Nights ago, a terrifying, almost endless hailstorm of bullets that left almost 600 people dead or wounded, is that just something were all willing to live with . What one survivor called the tragic cost of freedom. Its a tragic cost of freedom that people can do bad things. If you can find a gun law that could prevent this from happening, i could sign up today. But i am proud of our countrys Second Amendment rights and im glad were allowed to defend ourselves. We now know the gunman behind this attack, the deadliest mass shooting in modern u. S. History, had built up a vast stockpile of firearms, all of them apparently, as far as we know now, purchased legally. We got our first glimpse of those weapons today. In this new video taken outside stephen Paddocks Hotel almost. Through the door you can see what appears to be one of the gunmans highpowered rifles mounted on a shooting bipod to design more stability for the longrange firing he was planning. According to an internal luchlt document seen by nbc news, 23 total firearms were found in that hotel suite at the mandalay bay hotel. Another 19 found at the gunmans home north of las vegas. This man managed to get his hands on 42 guns, at least should have them semiautomatic, plus explosives and thousands of rounds of ammunition. Law enforcement Officials Say the gunman had two bump stocks, a completely legal device used to modify a semi ewe mac rifle to fire rapidly, as if it were fully automatic. It is clear from the videos, and particularly the audio from the night of the attack, those bump stocks worked largely as designed. We are talking about weapons of war, which was exactly what it felt like sunday night, according to an afghanistan veteran i talked to today who was working security at the music festival. Did it feel like a war zone to you . Yeah, actually did. I was involved in an encounter a few years ago, in the line of duty incident. But nothing like this. Nothing like a barrage of gunfire coming in, multiple casualties coming in. After everything ive done and been through, i mean, i dont ive never seen anything like this. Much more of that interview ahead. The president is due right here in las vegas tomorrow to meet with victims and First Responders. This morning he told reporters hell eventually get around to talking gun policy. Look, we have a tragedy. Were going to do and what happened in las vegas is in many ways a miracle. The Police Department has done such an incredible job. And well be talking about gun laws as time goes by. But in talking points given out to political ool lies obtained by nbc news, when it comes to gun control lets be clear, new laws wont stop a madman committed to harming innocent people, they will curtail the freedoms of lawabiding citizens. Theres as little appetite about real gun safety event among republican lawmakers including those that represent nevada. That dialogue does need to occur but i dont think now is the time for this. We have a lot of victims. We have a lot of survivors. Yeah, i think its particularly inappropriate to politicize an event like this. It just happened within the last day and a half. Its entirely premature to be discussing about legislative solutions, if any. Theres time in the coming weeks to find those answers and do those sorts of things that we need to do and see what the lessons are learned. But i think right now its just that humility, thoughts and prayers to those folks that are affected. Im not for changing the law right now. I am against politicizing this. According to senator john thud, the thirdranking in the senate, its on all of us in the public to learn how to live with the threat of gun violence. All of us want to do everything we can to prevent tragedies like that from happening again. You know, its an open owe site. When somebody does what he wants to, do its going to be hard but i think people have to be are going to have to take steps in their own lives to take precautions and protect themselves. And in situations like that, you know, try and stay safe. As somebody said, get small. Senator richard blumenthal, democrat from connecticut, site of the sandy hook shooting almost five years ago. First your response to your colleagues advice to get small, that people should think about their personal actions in how to avoid getting shot. Chris, america is not small. We have big events, we take pride in our sports and entertainment and concerts. And its on us to take action to eliminate gun violence. And as for now being premature, our thoughts and prayers certainly go out to the families today and yesterday were absolutely painful in recalling that day in newtown years ago. I was with a number of the families tonight. But we should honor the victims by action. We should honor the families by stronger measures, to make america safer, and its within our power to do so, not think small. I want to present what seems to me the only sort of salvageable core point, and its a profound one, of people being very honest about the price of freedom. The idea that in a free society, you do not have a police state, certain risks will happen. You want to have, for instance, open Public Events where people can go publicly and not have to check everyones name or have everybody going through metal detectors all the time. And that essentially this is a tolerable risk in a free society. What do you say to that . We have a death rate from gun violence that is way higher than any other open society among industrial nations. 