Inside the Politics of America’s Gun Debate | Gunned Down (full documentary) | FRONTLINE

Video Description

In 2015’s “Gunned Down: The Power of the NRA,” FRONTLINE examined the National Rifle Association’s political evolution and influence, and how it had consistently succeeded in defeating gun control legislation. (Aired 2015) This journalism is made possible by viewers like you. Support your local PBS station here: https://www.pbs.org/donate Drawing on interviews with leading voices on both sides of the gun regulation debate, “Gunned Down” went inside one of the country’s greatest divides to illuminate how the NRA reinvented itself from a group of gun enthusiasts and sportsmen with minimal political focus, to a powerful lobbying force opposing any perceived infringement of the constitutional right to bear arms. The documentary traced the emergence of Wayne LaPierre, then one of the NRA’s top leaders, and explores how he activated the group’s influential base in the wake of mass shootings. The film featured interviews with Congressional leaders, former White House officials, then-Vice President Joe Biden, and gun-rights and gun-reform advocates. It also featured firsthand accounts from family members of mass shooting victims, including the deadly 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. For more on the evolution of the NRA and America’s gun debate, watch FRONTLINE’s 2020 documentary “NRA Under Fire,” which investigated the organization’s history and evolution, how it aligned with President Donald Trump and his base, and why it was under attack ahead of the 2020 election. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/documentary/nra-under-fire/ “Gunned Down” is a FRONTLINE production with the Kirk Documentary Group. The producers are Michael Kirk, Jim Gilmore and Mike Wiser. The director is Michael Kirk. The writers are Michael Kirk and Mike Wiser. The reporter is Jim Gilmore. Explore additional reporting on “Gunned Down: The Power of the NRA” on our website: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/documentary/gunned-down/ #Documentary #NRA #GunDebate Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/PBSfrontline Sign up for our newsletter: https://frontline.org/newsletter Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frontlinepbs​ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/frontline Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/frontlinepbs.bsky.social FRONTLINE is produced at GBH in Boston and is broadcast nationwide on PBS. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Additional support for FRONTLINE is provided by the Abrams Foundation, Park Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Heising-Simons Foundation, and the FRONTLINE Trust, with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and additional support from Koo and Patricia Yuen. CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Prologue 00:43 - Deadly Mass Shootings in the U.S. in Recent Decades 13:44 - The NRA’s Political Evolution & Influence 19:54 - How Then Leader Wayne LaPierre Energized the NRA’s Base 30:43 - The Gun Debate After the 2012 Sandy Hook Shooting 39:13 - How the NRA Defeated a Bill in the Aftermath of the Sandy Hook Shooting 52:18 - Credits