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Tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School where 26 people were murdered, including 20 innocent children. Today the bodies of daniel barden, Charlotte Bacon and Caroline Previdi were all laid to rest as victoria soto who was shot and killed as she attempted to shield her students when when the shooter adam lanza open fired. Obama the fact that this problem is complex can no longer be an excuse for doing nothing. The fact that we cant prevent every act of violence doesnt mean we cant steadily reduce the violence. And prevent the very worst violence. Thats why ive asked the Vice President to lead an effort that includes members of my cabinet and outside organizations to come up with a set of concrete proposals no later than january proposals that i then intend to push without delay. This is not some washington commission. This is a team that has a very specific task, to pull together real reforms right now. That those of us who were sent here to serve the public trust can summon one tiny iota that those teachers in newtown summoned on friday. If cooperation and common sense prevail, then im convinced we can make a sensible and intelligent way to make the United States of america a safer, stronger place for our children to learn and to grow. Eliot the president focused specifically on three proposals that appeared to have significant and growing support closing the gun show loophole so that background check is required and banning assault weapons and ammunition clips. He was then asked why it didnt happen in the first team. This is not the first prolific gun violence of your four years. Where have you been . Heres where ive been, jake. Ive been president of the United States in an economic crisis since the great depression. Two wars, i dont think ive been on vacation. So you know, i think all of us have to do some reflexion on how we prioritize what we do here in washington. Eliot for more im joining by Michael Tomaski thank you for joining us. Always a pleasure, eliot. Eliot so did the president put jake tapper in his place with that rather succinct and abrupt answer and more importantly did the president with his strict timeline, the specificity and the sense of urgency that he gave to Vice President biden in leading this effort say i want something to put in my state of the union did he put something in the answer that jake tapper was entitled to ask. I do think that was a pretty good response from obama. He has been a pretty busy guy. But we also all know taking on the nra is a tough thing. It risks a lot of political capital, and the votes probably arent there. Havent been there for the last four years, still may not be there now incredibly enough. But now he knows he has to act. As for the timeline, i was impressed, actually. When i got up and read the headlines and saw that he was appointing a task force i rolled my eyes and thought, oh boy, six months later where is this going to leave us . This is going to miss the moment. But as he spoke, he was very resolute. He had the specific three proposals that you alluded to in your opening and he sounded just very resolved, and january is a strict timeline. I would count it still as striking while the iron is hot. I was impressed by the end of that performance. Eliot yes, i agree with each of the points you just made. I think an open question for me is will the Vice President come back with proposals that go beyond the three that the president articulated. I think those are good. They are the ones where there is the greatest sense of cohesive cohesiveness, with you, but as you pointed out, still not the certainty that it will go through the house. Do you think theyll go beyond those three . I would like them to go beyond those three. Im not sure into what, specifically but more into ammunition. When that guy in aurora, colorado was able to buy thousands of rounds of ammunition online. There is something wrong with that. That needs to be addressed i think. I would like to see him put six things out there and maybe get three at the end of the day. I think thats how you have to do Something Like this. Public opinion in favor of the basic dividing line between sports mens rifles and single action handguns on one hand, and these types of weapons that are only meant to kill large numbers of people on the other hand. Thats a bright line that the president can use and exploit and i think hell have tons of public support in doing so. Eliot i think the devision is one that is reflected in the nr a and reflected in the leadership of the nra and the membership of the nra the majority of the nra members would agree with you. Were experts sports men hunters we dont need the magazines with those types of bullets. What would wayne la pierre say on friday when they lift their vow of silence and speak to us. What do you think theyll say . I dont know. Thats a big question. The only hint we got was this little online chat that they had on their website. In which they made some noises, incredibly enough, about arming more people, and arming more School Officials which is just insane. Arming teachers, armingi dont know what. But if thats really the way they go, i think its going to be so self marginalizing and so selfdiscrediting. Youre right, there was a poll this summer, im sure thats what youre alluding to, about n ra members and twothirds