so it s going to be interesting right now, and chris jansing was getting at this earlier in her report from tokyo, to see whether the president is going to address the gun laws at all. he may get a question about that today and at some point during his trip. there s another wrinkle to that. trump feels very warmly at a time when every group abandoned him in the campaign, they piled more money in and just really doubled down on him. he has a very close relationship with their top lobbyist. so there is that element. i think sometimes the nra influence gets overplayed. actually, it s a powerful constituency beyond the fundraising but with trip there s a real emotional connection with that group that he doesn t have with a lot of others. ken? it s worth making clear that the weapon that the police say was used in this shooting, an ar-15, the civilian equivalent of an m-16, is a
10, 12 years ago background checks, everybody supported. i believe in the late 90s even the nra supported background checks. now if you d even talk about background check, people say you re trying to confiscate our guns. nothing could be further from the truth. my goal is to keep people who shouldn t have them from having guns, that the old nra slogan was, guns don t kill people. people kill people. if that s true, let s keep guns away from the people, whether it s in this case perhaps being dishonorably discharged from the service or a felony or domestic abuse, we couldn t even get a bill through last year that if you re on the terrorism no-fly list you couldn t buy a gun. i just think this is sort of commonsense and, again, it has nothing to do with compromising
hey there, everyone, i m alex witt. here s what s happening, author, poet, professor maya angelou has died. she passed away this morning in her home in north carolina. angelou was 86 years old. and ex-nfl player aaron hernandez has pleaded not guilty to killing two men in a 2012 drive-by shooting. police say hernandez shot the men after an altercation in a nightclub. i m alex witt, back to hardball. welcome back to hardball. well, the tragic killings near santa barbara, california, again sharpened the nation s focus on gun violence and where it intersects with mental illness, the old nra slogan, guns don t kill people, people kill people, so who are the people getting guns? here s who.
hey there, everyone, i m alex witt. here s what s happening, author, poet, professor maya angelou has died. she passed away this morning in her home in north carolina. angelou was 86 years old. fire crews continue to battle in southern california the fire that s burned nearly 1300 acres and injured five firefighters. and ex-nfl player aaron hernandez has pleaded not guilty to killing two men in a 2012 drive-by shooting. police say hernandez shot the men after an altercation in a nightclub. i m alex witt, back to hardball. welcome back to hardball. well, the tragic killings near santa barbara, california, again sharpened the nation s focus on gun violence and where it intersects with mental illness, the old nra slogan, guns don t kill people, people kill people, so who are the people getting guns? here s who.
the only ones left, lincoln chaffee s of the world no longer in congress, the only senator that voted for that was dick lugar. that brand of republican willing to look at reasonable gun regulations isn t there anymore. when it comes to hay fever, the government is more interested in my weepy eyes than knowing if i m buying 6,000 pounds of ammunition and having them shipped to my work. this is important. these are measures most people agree and the nra opposed. when you buy sudafed d, you give your driver s license, goes into a database. they track how much you buy and the amount you re buying every single time. this gentleman was able to purchase guns and ammunition and there s no database that allowed flags to go off to alert the local police. part of the reason, for example, the atf had been considering gun walking programs because, again, they are not allowed to track the guns. why? the nra fought so viciously