(HOUSTON) — It took just minutes for a crowd of concertgoers to transform into a deadly melee that killed several people during the Astroworld music festival.
Rapper Travis Scott, the founder of the festival, which is named after his 2018 album, continued to perform as multiple people in the audience suffered medical emergencies.
Eight people died in the chaos after the crowd, filled with 50,000 people, rushed toward the stage during Scott’s set. Dozens more were transported to the hospital with injuries.
Scott has a history of inciting crowds at performances and was charged for it twice in recent years.
Here is how the tragedy at the Astroworld Festival unfolded:
Aug. 1, 2015
Scott was arrested on charges of inciting a crowd to jump barriers at the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago. He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and paid a fine, according to officials.
May 13, 2017
Scott was arrested in Rogers, Arkansas, after prompting fans at the Walmart Music Pavilion to breach barricades and overrun security. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct and paid a fine.
Nov. 17, 2018
The inaugural Astroworld Festival took place in Scott’s hometown of Houston at the 350-acre NRG Park.
Nov. 9, 2019
A “similar incident” to the crowd surge took place at the 2019 festival, when fans breached barricades, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo told reporters over the weekend. Nearly 100 extra event security personnel were added for this year’s event, Hidalgo said.
Oct. 26
Scott announced the lineup for the 2021 Astroworld Festival, which included performances by Young Thug, SZA, Lil Baby, Earth, Wind & Fire, Master P and 21 Savage.
Friday
Around 9:30 p.m.: The crowd “began to compress toward the front of the stage,” Houston Fire Chief Sam Peña told reporters.
San Antonio resident Fatima Munoz, 21, described a “domino effect” that took place: “I had fell right on the floor, and that’s when everybody started tumbling down, and I tried so hard to get up,” she said on ABC News’ podcast “Start Here.” “There’s just too much people like on me, like those legit dog pile on me. I was on the floor. Nobody helped. I tried screaming for my life. I tried screaming for help.”
Scott continued his set. In the middle of his performance, Scott stood and told the crowd, “Somebody passed out right here,” an Apple Music livestream of the event showed.
Some 300 people were treated by medical personnel on site, authorities said. Another 25 were transported to the hospital.
Saturday
The remainder of the festival was canceled.
Scott released a statement on Instagram, saying he was “absolutely devastated by what took place” the night before.
The first lawsuit against Scott was filed in Harris County, Texas.
Thirteen people remained in the hospital, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said.
Sunday
Kylie Jenner posted to her Instagram story that Scott was not aware of any fatalities and would have not continued performing had he known.
Houston Police Chief Troy Finner had previously expressed concerns when he met with Scott and his head of security to discuss the main event, Finner said in a statement.
Monday
Scott announced he will provide full refunds for all attendees who bought tickets to Astroworld and that he will not perform at the Day N Vegas Festival this upcoming weekend, sources said.
The FBI is providing “some forms of technical assistance” to investigators in Houston, FBI Director Christopher Wray said Monday at a Department of Justice news conference when asked by ABC News Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas whether the bureau was involved.
Identities of all of the victims were released. A prayer vigil for the victims was held at the Annunciation Catholic Church in Houston.
ABC News’ Meredith Deliso, Jenna Harrison, Bill Hutchinson, Alexander Mallin and Stephanie Wash contributed to this report.
(PARIS) — Vice President Kamala Harris is set to travel to France late Monday, a high-profile visit following President Joe Biden’s efforts to soothe tensions with America’s oldest ally in the wake of controversy over a nuclear submarine deal that Biden described as “clumsy.”
Harris is scheduled to have a one-on-one meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday. She will also participate in two international summits, and attend ceremonial events on Nov. 11 to mark Veterans Day in the U.S. and Armistice Day in France, observing the end of World War I. The trip will be Harris’s third venture outside of the U.S. as vice president, giving her the diplomatic opportunities often afforded to vice presidents, but scarce her tenure thus far due to the pandemic.
“This visit from the vice president really signals the strength of our alliances as our nations work together to advance prosperity, security and stability,” a senior administration official said on a call with reporters ahead of the trip.
The visit comes nearly two months after the U.S. rolled out a partnership with Australia to share nuclear submarine technology, leading Australia to cancel a $65-million submarine order with the French. With French officials, including Macron, seemingly blindsided by the deal, the French ambassador was temporarily recalled from Washington.
President Biden, sitting down with Macron on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Rome, said publicly that U.S. handling of the submarine deal “was clumsy.”
“It was not done with a lot of grace,” Biden admitted. “I was under the impression certain things had happened that hadn’t happened. And uh, but uh, I want to make it clear. France is an extremely, extremely valued partner.”
