Mayor Sylvester Turner of Houston sits down with Cheddar Politics to discuss the need for gun safety legislation and efforts to reduce violent crime.

Turner talks about balancing different constituencies within the Democratic party on policing. He rejected calls to defund the police, but does believe other public safety measures proposed by that group need to be funded, as well. The Mayor emphasizes how important gun policy is in crime reduction, saying that as long as Texas has some of the most lax gun laws in the nation, Houston will be 'up against it'.  


Cheddar Politics

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner Talks Gun Control, Crime Reduction

and welcome back everybody to enter politics and baker machado in new york. We sat down earlier with the mayor of Houston, Sylvester Turner an outspoken advocate of gun reform in the wake of Uvalde all to talk about democratic policies on gun reform and gun reduction, the city level and the national level. Now, he first addressed the conflict within the Democratic Party about whether or not to fund the police more or take that money that would go to police and spend it on other public safety methods. Here's what he said. Well, it's not either are, I mean for public safety, it is important for us to fund law enforcement, to provide them with the tools that they need in order to keep our communities safe and to keep themselves safe. At the very same time, a part of public safety is providing those resources in the community to make sure that we're investing in communities, especially those communities that have been underserved and under resourced for decades. And then you have to bear in mind that there are a lot of people who are living in our cities, in our communities that are suffering from behavioral health issues, mental health issues and we need to make sure that we provide necessary resources for those people who are in crisis. So it's a combination of all of that here in the city of Houston, we have never defunded police. In fact, we have provided them with the resources that they need and will continue to do that. But at the very same time, we are investing in our communities investing in homeless initiatives, substance abuse, behavioral health issues. Um, making sure, for example, that for people who are coming out of our criminal justice system, returning back to the city that we are providing them with the reentry support that they need for jobs and for housing. Mayor turner, you're, you're working to decrease violent crime in a state with incredibly lax gun laws. You've been incredibly critical of the governor, Greg Abbott for that, especially in the aftermath of you've all day. What extent do you think that the gun laws in your state play a role in sort of the violent crime that we're seeing? Well, I have been critical and will continue to be critical because the reality is with everything that I've already said, as long as the gun laws in the state of texas remain as they are, we will be up against it just last year in september hB. House bill 1927 went into effect. That allows people to have guns. Permanence carry, no training, no license at all. And it was predicted at the time that if that bill went into effect, crime would go up well in terms of shootings, that would take place. All of the major city police chiefs, both and testified against House Bill 1927 permanence carry. But it has gone into effect just last year in the Legislature, the legislature lowered the age by which a person can purchase a gun. It's an assault weapon from 21 to 18 person, for example, the shooter in New balti, I was 18 years of age, there are way too many guns that exist in in, for example, in our state and our country. There are more guns in the United States, for example, than people. So I have been critical will continue to be critical. We need red flag laws, we need universal background checks. We need to increase the age from which a person can purchase a gun from 18 to 21. We need to raise that age and we need to provide substantial mental health crisis intervention funding for people within our respective And on top of all of that, Mr Mayor, you know, the senator from your state, Mr cornyn has said, look, we've we've already passed this gun ground, regulate The most substantial and we've seen in the last 30 years, but he has said that there's no appetite right now, especially on the Republican side for any future gun legislation down the road, which obviously makes your job as a mayor and mayors across the country incredibly difficult here. So what can you do as a mayor in a town to sort of bring down gun violence, given the fact that you're likely not going to get any help from the federal level whatsoever? Well, I applaud Senator cornyn and for the members in the Senate for the for the bill the legislation that they recently passed. Um, and I applaud them. I'm very appreciative for that. But, but that's just step one. The reality is, is that when you look at the situation, for example, in your volunteer 19 kids to teachers, 21 people whose lives were taken because someone was allowed to purchase a gun at the age of 18. And in the state of Texas, the legislature lowered that age from 21-18. That makes absolutely no sense. Now, there may be some who say there's no appetite for, uh, pragmatic common sense, gun reform, but what about everybody else? I recognize that there are some who, regardless of the facts, regardless of the amount of carnage that's taking place in our country. There are a number of mass shootings that are taking place in our country. There are some who won't move it on. But I do believe at this point in time that there are people of goodwill who recognize that nobody is trying to take people's guns away. But we are trying to create an environment and atmosphere that will be safe for our kids when they go to school, when they go to parks and playgrounds, when they are walking in their neighborhoods and that the status, quote as it currently exists, cannot remain as it has been. It's not in republicans best interest, it's not in democrats best interest. Quite frankly, our Children are neither democrats nor republicans, their kids and they have a right to a future and they have a right to a safe future. So there may be some policy makers who are not prepared to do anything. But I do think that in this moment in time that the rest of us need to stand up and simply say if you're standing in the way of protecting our Children, then it is time that we elect you out and put people in these positions, a policy making positions that can do the right thing for our Children and for our family. And by the way, one initiative that we, we've heard of other mayors talk about is maybe a gun buyback program as part of your one Houston safety initiative, you're actually implementing a gun buyback program on the 30th of july, you're actually offering $50 gift cards for non functioning firearms, $100 for rifles and shotguns and 100 and $50 for for, for handguns and anything. I think $200 for an automatic rifle, I believe. I've read how are you anticipating in terms of the turnout for something like that? And if that seems to be successful, is that a model for other mayors to do in other cities like new york here in particular? Well, it has number one that has been well received. Uh, and I certainly want to thank all the persons who are sponsoring with that. We have County Commissioner Rodney Ellis, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson lee and others who have come and who are joining in this effort. Let me just say this. The approach that has to be taken to address public safety and the rising crime in our respective system cities has to be holistic. Is not one or the other is doing a series of things, working in collaboration and in tandem with one another. And then the gun buyback program is one of the pieces of this overall puzzle. So it's not about doing one and saying this will bring down crime, but this will get it done because people can certainly say may have a gun buyback program. Okay, are the criminals really going to be giving up their guns? That's not the point. The point is, is that there are way too many guns on our street. We need to be having this conversation. We need to be removing as many as we can. And if this will incentivize some to give up some of those guns that are not needed, then that's that's that's well taken and a special thanks. There are two mayor, Sylvester turner of Houston and coming up next, everyone after the break, we're gonna talk to a guest who has made it his mission to figure out what causes income inequality and ask him what he's learned when gender politics returns. Right after this