the early 1990s. back then it was a high crime rate, high murder rate. new york had 2,000 murders in 1990. what that all theed in is it finally created a public appetite that something had to be done. there was brady bill, the five-day waiting bill and the assault weapons ban which passed in 94. what is interesting to watch for is what happened then politically. in november 1994, democrats suffered an absolute wipeout in the election. you could blame that on the tax hike, health care. whether it s valid or not, they chose to take that the push on gun himself turned off a will the of voters. they shut down guns for the rest of the clinton presidency, including after columbine. then kentucky, west, virginia, states that clinton had carried before, that really reinforced the 94 percentage for
that suggests there s engagement here but it s also among the masses, people who are watching, news consumers, voters, are they generally interested in it. there s an appetite for it, too. those after-the-fact spikes in interest is the political action in the wake of the tragedy that is working to corral that consider? or the memory of the tragedy, it spurs a desire for action so, okay, what are we going to do about this now? what do we no from modern history about the effect of meaning transforming desire into concrete political action? what has to happen if. the last time there was real movement on gun was 20 years in
it s not acceptable for us to do anything other than try to do all that we have to do, all that is reasonable. since that day 54 days ago, 1,600 americans have died at the end of a gun. vice president joe biden addressing the house democrats retreat tonight, taking some time to mark the days since the mass shooting at sandy hook elementary school in newtown, connecticut. and to push his own party to move on reform. joining us now is steve kornacki, the co-host of msnbc s the cycle. he is a senior writer for salon.com. good to see you. good to see you too. so i was trying to make the case there in the previous segment that the volume of political action to keep gun reform in the news and viable shows that they are cognizant, that reformers are cognizant of the way it s petered out in the past.
waterbury, connecticut, which is near newtown, has issued a moratorium on gun shows in his town after the sandy hook shootings. and he says why he is doing it. just a few days later, january 8th, gabby giffords, her husband astronaut mark kelly launch a new anti-gun violence group. that same day, a group called the coalition to stop gun violence launches an ad, a political ad targeting newly elected north dakota senator heidi heitkamp for her criticism of potential gun reforms. on january 9th, the very next day, vice president biden meets with gun violence victims groups. they allow themselves to be photographed for meeting. the same day, new york governor andrew cuomo in his state of the state address promises to push for the toughest assault weapons ban in the nation, period. it will not be long before he has got it. the next day, january 10th, vice president biden again allows himself to be photographed, makes the meeting public. he is meeting here with gun rights groups. january 11
the highest amount of gun laws in the u.s. and has highest murder rate. what do leaders expect from the white house on gun, steve. reporter: short what they would like to see is more restrictions. overnight in chicago sadly becoming a common tale. another gun homicide on the city s westside. this on a city saw 500 plus murders. obviously this is a subject which dom it. ed public discussion for quite some time especially recently. reverend jesse jackson was taping his weekly radio show. the topic was gun violence. with regard to president s discussion about gun controls he says the discussion should be happening here. we wrote a letter to president obama and one to joe biden because we want them to come to chicago with the commission. reporter: as you point out, bill, this state does