Now, Harris will continue to drive home that message, attending a dinner at Elysee Palace in addition to the bilateral meeting with Macron.
Administration officials would not say on a briefing call with reporters whether a lower-level official would have gone on this trip if it were not for the rift between Macron and the U.S. over the “submarine snub.”
“I don’t have a crystal ball here. I’m not going to play the ‘what if’ game,” a senior administration official said. “There are things that happened three months ago that I would not have predicted three months before that, but I can tell you as the vice president is looking forward to this trip. This trip is extremely important.”
In addition to sitting down with Macron one-on-one, Harris will participate in the Paris Peace Forum, focusing on global health in a post-pandemic world, and she’ll attend the Libya Conference, meeting with 20 heads of state to encourage an end to violence in Libya and open democratic elections on Dec. 24.
While in Paris, Harris will also mark Armistice Day in France and Veterans Day in the U.S. by visiting Surenes, an American World War I military cemetery in France. On the day of arrival, Harris will visit the Institute Pasteur to see the work of French scientists combatting COVID-19. That visit will be particularly special, given Harris’s mother conducted breast cancer research at the institute in the 1980s.
The Libya Conference promises to be especially thorny. Co-hosted by Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, Prime Minister Mario Draghi of Italy, and U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres, the conference is meant to acknowledge that after a tough decade after the fall of Qaddafi, civil war and violence, an election offers hope, a senior administration official said. European leaders are especially invested in creating the conditions for peace in Libya, in order to stem the tide of migrants to the European mainland.
“The vice president thinks it’s important for the United States to be at that table. And to lend our support for legitimate and effective elections that lead to international consensus on not just having these legitimate, effective elections, but bringing into power a government that Libya wants and getting the foreign forces out of the country. So that’s why she’s going to be there with that important message from the United States,” a senior administration official said.
The second gentleman, Doug Emhoff, will also travel to Paris, and participate in independent events focused on gender equality, sports diplomacy, and educational exchanges.
(WASHINGTON) — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot on Monday issued six new subpoenas to senior Trump campaign officials and advisers, including campaign manager Bill Stepien and spokesman Jason Miller.
The panel also subpoenaed conservative attorney John Eastman for records and documents. According to Bob Woodward and Robert Costa’s recent book, he aggressively lobbied Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election results from his ceremonial post in the House on Jan. 6 — when he presided over the counting of electoral votes.
The committee also subpoenaed former national security adviser Michael Flynn, one of the prominent voices around Trump after the election who publicly called on the president to take drastic actions to overturn the results.
The panel has asked all six individuals to turn over records by Nov. 23 and appear for depositions between Dec. 3 and Dec. 13.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — The nation’s top law enforcement officials announced on Monday the seizure of approximately $6 million in ransom payments and new criminal charges against a Ukrainian national and Russian national alleged to have deployed the REvil ransomware that infected more than 1,000 companies and public organizations around the globe this summer.
Yaroslav Vasinskyi, a Ukrainian national arrested last month in Poland, and Yevgeniy Polyanin, a Russian national who remains at large, face charges of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering. Vasinskyi was charged in connection with his alleged role in carrying out the devastating July 4 ransomware attack against the software firm Kaseya, which in turn affected hundreds of companies within the U.S.
Together, the U.S. Treasury Department said the two men “are part of a cybercriminal group that has engaged in ransomware activities and received more than $200 million in ransom payments paid in Bitcoin and Monero.” It is announcing sanctions against the two men as well.
Charging documents unsealed Monday morning also accuse Vainskyi of conducting approximately 2,500 ransomware attacks and demanding approximately $767 million in ransom, $2.3 million of which was eventually paid.
There is no lawyer listed for Vasinskyi or Polyanin.
“Our message today is clear: The United States, together with our allies, will do everything in our power to identify the perpetrators of ransomware attacks, to bring them to justice and to recover the funds they have stolen from the American people,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco lauded Kaseya for calling the FBI and Department of Justice and asking for help in finding the alleged criminals.
“As we’ve shown time and time again, we’re still going to pursue them, disrupt them and hold them accountable,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said.
Garland said REvil ransomware has been deployed on approximately 175,000 computers worldwide with at least $200 million paid in ransom.
REvil was also behind the May attack on meat supplier JBS, which paid $11 million in ransom to unlock its systems.
The State Department is is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information that helps identify or locate the leaders of the cybercriminal group known as REvil or Sodinokibi.
The U.S. is also offering up to $5 million for information that leads to the arrest or conviction of any individual involved in a REvil ransomware attack.