of them believe there should be restrictions on the semiautomatic and automatic weapons. Twothirds of the nra members. But the nra leadership, theyre holding out for the most extreme element. If thats where they want to go and if thats where all the republicans in Congress Want to go, i guess they can block it, but boy they are going to pay a price. Eliot its not just that wayne la pierre is march i didnt knowallizing a third of histhathe represents, its the fringe rather than the vast majority of his members, below cede to him the control of an organization that no longer reflect the interests of those beneath it. It comes down to how will john boehner come februarymarch when the president presents a series of proposals will john boehner let them come to the floor or will he be held hostage last year it was tea part on finance this year, nra in the christians. Its hard tonra in the conference. What is your thought about this. John boehner reasonably in good faith now he has cut that off with planb, and he has basically given in to his caucus which i obviously told him we dont want good faith negotiations. We dont want you to make a deal with barack obama. Thats a precedence playing out before our eyes right now and im afraid to say that may be the precedence that we see. If this stuff had 70 Approval Rating in the american people, even among republicans, how are they going to stand in the way of it . I guess they can but boy, its hard to see how they can do it. I think that reason prevails at the end of the day on this one. Political primarily, driving john boehner to recognize he cannot be viewed, he cannot take his party over a cliff where theyre representing over millionaires and only the rabid right when it comes to gun. The two theologians have lost, Grover Norquist on taxes and wayne la pierre on guns, this needs to happen for the Republican Party. We need to be right about that. I hope so. If barack obama can chalk up wins again Grover Norquist and the nra thats impressive. Eliot michael tomasky. Thank you as always for your insights. Joining me now for why Gun Legislation is so hard to pass, paul blumenthal, thank you for joining us. Thank you for having me on. Eliot now, youve written fascinating stuff about where the power of the nra comes up, and its not money so much. It seems like a lot of money but you dont think thats the source of their power. Explain this to us . Well, they spend a ton of money on lobbying, they spend on Campaign Contributions and they seemingly spend a lot on campaign expenditures, but a lot of that is a drop in the bucket when you look at the fact that theyre made up of 4 million members, a lot of whom are hardcore singleissue voters. They go and make their voices heard. They call the offices they send in mail. The thing that powers them is not the money but their manpower and also a lot of mythology about their power that they held republicans win in 1994. That they caused al gore to lose the white house in 2000. A lot of that mythology has been built up both by the nra and consultants in the past who would say lets not talk about gun control. In a lot of ways that has led to an increase decrease of the gun control lobby who are running on less money over the past few years until mayor Michael Bloomberg got involved. Eliot i dont buy the notion that they caused al gore the white house, but the larger point that you make is that it is, in fact, boots on the ground, to use a military metaphor, but it is people power. It is almost gas roots activism. As much as we dont like to admit it, it is not big bad ugly money on the part of the nra they have 4 million members and they know how to mobilize them. Its an advantage that should be learned by the other side, by those of us who want gun control. Thats absolutely the case. They are a Grassroots Organization with a huge membership, whether it be the Brady Campaign or anybody else, has not really had. Maybe now after newtown that will change, were hearing lots of people signing up whether its mayors against illegal guns or other local groups, well have to see if they can transfer that into some sort of Political Force to get a bill through conference. Eliot you tell an amazing story in one of your recent articles about how the disclose act how it is a legislative response to the Citizens United case created a special carveout for the nra. Tell that story. It is such a remarkable manifestation of the nras capacity to twist the legislative process. Essentially you had a bill that was going to require groups to spend money who dont disclose their donors to have to disclose their donors. The nra said were going to score this bill. If you vote wrong on it, were going to give you an f. That actually is a really big deal to a lot of bluedog democrats, to a lot of republicans who might vote for it. The bluedog democrats were going to balk and not vote on this bill. This amendment basically said that certainly organizations that have been around for a certain amount of years and have a certain number of members you know raise only under 10 of their funds from corporations dont have to abide by this. That basically applied to maybe under 10 organizations nra aarp and a couple of others. Eliot when you use the phrase to score. When the nra said were going to score a piece of legislation were going it put this on our list of bills we really care about, and if you