90plus people every day die in america as a result of gun violence. Which is a rate that is astronomically higher than others. And so we have the power, and i respect the Second Amendment, but we have the authority under that amendment to take action that would ban, for example, the assault weapons and the bump stocks and the highcapacity magazines that are essential to many of these mass killings. And to impose background checks to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people. Close loopholes that will make us safer. We wont prevent every death as a result of gun violence, but we can dramatically reduce it. And we should not settle, america should not be a smaller nation because we are reduced by fear and trepidation simply because dangerous people have such free access to guns. You just mentioned the Second Amendment. Notwithstanding the courts jurisprudence on this matter, you personally, do you believe the constitution protects the freedom to assemble an arsenal of 42 guns and thousands of rounds of ammo . Is that part of what the constitution protects . In no way does the Second Amendment prevent the United States congress from banning assault weapons. They are weapons of war. They were designed to kill and maim human beings, not to hunt or do recreation. And bump stocks simply enable people to evade the law by converting those semiautomatics into automatics and do the kind of carnage that we saw so unspeakably the night before last. And as for the highcapacity magazines, i know no hunter who uses a highcapacity magazine. So the Second Amendment permits reasonable, commonsense measures. The United States constitution has said there is a Second Amendment right. But americans, 90 of all americans, believe that background checks should be done to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people. And in fact, the law right now, and its been upheld, prevents certain people to have weapons, like people with felony records. So the Second Amendment is the law of the land. But it is not absolute. When your colleagues talk about politicizing this, when they talk about now being not the right time, do you think theyre fundamentally being disingenuous or do you think thats an earnest expression . The time for euphemisms and evasion is over. The time for action is now. My heart thats not an answer to the question, though. I think that the time for action is now and would not involve politicizing this horrific tragedy. You know, the night after the sandy hook tragedy, i went to one of the many calling hours that i did for the parents. And i approached one of the moms to express my condolences and to say, when youre ready, we should consider what the next steps are to prevent this kind of tragedy. And she said, and ill never forget the tears in her eyes. Im ready now. Honoring those victims is not politicizing this tragedy. It is to take action to prevent these tragedy in the future. Senator richard blumenthal, i appreciate your time tonight. Thank you. David chipman, former special agent of the atf who works for the Gun Safety Group started by former congressman gabby giffords. You saw i think what happens here, which is a sort of argument on principle about one of open societys willing to tolerate, our constitution, that slides into technical questions. And those technical questions are a tear rain the nra is very effective at battling on, even when the commonsense argument for, say, the device that converts a semi to something that could sort of fire automatically doesnt seem particularly compelling. Do the terms of that debate end of being selfdefeating . I think so. I think when i talk about gun violence, you know, i rarely talk about guns. I talk about the shared belief that as americans we have to have the courage to figure out reasonable ways to keep guns out of the hands of people who will inflict harm on our nation. This notion that gun laws dont work, you know i simply reject. I dedicated 25 years of my life on the front lines serving as a federal agent where on a daily basis i was arresting and bringing into courts people i know would have killed someone that night if we hadnt have acted. Now im not naive, i know that there are gaps in these laws and thats what we talk about, these gaps. Las vegas, you know, the first thing that i thought about was, isnt it interesting that weve been fighting against the gun lobby, who doesnt want gun dealers to tell government when someone buys more than one long gun in a fiveday period, like they have to report for handguns. It would have been interesting for the government to know that someone had amassed this arsenal. Now perhaps there would have been nonissues of concern. But it might be worth the conversation, and i think our Law Enforcement, we need to trust them to have conversations, to investigate things. If not, really atf stands for after the fact. And our Law Enforcement is just coming in after something horrible has happened. I think our government has a responsibility to keep our citizens safe. And we have to balance that with freedom and responsibility. Jason, one of the things that happens in these discussions, you saw the white house talking points, im not sure if you saw them, they invoked chicago and baltimore, a common trope. These are places that have very strict gun laws. Obviously the high rates of gun violence that are largely committed by illegal guns. But there is this thing, attention focuses on the gun in instances like this because the sheer history horror of this particular event is astounding. But its a mismatch to the daily horror of what happens in communities like chicago and bat lower. Right. Remember the only reason the republicans and the Trump Administration mentioned chicago and baltimore