In June, the Justice Department announced it had successfully seized millions of dollars in cryptocurrency Colonial Pipeline paid to the cyber criminal group DarkSide following the attack that led the pipeline to briefly shut down its operations.
ABC News’ Connor Finnegan contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — As first lady Jill Biden prepared to kick off a vaccination campaign for kids ages 5-11 on Monday, over the weekend “Sesame Street” mainstay Big Bird tweeted he received his first dose, encouraging children across the country to do the same.
“I got the COVID-19 vaccine today! My wing is feeling a little sore, but it’ll give my body an extra protective boost that keeps me and others healthy,” the eight-foot-two canary yellow Muppet wrote on Twitter Saturday.
I got the COVID-19 vaccine today! My wing is feeling a little sore, but it’ll give my body an extra protective boost that keeps me and others healthy.
Ms. @EricaRHill even said I’ve been getting vaccines since I was a little bird. I had no idea!
President Joe Biden responded to the tweet, writing “Good on ya, @BigBird. Getting vaccinated is the best way to keep your whole neighborhood safe.”
The social media announcement sparked conservative backlash, including from Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, accusing Big Bird of being used to for “government propaganda.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended Pfizer vaccines for children ages 5-11 last week, expanding eligibility to 28 million more Americans.
The tweet from the TV favorite, who is said to be always 6 years old, is part of the administration’s big push to get kids vaccinated against COVID-19 following the Food and Drug Administration’s full authorization of the shot for kids as young as 5 years old. The first lady will visit an elementary school with Surgeon General Vivek Murthy on Monday to promote the pediatric vaccinations.
Big Bird’s announcement came the same day as the icon participated in a CNN town hall alongside his “Sesame Street” neighbors Elmo and Rosita called “The ABCs of Covid Vaccines,” where they answered kids’ questions about the vaccine with CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta and anchor Erica Hill.
Cruz has received the COVID-19 vaccine himself but says he is against vaccine mandates. The Texas senator continued to criticize Big Bird’s announcement on Twitter.
In response to ABC News’ request for comment, Cruz’s office pointed to previous tweets from the senator encouraging parents to make their own decision regarding their children’s health.
This is not the first time the “Sesame Street” character has weighed in on vaccines for children. After Cruz accused the administration of using Big Bird to spread “propaganda,” a 1972 “Sesame Street” clip showing Big Bird lining up for the measles vaccine began gaining traction online.
Newsmax host Steve Cortes joined Cruz in attacking Big Bird, calling the tweet “evil.”
Others came to the Sesame Street character’s defense. Former President Donald Trump’s niece and one of his frequent critics, Mary Trump, defended Big Bird and pointed out Cruz’s vaccination status.
Big Bird is kind, compassionate, empathetic, loving, adored, and vaccinated. Ted Cruz is . . . vaccinated.
(LOS ANGELES) — Los Angeles’ sweeping new vaccine mandate goes into effect Monday, which requires proof of vaccination in order for patrons to enter most public indoor spaces in the second most populous city in the U.S.
Believed to be among the most far-reaching vaccination requirements in the nation, the ordinance from the Los Angeles City Council was signed by Mayor Eric Garcetti in October but took effect Monday morning, covering everyone who is eligible for a coronavirus vaccine (or people ages 12 and up).
The mandate requires proof of vaccination to enter the indoor portions of any establishment where food or beverages are served (such as restaurants, bars, coffee shops, etc), gyms and fitness venues, entertainment and recreation venues (including movie theaters, music and concert venues, museums and shopping centers), personal care establishments (like spas and nail salons), and any facilities or buildings owned or operated by the City of Los Angeles.
Effective November 8, 2021, @LACity will require proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test to enter most public indoor places. pic.twitter.com/4ctWBMv71C
It will also require proof of vaccination for large outdoor events with 5,000 or more attendees.
To demonstrate proof of vaccination, people can use their CDC-issued vaccination card or a similar document issued by a foreign government agency, a photo of both sides of their vaccination card, documentation of vaccination from a licensed health care provider or a personal digital COVID-19 vaccine record issued by the State of California or similar entities (such as the State of California’s Digital COVID-19 Vaccine Record, which can be downloaded onto a smartphone and show proof of vaccine via a QR code).
The mandate has exemptions for those who are not vaccinated due to a medical condition or religious belief, but still requires those individuals to have proof of a negative COVID-19 test that was administered within 72 hours prior to seeking entry to an indoor facility or large outdoor event.
“Vaccinating more Angelenos is our only way out of this pandemic, and we must do everything in our power to keep pushing those numbers up,” Garcetti said in a statement last month when he signed the ordinance.
Garcetti added that the rules will help encourage more people to get the shot and make businesses “safer for workers and customers.”