vote against it then youre scored against the nra membership. That scares congress. It comes from rural and pro gun states, and that seems to be changing with senator manchin and senator warner from virginia stepping back from those positions. Eliot the horror on friday hopefully is changing politics on. Is wayne la pierre, you have seen that the members of the nra are much more willing to embrace more gun control than wayne la pierre. There are surveys that show theyre far more in favor of sensible gun control than wayne la pierre and how they run the nra in washington. I think that president obama tried to speak to those members by not going after the nra, not attacking them, by saying that the nra people who are members of the nra, you know, support of a lot of these measures hes talking about. He doesnt want to come and take their guns away as the nra has said in their advertisements. Eliot right. That message was really directed at the members hey you agree with us. Eliot i think one of the more interesting moments in the politics of this spring is going to be on friday when we see how the nra reacts to the horror of the shooting in newtown. Thank you for joining us. Thanks for having me. Eliot is the Second Amendment history misunderstood . Thats coming up next. vo answer pour disaronno into a flute glass and top with prosecco. Brought to you by disaronno. Be originale. David the Second Amendment lives intense with the efforts who favor gun control to rid our society of ever escalating gun violence. The nra has always opposed meaningful gun control. You might think those statements are historically accurate. Theyre not. What the text of the Second Amendment actually means is one of the Great Questions we grapple with today and the nra until recently supported gun control and meaningful gun regulation. As law scholar adam winkler said the Founding Fathers instituted gung laws so intrusive that were they running for office today the nra would not endorse them. Adam winkler joins us now to flesh out the onedimensional view of history that has guided, unfortunately, our politics. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for having me. Eliot lets begin with the nra. You wrote this remarkable article, and then the book lays out the deevolution of the nra and gun control. Early on they fully embraced gun control, tell us about that. Thats right. It was not always the nocompromise that we know today. In the 1930s the nra were in front of the Gun Control Movement drafting laws that restricted the carrying of concealed firearms and laws that now challenge the Second Amendment. Eliot you alluded that they supported a law that required that no one carry concealed weapon in public without a permit. They supported a twoday waiting period before you could buy a handgun which was the waiting period, one of the things that is too radical for the president to propose right now. And require that gun dealers report to Law Enforcement everybody who was buying so you could do a background check. Its remarkable the nra, which was at the center of reasonableness has shifted, and what was the coup you described in recent years that led to this. Everything changed for the nra literally overnight in the 1970s. The leaders of the nra wanted to retreat from political lobbying, move the organization to colorado springs, where it could focus on Outdoor Activities and hunting. That angered the group of hard liners who thought that guns were about personal protection, not hunting ducks. Those members staged a coup, manipulating the rules of the membership, took over the organization, and recommitted it to the hard line political activism and an extremist view of the Second Amendment and the rest really is history. Eliot in a fascinateing tidbit prior to that coup in the mid 70s the Second Amendment has not even factored in their analysis and critique of gun control legislation when they were supporting it. They never cited the Second Amendment and no one worried what would run afoul of the Second Amendment because the Second Amendment permitted the reasonable steps that you were just describing for us. Thats right. Could you go back through decades of volumes of american rifleman the signature publication in the 1930s 40s, 1950s. You wont find any mention of the Second Amendment. Today youll see the Second Amendment mentioned on almost every other page. Theyve really changed their stripes and promoted an extreme extremist view of the Second Amendment that carves out no rule for gun control. Eliot the Founding Fathers in terms of access it goes awry to Justice Scalia, who is breathing into the Second Amendment the somewhat radical notions that you cant restrict ownership. There is a real tension there. How does he overcome it, and do you think hes fundamentally wrong . Youll get no argument from me with scalia being a false originalist. I think he was right in saying that the Second Amendment protects the rights of individuals to keep and bear arms for personal protection. Hes right. We have always had gun control. Its just as much a part of the story of guns in america as the Second Amendment and the six shooter, and it balances the rights with public welfare, and we can do the same. Eliot in terms of the false originalism of Justice Scalia, in the paragraph where you refer that even scalia recognizes there are certain exceptions and carveouts in the