is black people, race, lets talk about Something Else other than the issue thats important. Right now is the time that you have to talk about functional policy. If you see a car accident, thats when you should talk about safety belts. If your house burns down, thats when you talk about fire alarms. We should be talking about practical ways to prevent this from happening. I dont think its a good idea for us to just throw up or hands in society and say, well, getting shot randomly when you go to a Shopping Mall or casino is perfectly reasonable. You brought up an interesting point talking to the senator earlier. Part of the issue is the refusal on the part of some advocates for gun control to simply say, the other side is lying. The other side is being disingenuous. The other side is trying to avoid the issue. They want to talk about Everything Else other than the fact that you hive too many people in this country who have dangerous guns and that poses a threat to all of us. Until we can get to that core level of this conversation we end up spinning to circles and every five or six months hundreds and hundreds of people are negatively affected and many die. David, i think a lot of people have been looking at the reporting and saying, my god, 52 guns. I think the median number of guns in a gunopening household is eight . Thats partly due to the fact that fewer and fewer households are gunopening households but the households that do own guns own large arsenals. What does that mean, that 3 of American Adults own 50 of americas civilian guns . My experience is that some americans really value the right to own guns. They collect them. They even amass them for a whole host of different reasons. And theyre very intense about their beliefs. You know, what i try to strive to talk to people, im a concealed carry owner, i carry a gun for my safety, for 25 years on the job. I think most americans are in the middle, which is we recognize that as americans we exercise rights, we may buy guns for a whole host of reasons. But with that comes a responsibility. If youre going to carry a gun outside your home, youre going to require training. If you want to buy a gun or sell a gun, perhaps you have to fill out a form or pass a background check. You know, to me a lot of the people who value the right to have a gun seem to not want to exercise the responsibilities that help cops keep people safe. So to me, when someone says, hey, its inconvenient to fill out a background check, or fill out a federal form, its inconvenient to have to answer the questions of cops. I can tell you what inconvenient is. Inven is waking up at 6 00 in the morning, putting on your bulletproof vest, kicking down a door to get someone who already has a gun and hope you dont get killed. Inconvenient is what happened to my boss, gabby giffords. Inconvenient is whats happened to all the people in las vegas. To me, like most americans, i believe are with us in saying, hey, there are a whole host of reasonable things that we can do. And i hope we start having the courage to really talk about it. Right. Jason, you agree . Yeah, i agree. Look, there are so many restrictions that we think are reasonable in this country. We drive a car, you have to have insurance. If i use my credit card too much the weekend the bank calls me and says, is this really you . Why is it that im able to buy 12 guns and no agency calls and says, hey, are you about to do something dangerous . These are reasonable things that we should expect for our own safety. All right, david chipman, jason johnson, thank you both. Thank you. Thank you. Still to come, from a war zone overseas to the american war zone right behind me in las vegas, my interview with the Security Team working the concert who say sundays shooting was worse than anything theyve ever seen. Ah, dinner. Throughout history, the one meal when we come together, break bread, share our day and connect as a family. [ bloop, clicking ] and connect, as a family. Just, uh one second voice guy. [ bloop ] huh . Hey . I paused it. Bam, family time. So how is everyone . Find your awesome with xfinity xfi and change the way you wifi. We have multiple casualties be advised it is automatic fire, fully automatic fire an elevated position, take cover. Severed arteries, medical check weve got about 40 to 50 people pinned against this wall. Over the police dispatch, it sounded like what youd expect in a war zone. Automatic fire from elevated position. New video tonight filmed by a woman who took cover in the bleachers shows people risking their lives to administer cpr to victims in front of the stage as shots were still raining down from above. After the break my conversation with two concert security guards who were treating the wounded on what felt like a battlefield. Youre performing cpr on one person and youre doing compressions and breathing, compressions, breathing, checking for pulse. And then after doing that two or three times theres no pulse. We were having to literally get and up move on to the next person. This was a battle feel. We respond to shootings and car wrecks that are tragic events. However this one, the sheer magitude of the amount of people, how it went down, the elevated gunfire, the massive amounts of gunfire, it was literally a battleground. Greg cassell was not only one describing the scene as a battleground. First responders, survivors, members of the bands from the outdoor concert were calling it a war zone. Earlier today i got a chance to speak with two men who worked security at sundays event, one of whom had served in afghanistan, darius harp customer dylan christos