leaders have shown in the past, and you mentioned syria as one example have shown clearly in the past their disregard for avoiding civilian harm. their other disregard in many ways for the laws of war, laws of armed conflict and the brutality in which they conduct and prosecute their operations, we're probably turning another page in the same book of russian brutality. >> new satellite images appear to show us where russia is going next. a large convoy of military forces heading south towards the donbas region. u.s. officials have repeatedly warned that russia is preparing for a major offensive on eastern ukraine. across the east russian air strikes continue to target cities and the airport in duh dnipro was struck twice. russia launched more than 60 attacks on the city in just 24 hours. that killed 11 people including a child. new images from mariupol show the theater that was struck by a russian air assault show what is left of it, at least. city officials estimate 300 people died there, and the ukrainian president believes tens of thousands have died in mariupol since the start of russia's invasion. there's no new evidence of war crimes and atrocities committed by russian troops according to the british defense ministry. this video shows ukrainian officials egg zooming ukrainians. nearby, firefighters are searching buildings and they fear dozens of victims buried in the collapsed buildings, and the world bears responsibility for all of it according to president zelenskyy. he compared the war to world war ii. >> translator: i remember, all of us remember, books about the second world war and about the devil in uniform. adolph hitler. are those countries that did not participate in the war responsible? the people that let forced march through europe? yes, it does. when you have the ability to close the sky, yes, it's scary that a world war could start, it's scary, and i understand that and i cannot put pressure on these people because everybody is afraid of war. >> and alley araouzy from ukraine, and courtney kube. zelenskyy has been saying this for weeks, this is just like world war ii, and the rest of the world needs to get involved. he's asking for a no-fly zone and the soviet-era jets and he's not getting those two things. i wonder when you are speaking to ukrainians, what is their feeling about the rest of the world right now as they're enduring this conflict? >> reporter: well, they are echoing to what zelenskyy says, and he says we are grateful for a lot of the weapons we have gotten from the west, from america, the anti-tank and aircraft systems, but it's just not enough, it's not enough to fight off this massive russian assault. the russian army is eight times the size of the ukrainian army. the russians have 900,000 troops available. the ukrainians only have 200,000 troops, so they need that very advanced hardware. they need those jets, those tanks to fight off the russian onslaught. you see this eight-mile convoy of russian hardware heading to the donbas area, and they are saying if we had advanced missiles and aircraft we could hit that convoy but we are not capable of doing that because the west is not giving it to us. they understand that the west is fight frightened of giving ukraine those, and they say we need more to fight the russians. it's interesting, they make the same point zelenskyy makes, and they say we are not only fighting for our own liberty here, but if putin succeeds, every doorstep will be in trouble in europe. that's why they keep asking for these things but are not getting them yet, katy. >> we are seeing images out of mariupol. we have not seen images out of mariupol in so long. we are getting close-up drone images of the theater where so many people were trying to wait out the bombing and find shelter as mariupol was getting hit so hard. these images show what is left. it's devastating and horrifying. courtney kube, kirby was just giving an assessment and he talked about the new general that the russians have in place, alexander now cornoff. >> he has a reputation for being a brutal and ruthless leader and most recently in syria where he was known for being a general who commanded his troops to show no mercy to the civilians, and one place the world was able to see how dangerous he could be was in aleppo where thousands of syrian civilians were killed in months of a military campaign there, and kirby echoed that it's difficult to say one person may have an enormous impact on what is going on in ukraine, because we are already seeing the brutal behavior, and you just mentioned the theater in mariupol and the horrifying images we have seen come out of bucha, and what this is, though, is telling us it may be an indication what -- the russians have had a poor command and control structure. the air forces there are not talking to the ground forces. the forces in one part, like the once around kyiv were not talking to the ones further south down towards kharkiv or towards the coastal area. this may be a recognition by the russian government, the russian military, they need better commanding control and better communication among forces on the ground and they may be moving that in before the next sort of phase of this offensive. what the next phase is is a focus on the donbas. there's a lot of concern among u.s. military officials about what this next phase will bring in the brutality we may see against the ukrainian military and the ukrainian civilians. because of that we have seen the biden administration and other governments, other allies, this is even more of a focus and push to get more equipment, military weapons, support to the ukrainian military before the next phase of that begins. a senior defense official said this morning that they are already seeing elements of the russian military that have been refitted and restructured starting to move east, and they are moving in to begin the next defensive but that could be coming in the next weeks or days, katy. >> some people have been returning to kyiv and some of the local officials there said please come back to kyiv. the u.s. intelligence, does it feel that kyiv is a relatively safe area or is still under a potential threat of bombardment of or troops reorganizing and going back toward the capital? >> ground -- russian ground troops could not get there quickly. there would be enough of a lead time, a day or two if there was a push on the ground there. the reality is russia could bombard kyiv from the air anytime they wanted to, and the threat to kyiv is not over at this point but it does look -- the u.s. assessment is that the russians have turned away from kyiv, at least