Every Saturday, we revisit a story that’s in the news again. 

This originally aired on June 6, 2022. None of the dates, titles, or other references from that time have been changed. 

Mass shooting after mass shooting, Americans cry out for gun control, but more often than not, nothing is done. Why? Many Americans, including President Joe Biden, blame the gun lobby. We hear how America’s most influential lobbying organization changed tactics in the 1970’s and secret recordings that throw back the curtain on how they get business done.

• Ryan Busse (@ryandbusse), Author of Gunfight and Senior Adviser to Giffords @giffordscourage 
• Peter Charley, Manager of Investigative Journalism at Al Jazeera

Episode credits:

This episode was updated by Amy Walters. The original production team was Amy Walters, Ruby Zaman, Alexandra Locke, Ney Alvarez, Negin Owliaei, and Malika Bilal.

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our lead of audience development and engagement is Aya Elmileik. Adam Abou-Gad is our engagement producer.

Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.

A special thanks to Frank Smyth for his help. And Tim Mack at NPR, who put out those secret post-Columbine NRA tapes.

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