- Hi, I'm Mark Rotterman, coming up, I'll talk with North Carolina's attorney general, Josh Stein, about mass shootings, school safety and gun control.

And later, the Front Row panel weighs in, next.

- [Announcer] Major funding for Front Row was provided by Robert L. Luddy.

Additional funding provided by Patricia and Koo Yuen, through the Yuen Foundation, committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities.

And by.

Funding for the lightning round provided by Boddie-Noell Foundation, NC Realtors, Mary Louise and John Burress, Rifenburg Construction, and Helen Laughery.

[suspenseful music] A complete list of funders can be found at pbsc.org/frontrow.

[suspenseful music] ♪ - Welcome back, Mr. Attorney General, thanks for joining us.

- Mark, always a pleasure.

- Why don't we begin with your thoughts about the mass shootings that are plaguing this country.

- Heartbreak.

What's been experienced with people in Buffalo, people in Uvalde, Texas, but these shootings happen when two or three people die all across this country, practically on a daily basis.

So we have got to do something.

- Are we becoming numb to this, you think?

- I worry that we are, and we cannot be.

Here's one thing, you have a gun, which is essentially a tool.

A car is a tool.

After World War II, in 1946, people were dying on our roads, mass carnage on our roads.

So we as a country, took a number of sensible steps to address that.

Since 1946, the percentage decrease in deaths per road mile traveled, is 86%.

We've reduced road deaths, 86%.

How?

Speed limits, DWI laws, seat belts, airbags, child safety restraints, federal safety standards, driver's education, licensing.

These are all common sense steps that we took, none of them on their own solves the problem, none of them is the golden solution, none of them will end car deaths.

There will be tragically, deaths on America's highways today, but we have cut those deaths by 86%.

45,000 Americans died at the end of a bullet last year, 45,000.

If we could cut that in half, that's 22,000 people alive next year, who otherwise would've died.

So let's take some common sense steps to address gun violence.

- You know, it's interesting, we're the only Western country that has this problem.

- We are, I mean, you look at Canada, we have six times the deaths per capita.

You look at Australia, Germany, Switzerland, 34 times more people per capita die by a bullet shot from a gun in the United States than these other countries.

And what's different about us?

We're not that fundamentally different.

What's fundamentally different is, we have many more guns and we don't have common sense protections that will reduce gun violence.

- So you don't think the breakdown of the family or no fathers in the homes has anything to do with this?

- Well, like I said, we will never get rid of gun violence, and there are factors in society that make people more likely to engage in criminal behavior, or get off on the wrong course, so yeah, we want to have two parent families, we want to have a strong healthcare system, we want to have excellent schools and good jobs so people have hope for a better future, but we're never gonna get rid of all of gun deaths, but let's do what we can to reduce the number.

- There's a debate, the Democrats are carrying the ball down at the general assembly.

They want red flag laws, talk to us about that.

- Yeah, we need them, we need them.

- Tell the viewers what they are.

- A red flag- - Didn't mean to interrupt.

- Yeah, sure.

A red flag law is a law, which allows somebody to go to court because they love somebody, and they know that person is not right of mind, and that they pose a risk to themselves by death by suicide or to murder somebody.

And so you petition the court to have the gun removed.

And there's due process, if the person doesn't have a justified basis for having the gun removed, it won't be removed.

But if it is, it will be removed.

And there are states that have done this, Connecticut, Indiana, other states have done it and have seen a measurable decrease, not only in homicide, but in death by suicide.

And we need to do that measure here in North Carolina.

- What steps do we need to do to further secure our schools, you think here in North Carolina, are they secure?

- We have school safety plans, we have very well thought out measures to protect our schools.

We can always do more and must do more.

- [Mark] Do we need resource officers?

- We have school resource officers and they play an important role in our high schools.

- [Mark] Should they be armed, do you think?

- I don't think, but that's a conversation I'm willing to have, but we need more mental health counselors, We need more nurses, North Carolina, compared to other states, woefully under invest in professionals in our schools that can help identify problem kids, and work with them to address those problems so that they don't become a crisis of a gun shooting.

We need to harden our infrastructure, and every school has to have a plan, God forbid, should a terrible thing like that happen at one of our schools, so that kids know what to do to minimize the potential damage.

- Do we need to raise the age to buy a long rifle, and should those kids need a co-signer you think?

- Yes.

I mean, it is crazy.

We will not allow an 18 year old to buy a cigarette or a beer, and they shouldn't, but they can go buy an AR15?

They could be furious at somebody, they have no judgment, they go by an AR15 and then go shoot people.

And that's what happened, I think it was in the Texas case.

