Politics and views in the United States.

Calls for a national ban on assault weapons are renewed after a shooting in New York. The Department of Defense has banned almost 600 books in its bases' schools and the British Prime Minister says the UK will recognize a Palestinian state.

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to 2025 Talks where we're following our democracy in historic times.

This mass shooting occurred in one of the most heavily policed cities in America, inside a building with multiple layers of security.

Yet, it could not stop a man wielding a weapon of war.

Poe Murray with the Newtown Action Alliance is one of many gun control advocates calling again for a federal ban on assault weapons after a gunman opened fire in a New York City skyscraper killing four before shooting himself.

Shane Tamora drove from Las Vegas, seemingly seeking revenge on the NFL for what he wrote was CTE, brain damage caused by repeated blows.

Tamora never played professionally, but was a star high school football player.

In a rambling note, he asked that his brain be studied.

The shooter was known to have serious mental issues, but kept possession of his weapons.

New York State has some of the strictest firearms laws in the country, but there was little to stop the legal gun owner from walking into a Manhattan office building, openly carrying an assault rifle.

State firearm restrictions were approved after mass shootings at elementary schools in 2024, but Governor Kathy Hilleckel says the entire country needs tighter and universal gun laws.

So you can't say you're tough on crime and be soft on guns or weak on guns.

It's just not holding up.

We need a national awakening here.

People need to be talking about this once again.

And it shouldn't just happen in the wake of a tragedy like this.

It should be an ongoing conversation.

In a major rollback of environmental rules, the EPA is reversing its finding that planet-warming greenhouse gases are a threat to public health.

That determination was key to limiting carbon emissions, and fossil fuel allies are calling this the most important deregulation in years.

The lawyer for Ghislaine Maxwell says she will only testify in return for clemency or a pardon.

Former girlfriend of the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein is serving a long sentence for child sex trafficking.

The Defense Department's Education Division is banning a record number of books.

Close to 600 volumes have been banned at schools on bases, drawing resistance from the ACLU and some military families.

Tesslyn Magnuson with Every Library notes parents can usually order books the local library doesn't have, but she says things are quite different on a DOD base.

Either a kid has parents who can afford to order books, that's not necessarily available for every kid, and they're not going to have a public library.

So the school library is their library, and we're taking that away from them.

The federal budget mega-bill cut funding for the Institute for Library and Museum Sciences, a key funder of public libraries nationwide.

Librarians have been criticized for not banning certain books, causing disruption and mistrust at large and small institutions alike.

A former librarian of Congress fired earlier this year after a decade in the post says she wasn't given much of an explanation.

She and others charged to move was politically motivated.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer says The U.K. will recognize Palestine at the U.N. this September.

This comes as Israel continues to block aid to the country, leading to famine for more than 2 million people.

Starmer says to forestall the recognition of a Palestinian state, Israel would have to allow in much more aid and meet the terms of a ceasefire.

"Unless the Israeli government takes substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza, agree to a ceasefire and commit to a long-term sustainable peace, reviving the prospect of a two-state solution.

And this includes allowing the UN to restart the supply of aid.

I'm Edwin J. Vieira for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

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