wa part of the Extraction Team at the concert, made up of security guards who remove anyone who is intoxicated or unwell or causing trouble. Despite their years and years of experience, nothing prepared them for what they encountered that night. We thought it was fireworks. You know, i even looked at him, we got pyro . He goes, i dont know, do we have pyro . We were thinking fireworks. So i looked over, to see if there was anything, there was nothing there. Then the second burst came in and we realized it was gunfire. In that moment youre thinking, they didnt tell us about pyro, youre looking to see where the flares are. Flashes in the sky. The second volley, thats when it clicks in your head. Yeah. When you hear that second volley, what did you do . We kind of looked at each other in shock. Because at that point it sounded as if it was inside the park. You thought it might be someone with a weapon there in the venue . Correct. And at that point we turned and headed into the crowd. We were just seeing gunshot injury after gunshot injury. There was a couple of people laying on the ground, unresponsive. We figured they had been deceased. So at that point in time we did what we could to get people in the medic tent, triage as much as we could. Still more injuries by the gates. We ran down there. I remember having to grab anything we could to perform as a gurney. So we used anything that had wheels on it. Trash cans, wheelbarrows. Injured people, putting bodies on there . Literally putting them in, wheeling them out, just to get them out. One young lady, she came out of nowhere, she said, ive been shot. She collapsed right on me. We did what we could. Gunshot wound to her upper left arm. We treated her. I found myself without medical bandages or anything. I bass taking clothing and what was left knife . Yeah. Used a knife to cut tourniquets to stop as much bleeding as i could. After that he literally we stopped, started stopping vehicles, throwing people in vehicles, sake get them to the hospital as fast as you can. When youre performing cpr on one person and youre doing compressions and breathing, compressions, breathing, checking for pulse. Then after doing that two or three times, theres no pulse. We were having to literally get up and move on to the next person. You know, you come across a woman who you dont even know its a woman because theres a man over her, just sobbing. Because its his wife or his girlfriend. The people, i mean, really, its not even i mean, the First Responders did awesome. But the people inside the event, inside the concert, there was so many people that stepped and up just said, hey, what can i do . Former Law Enforcement, former veterans, offduty paramedics, nurses, which did awesome job in the triage area. People just coming together, just amazing to see. How people would just say, look what can we do . Offering their own shirts to provide tourniquets, offering to help carry people out. Individuals taking it upon themselves to run right back into the venue. There was a guy who used his own belt as a tourniquet on himself. And kept telling the medics, dont worry about me. And went back in. Youve served in war. You guys have worked security for years. Youve been through stuff, i imagine. Have you ever been in anything like this . I was involved in a Lethal Encounter a few years ago. It was in the line of duty incident. But nothing like this. Nothing like a barrage of gunfire coming in, multiple casualties, mass casualties coming in. Law enforcement, firefighters, ambulance, medics, you all prepare for those mass but i dont think anyone was really prepared. You train for it. You dont know youre really prepared until you see it. I can honestly tell you, after the training ive done and been through, ive never seen anything like this. Ive been where there have been shootings. But you knew the direction they were coming in. Yes, you had an idea. You knew at least the area of where the suspect was. You could tell where the gunfire was coming from. Your son called you . Yeah, my son, hes in afghanistan right now. He called me the following day just to check on dad, make sure it was okay. What did he say to you this. He says, dad, youre taking more fire over there than i am over here, whats going on . He was just happy to hear that i was okay. Ahead, the president s surreal, balling visit to puerto rico. How he tried to turn it into a personal victory lap. That moment right after this. Donald trump will be here in las vegas tomorrow. Today he visited puerto rico to tour the hurricaneravaged island and meet with residents and local officials who have been begging for help for more than a week. This is what they got at the first event after the president landed. Brock long has been through a lot. Wrong has been unbelievable. Your governor has been, who i didnt know, i heard very good things about him. Hes not even from my party. And he started right at the beginning appreciating what we did. Right from the beginning. This governor did not play politics. He didnt play it at all. He was saying it like it was. And he was giving us the highest grades. So congresswoman Jennifer Gonzalez colon. Who ive watched the other day, and she was saying such nice things about all of the people that have worked so hard. I saw those comments and everybody saw those comments and we really appreciate it. And i also want to thank linda mcmahon, small business. She has done an incredible job. Built a Great Company with her husband, advice mcmahon. We want to thank you, linda, very much. Nick mulvaney is here, right there. Mick is in charge of a thing called budget. I hate to tell you, puerto rico, but youve thrown our budget a little out of whack. Because weve spent a lot of money on puerto rico. And thats fine. Weve saved a lot of lives. If you look at the every death is a horror. But if you look at a real catastrophe like katrina, and you look at the tremendous hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that died. What is your death count as of this moment . 