Operators of indoor locations or large outdoor events are asked to check for patrons’ vaccination statuses under the new rules and may be issued a citation for non-compliance. On first offense, the operator will receive a warning and notice to correct. The operator of the venue could then face a fine of $1,000 for a second violation, $2,000 for a third violation and $5,000 for a fourth and each subsequent violation.
While the mandate kicks in on Monday, enforcement — through inspectors from the city’s Department of Building and Safety — will begin starting on Nov. 29.
Los Angeles County data indicate that some 80.2% of residents ages 12 and older have received at least one does of a COVID-19 vaccine as of last week and 72% are fully vaccinated.
Los Angeles joins a growing number of municipalities mandating the coronavirus vaccine for indoor venues. A similar indoor vaccine requirement went into effect in New York City in August, though its rollout sparked backlash.
Despite a small yet vocal faction of Americans opposing the shot, health officials have reiterated that COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective at reducing hospitalizations and deaths from the virus.
(HOUSTON) — All eight of the victims have been identified in the deadly stage surge at the Astroworld Festival concert.
23-year-old Arturo Sanchez, an attendee, said his heart literally stopped as he was trampled by the crowd, and he believed he was going to die himself.
Bruised and battered, Sanchez told ABC News from his hospital bed on Sunday about the panic and chaos that erupted during the opening song of rapper Travis Scott’s performance.
He said that as soon as Scott began to sing, the crowd surged forward, knocking him off balance and causing him to fall to the ground near the front of the stage.
“I was on the floor screaming for help and trying to reach for people’s hands so they could see me and no one could see me,” Sanchez said. “I just kind of accepted the fact that I was going to die and I did for a little bit. My heart stopped, apparently.”
Sanchez said doctors told him he suffered a heart attack and had briefly flatlined.
He said he remembered a large man falling on him and sitting on his chest as he struggled to breathe and then passed out.
Sanchez said a registered nurse attending the concert performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on him and helped get him to an ambulance.
“She saved my life, honestly,” Sanchez said.
Last victim identified
The medical examiner was able to identify the last of the eight victims who died on Sunday after asking for the public’s help in identifying the man.
Oscar Acosta confirmed to ABC station KTRK in Houston that his son, Axel Acosta, died at Memorial Hermann Hospital. He said his son traveled from Washington to see Scott perform.
Acosta identified his son after the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences released a post-mortem photo of the 6-foot-2, nearly 500-pound man, and asked the public for help in identifying him.
Axel Acosta, 21, was among the concertgoers killed when throngs in the estimated crowd of 50,000 packed into NRG Park — which is next to NRG Stadium, home of the Houston Texans NFL football team — suddenly surged toward the stage, authorities said. Another 25 people were injured, one just 10 years old, officials said.
Five other people killed were identified by either their families or the schools they attended.
‘An innocent young soul’
Danish Baig, 27, of Dallas was killed while trying to save his fiancee, Olivia Swingle, who had fallen and was reportedly about to be trampled by concert-goers pushing forward, his brother Basil Baig told ABC News.
“He was an innocent young soul who would always put others before him,” Basil Baig said in a statement. “He was a hardworking man who loved his family and took care of us. He was there in a heartbeat for anything. He always had a solution to everything.”
Basil Baig said in a Facebook post that he also was at the concert, promoted and organized by Live Nation, and described it as being “poorly” managed and supervised. He alleged that Scott provoked the crowd to move toward the stage.
“Travis Scott and his team and everyone associated in the event should and will be held responsible,” Basil Baig said in his statement to ABC News.
In videos Scott posted on Instagram Saturday, he said he tried to spot people in the crowd having physical problems and paused during the show to try to get help to fans that appeared in need.
“I could just never imagine the severity of the situation,” Scott said in one of the videos.
In a separate statement, Live Nation said, “We will continue working to provide as much information and assistance as possible to the local authorities as they investigate the situation.”
The youngest victim
The youngest victim who died was 14-year-old John Hilgert, a freshman at Memorial High School in Houston, according to a letter the school’s principal sent to parents.
“Our hearts go out to the student’s family and to his friends and our staff at Memorial,” principal Lisa Weir wrote in the letter. “This is a terrible loss, and the entire MHS family is grieving today.”
One victim had passion for dance
Also killed was 16-year-old Brianna Rodriguez, a junior at Heights High School in Houston, her aunt, Iris Rodriguez, told ABC News.
Iris Rodriguez said her niece had a passion for dance.
“Now she’s dancing her way to heaven’s pearly gates,” the Rodriguez family wrote on a GoFundMe page that included a series of photos of Brianna.
