Suicide Prevention Sat - Why gun laws are bad for Mental Health

All right, here we are. Um, you're not supposed to be muted yet. It's when I get rid of you, you mute. But anyway, hi everyone, it is Suicide Prevention Saturday. I'm Brooke Cheney. If you've not been here before, this is A Great Start Shooting School, who I'm the owner and instructor here for. That DJ over there, um, is my moderator and he will help out. I've got a lot of stuff to cover tonight. DJ over there. That's really weird. Um, why do I hear— oh, y'all have to hold on a second where I find where I put my, um, live stream so I can turn it back off. Because, you know, somebody gave me the idea that being able to watch the chat live versus what I see in here would be useful, except when you forget that you did that. All right, so hello Mike, how are you? Um, I will say goodbye to DJ. I just wanted y'all know that he was here trying to take care of me because, you know, sometimes it's nice to have someone here. I need to move this over here because it's going to drive me crazy. Oh my goodness. All right, wow, that went really low, really far, really fast. Ah, it's Dean. Aha, I knew I would suck you over here telling you about Grandma. All right, so So, um, sorry, let me try again. Hi everyone, this is Suicide Prevention Saturday. Why? Because 2 out of every 3 gun deaths you hear about are a suicide. And tonight I realized that the gun vote is what we want to talk about. Why? Let's see, it's Saturday, so that means there's Sunday, Monday, and then Tuesday, right? Sorry, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. We've only got 3 days left. For you to decide you're going to get off your butt and go and vote. And why should we vote? Well, as the conversation started in the little description of what tonight is about, it is that— it's going to bother me— um, red flag laws. Red flag laws. I can do this, I really can. Are generally more detrimental than they are helpful. And the people who put forth these things, they mean well. Our politicians, for the most part, mean well. Are there evil, horrible people that are in politics? Yes, yes, there are. Are they majority? They really aren't. Not, not initially, I don't think. So this is not an episode to, like, rank on politicians, but it's more for you as an American citizen to get off the butt and go vote. Now here's the beauty of being a Second Amendment advocate. It is truly a nonpartisan thing. Freedom for you and I as Americans is something that is super important, and it is something that matters for all of us. There are every stripe of life and lifestyle that you can think of who are gun owners. And if you don't think your neighbor next door has a gun, maybe, maybe not. There's lots of closet gun owners out there. I'm just going to say that out loud. So, um, I am going to say hi to all of you. DJ is going to do the final, um, not the final thing I should say, but DJ is going to take all the comments and stuff and let me know sort of towards the end what things, because I'm going to try really hard to get through all the things I want to talk to you all about tonight. So Dean is here because I already gave him a preview of one of the things we're going to talk about tonight, and it's something that occurred to me I've never really talked about on the show before. So Mike, Fiona, Dean— well, Dean already knows all of this, um, but even DJ does not know all of this. So let me introduce you to my grandmother. This is my grandmother. Her name is Libby Holman. She was a blues singer, and this is on Dean's channel, who is visiting us from Facebook. And I'm going to turn my mic off for a second so you can all hear my grandmother. I'm feeling mighty sick and sore. So bad I feel. I said I'm feeling sick and sore. I'm so afraid my man don't love me no more. Helps if I remember to unmute myself. That's always a bonus here. So that's my grandmother. And if you can't tell by the style— oops, oh man, technical difficulties. I'll get there eventually. Um, she was a blues singer. And why was she a blues singer? Because she was sad and lonely often. However, my grandmother actually committed suicide. However, my grandmother had some pretty amazing things that she did. She was huge in working with civil rights. And what is one of our civil rights? Oh, the voting thing. That's one of our civil rights. So voting is a right. Voting is a right that so many of us take for granted. I took it for granted for 30, 40-ish, maybe 45-ish years. Let's see, 2010, how old was I? I was 40. So 2011, that's probably when I started voting because I found out that a 10-round mag ban is a gun ban. It has nothing to do with preventing violence. It has nothing to do with saving lives. It has not been proven to have any impact on crime whatsoever. And that's when I stepped into the political arena. This is when I started realizing that, oh wait, what's my sticky