Life and Death, Guns and Feeding Tubes

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Ten people are dead after yesterday's shooting spree in Minnesota, but it's only the latest in a series of bloody incidents in this month alone. There's been a weekend of deadly gun violence in Philadelphia, courthouse shootings in Atlanta and Tyler, Texas, and a gang shooting that accidentally killed a high school girl in Los Angeles. Two weeks ago, it was eight at a church in Wisconsin. Gun control advocates say it's time for a crackdown, and state legislatures all over the country are considering new gun laws, but the National Rifle Association insists more people need guns to defend themselves. We hear both sides of one of America's most emotional controversies from the Communications Director at the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and an expert on crime and gun control at the American Enterprise Institute.
  • Making News: Indian Reservation School Shooting Leaves 10 Dead
    The Red Lake Indian Reservation in Minnesota is mourning the deaths of ten people today in the aftermath of a shooting rampage by a 17-year-old high school student. Jason DeRusha of WCCO-TV in Minneapolis has an update on the tragedy, as well as a look at the troubled youth who went on the shooting rampage.
  • Reporter's Notebook: Terri Schiavo Case Moves to US Appeals Court
    In Tampa today, Federal District Judge James Whittemore acknowledged what he called "the gravity of the consequences," but refused to order Terri Schiavo's feeding tube reinserted. The parents of the brain-damaged woman immediately took the case to the federal appellate court in Atlanta. As the Schiavo case moves to the US Court of Appeals, will a "living will- protect a patient's " right to die?- We hear more about the constitutional and ethical issues involved with journalists, political experts, advocates for the disabled and medical ethicists.

DeRusha's report on Red Lake School shooting

Red Lake Nation Tribal Chair's statement on yesterday's shootings

National Rifle Association

Gallup Poll on gun control laws (November, 2004)

Gallup Poll on gun control (April, 1999)

Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (HR 1025, 1994)

US District Court on Schiavo v Schiavo, denying TRO

Texas' Advance Directives Act (Futile Care Law, 1999)

LA Times on Schiavo case

Los Angeles Times article on value of living will

Credits

Host:

Warren Olney