College senior dies
Franco Patiño, 21, a senior at the University of Dayton in Ohio, was identified by the school as one of the concertgoers killed.
In a letter addressed to members of the university’s campus community, the school’s president, Eric Spina, said Patiño was from Naperville, Illinois, and was majoring in mechanical engineering technology with a minor in human movement biomechanics.
Patiño was also a member of Alpha Psi Lambda, a Hispanic-interest fraternity, and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, Spina wrote. Patiño had been working in an engineering coop program in Mason, Ohio, according to Spina.
‘Huge hole in our lives’
The family of Jacob “Jake” E. Jurinek said in a statement Sunday that he was among those killed. Jurinek was a junior at Southern Illinois University and was majoring in art and media, his family said.
“We are all devastated and are left with a huge hole in our lives,” said Jurinek’s father, Ron Jurinek.
Rodolfo Pena, 23, from Laredo, Texas, and Madison Dubiski, 23, from Cypress, Texas were also killed.
Bedlam ensues
The concert bedlam unfolded around 9:30 p.m. local time Friday when the “the crowd began to compress toward the front of the stage,” Houston Fire Chief Sam Peña told reporters during a news conference Friday night.
“That caused some panic, and it started causing some injuries,” Peña said.
At least 13 people injured remain hospitalized, including five under the age of 18, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner told reporters during a briefing.
As of Sunday night, at least one lawsuit has been filed against Scott.
What triggered the surge is under investigation by the Houston Police Department. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he has ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety to make state resources available to support the investigation.
Scott has history of issues at concerts
Problems have previously occurred at other Travis Scott concerts. In 2015, the rapper was arrested on charges of inciting a crowd to jump barriers at a Lollapalooza concert in Chicago. He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and paid a fine, according to officials.
In 2017, Scott was arrested again after he invited more people to come closer to the stage, prompting fans at the Walmart Music Pavilion in Rogers, Arkansas, to breach barricades and overrun security. In that case, he also pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct and paid a fine.
Prior to the fatal surge at Scott’s concert on Friday night, some 300 people had been treated throughout the day at the music festival by on-site medical personnel, authorities said. There were “many instances” where they had to administer Narcan, which is used to treat a narcotic overdose, said Peña, who did not have an exact number.
Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said that during the pandemonium, a private security guard working at the festival was possibly injected in the neck with drugs as he was attempting to grab or restrain someone.
“When he was examined, he went unconscious,” Finner said during a Saturday afternoon briefing. “(Medical staff) administered Narcan. He was revived, and the medical staff did notice a prick that was similar to a prick that you would get if someone was trying to inject.”
ABC News’ Meredith Deliso, Jenna Harrison, Kendall Coughlin, Darren Reynolds and Marcus Moore
(MCLEAN, Va.) — First lady Jill Biden is taking the administration’s push for child COVID-19 vaccinations on the road to Northern Virginia on Monday by visiting a school that is of historic importance in vaccinations in the U.S.
Biden, along with Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, will visit Franklin Sherman Elementary School in McLean, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C.
Franklin Sherman Elementary School was where the first polio vaccine was administered to children in 1954, according to the White House.
The visit is a step in the Biden administration’s push for youngsters to get the jab after the Food and Drug Administration granted full authorization to the vaccine in children ages 5-11, making more than 28 million American kids eligible for the vaccine.
In addition to visiting schools, the administration sent letters to superintendents and elementary school principals across the country on Monday, urging school officials to set up vaccination clinics in their schools.
“Schools play a vital role in providing access to and trusted information on the vaccine,” Health Secretary Xavier Becerra and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona wrote in the letter.
The schools themselves would not administer the vaccines, they would partner with a local vaccine provider, like a community health clinic or pharmacy, to give the shots to students. The schools would have access to federal cash from the American Rescue Plan to help with costs from providing spaces for vaccines and organizing the vaccine appointments.
The letter also asked schools to distribute information fact sheets, social media and emails to families in the schools. Officials said another way schools can help is by fostering community dialogue with existing organizations, like Parent-Teacher Associations.
“Parents rely on their children’s teachers, principals, school nurses, and other school personnel to help keep their students safe and healthy every school year,” Becerra and Cardona wrote in the letter. “The communications you issue – in languages accessible to your parents – will be critical in helping families learn more about the vaccine.”
Officials encouraged schools by pointing out that increased vaccinations could mean fewer cancellations of class and activities given outbreaks.
“Vaccination is the best tool we have to keep our students safe from COVID-19, maintain in-person learning, and prevent the closure of schools and cancellation of valued extracurricular activities,” Becerra and Cardona wrote in the letter.