say? The politicians need your help. And not only do they need your help to win if they are pro-Second Amendment and pro-freedom, they need your help once they're in office. They need to hear your voice, and your voice is at the ballot box. Your voice is on the phone, because guess what I did this season? I made phone calls for them. I was one of those annoying telemarketer people. I wasn't getting paid, so, you know, I was a volunteer, calling and saying, hey, can you support Leora Levy and defeat Dick Blumenthal this year? We would really appreciate it. So voting, why is it so important? All of these things that I'm saying. So I don't know if I kind of glossed over the grandma thing committing suicide, however being huge civil rights activist, but that's what I got for you tonight. Um, in the description I I talked about red flag laws are horrible. And this is where I wanted to go to the next screen, and we'll see how I do this time. Hold on, it might work. Unintended Consequences by Rob Norton. The law of unintended consequences, often cited but rarely defined, is that actions of people, and especially our government, always have effects that are unanticipated and unintended economic. So that's the really part, the most important part. So my point is this: politicians are full of unintended consequences. The red flag laws that they're like, look what we did, really don't do anything because there's already laws out there that actually do the things that they say the red flag laws are going to do. So What else did we talk about in my description? I talked about red flag laws, and I think the next most important thing to talk about, unintended consequences, would be our friends over at Hold My Guns, firearm storage for those in need. There are so many laws out there that will not allow someone to give up their guns for safe storage. How ridiculous is that? Back to our unintended consequences. So here we have a group like Hold My Guns who is trying to allow firearm owners who are having a hard time to relinquish their guns to an area so that they are safe from them. There are so many laws, like here in Connecticut, that say if I give my— if you are my friend, right, it doesn't matter what state you live, but if you are my friend in Connecticut and I'm like, oh, I'm having a bad day, I need you to give you my guns for you to hold them, it is an illegal transfer. So the unintended consequences, there are so many of them. So, um, grandma died of suicide. I've not really talked about that. My friend Dean Sidon, who is on here as well, he— you have any questions about my grandma, ask him because he's like way smarter than me. But huge into civil rights, huge, huge, huge into civil rights. She helped send Martin Luther King over to study with Gandhi to work on the whole anti-violence thing, and that's one of the reasons she was very devastated by his death. And that is part of one of the things that led her to her suicide, amongst many other factors in her life. And it sort of runs in the family, so there is that. Um, who did I not cover yet? This is like, DJ, if you think of it off the top of your head. Um, I'm gonna go look for stuff, starred stuff. Oh no, who can get rid of sex fun at 69? That's what I want to know. Sorry, that's what I get for looking. I'm gonna go back to the starred ones. Uh, Mike White, good job. Oh, go ahead, DJ. I was just going to say that, uh, WTTA was part of the description ideas that were there, and I can post their link, um, out there in the text chat. And that the link that you want, that you laughed about has been removed. Okay. Yeah. Sorry about that. I'm like, I'm like, oh yes, we want that anyway. Yes. Welcome to the bot world. I guess that means I must be successful now that bots are paying attention. But anyway, so Walk the Talk America, same problem, same issues. There are so many laws that our politicians put forth that impact mental health. The ability to have mental health. For those of you who watched, I think it was the last interview I had with Jake, we talked about how he can't be part of Medicare because of all the rules and regulations around it. So that means he is inaccessible to a large portion of people who Medicare is the only way they have to pay for stuff. So it's not just red flag laws that cause us problems, whether it's straight up mental health, or if it's even more complex when it's people who are looking for mental health on top of, on top of being a gun owner. So, oh, and I know the other one I talked about real quick, NSSF, they are a firearms industry trade association. These guys are the best when it comes to really and truly paying attention to what the implications and the unintended consequences of so many of the laws that are out there. So, but we can't talk about activism if we don't kind of pop on the DC Project site, because one of the other things that I put in the comments