It was either Texas or New York, I can't remember, but the young man bought the gun and then immediately used it.

So 21 should be the age.

It's the law for handguns, but not for AR15s and assault weapons.

- Should there be a waiting period, do you think, two weeks or so?

- I think for kids, yes.

I think what we don't want is people committing crimes of passion.

And if there's a little bit of a delay to do a background check, a comprehensive background check, then that's good.

Because a lot of people, when they have that delay, they will change their mind.

We do not want people killing people outta passion, or killing themselves out of a moment of peak depression.

- What is the boyfriend loophole?

Talk to our viewers about that.

- The federal government has a provision that when you do a background check from a federally registered dealer, federally licensed dealer, that if you have a domestic violence protective order against your spouse, the spouse can't buy the weapon.

But if you have a domestic violence protective order against a boyfriend, that law doesn't apply.

It makes no sense, if the person is at risk of being abused, beaten, or potentially killed, it doesn't matter if they formally went through a marriage ceremony or not.

- The President Biden and Governor Cooper have called for an assault weapons ban, do you support that?

- Well, I want as a first measure, let's raise the age, let's get it to 21.

And I think that will solve a lot of the problems, and then we will see if we need to do more.

- Historically though, have assault weapon bans worked?

I mean, we had that, I think from '93 to 2004, isn't the jury out on that?

- Well, there were substantially more mass killings with assault weapons after the assault weapon ban expired.

- You know, I think about this all the time, when I came up, we just didn't have this.

I don't know what's changed in America.

- I don't know, the NRA was formed as a hunting organization, and to promote responsible gun ownership, and that's something we actually need.

You know, speaking on that, just as an aside, there were 200,000 guns stolen last year because folks didn't lock up their guns properly, they don't keep them secured, whether they're in the car or at home.

And if we had more gun secure storage, there will be fewer instances of preschoolers shooting each other, and people getting a gun and committing violence against themselves or others.

- Do we need tougher laws for people who use guns in a crime?

- I think the law- - The commission of a crime?

- Yeah, I think the laws on gun crimes are very severe.

I'm always willing to consider any measure that can reduce gun violence, and if that's one that can be shown to make it be effective, definitely would entertain that.

- Would you like to see the general assembly do this session?

- I want to have comprehensive background checks, that's the most important thing.

We do not want guns in the hands of the wrong people, violent felons, people with domestic violence protective orders, people on the no fly list.

They're too dangerous to get on our airplanes, but they can go buy a gun, legally today, in the United States?

Kids, they shouldn't be buying guns, and if we had comprehensive background checks, we could keep guns out of the wrong people's hands.

- The President has said that the second amendment is not absolute.

Do you agree with that statement?

- Absolutely, so does the Supreme Court, so does Justice Scalia in his- - Give us your argument.

- Because there's no right that's unlimited.

I mean, in our democracy, hardly anything is more important than political speech, but that doesn't give me the right to go to a movie theater and yell, "Fire!"

That's speech, but it's not legal speech.

So every right has some limitation because we exist in a country with other people, and I can't do something that hurts other people, even if it's my right.

- So what you're saying is, that some people that need to have their guns taken away from them, really.

- Well, if you have a domestic violence protective order, you shouldn't have your gun, if you're a violent felon, you shouldn't have a gun.

And people who legally are prescribed from owning guns are going to gun shows, and buying 'em in the parking lot, or engaged in private sales.

And buying guns today, it is crazy, we are the only country that doesn't have a unified system to ensure that dangerous people can't buy weapons that can kill people massively and instantly.

- 30 seconds, any final thoughts, my friend?

- Well, what folks need to do is not give up hope.

Don't look for the silver bullet, let's take concrete action that can, in common sense measures, reduce the number of people who die either by homicide or by suicide.

- Anything you'd like to announce about 2024?

[chuckles] - No thank you.

- Okay, thanks for being with us today.

- Mark.

thank you.

- [Mark] Appreciate it.

Joining me now, Mitch Kokai, Morgan Jackson and Donna King.

Let's continue with gun safety.

Morgan, talk to us about what's happening in the Senate?

- So this week, a bipartisan group of 10 Democrats and 10 Republicans reached a framework agreement for gun safety legislation.

This is really important because this is the first time in 30 years that we've seen any movement on gun safety, to combat the gun violence that is rising in the country.

The framework so far, now pen hasn't been put to paper yet, so a lot of things can change, but the framework so far really is around four key tenements.

First and foremost, to encourage states to enact their own red flag laws, which allows a judge to take away someone's guns who's dangerous, that a family member or other petitions to the judge for it.