case that has rewritten our understanding of the Second Amendment her even he acknowledges there is no question that congress can legislate meaningful restriction with respect to gun possession in special places. Now i think thats right. I dont think its right that he articulates, but where does he find that in his originalist world . Does he read it in the amendment that the rest of us have been missing . Absolutely not. Its true that the Founding Fathers had gun control but they didnt have the gun control that Justice Scalia points to where he says of course nothing in the Second Amendment calls into question laws banning felons from possessing firearms or mentally ill possessing firearms. The Founding Fathers did not have laws like that. It doesnt mean that we cant have laws like that. The Second Amendment is about balancing rights with the public welfare. I think thats what president obama was hitting on, and i think he struck chord. Eliot inevitably whatever is passed, and i think something will be passed that will be meaningful, it will be challenged and it will make its way to the Supreme Court will Justice Scalia and his presumed majority be there, recognize that things have changed and recognize they have created an expansion of the Second Amendment under heller, do you think theyll uphold the bans on semiautomatics or the size of magazines as being discussed now as the next steps in gun control. I think all the proposals would survive Supreme Court scrutiny. There is no doubt that universal background checks on every gun purchaser is constitutional permissible. The court said we can ban felons and the mentally ill from getting their hands on guns. Universal background checks is a way to see to it that they dont get their hands on guns. I think the Supreme Court is likely to uphold the law. The court said guns in common use for protection while someone could use an ar 15 for self defense, theyre not primarily used for self defense in america. Eliot bring back the 19 20s as you describe t it was a moderating force and it would an moderating force in our law. Professor and author of gunfight. Thank you for your insights. Thank you for having me. Eliot next, cliff watching are we suddenly taking a dive . More viewpoint coming right up. Tell them its like being nestled in an eightway, adjustable, heated and ventilated seat surrounded by a 500watt sound system while floating on a suspension made of billowy clouds. Or you could just hand them your keys. V eliot john boehner seemed to shatter the socalledtiescal cliff negotiations today, and it took him less than a minute. Congressman steve israel joins me next. Eliot president obamas new conference on guns today was emotionally powerful and compelling. The passion of supplied night combined with the call of action on an issue everyone has been talking about since the horrific shootings on friday. What was the topic nearly from every question from the press corp, thats right the fiscal cliff. His take on the recent developments in the nonnegotiation between the white house and Speaker Boehner. Obama the country deserves folks who are willing to compromise on behalf of the greater good, and not tangle themselves up in a whole bunch of ideological positions that dont make sense. The speaker is now proposing what he called planb. He said this would raise taxes only on folks making 1 million or more. Lets think about the logic for a second. Theyre thinking about voting for raising taxes on folks who makeover 1 million, which they say they dont want to do, but theyll reject spending cuts which they say they do want to do. That defies logic. Eliot Speaker Boehner responded with brief comments this afternoon. Here is part of the 51 seconds he spent behind the podium. Tomorrow the house will pass legislation to make permanent tax relief for nearly every american 99. 81 of the american people. Then the president will have a decision to make. He can call on Senate Democrats to pass that bill or he can be responsible for the largest tax increase in american history. Eliot joining me now is congressman steve israel, chairman of the campaign committee, congressman welcome. Thanks, governor. Eliot is it possible that you see the two sides getting into more rigid positions that each thinks it has given as much as it can without sacrificing its base . Is Speaker Boehner worried that he cant carry it any more and is the president getting heat for concessions he has made . I think the president has gone as far as he can go. He has compromised and compromised again to meet the americans halfway. The problem is instead of the republicans coming towards the president , they move further away. When the president had plan ha, the republicans had planb. Now its plan bminus because they have new gyrations in the rules committee. The bottom line, the president has gone about as far as he can go. Maybe further he went from the 250,000 trigger on taxes then 400,000. Maybe he could go to 500,000. But fundamentally john boehner has to make a decision, what is more important the survival of the middle class and working families for the tea party of his caucus. If he sides with the tea party i think we go off this cliff. Eliot a couple of days ago over the weekend in particular when Speaker Boehner crossed the theological line and said well increase tax rates for the wealthy. Now it struck me now were in the mode