# Adam Winkler in In Guns We Trust (2026): Everything They Say in the Film

URL: https://ingunswetrustfilm.com/transcript/people/adam-winkler/

> Every line Adam Winkler speaks in In Guns We Trust (2026), the feature documentary by Josh Janssen with Tommy Jackett: 4 lines in 3 scenes, with the time of each, from the film's transcript. Professor at UCLA, author of Gunfight: The Right to Bear Arms in America.

Transcript · In the film

# Adam Winkler

Professor at UCLA, author of Gunfight: The Right to Bear Arms in America

Adam Winkler, a UCLA law professor and author of Gunfight, a history of the battle over the right to bear arms in America. Still ›

**In the film**

4 lines in 3 scenes, 256 words. First speaks at 7:33.

**Scenes**

Teach people, or hear people, Mychael Waller: three times, Every corner has a murderer

**Elsewhere**

In the credits

7:33

## 8. TEACH PEOPLE, OR HEAR PEOPLE — SANTA MONICA AND UCLA

**ADAM WINKLER** (7:33): Americans are very divided on the issue of guns. For many people, guns are just something that wreak havoc on our societies, that result in death and destruction. I think for other Americans, guns are really about self-defense. They feel insecure in their homes. They feel like they could be victims, and they don't want to be victims. If they have a gun, they know that they are strong individuals who can stand up to anyone.

**ADAM WINKLER** (8:52): Is your goal here to take guns away from people? Is your goal here to teach people, or is your goal here to hear people? If your goal is to hear people, it's not for you to push them to think differently, but rather try to get to the heart of the depths of their own views, rather than being challenged to think differently about their perspective.

32:28

## 16. MYCHAEL WALLER: THREE TIMES — NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

**ADAM WINKLER** (37:14): For most of American history, courts generally thought that the Second Amendment was about protecting militias, and didn't have much to do with an individual right to bear arms. But there was always a contesting view. There was always a dissenting view about the Second Amendment, that it did protect an individual right to bear arms. Over time, that view became more and more popular. In the 1970s, that view became paramount. It became almost exclusively about a right of personal self-defense.

51:55

## 22. EVERY CORNER HAS A MURDERER — BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA; WASHINGTON, DC; THE TEXAS BORDER

**ADAM WINKLER** (53:28): Today, people feel that the threat is very real, even though the data show that the threat is much less significant today than it has been in a long, long time.

Every line as spoken in the film, from the full transcript. Times are from the picture-locked cut; children’s names are withheld. Quotation with attribution is welcome. Spotted a mistake? hello@ingunswetrustfilm.com