ABC News’ Anne Flaherty contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — To help educate kids about the COVID-19 vaccine and encourage them to get it, Big Bird from “Sesame Street” announced that he just got the shot and is feeling great about it.
“I got the COVID-19 vaccine today!” Big Bird tweeted over the weekend, breaking a months-long hiatus on the social media site. “My wing is feeling a little sore, but it’ll give my body an extra protective boost that keeps me and others healthy.”
The beloved character also revealed something he recently found out, which is “I’ve been getting vaccines since I was a little bird. I had no idea!”
Big Bird’s vaccination announcement received a shout-out from President Joe Biden, who replied, “Good on ya, @BigBird. Getting vaccinated is the best way to keep your whole neighborhood safe.”
While the character has been entertaining kids for decades, Big Bird is technically 6 years old, which means he recently became eligible for the Pfizer vaccine. The vaccine was authorized for kids ages 5 to 11 by the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week. Shots are now being administered to children of that age group.
For those who may be puzzled as to why the “Sesame Street” character has joined the ongoing conversation about pediatric vaccinations, Big Bird has, historically, been the go-to muppet on vaccine PSAs.
In 1972, the giant yellow canary spoke about the importance of getting the measles vaccine, according to a resurfaced video shared by Muppet Wiki in a Twitter thread.
(NEW YORK) — This report is a part of “Rethinking Gun Violence,” an ABC News series examining the level of gun violence in the U.S. — and what can be done about it.
Paul Kemp, a founding board member and the president of Gun Owners for Responsible Ownership, has been a gun owner for most of his life.
He grew up in Michigan and owns a hunting rifle, a couple of handguns and a .22-caliber rifle.
He also said he was taught about gun safety growing up and thought he had a good understanding of the gun laws in the country.
But when his brother-in-law, Steve Forsyth, a youth sports coach and father of two, was shot and killed by a man armed with an AR-15 style rifle in 2012, “I realized how misinformed I was,” he said.
Kemp said he had “no idea that we had such a patchwork of gun laws around the country.” While he noted the National Firearms Act, first enacted in 1934, the Gun Control Act of 1968 and the Brady Law, which amended the GCA in 1993, there is a “a lot of latitude for very weak gun laws in states,” he said.
Watch ABC News Live on Mondays at 3 p.m. to hear more about gun violence from experts during roundtable discussions. And check back tomorrow, when we look at Chicago’s violence disruptors and how they try to bring peace.
The U.S. is awash in guns, with nearly 400 million in the United States, according to a 2018 report from the Small Arms Survey, a Switzerland-based global research project.
And gun violence has been rising in the past several years (gun deaths are up 56% from 2014-2020, and injuries increased 73% in the same time period, according to Gun Violence Archive).
Many people who own firearms agree that violence is a problem — but fundamentally disagree as to why, leaving the debate at an impasse.
So, ABC News interviewed some gun owners to get their perspective on potential solutions to the spate of gun violence plaguing the country. Their perspectives represent slices of the highly charged debate that plays out at the national level between advocates, legislators and groups such as the NRA.
Here’s what they had to say:
Safe storage
The shooter at the Clackamas Town Center Mall in Oregon killed Forsyth and 54-year-old hospice nurse Cindy Yuille with a Stag Arms AR-15 rifle that he had taken from a friend, who had purchased the gun legally but left it loaded and unsecured in his house, the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office public information officer told Kemp.
He said one of his first thoughts was, “Well, doesn’t Oregon have a safe storage gun law?” The officer told him no.
“I said, ‘You’re telling me that guy who owned that gun faces no consequences?’ and he said, ‘That’s correct.'”
There are 11 states in the U.S. that have some form of safe storage law on the books, according to the Giffords Law Center, a gun violence prevention organization. Massachusetts was the first state to require all firearms be locked up while not in use; Oregon became the second this summer when Gov. Kate Brown signed the Cindy Yuille and Steve Forsyth Act into law, named to honor the two who died in the shooting.
Safe storage laws generally require that a weapon must be stored unloaded, in a locked container or with a trigger lock, a device that goes over a firearm’s trigger and can be locked and unlocked using a key or numerical combination. While Massachusetts and Oregon enacted these rules for all gun owners, regulations in some states, such as Colorado and California, only apply these laws to gun owners who live with a person who is legally prohibited from possessing a firearm.
The punishments vary. In Colorado, it’s a fine and/or up to a year in jail. In Oregon, it’s a maximum $500 fine, which can rise to $2,000 if a minor obtains a firearm as a result of unsecured storage.