Second of all, expanded mental health and suicide prevention money.

Third, the boyfriend law, which is similar to a red flag law, but at the same time, this is where if someone is a partner of another person, and they've been convicted of violence against that person, they can't have a gun.

And the final thing is expanded review of gun purchase for folks who are under 21.

Now again, this is a framework deal, and there's a lot that can go wrong.

- Can it get the 60 votes you think?

- It depends on what the ultimate details are.

There are a couple things that folks really want in the bill that are not there.

First of all, universal background checks, we talked a lot about, voters really support closing the gun show loophole, having background checks for any private gun sales.

And the other thing is the actual...

Excuse me, raising the age to 21 for any kind of assault weapon is not in this bill.

- Donna, will gun safety be an issue in the midterm school safety you think?

- Oh, for sure.

- To claim the suburbs.

- Yeah, absolutely, and I think you're seeing candidates come out already talking about it.

And one of the things I think is important to note is, you're right, there isn't anything on paper just yet.

And I think it's imperative that the people who are talking about this really look at some of these laws, and how they're implemented, followed, or not followed in states.

There is empirical data out there, a lot of states have already done some of these things, like red flag laws, and they don't work in many cases, and it's something that they really have to look at, what works, what has been proven to work, and what doesn't.

- Tom Tillis was big, and very much involved in this.

- Definitely one of the original four people talking about this, along with John Cornyn on the Republican side, Kirsten Sinema, and Chris Murphy on the democratic side, then they ended up getting their colleagues together.

So 20 senators, as Morgan mentioned, are involved in this deal.

I think the interesting thing will be to see whether it comes to fruition with actual legislation.

But we do know at this point that at least there is some interest in coming up with some sort of deal, rather than just Republicans and Democrats going off to their corners and deciding not to do anything.

- Mitch, I'm coming right back to you, talk to us about the Supreme Court Justice Security Bill that just passed in the Senate.

- This week, the US House voted- - [Mark] And the House, too.

- The US House voted 396 to 27 to pass this bill, which is called the Supreme Court Police Parity Act.

What it would do is extend the police protection for Supreme Court Justices to their immediate family members.

This was something that had passed the Senate unanimously, it was originally sponsored by John Cornyn, who we've already mentioned from Texas, and Chris Coons from Delaware, a Republican, and a Democrat.

Then it had sat in the House for a while, without much activity.

And there had been a little bit of criticism for the House for not doing anything about it.

They actually ended up having this overwhelming vote, 90% of the members of the House supporting it, one week after someone was arrested and charged with attempted murder for trying to attack Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

So the interesting thing is all 27 no votes came from Democrats, some of them saying that they wanted to see lower court judges involved, others saying they wanted to tie this type of protection for Supreme Court Justices and their families, to additional protection for abortion providers.

I should note that among those 27 no votes, no North Carolinians, all North Carolina Democrats voted yes.

- Morgan, that's an interesting segue, and I did want to talk to you about the media coverage of the attempted assassination of Justice Kavanaugh, I didn't see much on the mainstream media.

- No, there really wasn't.

It was during the same time as the January 6th hearing, so a lot of it just got...

It felt like it got swept under the rug.

If you have an assassination attempt on a Supreme Court Justice, that is huge, that should dominate the news much more so than anything else.

I think the fact that it took a week to get this passed through really makes me wonder what's going on with leadership?

- The President has not even talked about this yet.

- No, but listen, look at the violence in this country, those being the threats are being made against public officials.

You saw last year, Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a right wing group was planning an intricate plan to kidnap and assassinate her, talk to any school board member in this country, and they'll tell you that they get threats of violence almost every day to them and their family.

We've got to turn down the temperature and stop these kind of threats on public officials.

- But aren't these protests, are they free speech in front of the justice's house?

Are they intimidation?

And is that legal?

- It's absolutely intimidation, they're at the home, they're not at the Supreme Court.

And that is an important point to make, because his wife and children are not Supreme Court Justices, and they're in front of their home.

So it is absolutely an effort to intimidate, and I think we see it in this case, and we've seen it in other instances like that, but in the end, what's going on in House leadership that they can't wrangle their own caucus with that level of a majority to get something as simple as protection for Supreme Court Justice passed?

- Okay, talk to us about the general assembly group.

- Yeah absolutely, we've been watching the general assembly a lot this week, of course, one of the sessions that they had was in the old chamber, in the old capital, it was always interesting to go in there and see how small that facility is.

One of the things that we did see was Speaker Moore said that we should be really talking about a budget, sometime around the week of the 27th.

I thought that was really interesting because that means that they're gonna try and keep to the schedule to be out around the first week of July.

