Are gun-control laws needed? US Rep. Brian Babin says no

U.S. Rep. Brian Babin, a guest on this week’s Houston Newsmakers with Khambrel Marshall, said despite the recent series of mass murders in this country, new gun laws won’t solve the problem.

“If gun control worked, then why are cities like Indianapolis or like Chicago, New York, why do some of these cities have some of the highest murder rates in the entire country,” he said. “I am very very concerned about some of the plans and some of the bills that have been offered in the U.S. House to control our guns and to get guns out of the hands of those who desperately need them for their own self-protection.”

Babin also weighs in on the immigration crisis along the Texas southern border, the voting rights bills being pushed across the country, and about his vote to not certify the election in two states on January 6th.

Here is a Newsmaker EXTRA:

Fighting Asian hate with knowledge

Dr. Ann Chao, Ph.D., a lecturer at the Chao Center for Asian Studies at Rice University, said that even during the “Jim Crow” years, Asians were able to succeed in Houston because of several things including cohesive family units.

She said one of her concerns about the Asian Hate on display in America is what’s happening at home.

“The kind of conversation that happens at home trickles down to the children and I’ve heard in schoolyards that children are telling Asian kids to go back to where you’ve come from,” she said. “That kind of deep-seated antagonism, I fear just will not go away very easily.”

Joining her for the segment, Dr. Steve Klineberg, Ph.D., founding director of the Kinder Institute for Urban Research, said the racist attitudes we see today against Asians started with U.S. laws in the late 1800s and didn’t ease up until the 1960s.

“Asians were banned entirely from coming to the country into the 20th Century until 1965 which was the first time openings occurred,” he said.

Moving away from hatred

The Anti-Defamation League tracks many kinds of hate against ethnic groups. Mark Toubin, the Regional Director of the ADL Southwest, said the number of incidents has continued to rise.

Hoang Quan Vu knows that fact well. He is the Chair of the American Leadership Forum-Houston, and Partner at Foley & Lardner LLP. He came to America from Vietnam with his family on a cargo ship and said the best day of his life was becoming an American citizen.

“We all share one common thread,” he said. “We bleed Red White & Blue. We are Americans first and foremost. We are all a part of this community. We are not “the other” and we really need our community’s help and understanding.”

See the Newsmakers EXTRA with Quan Vu:

More information

U.S. Rep. Brian Babin, D.D.S. (R) 36th Congressional District

Anne Chao, Ph.D., Chao Center for Asian Studies

Stephen Klineberg, Founding Director, Kinder Institute for Urban Research

Mark Toubin, Regional Director ADL Southwest

Hoang “Quan” Vu, Chair, American Leadership Forum-Houston & Partner Foley & Lardner LLP