following a shooting near the school.
Volleyball players at Olympic High are benched for participating in a protest over sexual assault.
And, Mecklenburg County passes its own LGBTQ nondiscrimination ordinance.
Our roundtable of reporters fills us in on those stories and more.
Guests
Steve Harrison, WFAE’s political reporter
Mary C. Curtis, columnist for Rollcall.com, host of the Rollcall podcast “Equal Time”
Joe Bruno, WSOC-TV reporter
Nick Ochsner, WBTV’s executive producer for investigations & chief investigative reporter
On the Local News Roundup: COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the community and area schools. Where this is happening and what are officials doing about it?
In Union County, not much. Their school board votes to keep mask-wearing optional for students and teachers — one of only three systems in the state to reach that decision.
Mecklenburg County releases data on its employees’ vaccination rates as organizations representing police and fire prepare to push back on possible vaccine mandates.
And a Charlotte City Council committee starts drawing new election maps based on 2020 U.S. Census Bureau data.
Our roundtable of reporters fills us in on those stories and more.
Guests
Ann Doss Helms, WFAE Education Reporter
Mary C. Curtis, columnist for Rollcall.com, host of the Rollcall podcast “Equal Time”
Hunter Saenz, WCNC Reporter
Nick Ochsner, WBTV’s Executive Producer for Investigations & Chief Investigative Reporter
