The ammunition. Brennan there are sober reminders that gun t en fl daughter was struck by a stray bullarmyon, daughters twin brother, witnessed what happened that day. She died two days later. I have a six and three year old boy. Im imagining. I was imagining it was one of them that got shot and the other saw it. Im so sorry. El paso walmart, el paso, texas. Oregon historic district, dayton, ohio. These are less than half of the Mass Shootings in my lifetime. It is time to do something. Failing to get gun control measures passed on a national level, what bill thats different could get through congress and get signed by the president . We have to have meaningful background checks. Meaningful. Brennan well hear from all sides. Former mayor Michael Bloomberg hosted a Candidate Forum saturday in iowa to push for gun control. We spoke with him there. Red flag law, those are in place in connecticut before sandy hook. They didnt stop that massacre. No, but theystop brennan background checks would not have stopped these two shooters from getting these guns. That is true. No one law is going to stop everything. Brennan well talk with a numbertwo republican in the house, louisianas steve scalise. He was critically injured when a gunman attacked republican members of congress during a baseball practice in 2017. Well also hear from three president ial candidates,as we havenie political analysisn news of the week coming up on face the nation. Good morning and welcome to face the nation. We begin with the question on everyones minds a week after Mass Shootings in texas and ohio what can be done to prevent these in the future . Former new york mayor Michael Bloomberg, who founded the gun control Advocacy Group everytown for gun safety hosted a Candidate Forum in des moines yesterday. We spoke with him there and began by asking if he thinks congress will pass a background check bill when they return in the fall. Im optimistic. It still depends on Mitch Mcconnell bringing a bill to the floor in the senate, and it still depends on the president of the United States signing a bill. I think that the more you see things like this event where, if i had done this ten years ago, we wouldnt have gotten any Democratic Candidates for president to come, today almost all ar here. They see the public has said enough is enough. Here, and thats the impact the impact is not just on the Democratic Party. We know the democrats were cowed by the n. R. A. As well for a long time, although today in all fairness theyre not. Its the time to say, we have to stop this. Brennan youve said that when you launched this group that just like the farr, we need to make them afraid of us. That is going out there and challenging politicians who dont support this kind of platform. What i did in the 2018 election was we supported 24 candidates for congress, the criteria were they had to be good on guns and good on the environment. Brennan you spent about 100 million. Spent about 100 million. 24 of 21 of the 24 won. The n. R. A. Takes no prisoners whatsoever, and they lost 21 seats in the house. It flipped the house. And so now is the time to start working and helping the republicans to see the light, because i dont think this is a partisan issue. Brennan what does this mean for 2020 . Are you going to go out there and fund candidates to challenge those who dont fund or vote for thing like background checks or red flag laws . It is very early. The best thing would be that we have action in congress on the Republican Senate side, as well as the Democratic House side, so that you wont be able to ask that question, because well already be where we want to be. Brennan but is this a threat or warning from you . There is no question that i think this is one of the real key issues in our country. We cannot have a society where you go out in the street and you can get blown away. It just is not tolerable. Ough. Is essentially the n. R. A. Model of taking people directly on, if they are not supporting your platform, should be replicated. I think brennan but if Mitch Mcconnell doesnt bring this to the floor in the fall, will you look at funding his opposition. Mitch mcconnell is up for reelection. And hes running against somebody who im told is an attractive candidate. Mitch mcconnell is going to look and say, what does the public want, as well. I am optimistic that even mitch will change his mind. I hope so. Brennan red flag laws, those were in place in connecticut before sandy hook. They didnt stop that massacre. Background checks would not have stopped these two shooters from getting these guns, at least as currently written. That is true. No one law is going to stop everything, but there is just no question, when you put many background checks, suicides with guns and murder rates go down. When you get rhe mass murders. These are not Public Health things. This is too much of an access to guns and particularly to assault weapons, which were designed to kill the maximum number of people as quickly as possibleann possibly do it. Breas been having some internal disputes and problems. They were the largest donor to President Trump. I noticed that. What a shame. Brennan will they be able to bankroll to the level they did in 2020 . I think farr n. R. A. Has been very badly hurt by this. 90 of n. R. A. Members are in favor of background checks. So the n. R. A. Is not in the place of most of its members. And, in fact, if you go back, you can see wayne law pierre, who runs the n. R. A. , testifying in front of congress in favor of background checks 15 or 20 years ago. We think its reasonable to provide for instant gun checks at shows just like at gun stores and pawnshops. They have changed their views. They went away from background checks. Its the time for them to come back. If they want to be an organization representing gun owners, thats fine, nothing wrong with that, but