where numbers will go back and forth and there will an deal in the middle of the week, and they were optimistic. Now you point to planb. Theyre saying well pass this bill. Theyre saying take it or leave it but on a certain level theyre putting pressure on the white house saying weve given you your tax cuts for the middle class, why dont you sign this. Its not a bad negotiating ploy even though hes wrong as a matter of policy. As matter of a political stunt, maybe it passes muster, as a matter of solution it fails dismally for several reasons. Its actually a tax increase on middle class families. He can say its a tax cut but its a tax cuts for people making up to 1 million only if you use the earned income tax credit, you use it. If you use the tuition tax credit to put a kid through college, youll lose that. All the tax credits used by working families, middle class families are gone in planb. Secondly the socalled planb does absolutely nothing on the fundamental question of our debt. All it says is if youre at over 1 million youre going to go back to the clinton era tax rates, but it doesnt do anything about our debt. It doesnt do anything about sequestration or the cliff. These republicans have turned congress into that old cartoon the road runner, where every episode is another cliff. Eliot the good thing about the road runner, it was a cartoon. The bad thing congress is supposed to be making real decisions. The thing that beguiles me is the negotiating strategy he put changed cpi for Social Security on the table. People thought there must be a deal for him to put that on the table. You wouldnt put that on the table unless you werent certain that the other side would accept it, and that would be a deal closer. The president felt he had made a concession on the tax cuts going from 250,000 to 400,000. And if the republicans wanted entightentitlement reform . What was the response by the republicans . Instead of saying now we have something to negotiate over, the republicans said were walking away from the deal. Were not doing any of that, and well leave washington and let this economy go off this cliff. I think the president was expecting the republicans to negotiate in good faith instead they slammed the door on him. Eliot he should have realized from last Years Experience that negotiating in good faith is antithical. Not with this crowd. Eliot i thought they must have behindthescenes deal, and thats why this gridlock that were hitting once again is surprising to me, just as a matter of strategy that were encountering. You say the president could go up a little bit from 400,000 in terms of the threshold that the tax was kick in without losing the democratic base, but he does not have a lot of give at this point. No, he doesnt. The president is at 400,000 cut off for the tax cuts. Boehner is presumably at 1 million. If the republicans truly want to negotiate, i think our caucus would support maybe a cut off at 500,000 as opposed to 400,000. I personally, governor, you know being from long island, i dont think 250,000 necessarily makes you rich. I could support 500,000. I think the president could give a little more there. But you got to have something to negotiate with. And we still are waiting for Speaker Boehner to come to the table with a good faith negotiation. Eliot there was the observation, with the hesitancy to raise taxes with the budget coming from nondefense Discretionary Spending over the next ten years were going to end up with a government that is healthcare spending, Defense Department but not a whole lot in the other areas, pell grants, nih, the thing we want government to do. The governments purpose is restricted and a debate of what weve been losing. Its to take the oxygen out of government. We can do this. We know what needs to be done. You have to do what every middle class family does, and that is to balance the books. But we also need revenues. The president has put 1. 2 trillion of revenues on the table. The response from the republicans, hardly any revenues and lets cut growth for the middle class and infrastructure, but keep spending on defense. We need a plan that is big and that is bold that is balanced and fair, and every time we think were there the republicans move the goal post further away. Eliot it has not been a pretty picture. I want to pivot to the gun control issue pervasive in terms of the conversations one has in any context whether on capitol hill or out on the street. You saw the president today. Hes speaking with a new passion, a new energy. Will again will Speaker Boehner move on gun control or his conference going to be saying we want teachers to carry guns one of the most insane notions that ive heard in a long time. Will boehner move on this . It is just shocking that some members of his conference after this tragedy in newtown they say, well, what we need to do is arm kindergarten teachers and have shootouts in elementary schools. Im sorry to tell you that i dont see many republicans moving towards common sense even in the aftermath of this tragedy. I do hear many democrats, quite honestly, even at yesterdays democratic caucus, some democrats who have been regarded as historic supporters of the nra speaking up and saying we have got to figure this out. There are commonsense things we can do. Well have solutions. The president will put those solutions on the table before congress in january