We're watching very closely to see if the House takes up any of the bills that the Senate has passed.

Things like the Compassionate Care Act, Medicaid expansion, the Senate was really active in the beginning of the session, getting some of these passed.

It is at this point, including things like the Parents Bill of Rights, will the House take these up before they try to get out for 4th of July?

So that's something we're watching really, really closely.

- Mitch, I'm hearing that there is gonna be a deal on Medicaid expansion, are you hearing that?

I'm hearing that Moore is really getting engaged in this?

- Well, there certainly could be, I think there has been some discussion about putting Medicaid expansion in the budget, which is something that has been talked about now for several years.

Basically, ever since Governor Cooper talked about wanting to have Medicaid expansion, the thought has been perhaps to put that in the budget deal.

Seems as if Senate Leader Phil Berger is on board with that prospect, which would make it easier for a bill to get through, perhaps.

It'll be interesting to see.

I think one thing that we have seen shown pretty clearly is that the House doesn't have a whole lot of interest at this point, in this Parents Bill of Rights, speaker Tim Moore saying, this is- - It's been tabled.

- He says this is probably something that holds over to the long session, because remember legislators in this year wanna get done around the 4th of July, go home, campaign and brand new districts for everyone.

- Morgan, what have you been following?

- Listen, I think the budget is the key, obviously that's gonna occupy everybody's attention for the next two weeks.

I think a lot of these deals could come down, Medicaid expansion to the budget.

As Mitch has mentioned, Senate Leader Phil Berger- - Is that a deal breaker for a governor?

- I think that depends on what's in the budget, but this is his top, there is no- - What about Medicaid expansion?

- Medicaid is his top priority, this is the year to do it.

If we do it this year, we get a 1.5 billion influx of a signing bonus, it's something that has to happen this year.

That's a big deal, not to mention the $8 billion that'll be put into North Carolina's economy for Medicaid expansion.

But also what I think, things that are moving, it looks like there's real movement on sports betting, and some agreement is coming to the table.

Medical marijuana, there's a real push at the end of the session to get it done, the Senate has passed both of those.

And I think there's a real chance you end up in a place where there's a deal between those two, and you get both of those.

- Gotta to wrap this up in about 30 seconds.

- Right, so we're of course watching all of these big issues, which is unusual to have so many very large issues for short session.

And I think that's what speaker Moore is saying, these are issues for a long session, this isn't something we should be dealing with, this should be a cleanup session.

But at the same time, you're right, these are some big issues that were passed by the Senate and some of them are a bit of a surprise.

One of the things that Governor Cooper also signed a bill this week that would allow THC based medicines that had been approved by the FDA.

And that might be the House's answer to that Compassionate Care Act.

- Okay, I need to move on.

Let's go to the most unreported story of the week, Mitch?

- We of course are in the middle of the 2022 midterm election cycle, election districts are set, but that doesn't mean that their redistricting fight is over in North Carolina.

The US Supreme Court was scheduled to confer behind closed doors this week about whether to take up a North Carolina case on redistricting.

And at the same time, we're seeing that there is a complaint in the North Carolina Supreme Court that's continuing about redistricting, and we may see a fight come to the fore about fees for those controversial special masters who were the ones who ended up drawing the congressional map.

- Morgan, underreported, my friend?

- So, I'm gonna go Monopoly money this week, on my underreported.

You know, a lot of folks have seen those great ads that ran during the Super Bowl, that fortune favors the bold, in investing in digital currencies like crypto and Bitcoin, et cetera.

Well, right now we're looking at the last couple weeks, is that they have lost three fourths of their value, so it's more like misfortune favors those who invest in Monopoly money.

The crypto has long been on the margins, and very highly volatile, long been on the margins of the financial markets, largely unregulated, and it's something that a lot of investors will tell you, they're excited about it, 'cause they could make a lot of money, that meant a lot of billionaires and millionaires on crypto, but they've lost a lot of value in the last couple weeks.

And it's a little bit like, is there any real value here?

I mean, is it truly Monopoly money, and how do you value something that exists only online?

But you've had a lot of folks lose a lot of money in the last few weeks.

- Thank you for bringing that to our attention.

Donna?

- Yes, my underreported seems to be even less underreported now than it was earlier this week, but Mayra Flores, she's a Republican woman from Texas, managed to flip in a special election, a house seat, that has been traditionally very Democrat.

So she may be a linchpin in that effort for the Republicans to flip the House.

And it may be the very beginning of a red wave, she's a young Mexican born woman, the wife of a border patrol agent.

So I'm really interested to see what she's gonna do.

