tough. so s. e., on what is your read on the reality of the background checks? there s no question, that as a matter of fact and time line, when the nra gets into his ear, he changes his position. i m not saying it s the money. i m saying it s a matter of fact he changes. today he says he has an appetite for it. kaylee, i got to tell you, i respect kaylee, i don t feel her on this. she said we want meaningful background checks. and when i said, do you think all commercial transactions should be covered, she doesn t want to answer it. i don t understand the position. look, you know, she is right, we need to fix our nics system. our background checks is only as good as the information we put into them. it s absolutely reasonable, i say this as a gun owner, to expand background checks to include private sales. that s the loophole that most
violence into the nics system. in the virginia tech system in virginia, our mental health system didn t identify that person as someone who should have been blocked from the purchase of guns. we fixed it, but that was really an issue of making the system already in place work. and let s remember one thing. you mentioned washington, d.c. washington, d.c. is one of the most anti-gun jurisdictions in the country, and it has one of the worst murder rates with firearms in the country. so ann s right about how complicated this is. but there are pieces that we can attack together, but if people are single-mindedly focused on gun control at a time when gun violence has been going down for decades, you know, if what you want is success, that isn t i don t understand what the argument is against universal background checks. even 75% of trump supporters. you mentioned the pew research center. that s according to their data. 75% of trump supporters want to see the universal background checks.
stocks, if we can take guns from people who have either mental illness, or they re in a mental turmoil that could cause danger to themselves or somebody else, if we can fix the nics system, if we the k do those things, that s great gains for us. now, are there other things to do, absolutely there are other things to do. i don t know if congress will do any of that. i m hoping we can get this through the legislature. and if we don t, guess what? they ll hear from me about this. we saw what happened in florida and keep our eyes what happens. it s great when you come by in new york. you have an open invitation any tile. good to be with you. thank you. after the president held the meeting at the white house where he called for broad new gun control measures, i talked to one of the lawmakers who was there that would be elizabeth esty. she is a democrat. newtown is in her district. she tells me she was optimistic what she heard from the president in that meeting. respectfully, congress
the problem is it wasn t effective. i m trying to bring both sides together. that gives me the best chance of passing something. and i can tell you all the things i d like to do. but let me make the argument on the other side. sure. which is the then diagram of pass something that can get support, which is extremely narrow, it s in here, right? is a function of the political power of a very specific lobbying group that has a very specific conception of the second amendment and are very powerful. isn t that true? it s not so simple, chris. the power is not so much in the organization in washington. no. knits the people they organize. its people they organize that live in the districts. i just saw a guy today. he is very concerned about this. now, if we can eliminate bump stocks, if we can take guns from people who have either mental illness, or they re in a mental turmoil that could cause danger to themselves or somebody else, if we can fix the nics system,
something that s more comprehensive and supported by democrats and republicans? well, look, if we actually do what the president said that he believes in yesterday, which is mandatory background checks plus making sure that the nics system has the data that it s supposed to, plus something like these gun violence restraining orders, banning bump stocks, increasing the age to buy a gun to 21, these are the kinds of steps that would be really significant. look, when the president of the united states looked around that room yesterday, looked around that table and said i know some of you are petrified of the nra but we have to do something and you shouldn t be, that s where presidential leadership makes a difference. i don t know that he s going to stick to this. we are all familiar with what happened at daca. i wasn t there but that meeting looked a lot like the one we had yesterday. the difference this time is on this issue, the president has