and we need to act. We keep seeing these horrors play out, and we say that they are teachable moments and then we forget the lesson until the next horror. We cant let this happen again. Eliot well said, and lets hope there is uniformity in that on capitol hill. I hope so. Eliot always a joy to have you on the show, thank you. Thanks, governor. Eliot what exactly is john boehner thinking . Well try to answer this question coming up. With viewpoint with eliot spitzer. Questions, of course, need to be answered. We will not settle for the easy answers. [ piano plays ] Troy Polamalus going deeper. And so is head shoulders deep clean. [ male announcer ] with 7 benefits it goes deep to remove grease, gunk and flakes. Deep. Like me. [ male announcer ] head shoulders deep clean for men. But when joint pain and stiffness from Psoriatic Arthritis hit even the smallest things became difficult. I finally understood what serious joint pain is like. I talked to my rheumatologist and he prescribed enbrel. Enbrel can help relieve pain, stiffness, and stop joint damage. Because enbrel, etanercept suppresses your immune system, it may lower your ability to fight infections. Serious, sometimes fatal events including infections tuberculosis lymphoma, other cancers, and nervous system and Blood Disorders have occurred. Before starting enbrel your doctor should test you for tuberculosis and discuss whether youve been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. Dont start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. Tell your doctor if youre prone to infections, have cuts or sores have had hepatitis b have been treated for heart failure, or if, while on enbrel, you experience persistent fever, bruising, bleeding, or paleness. [ phil ] get back to the things that matter most. Ask your rheumatologist if enbrel is right for you. [ doctor ] enbrel, the number one biologic medicine prescribed by rheumatologists. Eliot is Speaker Boehners planb a nottoosubtle ultimatum to the president . Well bring in ken vogel and brian beutler. Thank you for joining us. Was this a slap to the president saying hey im taking my marbles and going home. Your move. Its about a close to an ultimatum that you can get. I spoke to one of the speakers aides and he said that the speaker would be open to more negotiate. Boehner wants obama to come to him, have the mountain move towards hoe mohammed, and the president is not ready to do that at all. And this planb to get obama to move has not quite worked. Now boehner has to round up votes to try to pass it, and thats why were in the mess were in today. Eliot it seems to me last weekend they crossed their major ideological divide when they said theyre raising rates on the wealthy the rates being the sand that they were not willing to cross. And the cpi the real entitlement cut it seems that it will be coming to reaching the middle ground and then things stalled out again. What do you think has happened to thank this. Boehner has had a hard time bringing about his conference. This is a stunt and delay tactic, and it may be planb for boehner, it may be because hes having trouble bringing along the members of the conference, particularly the quote tee Party Members who we heard congressman israel taking a swipe at there. Its a real struggle for boehner. He has this sort of outward game where hes negotiating with obama where hes trying to bring along his caucus, and hes trying to make it appear as if he has done something. As if this plan b is something that he can show, in fact republicans have acted in good faith here. But even that, hes having trouble getting members of his congress to go along with it. I think thats really what is going on, and president obama on the flip side has shown an ability to move democrats even if there is some sort of hand wringing about the cpi the raising the rates the level of which the higher rates have come into 400,000. You know, its ironic that democrats are the ones who have the party and the republicans are difficult to herd here. Eliot this is not the normal state of play where the democrats are unrulely. In reality brian in fact boehner has been fighting a twofront war. This was the break down with the grand bargain when he could no longer bring the republican votes. Is he saying to the president behind doors i cant go any further. Im not saying this is a stunt. You have to help me out, i just dont have the votes. If that happens what is the next step . I think well find out tomorrow how many votes john boehner has for the prop proposition. If it passes it helps give leverage to obama to bail him out and get him the rest of the way there. If it doesnt maybe well have 150 votes, 160 votes to raise taxes just above the 1 million threshold. If he does that, it tells him and the democrats something very important about where things go from here. If he can round up a significant number of votes for planb, that means that maybe he cant force obamas hand, and maybe they dont get a grand bargain but maybe democrats and republicans can come together, pass a senate bill and set the threshold at 250,000, and call it a day. He doesnt know where he is really. Eliot to come back to what you said before, which is correct so far that the Democratic Party being unified party and nancy pelosi the democratic leader saying were going to stick with the president. But there are rumblings, little voices of