17 . 16, sir. 16 people certified. 16 people. Versus in the thousands. You can be very proud of all of your people, all of our people, working together. After teasing the Puerto Ricans assembled about how much their disaster was costing the federal government, the president bragged about spending hundreds of millions of dollars on new jets for the air force was the president was correct about the relatively low number of deads in puerto rico confirmed this afternoon, although the number updated to 34 and as fox reports puerto rico has been slow to update their death toll and experts expect the number to shoot higher as more information comes in. Ahead congressman Luis Gutierrez on what is really happening in puerto rico, next. We used to resort to some pretty creative hacks to take care. Of our jeans. It got weird. Ahhh im just airing them out luckily we discovered tide pods plus downy. So our jeans stay in great shape. And they actually get clean. What . We can wash em. Tide pods plus downy. Super concentrated to clean, condition and keep your favorites looking great. Its got to be tide. I think its now i think its now acknowledged what a great job weve done. And people are looking at that. And in texas and in florida we get an aplus. Ill tell you what i think weve done just as good in puerto rico and its actually a much tougher situation. We need their truck drivers, their drivers have to start driving trucks, we have to do that. On a local level they have to give us more help. I appreciate very much the governor and his comments. He has said, we have done an incredible job. And thats the truth. Donald trump visited puerto rico today, which is still struggling after being hit by hurricane maria. Almost two weeks ago. After lavishly praising his own administration, the president visited a relief center. Here he is handing out rolls of paper towels, tossing them into the crowd as if he were shooting basketball. The president handed out flashlights while telling the folks in the room, you dont need them anymore. The vast majority of american citizens in puerto rico do need flashlights because 90 of the island remains without power and more than half of households dont have clean Running Water in the United States of america. New york times reporting today that because supermarkets cant access computer systems, food stamps are unusable. Many families having to rely on anybodies for food. Much of that didnt seem to reach the president. Hallie jackson tweeting, potus on air force one asked about any constructive criticism he heard today, we only heard thank yous from the people of puerto rico. Congressman Luis Gutierrez met with fema and local government officials in puerto rico this weekend, he joins me now. Your reaction to the president saying he didnt get constructive criticism, he just got thank you, people saying hes doing a great job . How sad. How disgraceful. That when people are suffering so greatly, when there is such pain and anguish and fear, about what the future presents to millions of american citizens on that island, that he would act with such folly. And silliness. This is very serious. And i think the president of the United States, i hope that on his way back, if hes already here, maybe tomorrow, go by the Vietnam Memorial and see the hundreds of names of Puerto Ricans that are etched in that wall, who gave up their lives, that didnt say they had bone spurs. They responded and they gave up the ultimate, their life. Korea, world war ii. Then there was no doubt, they were citizens when they were called to defend the nation. They were citizens. Then there was no question, there was no tallying how much is a life worth. They paid the ultimate tax. And so what an offense to the people of puerto rico. I just want to say, chris, you know what i saw . I saw people coming together as neighbors, giving the very little they had so that their neighbor could survive. Cobbling together a unity that ive never seen before. Ive never been prouder of my puerto rican heritage or of the people of puerto rico. I only hope that if i were ever to confront that in my city of chicago that the same dignity and the same poise would be that i would see from my neighbors and my fellow chicagoans. Thats how proud i am of them. What i have heard from people that ive been in touch with on the island and from other reports is there really is this bottleneck problem. It doesnt really seem like its gotten a whole lot better. And its worrying that there are supplies, there are things that are needed, and getting them out to the people that need them has been the obstacle, the last mile problem. Have you heard that as well . Is the federal government doing enough to make that happen . Look, we should have a carrier out there with a couple of hundred helicopters sending in relief. Chris, what the people have to understand is the topography of puerto rico. You think of puerto rico, you think of beaches, you think of ocean. No. The majority of the island is mountainous. And there are hundreds of thousands of people. The bridges have been washed away. And the roads. And theyre trapped. What we need is to build those temporary bridges, go in there and rescue them. And then put them