Maggie AstorCompte certifié

Of note: In preparation for the forum, @JoeBiden released a gun plan. Mostly it's standard fare in this Democratic field — assault weapons ban, voluntary buyback program, universal background checks, more CDC research funding. But a couple points that stand out:

1. Requiring a license to own a gun has been a big thing in this primary. More than half the candidates support it. But Biden is sort of threading a needle — calling for grants to encourage states to require licenses, but no federal requirement.

2. Biden is calling for a ban on online gun sales. This is noteworthy—calls for restrictions are common, but not a full ban. This is an item in the March for Our Lives agenda, which Beto O'Rourke has signed, but afaik, no other candidates are calling for a ban on online sales.

After introductions by @GabbyGiffords, @ChrisMurphyCT, @davidhogg111, and Ariel Hobbs, the first candidate up is @PeteButtigieg.

Early question for @PeteButtigieg is about urban gun violence, which accounts for many more deaths than mass shootings and disproportionately affects people of color.

He says mayors across the country, including him, are trying to address it, but "every mayor tackling this issue is doing it with a hand tied behind our back" because of the lack of things like universal background checks, red-flag laws, etc.

He says he's seen mayors in Connecticut do the same things he's doing in South Bend and be more successful in reducing urban gun violence because they're backed up by Connecticut's gun laws, which are stricter than Indiana's.

Buttigieg: "We know what we have to do. The question is how do we make sure that this time really is different? Because every time, we say this time is different. This is not just a question about policy. This is a question about power."

On the Second Amendment, Buttigieg says it's already well established that it's constitutional to ban some weapons. "Everyone can have a water balloon, no one can have a Predator drone, and somewhere we're going to draw the line."

The first audience question for @PeteButtigieg, from NYC activists Luis Hernandez and Erica Ford, was about the lack of attention to the daily shootings in communities of color, compared to the attention to mass shootings. How would Buttigieg specifically address that violence?

Buttigieg talked about changing culture as well as laws (as David Hogg did in his intro). "Society expects" young people of color to end up in the criminal justice system, he said, and that affects their behavior

The second audience question was about suicide, especially among veterans. Buttigieg talked in part about destigmatizing mental illness.

Melvin asks: Do you agree with the school of thought that the NRA isn't as powerful as people think it is?

Buttigieg: "I think it falls to us to decide... Are we going to prove that they aren’t as powerful as people think they are?" The NRA's power isn't just about money, he told the audience, "it’s about their ability to mobilize single-issue voters. That’s why you are so important."

"We are going to decide the answer to your question in 2020."

Buttigieg is done; @JulianCastro is up in a few minutes.

First question for @JulianCastro is about ammunition laws. He wants to increase the excise tax on ammunition and guns to 20% and use the revenue to fund gun violence prevention programs. Also wants "better ways to track ammunition" (e.g. bullet microstamping).

Lots of talk about guns, "but what we do with ammunition, physically and also the way that we tax it, is also part of this equation," Castro says.

How do you sell your ideas to people in places like TX where gun ownership is ingrained in the culture, Melvin asks? Two things, Castro says: First, many people who own guns for hunting/sporting/defense support new laws. That's "more popular than it's given credit for," he says.

Second, he argues that the "good guy with a gun" argument has been debunked and that more people are rejecting it. The El Paso shooter had to know that in a Walmart in Texas, some people would be armed, but "that didn't make a difference," he says.

Castro is asked why he supports a voluntary assault weapons buyback instead of mandatory. He says he looked to the ban on fully automatic weapons, and that ban was effective without a mandatory buyback. People who keep their assault weapons would have to register them, he adds.

In response to a mother from Chicago whose son was fatally shot, Castro talks, among other things, about "investing in youth opportunities," including sports and after-school programs, to keep teens occupied at the times when a lot of violence tends to happen.

Castro now talking about the portion of his gun plan that addresses white supremacism. "We need to root that out. We need to stop it before it turns into violence." Calls, among other things, for social media platforms to combat extremism "instead of just allowing it to fester."

"We need to raise a generation of young people who don't see violence as the first resort," he says, mentioning his 4-year-old son.

He mentions violent video games, says it does worry him that his son "goes on YouTube and there's content that looks violent." But adds that it's possible to be concerned about that and also recognize that other countries have the same games but not the same shootings.

Castro done. @CoryBooker up next.

"The marathon continues," Melvin says. We're... two candidates in.

"No no no, we're not taking a break!" he chides audience members as they start to stand up.

.@CoryBooker is up now. The first question is how he would apply his lessons from Newark (he talks a lot about how dealing with violence there has informed his positions). He says, "It's not lessons. This is not an intellectual issue... This is living with a sense of urgency."