Jesse Ventura: Can You Prevent Gun Violence With Guns? | Big Think

Can You Prevent Gun Violence With Guns?

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The popular saying goes "guns don't kill people, people kill people." It's an adage former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura believes in, and the basis of his argument in this Big Think interview. Ventura is of the opinion that taking guns away from law-abiding citizens is the wrong approach for preventing mass violence. He also wonders whether more good guys with guns could stop bad guys with guns before they fulfill their murderous objectives.

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FORMER GOVERNOR OF MINNESOTA:

Jesse Ventura is an American former professional wrestler, actor, political commentator, author, naval veteran, and politician who served as the 38th Governor of Minnesota from 1999 to 2003. He was the first and only member of the Reform Party to win a major government position, but later joined the Independence Party of Minnesota.

Ventura was a U.S. Navy Underwater Demolition Team member during the time of the Vietnam War. After leaving the military, he embarked on a professional wrestling career from 1975 to 1986, taking the ring name Jesse "The Body" Ventura. He had a long tenure in the World Wrestling Federation as a performer and color commentator, and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2004. Near the end of his wrestling career, Ventura started acting, appearing in films such as Predator and The Running Man.

Ventura first entered politics as Mayor of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, from 1991 to 1995. Four years after his mayoral term ended, Ventura was the Reform Party candidate in the Minnesota gubernatorial election of 1998, running a low-budget campaign centered on grassroots events and unusual ads that urged citizens not to "vote for politics as usual". Ventura's campaign was unexpectedly successful, with him narrowly defeating both the Democratic and Republican candidates. The highest elected official to ever win an election on a Reform Party ticket, Ventura left the Reform Party a year after taking office amid internal fights for control over the party.

As governor, Ventura oversaw reforms of Minnesota's property tax as well as the state's first sales tax rebate. Other initiatives taken under Ventura included construction of the METRO Blue Line light rail in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, and cuts in income taxes. Ventura left office in 2003, deciding not to run for re-election. After leaving office, Ventura became a visiting fellow at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government in 2004. He has since also hosted a number of television shows and has written several political books. Ventura remains politically active and currently hosts a show on Ora TV and on RT called Off the Grid.

Ventura is the author of several books including American Conspiracies, which was recently released in its second edition.

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TRANSCRIPT:

Jesse Ventura: What could we do to control the mass shootings that have been happening? That’s the gorilla in the room, isn’t it? The 3,000-pound gorilla because always remember this: I have a gun safe at home and never in my life have I come home and found those guns misbehaving. I’ve never walked in and heard them going off. I never walked in and nothing — because there’s something required. It’s called a human being that has to pull the trigger. And what can we do about it?

Well, I was governor when Columbine happened and I took a great deal of heat when I made the statement that had there been a legit conceal and carry in that building, lives could have been saved. And let me make this statement. Do we care more about our money or our kids? Well, the natural answer is, of course, our kids. But the reality answer isn’t that because isn’t there an armed guard in every bank? And yet the schools have no one to protect them. Guns are banned at schools. There’s nobody there to protect the kids.

Now going to my training in the Navy SEALS. We were trained to think like the enemy. If I were a terrorist and this is terrorism. This is, you know, terrorism in our country happening here. Of course I’d hit a school. There’s nobody there to stop me for 20 minutes. Now I gave the solution 15 years ago. Nobody abided by it and yet how many schools have been attacked since Columbine? A lot. You’ve got law enforcement, retired people out there and retired military special forces guys out there that are phenomenal with weapons. You hire one as a janitor. He wears two hats. The kids in school know him a...

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