in a safe place. I wish, chris, you and i could rook at the emails that i get from my constituents, which i must believe are being replicated. There was a woman, she buried her 58yearold brother. He died the day of the hurricane. Three days later, there was no place to put him. She buried him in her backyard. Another couple finally made to it puerto rico because their mother had died. By the time they got there, she was already cremated because they couldnt keep her any longer. The death toll is going to increase. This is what the hurricane has taken away, so many precious lives. But guess what, that same hurricane will take away more lives because of the inaction after the terrible fury of that hurricane and the wind and the rain. And that is what is so regrettable. We cannot stop a Natural Disaster from occurring like a hurricane. What we can do is be prepared and not Start Talking about, well, this is going to cost us so much. Whats the life of a human being worth . Whats the life . Its priceless. And that is something that i think this president just never is going to understand. All right, congressman Luis Gutierrez who was in puerto rico over the weekend, thanks for making the time. Thank you. Still to come, with gun stocks up in the wake of the deadly shooting here behind me if las vegas, i went to a local gun shop to talk about why people are coming into the store and why they need more than one gun, just ahead. Why do people routinely buy more guns after horrific Mass Shootings . I speak about that and other things with the manager of a las vegas gun store i spoke to today just after this break. Everything out there is scary right now, theyre seeing all this chaos. Not necessarily with what the tragedy that just happened, but in general. I mean, its a high crime rate, the news. So they want something for their own home protection. After the horrific mat customer in las vegas we once again saw a troubling phenomenon. A jump in gun stocks following the historical pattern weve seen after a mass shooting. Traders appear to be anticipating an increase in gun sales, and with good reason. After the San Bernardino mass shooting, for example, in december, december 2015 handgun sales spiked 52 according to one gun industry expert. After that San Bernardino attack i visited a local gun shop to find out what was on the mind of the people who sell firearms and earlier today i did the same in las vegas, stopping into briarhawk firearms and ammunition to speak with store manager art neffert. Ive been in other gun shops, particularly in San Bernardino i was in a gun shop a few days after that attack. And they were getting a lot of calls. Sure. He said when Something Like thats on the news, you get people calling who feel upset and scared. Right. Asking about purchasing a weapon. Has that been your experience . We get that on a daily basis here. Today has really not been that much different, other than a few calls. Not much different than our average day, as far as those kinds of calls. You got a call from a eye guy who said hed seen on the news he could just come in and buy a happened sghun. Thats correct, that he heard on media you could just walk in and purchase a gun, over the counter no background check no anything. Thats one of the problems we deal with is the miss hoof informatio misinformation. We go through background chekts. Department of safety run local, state, and federal. Youve got to pass the background check. They give us one of three answers. Yes, no, or threeday delay. For any ghun . Any gun. The way guns operate in our country, its two sides, its political and its also cultural. People who walk around who dont have guns, they dont understand why other people have guns, they think guns are scary, their interface is they see the news and someone got shot. Then theres people that have a lot of guns and its part what was their culture is. What do you want to say to the people on the other side of that . Who think why does anyone need these things . Why do you need five of them . What do you say to them . Why do you need two cars . Why do you need anything . People are hobbyists. Theyre shooters, theyre hobbyists, they get into it as a sport. Thats primarily where. But you know, usually we the kneejerk reaction is we need to pass another law. Well, im prior have prior Law Enforcement experience. I can tell you, you know, what the philosophy is, i dont understand it, because, oh, the criminals ignore the first 200, 300 laws we pass, so this is going to scare them so bad theyre going to turn in their weapon . No. Yet the other side of this, talking to gun owners, you guys do have a fair amount of regulation. And you fold it into your point of sale. Right. Its burdensome on one level, but also at this point like the background check is like, thats just what you do. Its what we do. We keep paper records, the atf for 20 years. We cooperate with federal, state and local regulations. We do what is right by our conscience. If we had somebody that may even pass a background check and we still think this just doesnt feel right, were probably going to turn them away. We had an incident awhile back that one of our people here just eluded to a minute ago, we had a young fellow that came in and had bandage on his head just beaten up and wanted to buy a gun and we said no, sorry. Come back in three or four days when you cooled off and maybe well talk to you. You dont you have to be a psychologist and a good judge of people to actually be behind these counters. You just dont sell somebody something. You know, what is your need . Are you going to use it for . Why do you