Approximately 4.6 million children in the United States live in a home where a firearm is stored loaded and unlocked, according to a national survey conducted by Harvard Injury Control Research Center in 2015. Safe storage could prevent up to a third of suicide and unintentional firearm deaths, a 2019 study published in JAMA Pediatrics found.
And safe storage regulations are popular.
In a 2019 report from the American Public Media Research Lab, more than three-quarters of the 1,000 Americans surveyed said they support mandating locked gun storage.
Universal background checks — including for private sales
Shannon Flores said her family currently owns somewhere around 37 guns at last count. Flores owns a Springfield XD-S handgun. Her wife, Scarlett, is a gun collector and hunter and has multiple kinds of firearms. Plus they have some .22 caliber rifles that their 9-year-old twins use for “plinking” — or practicing shooting clay pigeons, cans and hay bales.
Like Kemp, Flores emphasizes the importance of safe storage.
She said most of her family’s guns came with a gun lock when they purchased them, they have gun safes for the rifles, small safes for the handguns and Flores’ handgun also has a biometric lock.
But Flores, a Texas-based organizer for Giffords’ Gun Owners for Safety, also pointed to universal background checks — a system that would require all gun buyers to go through the National Instant Criminal Background Check (NICS) before purchasing a firearm — as a potential solution to curb gun trafficking and help prevent people who are prohibited from owning firearms from obtaining them.
Between November 1998 and September 2021, there have been just over 2 million denials out of more than 400 million federal background checks, according to a report from NICS, though this does not account for denials that may have happened due to a state background check. About half the time, FBI data shows, the reason for denial is because a person was previously convicted of a crime.
When combined with data from states that conduct background checks for point-of-contact sales, more than 300,000 people were stopped from buying a gun illegally in 2020, according to FBI data, raising the rate of barred would-be firearm purchasers from 0.6% to 0.8% over the past two years.
But those numbers only account for licensed gun dealers. Under federal law, unlicensed sellers — such as gun shows or private sales — aren’t required to perform background checks. Fourteen states and Washington, D.C., have laws closing this loophole, according to Giffords Law Center, but a majority do not.
Under the concept of universal background checks, the idea is that no matter where someone buys a gun — at a store, a gun show or through a friend or online — they would have to go through a background check via a nationwide database.
For instance, when Scarlett Flores sold a gun to a friend, they headed over to a local gun range in Houston that holds a FFL — a federal firearms license — and could serve as the point of transfer.
“She explains to clerk that she wants to sell a weapon. There’s an exchange of IDs, it goes through the system, small fee like $15, system is updated to prove this weapon was transferred and there’s a background check that goes with that,” Shannon Flores said.
This not only provides a background check of the purchaser, but it also documents that Scarlett no longer owns that gun and records the name of who now does.
Like safe storage laws, universal background check requirements have been popular in recent years: 89% of Americans support background checks for all gun purchases, including private and gun show sales, according to a 2019 ABC News/Washington Post poll.
Conversations about gun violence — and the ineffectiveness of gun laws — often reference Chicago, where there are restrictive regulations but a significant level of violence. Many people committing crimes with guns, some argue, obtain firearms illegally, so universal background checks wouldn’t make a difference.
According to the Department of Justice’s 2016 Survey of Prison Inmates, 43% of people who used a gun in a crime obtained the firearm off the street or in the underground market, 25% got it from an individual, either from a friend or family member or as a gift, 10% purchased the firearm at a retail source like a gun store or pawn shop, 6% stole it and 17% obtained it in some “other” way such as finding it at the scene or the gun was brought by someone else.
But Shannon Flores said having a patchwork of gun laws across the 50 states “makes it really easy to traffic guns” along what’s sometimes called the Iron Pipeline — a route from the South, where gun laws are fairly relaxed, up the East Coast, where gun laws are more restrictive.
“I was one of them, the way I used to think about gun violence and crime in cities … The gun violence makes news all the time,” Kemp said. But then he began “looking into things,” he said. “Everybody says Chicago has some of the strictest gun laws in the country, but Wisconsin right next to them has some of weakest gun laws, and Indiana has some of the weakest gun laws … they feed firearms into Chicago.”
According to a 2017 report from the City of Chicago, 60% of guns that are recovered after being used in crimes come from out of state, especially from Indiana.
“Guns that are trafficked between states nearly always originate from states without strong background check laws,” Rob Wilcox, the federal legal director for Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit gun control advocacy organization, told ABC News.
In May, three Army service members stationed at Fort Campbell, on the border of Tennessee and Kentucky, were charged with the illegal purchase and transfer of dozens of firearms to Chicago. An investigation — which began after Chicago police responded to a mass shooting incident and found five firearms at the scene from the Clarksville, Tennessee area — found that the three soldiers had purchased more than 90 guns from federally licensed dealers in the region, most within five months.