- Elon Musk weighed in.

- He said that this was the first Republican vote he's ever cast, and he cast it for Mayra Flores.

- And he said there was gonna be a red wave.

- [Donna] That's what he predicts, he's not alone.

- Morgan, you got a surfboard?

Okay, let's go to "Lightning Round", who's up and who's down this week?

Mitch.

- My "what's up", Donna has already referenced this, marijuana, now the medical marijuana bill is still in flux in the House right now, but the governor has signed into law this bill that would allow, that once the FDA approves a drug that includes marijuana or THC, it's automatically legal in North Carolina.

My "down", skirts, mandatory skirts for girls in a North Carolina charter school, the full US fourth circuit court of appeals struck down the Brunswick County charter schools, mandatory skirts for girls.

They had put them in, saying that this was for chivalry, and teaching boys to be nice to girls.

- Morgan, who's up and who's down this week.

- So "up" this week is Democratic Senate candidate, Cheri Beasley, the first independent poll has come out after the primary, showing her with a four point lead over Ted Bud.

This comes despite millions- - [Mark] Who did the poll?

- WRL.

- [Mark] Okay.

- And this comes despite millions of dollars in spending against Beasley so far.

That's a really positive place to be, and I think it will beget more funding from Democrats.

- Did a Republican senatorial committee jump the gun, you think?

- I think they know they've got a challenge and that she's a strong candidate.

I think that's why they're investing so much, so early.

- Okay.

- "Down" this week, I'll say Trump 2024, as while the president, the former president continues to do well in primaries, as his endorsed candidates, you see a lot of polls coming out in the last two weeks that are showing Republicans want to move on from the drama and chaos of Trump, into something else.

- On the flip side, do Democrats want Biden to run in 2024?

There are articles about that.

- Biden's runnin until he says he's not.

- Okay.

[everyone chuckling] Donna, who's up and who's down this week?

- Speaking of that, I'm gonna say inflation and interest rates.

Of course this week, the federal reserve raised interest rates three quarters of a point, in an effort to head off 40 year historic inflation, maybe too little too late?

We're looking at 8.6% inflation, 10% on food, 20% on housing, it's just going up and up, and wages are down 30%, that's my "down".

- Interest rates on housing, is what?

6.25?

- We're already seeing it north of of 6%, and that's something that's really going to probably chill this white hot real estate market, but it also is gonna make it harder for young families to get that first home.

- Okay, down?

- "Down"?

Wages, down 3%.

That's what the Department of Labor says, so that really is asking people to take a pay cut for inflation and higher interest rates.

- Inflation really is a tax, isn't it?

- It's a tax on the poorest among us, really, 'cause they're the ones that are making the hardest decisions.

- Headline next week.

- It all reminds me of the late 1970s.

[grunts] State budget details emerge as the self-imposed July 1st deadline approaches.

- Are they gonna get out July 1st?

- I doubt that they'll be done by July 1st, but if they get a budget deal done by then, it won't be much longer than that.

- Headline next week?

- For somebody who's only 30, I don't remember the 1970s.

[Mark laughing] - That's a great reminder.

- That's right.

Headline next week, I think it's all state budget, I think that's gonna lead the news for the next two weeks.

- Headline next week?

- So on Capitol Hill, Roger Goodell and Dan Snyder are scheduled to testify in a oversight committee about their accusations that they have a hostile and threatening work environment over at the Washington Commanders.

- I think we're gonna see a lot more of that, don't you?

- Oh, I think so.

I think it's a continued effort to use congressional hearings to distract from inflation.

- But isn't there a lot of that going on in the NFL?

- I think it's hard to say, we'll find out in this committee hearing.

- We miss anything this week, Mitch?

- I think the main thing is just watch what happens in these behind closed doors meetings in the next couple weeks, 'cause a lot's gonna happen behind the scenes, and then we'll see everything come to the fore, all at the same time, probably at the end of June, beginning of July.

- Should we bet on sport betting?

- Absolutely, but you know, on the Washington Commanders they're a dumpster fire, I mean, just in general.

- Okay.

Great job team, that's it for us.

Thanks for watching, hope to see you next week on Front Row, have a great weekend.

[dramatic music] - [Announcer] Major funding for Front Row was provided by Robert L. Luddy.

Additional funding provided by Patricia and Koo Yuen through the Yuen Foundation, committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities.

And by.

Funding for the "Lightning Round" provided by Boddie-Noell Foundation, NC Realtors, Mary Louise and John Burress, Rifenburg Construction, and Helen Laughery.

A complete list of funders can be found at pbsc.org/frontrow.

[dramatic music] ♪