dissatisfaction that is saying why did you put the changed cpi if you really didnt have a deal to close with that give, there are some murmurings within the Democratic Party that maybe the president is giving up too much. The times editorial say this should be a take it or leave it moment from the president. How much farther do you think the president can go. Youre right there are some who think hes giving away the store prematuringly. And boehner and the republicans of the house have dug in and theyre being obstinate here. But if they could give more and obama could go further than he has gone, maybe its boehner who could end up looking like the better negotiator in all this. I dont think obama is as worried about monthly mollifiyng the base. But if they feel he caved on this point that he ran on. This is one of the mandates of the election. Eliot one another reason that the president is not worried, he doesnt need to appeal to the constituentcy to keep his job as speaker. Come on, guys, youre little kids. Run out and act like grownups. The issue of the day is gun control. Brian, does Speaker Boehner have the capacity to get gun control through his house . At this point just a guess i would is a no. Eliot ken, we come to you. The president will give a powerful state of the union this National Trauma that should have galvanized us and given support of basic common sense if it sits in the house of representatives, is that a milk stone around the Republican Party in two years . I think it could be. Its going to be difficult for House Republicans to vote against just incremental gun control measures like something on the assault weapons something on the high capacity munitions clips. If the Senate Democrats can pass something, i think it will put House Republicans in a tough position to look like theyre opposing something so soon after this. The question is whether they can get legislation in front of the house while its fresh in apples mind. Eliot you said something important. That would be good legislation but it is incremental. Ken vogel politico, and brian beulter, thank you for joining us tonight. Thank you el i dont a citizen who decided to act not just talk. He joins us next. n eliot finally tonight in the wake of the tragedy in newtown parents and citizens throughout the country have been talking and taking action against the senseless gun laws in our this nation. Our next guest did something. He was so moved by the horrors at sandy ham elementary, he held a vigil in front of the private he can kit company that owns numerous gun manufacturers including bush master. The company that made ar15. Thank you for doing something politicians love to talk. Very few people do, and did you. Thank you for that. Thank you for having me. Eliot what motivated you . What was it that got you to say we got to do something . What moved your heartstrings. I think a lot of us watching the news on friday, seeing what happened, the general feeling of outrage. I felt that i wanted to do something, and i dont know what i did will have any impact, but i felt we needed to look at what is behind the Current Situation . Our society is failing where 34 people are killed a day from gun murders, and something has to change. Eliot you have two young children. I do. I have a fouryearold and a sixyearold. My daughter is in first grade and it could any of us. Eliot the vigil that you held tonight, and you went online and said join us, it was in frontit was Stephen Feinbergs townhouse, how did you decide thats what you wanted to go . I was curious who is profiting from the sales of guns. I saw the bushmaster gun and its own by the Freedom Group owned by cerberus, and Stephen Feinberg is head of serberus. As the rest of the country explains what happened to their kids, what happens to his family . And at the point of investment, do we really want to be making money from the sale of these weapons . He has got enough money. Does this really need to happen . I thought you know, we need to look beyond the regular debate of the gun policy debate and see who is profiting and see who makes money from the sale of bushbushmaster rifles. Eliot youre on on to something both in the vigil that you held, but feinberg has to decide, this is not what you want to be. How do you look your kids in the eye. If you can put pressure through the money, you can get people to change their behavior. Youve done that. Cerberus i was infuriated that at 1 00 in the morning they came out and said they want to sell the Freedom Group . Theyve been profiting from bush bushmaster rifles for six years. This is not the first incident that has happened. 34 People Killed by guns a day. Its not necessarily for any moral reason that they want to sell. Its not that his father lives in nu newtown. A lot of media is reporting that the reason why he wants to sell the Freedom Group is that the california state Teachers Pension Fund is threatening to pull their 750 million investment. Eliot this was not a moral conversion on his part. It was a hard economic analysis. How did it help by selling . Hes just going to pass it on to the highest bidder who is doing what theyre doing. Eliot what should he do . I dont know, he needs to be creative. As brian said in the last segment, he doesnt think that congress is going to act. Maybe we get the Defense Department not to buy

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