Teaching responsibility
Some gun advocates say that regulation is beside the point and that what is needed instead is proper education.
John Harris, a lawyer and the executive director of the Tennessee Firearms Association, a gun rights advocacy group, argued that for decades, guns were not a “prohibited concept that was demonized.”
Teaching firearms safety in school could be something to consider, he said, “so there is an appreciation that firearms are not some video game entertainment item, but that they are useful — but potentially dangerous — items that you have to know how to use, know how to respect and only use respectfully.”
Some schools do teach gun safety. Utah lawmakers recently passed a bill creating a program to provide a firearm safety course in public schools. Both the Connecticut State Department of Education and the Virginia Board of Education have published guides for schools to develop lessons on firearm safety.
Shannon Flores, said her 9-year-old children, who use .22 caliber rifles for sport, have grown up around guns just like she did.
“We have conversations with them regularly about guns and lethality,” she said. “My kids have gone hunting with my wife … I grew up hunting, too, so I grew up seeing what a bullet can do to a living organism.”
Flores acknowledged that not all children grow up hunting or around guns at all. She pointed to a recent gun safety resource in her state called “Keep Em Safe, Texas.” The campaign has materials on safe storage and offers presentations for both adult and child audiences, but since the campaign was just launched in October 2020 there is no data yet as to its efficacy.
“As gun owners, we have to be the ones sending the message” when it comes to teaching gun safety to children who don’t learn about guns the way she did, Flores said. “Not everyone has the opportunity to explore guns in same manner.”
In Oregon, Kemp worked with a pediatrician to create a script for doctors and nurses to talk to teens and their parents about firearms and safety.
The National Rifle Association also has a program called the Eddie Eagle GunSafe program to prevent firearm accidents among children. It aims to teach kids that if they find a firearm, to stop, don’t touch it, run away and tell a grown-up.
Studies over the years have shown that teaching gun safety to children is generally ineffective in preventing accidental injuries or in reducing children’s interest in playing with guns.
“The most effective way to prevent unintentional gun injuries, suicide and homicide to children and adolescents, research shows, is the absence of guns from homes and communities,” according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, which also notes that if a family does still keep guns in the home, then they should be store “locked and unloaded, with ammunition locked separately.”
What happens now?
Despite an acknowledgement that the level of gun violence in the United States is much, much higher than it should be, there’s not agreement among all gun owners when it comes to what to do about it.
Many gun owners support what Flores called “reasonable regulations.” The 2019 American Public Media Research Lab report showed more than two-thirds of gun owners supported safe storage laws. A 2019 ABC News/Washington Post poll found eight in 10 people in gun households supported universal background checks.
But there is still a population of gun owners who don’t see any legislative path forward.
The NRA has been waging a battle against numerous gun control efforts for decades, especially when it comes to legislation — and its message has an effect.
A 2018 study from Monmouth University showed that 78% of gun owners who are not NRA members supported background checks for all firearms purchases. That dropped to 69% of NRA members.
“They just became a lot more militant about their stance on things,” Kemp argued. “They have been incredibly effective communicators with their group, and their members are highly motivated and very vocal.”
The organization also has the NRA Civil Defense Fund, which according to its website, offers “legal and financial assistance to select individuals and organizations defending their right to keep and bear arms.”
The NRA Civil Defense Fund currently has ongoing litigation in 20 states.
Harris, who said he feels the Second Amendment gives Americans the “individual God-given right to possess any weapon they may have a use or need for, for political or self-defense purposes,” said there’s nothing he understands about gun control advocates’ position.
This is a position largely echoed by the NRA.
Attitudes about gun control laws have changed in the U.S., even in the past couple of years.
In a ABC News/Washington Post poll earlier this year, 50% percent of Americans said they would prioritize enacting new gun violence laws, while 43% prefer a focus on protecting the right to own guns.
The level of support is down from 57% after the mass school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida in 2018.
It is also unclear if proposed measures such as universal background checks have maintained their overwhelming popularity as measured in 2019.
This fundamental divide has resulted in gridlock at the national level, even with mass shootings on the rise as well as homicides and other gun violence.
In Flores’ view, gun owners, who understand guns and how they work, need to come together with organizations such as Giffords’ Gun Owners for Safety or Kemp’s Gun Owners for Responsible Ownership to come up with laws they can agree on — and get politicians on board, too.
“The argument that gun safety laws won’t make a difference is moot, because to not try anything is just to continue the bloodshed,” she said.
ABC News’ Marlene Lenthang contributed to this report.