below are educate, not legislate. We as the DC Project and each one of you are doing a great job of educating our politicians. And Rebecca Schmoe is one of our delegates who is actually running for office this year. So let's all pray for Rebecca in that I really hope that she makes it. That would be so awesome. I have no idea how much— how her campaign is going or any of that, but it's really exciting to see women from DC Project. I haven't had this in the back for a while because I just— my life in my office is generally a mess. So, all right, what else is there? That's kind of it. That's it. Get— oh, sorry, see, I can't have that there because I want this here, right? Get out and vote on December— on December. There we go. Uh, it's been a long day, I'm not gonna lie. So on Tuesday, go and vote. If you want to find out more, you still have time. I don't think most of the folks that are here are the type that are going to sit on their butts However, if you want to share this video with someone as an example of why you, with your one vote, who doesn't feel like you can do much, it really does matter. Why voting for a candidate who is pro-freedom? Because it's not all about guns, it's about freedom of choice and that sort of stuff. Oh yes, so sorry, I'm going to throw this up here. If you'd like to know more about my grandma, We, uh, Rinalda is in North Carolina. Sorry, I've got friends all over the place and I forget sometimes. And my brother and I hopefully will be down here for this exhibit that, uh, Dean here is putting together to talk about all of the things that my grandmother did. Um, one of the things I think is super cool is that she had a Black accompanist, her piano teacher, piano teacher Ah, the gentleman who played piano for her when she was performing was Black, and she was such a spitfire. And this is 1925, '26, '27, somewhere in there. Um, I just looked it up. I can— no, I closed it already. Anyway, so what she would do is she would get hired at a nightclub and they would go and practice, and she was the headliner. And back then, she would go in the front door, her pianist would go in the back door. The night of the performance she would bring him to— Josh White— to the front and have him walk in with her. And if the owners had anything to say, like, no, he can't do that, then she'd be like, oh, well, I guess I'm not performing tonight. So I thought that was really cool. Dean, obviously you can correct me because I know you know the actual details if I have the dates wrong and that sort of thing. So activism, it can start at home because it started with my grandma. Oh, I got a yes! So, okay, um, this is my fact checker for stuff about my family. Oh yeah, see the dates? I thought I had the dates wrong. Um, I think she was born in 1920 anyway. Oh, all right, so go vote. Why do you vote? Because it matters. Why does it matter? Because freedom is important. Why is freedom important? Because without freedom, we have nothing. We have just horrible things happening. So I'm hoping there is a lovely freedom wave that occurs on Tuesday. If you have any questions, it's super easy to find stuff out. If you don't know how to find stuff out, I will happily help you because I am an advocate for, um, let's see, DC Project, for freedom, for non-violence stuff and preventing violence stuff and all of those things. Um, yeah, I, yeah, well, I, I don't know. No one talks about our upcoming marijuana stores opening federally. It's still illegal. Yeah, yeah, it's all very weird. And this is it, the unintended consequences. It's like, we want to have our state's rights and we don't want to have this overreaching federal everything. And this is why we have local, like our town or our city, then we have state, or sometimes we have county, then we have state, and then we have federal. And we really want that federal piece to be the smallest piece that there is. And then our state piece might be a little bit bigger, um, just because we want to do stuff at home. Because when I do the violence prevention, suicide prevention stuff, basically the idea is this: what works in Houston, Texas is not the same thing that works in LA, which is not the same thing that works in Harwington, Connecticut. And this is why we want to focus on having stronger local governments and smaller federal governments, um, Oh, it's the Mario. Sorry. All right, let me do it. So, hi Mario. We said hi to Dean. PNW, how are you? I'm just gonna go down everybody. Uh, Mike White and Fiona, and I think that's everybody. And oh wait, no, I missed Tara. Oh, there's Tara, and there's Kathleen. Um, Tracy's watching with you. Hi guys. Um, wait, did I get through the whole list? I don't know, I think I'm at the top. All right, so anyway, so thank you all for popping in. Oh no, I don't know how to— all right, DJ, get her off for me. I don't know how to do it. I guess I did it, or maybe he did, I have no