Transcript · In the film
Mike Sodini
Founder, Walk the Talk America
- In the film
- 19 lines in 1 scene, 744 words. First speaks at 20:54.
- Elsewhere
- In the credits · IMDb
13. FIRST LIVE ROUNDS, WITH MIKE SODINI — NEVADA DESERT
MIKE SODINI
The AR-15 is just a plain Jane American M4. People think this is a silencer. This is a suppressor. Because of Hollywood, a lot of people think suppressors are used for assassins, but most people use suppressors so their hearing doesn't go. For the many reasons people shoot: sport shooting, therapy, right, things like that. Over time, your hearing gets bad just because it's so loud. You know, I understand that Hollywood, the stories that are told, the John Wicks, they all use firearms, right?
MIKE SODINI
Nothing is loaded right now, but the gun can't hurt you unless you do something silly with it.
MIKE SODINI
Why don't we just now kind of move up to some bigger calibers, so you can feel the difference, and see how comfortable you guys are now that you got your first shots out of the way.
MIKE SODINI
I'll tell you what, we're gonna start off with this. The gun companies now are starting to provide the WTTA free and anonymous mental health screenings. If you're ever feeling out of sorts, or even if you don't feel out of sorts, you can take a mental health screening to see where you are.
MIKE SODINI
These companies are starting to change the way things are done. You would never saw that six years ago.
MIKE SODINI
My family owned one of the largest gun importers in the United States. I really didn't understand, like, the importance of the Second Amendment. I didn't understand some of the nuance of firearms culture. In my mind, I was always like, they do not do a good job of relating to the non-gun person. 2009, the president of my company took his own life with one of our firearms. He, uh, he went through crisis, went to our warehouse, took— got one of the firearms, went back to his house, and felt that that was his only way to get out. How do you work with the mental health community on the things you can agree upon, to get people help? And that was the lightbulb moment. You know, now here we are six years later, and we're completely changing our culture. You know, now gun owners are coming forward talking about mental health, you know, because we're bringing two worlds that notoriously blamed each other, stood on opposite sides, you know what I mean? Now we're coming together. Okay, what can we do? You know, how do we save lives? How do we get people help? You know, to me, that's what it's all about. Yeah, getting people help.
MIKE SODINI
The Second Amendment means everything to me. You know, it represents freedom. I think the Second Amendment holds up the First Amendment, and all the amendments make this great country. Regardless, if you waved a magic wand and you got rid of every gun in the United States, we still have issues. We still have violence issues, and we're not getting to the root cause of violence, and that's what we got to do. I think people need to always keep in mind that you may be the biggest threat, and that's why responsible gun ownership is so important. You could take ten people that have schizophrenia, you could take ten people that have bipolar disorder, you can hand them a firearm and say, "This is yours," and they will go their whole life without hurting anybody, like, not a fly. I could come home and catch my wife in bed with my best friend and snap, right? That's not a mental illness. That's an emotional reaction. So we got to get rid of the stigma of mental health, and we got to get rid of the stigma of gun ownership, that all gun owners, you know, they can't go through mental health issues. We can. We're humans.
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? [email protected]