they should not be somebody representing the view that everybody has a right to go kill everybody. Brennan i want to ask you about some of the choices the candidates are making. Joe biden has said the president encourages white sue prem similar. Bernie sanders said the president is a racist. Elizabeth warren said hes stirring up racial conflict. Beto orourke said hes making the risk for violence like this in el paso more real. Do you think thats a mistake for democrats to tie the president s rhetoric to these mass kills . No. I think words matter. People look to their leadership for guidance, and to say that it doesnt have an effect is wrong. So what the president says is very important, and if he supports or says nice things about racist, it encourages racism. If he goes and says nice things about white sue premists, he encourages that kind of violence. I hope he understands this. He cannot go and just shoot off his mouth and say anything. Hes the president of the United States. Brennan you decided not run for president. Is there anything that would make you reconsider . No, i dont think so. I thought about it a little bit when i was driving into des moines today, thinking, you know, i came here and i spent a good chunk of a month meeting the people of this great state. And in some senses i missed being on the campaign trail. I ran i had free elections. I won them all. I know how to put together a team. I know how the put together a team not just to win elections. I know how the put together a team to deliver the services youre promised. But i did that. Now its time to do something else. Brennan can democrats win if they bill themselves as progressives . I think if you are very progressive, no. I think the public wants evolutionary change, not revolutionary change. Brennan do you think democrats need a new generation . I think theres an awful lot to be said for experience and accomplishment. There is a value to having been there, done that, and to understand that there are Simple Solutions to complex problems. If there were, we would have solved those problems. Im in the a believer that theres a new generation coming along and they own the right to set the agenda. I think you earn your spurs and you earn the right to set an agenda by showing people that what you have been doing is working. Brennan you have business in china, and you know people for decades have been complaining about china not playing fair. Thats correct. Brennan President Trump has been really aggressive. Correct. Brennan you dont like the tactic, but is he doing what is needed on this front, and how do democrats say that theyre going to be stronger . People that think donald trump will that think hes not reelectable are wrong. They look at hes doing what hes doing in china and saying, hes at least taking on the chinese, and they should be taken on is their belief. I would argue some of the things he says are right, that we really shouldnt have this asymmetrical tradeg e but you dont do it by walking up and having public fights. You dont do it by changing your mind all the time. You dont do it by being a bully with tariffs. Its the president s methods of trying to deal with china that object to, not the fact that they have. The chinese have variances. We have ours. Brennan you think he may be reelected . I hope no. I will im sure support somebody who is rubbing against him in the end, but i think that anybody who thinks he does not have support is badly misinterpreting what the public believes. There is a revolution that has been taking place around the world where the public thinks that the establishment has not recognized their needs, and you see that in donald trump getting elected. You see that in brexit. You see that in a lot of things where were doing things differently and the old line stuff is being thrown out. And thats not necessarily good. Brennan our full interview with mayor bloomberg is available on our website, facethenation. Com. We did invite the n. R. A. s Wayne Lapierre to appear on the broadcast, but he declined our invitation. We now turn to the numbertwo republican in the house, steve scalise. He joins thus morning from new orleans. Good morning, congressman. Good morning, margaret. Good to be with you. Brennan President Trump says he wants meaningful background checks. Why arent you supporting him on that . First of all, i have supported him on that. In fact, we got a bill to President Trumps desk last year which truly does go after some of the real problems we saw where people were falling through the cracks and not getting into the background system, like so many shootings, like charleston and others. The president said he wants the make sure that people with Mental Illnesses dont get guns. In fact, there were a lot of people we were finding that werent getting put into the system. We need to keep working on that and make the background check system work better. We passed a very bipartisan bill to do just that and donald trump signed it into law last year. Lets focus on making that work better so a lot of these people that slip through the cracks dont slip through the cracks again in future attempts where they might try to do that. Brennan does that mean t you do not expect republicans to support or vote for new legislation on background checks . Well, first of all, lets see what bills are being brought forward. I know what nancy pelosi called for the senate to come back and vote on was a bill that they passed through the house or two bills that wouldnt have actually done anything to stop these shootings because the shooters in both el paso and in dayton passed background checks. So her bill wouldnt apply to them, but her bill is very dangerous to a number of ways of how it stops lawabiding people of being able to transfer gun, including if you loan your gun to your neighbor because shes afraid that her exboyfriend