idea. All right, so any questions? Do we need to know anything else? You've got a bunch of resources where there's DC Project, NSSF, Walk the Talk America, Hold My Guns. You can check out Libby Holman, and Dean Sidden has a YouTube channel. Oh, we got Crabby Turtle throwing, throwing down like last minute sort of thing. Or are you, I don't know, are you raising your hand or are you just saying hi? I could be confused because I'm easily confused because I'm actually naturally blonde, or at least I was at one point in time. So everyone here, tell me in the chat wherever it is for you, are you all gonna go and vote on Tuesday? I'm gonna be hanging out at the polls. I'm gonna be sitting outside the polls saying, hey, thanks for coming out to vote. And you know what? I say to everyone, I don't care who you're voting for. I mean, I do. But while I'm at the polls representing our town, I absolutely just thank everyone who's coming to come out to vote. And it's really funny because I can tell by the look on their face who they're voting for. So anyway, let's see. Let's see. Yes. Oh, yes. And also, there is the Libby Holman Facebook page if any of you all are curious. But like I said, my favorite stories about my grandma is she helped Martin Luther King get to India and back to study with Gandhi, non-violence. We were friends of the family, that sort of stuff. Very cool. Um, she really stood up for civil rights a ton and believed in equality or equal opportunity. See, this is one of those things I think a lot of people get confused on. Equal opportunity is not the same as equality. You and I are not equals. You know stuff I don't know. I probably know stuff you don't know. Therefore, we don't have the equal information. We, you and I, deserve equal opportunity. So if you want to be a gun instructor and I want to be a gun instructor, we should both be able to apply to be an instructor. And that is equal opportunity. I'm totally about that. Um, Fiona is probably going to be wearing her favorite red Metallica t-shirt if she's going to go vote. Would be my guess anyway. All right, Krabby Turtle. Oh yeah, that's right, DJ's all fancy with his little icons and stuff. All right, wait, so you all know what I'm talking about, except it won't show. That's the wrong one. That's the one. It's all the icon stuff. That's because he's on his phone. And yes, see, verification. This is how good I know Fiona. She's wearing a red Metallica shirt to go, um, vote tomorrow. So tomorrow, Tuesday, whatever day it is Alright, so Suicide Prevention Saturday. Why? Because 2 out of every 3 gun deaths you hear about are suicides, and if we want to stop those gun deaths, if we focus on suicide, we will actually be able to do that. How are we going to do that? By getting out and voting for people who are not about banning guns, but actually working on the difficult problems of preventing suicide and preventing violence, because gun bans do nothing except make it very unsafe for most people. So with that, I see no questions. I see no comments. I think I'm going to go. It's 20 after. I could talk for another 20 minutes easily because it's been a long day. I could tell you all about it. Oh, and Mario, I'm sorry, before I go, see, I just can't even stop myself. Thank you so much for coming on last Saturday when I was absent. I was not here, but you were. So I appreciate that. And yeah, don't forget to set your clocks ahead 1 hour tonight. No, it's backwards. You fall back, we get an extra hour of sleep, which right now I could totally use. You spring ahead, that's when you lose your hour. And in theory, I've heard rumblings that the spring ahead this spring is the final time we ever do this, because I believe our politicians finally did something unanimously, which was get rid of daylight savings time, because you know what? It kills people. It does. Like, for— like, not joking, uh, the stats are the Monday after daylight savings times are the most car accidents in the world. So yes, that is it. Um, yeah, now we, we, we fall backwards, and falling forward is what I do when I go up the steps and I trip. That would be the falling forward. So anyway, all right, it is useless. All right, sorry. I'm really gonna go. I know it's Saturday night. I'm sure you all have— well, Fiona, if she's here, that means she's not at a concert. But you know, these things happen from time to time. Oh, there's so many things to talk about. Do me a favor, let me know in the comments, in the chat, wherever, what stuff do you actually want to hear about? Gun vote, or, you know, just voting in general made sense to me for today. Let me know what you want to know. Because I could talk about anything for a long time, and with EMT training, I'm even learning more. All right, thank you all. Have a lovely evening. I will see you— when will I see you? I will see you next Saturday. All right, have a good night, everybody.