Congressman Joaquin Castro (D-TX) is throwing his weight behind gun control, he told Cheddar in an interview Tuesday.
“I respect Second Amendment rights and people’s rights to own a gun, to protect themselves,” he said. “At the same time, I also believe that when we talk about things like semi-automatic weapons [and] bump stocks that make guns automatic, we ought to make sure that those aren’t just out there on the streets.”
His comments came after former Supreme Court Associate Justice John Paul Stevens penned a [New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/27/opinion/john-paul-stevens-repeal-second-amendment.html) op-ed in favor of a full-blown repeal of the Second Amendment, which he called a “relic of the 18th Century.”
While that view might be extreme, there does appear to be growing demand for gun reform in the country. The sentiment was highlighted at last weekend’s March For Our Lives rallies, which drew in hundreds of thousands of people across the country. Castro said that placed palpable pressure on legislators to act.
“It’s clear that the young people are not going away...They’re going to be very persistent on this issue,” said Castro.
And plenty of activists were out in force to make sure Saturday’s marchers will stay involved through the November elections.
“There’s a group called Move San Antonio that does wonderful work all over town registering people, and they were very active at the rally,” Castro said.
Whether those efforts will turn the historically red Texas blue remains to be seen. Castro says Democrats have a chance, but it will be “an uphill battle.”
“We always rank near the bottom in terms of voter participation,” explained Castro. “Texas hasn’t elected a Democrat [Senator] since the mid-1990s, and it’s an expensive state to run in.
“But we are getting stronger. We’ve got good candidates, and I think we have a chance of breaking through.”
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/rep-joaquin-castro-d-tx-wants-to-see-eye-to-eye-with-all-constituents).
A bill to legalize recreational marijuana use in New Jersey passed a panel vote, and now heads to a full vote and governor's desk. State Sen. Gerald Cardinale of New Jersey, explains why he's against it when it comes to traffic accidents and youth usage in this week's episode of Cannabiz.
Since a Supreme Court ruling in May, seven states have legalized sports betting ー and Adam Small, the CEO of gambling magazine USBets thinks Ohio, Virginia, Kentucky, and Louisiana may be next.
Richard Allan, Facebook's vice president of public policy for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, answered inquiries from representatives of nine countries, sitting next to an empty chair left open for Zuckerberg. Early on, Allan, who is a former member of the British Parliament, admitted that the chief executive's absence was "not great."
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2018.
British Prime Minister Theresa May finally garnered European Union support for her Brexit plan, but unrest at home threatens to dismantle negotiations ー and lawmakers have warned there is no plan B. "The worst case scenario for many, particularly for anyone who is a 'Remainer,' is that we leave the EU without a deal in place at all," Ayesha Javed, Deputy Editor of The Wall Street Journal's WSJ City, told Cheddar on Monday.
Former wide receiver Walter Powell Jr. played for three NFL teams over a span of four years. But now, a year into his retirement, he's decided to tackle a new challenge ー creating a more informed electorate. The athlete created a new an app, Politiscope, to educate political newcomers like Powell with a tool that "broke down politics so people like me could understand it," he told Cheddar Monday.
Just days after releasing a chilling report on climate change, the Trump administration is trying to bury its own findings. The White House released a statement trying to diminish the severity of the report's findings, saying the report is based on the most extreme possible scenario. Andrew Light, Distinguished Senior Fellow at the World Resources Institute and one of the report's co-authors, and Matt Daily, Reporter at Politico, join Cheddar to discuss the details surrounding the report.
Ohio officials will allow businesses to pay taxes in Bitcoin as of this week. While limited in scope, the move represents an important tacit admission by a government body that Bitcoin is an acceptable currency, according to Jimmy Song, a Bitcoin developer.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Monday, Nov. 26, 2018.
From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, these are the top stories that moved markets and had investors, business leaders, and entrepreneurs talking this week on Cheddar.