want it . Those are the questions i ask on a daily basis. If i come in and said i never handled a gun in my life. What do you want to use it for . Whats the answer for that . Typically selfdefense. Everything is scary right now. They are seeing this chaos. Not necessarily with what the tragedy that just happened but in general. High crime rate. The news. So they want something for their own home protection. My thanks to art who was very, very graious with his time today. Lawrence odonnell joins me to talk about the way Mass Shootings can act as advertisement for guns. Dont go away. Whuuuuuat . Rtgage offer from the bank today. You never just get one offer. Go to lendingtree. Com and shop multiple loan offers for free free . Yeah. Could save thousands. You should probably buy me dinner. No. Go to lendingtree. Com for a new home loan or refinance. Receive up to five free offers and choose the loan thats right for you. Our average customer could lower their monthly bills by over three hundred dollars. Go to lendingtree. Com right now. We are back here covering the las vegas coverage. Ill joined by lawrence odonald. Great to have you here. Real phenomenon weve seen after Mass Shootings, not just the stocks going up in anticipation but gun sales going up. Its a market that cant learn apparently because it seems to be a reaction to the idea that oh, well, now they are going to legislate some kind of control that will prevent me from buying that thing im going to the gun store today to buy, and we never do that. We never legislate that control. So its a reaction to something that we have proven wont happen, and the market including the stock market continues the stock market is fairly rational because what they are doing is rushing to those stocks because they know the demand for the product will go up temporarily so they rush into them temporary and the big movers know they will move out of the stocks because there is going to be a little bump right now. But, you know, obryan said when did this become a ritual . It makes you stop and think about all of the components of the ritual which include what happens at the gun stores and what happens in the stock market. What you say about regulation, i remember talking to a gun shop owner in maryland who talked about after barack obama was elected, never had better business. Those few months, you know, was like get them while you can. There is also another aspect. I was talking about what is the profile of your first time gun purchaser . There is people i grew up around guns and feel comfortable and want them but the person that says i wake up on a tuesday, today is the day i need one and it is its fear, right . This idea that like when you watch that happen, you think jesus, maybe i should well thats what you pick up, that first time gun buyer is in reaction to Something Like this including by the way Something Like this and doesnt mean that the gun buyer thinks if i had been at the concert and had a handgun it would have been different. That isnt it. This delivers a message of the scope of danger in the world and it reminds people of other closer dangers. I mean talk about chaos. So striking to me. The world is on fire. It does feel that way if you cover or watch the news. Fear in the immediate aftermath of these things is not doesnt know any real boundaries. Friends of mine here in las vegas that kept their kids home from school on monday and i and i didnt get into the discussion of why because i knew that their reaction at that point was so raw that even if the news media said there is absolutely nothing for anyone to worry about in las vegas today, and there wasnt the slightest hint that there was anything to worry about at the school, i can understand why people would extend that fear into what will happen at school today. There is also this thing that happens. Part of the coverage here, you know, right and you see the object and there is some sort of power they weld and smoking and everyone in the movie, you know, smoke. Thats part of it, too. Yeah, you can see there is for some gun owners including this guy in the hotel, we dont know when the slippery slope began for him into the madness. The Mental Illness spot he got to with the massive possession of firearms that created this moment. Those two things had to happen. It wasnt just that he lost his mind. He had to be on a slippery slope of losing his mind in the country where there was unlimited access to him for guns. He would pass a background check. Nothing would slow him down at any point so what if we can ever put his life together so that we could watch where this where that slope turned bad, was it at the fifth gun . And did that coincide with some negative event in his life and what drove him up to the 40 guns . Yeah. And the motive on this, we should say, at this hour remains sort of well, the motive for me is always the same. Its a person at that point on that day if not before completely lost his mind. Whether that drove that person at a young age into an Elementary School to kill people or a Movie Theater or here, this person was stark mad by the time he was looking out the window. Dont go anywhere. Lawrence will be here right back in one hour to host a live the 11th hour with Brian Williams is next. Tonight the president in the disaster zone. President trump visiting puerto rico, displaying a unique style of distributing relief supply and telling Puerto Ricans they threw the budge out of whack and fared better than others. The 11th hour on a tuesday night begins now. Well, good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. Day 257 of the trump