is going to come and beat her up, you loaning your gun to her would put you in prison for up to a year. Thats what pelosis bill does. It wouldnt have stopped the shooting, but it makes it harder for lawabiding citizens to do things that are currently legal and frankly currently helping improve safety. Brennan do you think domestic terrorism should be a federal crime . I do. I applaud whats being done both at the f. B. I. And with our new acting Homeland Security secretary. His first week in office, he put many place a task force to go look at a lot of the online recruiting thats gone on to radicalize people. Were seeing a very alarming increase in domestic terrorism. F. B. I. Has been focused on that last. Month alone they saw, it was in the hundreds, the number of domestic terrorism cases theyre looking. A we need the make sure f. B. I. And the department of Homeland Security have the tools they need to go and root out whether its white sue supremacist, wher its radicals from the left that are committing some of these crimes. We need to make sure they have the tools they need the root it out. Brennan what tools will republicans vote to give Law Enforcement . What are you suggesting there . Well, first of all, if you look at what the f. B. I. Just set up recently and with the Homeland Security secretary just did recently, to put a renewed focus on this, to put a new focus on whats going on online, the recruiting we all know is going on online. They are focusing on that. They have asked for more resources. We have a budget process thats coming up when we return in september. Lets make sure in the bullet process that is a very high priority, because right now its in the a high enough priority. We need the make sure it is. Brennan well have the wait until the fall to see what comes up, but i do want the ask you, because youve voiced some concern about tone and conversation about these killings in this country. In the case of el paso, it is the largest antilatino attack this country has ever seen. The killer said that he went to a border town to kill mexicans. Given this particular context, can you understand the sensitivity to language used by the president when he refers to migrants as invading this country . Well, first of all, my heart breaks as everybodys does when you see what happened. There is no place for it, whether its somebody thats racist, that hates a certain ethnic group, there is no place for those kind of attack and attacking people based on their ethnicity, but to try the assign blame to somebody else i think is a very slippery slope, because the president s no more responsible for that shooting, as your next guest, Bernie Sanders, is for my shooting. And hes not, by the way, responsible. The shooter is responsible. What we need to do is find out, those people that have slipped through cracks, and weve seen it in shooting after shooting, sutherland springs, charleston, even in dayton, he had a hit list and rape list. None of that was in the is. Lets make sure these background Check Systems work properly and are rooting out the people that shouldnt be able to legally purchase a gun and currently are because the system hasnt worked. Brennan so you have not advised the president to reconsider system of his words that many in the Hispanic Community consider inflammatory . Well, first of all, the president was very clear just the other day that there is no place for this. He spoke out against racism. He spoke out against these kind of attacks. And so to try to assign blame, go look at some of these president ial candidates who made some of the most ridiculous statements. Joe biden just said that he was Vice President when the parkland kids came and met with him. He wasnt Vice President. So some of these things that are being said are beyond ridiculous. I know theyre running for president and they might not like Donald Trumps view, but stop this ridiculous assessment of blame to somebody other than the person who is responsible. Again, just. You talk to other people who were motivators, look at the dayton shooter and what his motivations were. Is anybody asking about that . Is anybody from the left who he was inspired by . There is no place for it. The shooters are responsible. Lets try to identify these shoot centers a bet better way, which right now were working on doing. Lets put more emphasis there. Brennan i want to give you chance to respond to what mayor bloomberg said about the n. R. A. He said, it should be a group allowed to represent the gun lobby but not to represent the view that everybody has the right to go kill everybody. Do you think the n. R. A. Is out of touch with some of its members who do support background checks . And that its been weakened . Well, first of all, the n. R. A. Has millions of supporters and people that are actual members, just like any other group that can advocate for an issue. Theyre advocating for something thats in the United States constitution, the settlement. The Second Amendment. Lets look at what Michael Bloomberg has talked about. He says he wants a better background check system, yet last yr, tha he spent abofeated 1lion of his money tosh so ws his realotlly s miion foers of congress who voted yes to fix the background system and close the background check system and close these loopholes. So again, im sure he says certain things, but what is his real motivation when hes spent that much money to defeat people who voted to fix the system. By the way, margaret, name one single bill that nancy pelosi put on Barack Obamas desk when they had the house, senate, and the white house to address any of these issues. There was not one bill she put on his desk. We put a bill on Donald Trumps desk last year to fix the background check system and he signed it into law and was working the make it address those loopholes, the people that fell through the cracks, an