for now. the big question is, if they go forward with this or when they go forward with the next phase down towards donbas in the southeastern part, what would it looks like if they start to see victory? would they continue to push north, potentially west, or turn and go south, southwest towards odesa, and the reality is nobody really knows what is in putin's head at this point. all they know is they do believe he's going to focus on the donbas going forward and what happens next is sort of anybody's guess at this point, katy? >> thank you. with me now is kara rudic, a member of ukraine's parliament. thank you for being with us, as always. and you toured over the weekend. i want to know what you saw there? >> thank you for having me, katy. it reminded me of 9/11. many people were looking for their relatives under the buildings. our brave firefighters were helping out to find people there, but they didn't find anybody alive. so it's basically figuring out where the bodies are. right now it's still unclear how many people were killed there just by the destroyed buildings, but it's obviously dozens of them. the worst thing about the situation like that is people who are standing there and they -- on one hand they are hoping to find their relatives and on the other hand hoping not to find them. this is breaking your heart and tearing you apart. >> you used a image like 9/11, and there are lots of americans that understand what you are talking about. zelenskyy has been talking about the holocaust and world war ii and trying to recall to mind the images and experiences that people across the world remember and have had. is that deliberate? is it an effort to get the west onboard and to understand the suffering of ukrainians to get more help? >> of course. you know, i mentioned 9/11 because it was the event, the tragedy that changed the world with no coming back to how it was before. you just need to realize how lives changed after that. we need to realize that after that the major hunt for bin laden began. i have a question to you. why after 9/11 the whole world was hunting after bin laden, and right now everybody is just hoping to get an agreement with putin? his crimes are not less. his crimes are more because he was clear he wants to conquer a couple more european countries. if everybody understands russia is evil and putin is evil and if everybody understands ukraine is fighting to stop this evil, so i have a question, why is the help we are getting is so slow? why are they not united and why so many loopholes and why are they getting oil from russia and continuing to pay for that. we realize there's no coming back to the prewar world, things will change. we are looking for leadership from the europe countries and the united states in terms of unified efforts and fast efforts, because you have seen that the army is moving to the east right now where most of the ukrainian army is concentrated right now, so that's going to be a huge battle. i will give you another analogy. there will be a huge army against a huge army, and for us to win we need to have unified allies behind our back. we will not be able to do this by ourselves. if you ask me right now if we have everything to fight russians and to win this war, i will tell you, no. we are grateful for the support we are getting but it's not enough. it's obviously not enough. look at them. for every single soldier we are putting there, putin has eight soldiers and we can fight as bravely as we do and we can put our lives on that, but for us to win we need weapons. we cannot be fighting them with that, we need more. there are decisions being made and it's scary to get into it, but i want to return to one thing, is it obvious for everybody that russia is evil? is it obvious that we are fighting this evil? why would one not decide to help us? >> you know, as you were talking, you know, we're seeing awful images, and it never fails when we do this show there's an image that stops me in my track, and there was one of a former man or woman being lifted out of a ditch by their legs. there are people out there documenting the war crimes, what has happened in places like bucha. you have been talking to women. you have been talking to witnesses who have told you that they have been raped by russian troops. tell me what they are describing to you? >> they are describing that there was an order to do whatever they want. so russian soldiers were able to do whatever they want and they were doing whatever they want. the first day they came, they were settling down and on the second and third days the alcohol came in and then they were just looking for women. many men that were killed in bucha, they were unarmed men trying to protect their daughters, their wives from being raped. they were killed for that. we will be finding more and more mass graves for that. the amount of women that were sexually assaulted and children sexually assaulted, the numbers are huge -- the numbers we are seeing now are outstanding and outrageous. when we intercepted the talks between the russian soldiers, they were fancying the ages of those they raped and one said it was a 16-year-old and one said it was a 14-year-old. why does this country deserve that? we want to make sure it doesn't happen again to any ukrainian citizen. you know, we were living a normal life, european life, and right now we are trying to protect ourselves from being raped by the soldiers coming to our land to kill us. they deny us the right to leave. they say you are the dirt and we're cleaning this land from the dirt. how is it possible if this is not genocide, then what it is? >> that's such a striking point that a month and a half ago none of this was happening. thank you for bringing that to us, and thank you for bringing us the honesty and brutality of what is happening. people have to know. appreciate your time. >> thank you. and glory to ukraine. still ahead, president biden is making moves on a major gun loophole. we're live at the white house. plus, she was arrested and charged in connection with a self induced abortion. while the prosecutor is now dropping the charges and what it means for the texas abortion ban. first up, though, she's close. far right politician le pen could oust emmanuel macron, and what it would mean right now as vladimir putin wages war in ukraine. my devices are protected in like 3 minutes. protect your wifi, credit, passwords and more. try for free at aura.com i should buy this... oooh socks! liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for whatchya... line? 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>> reporter: what has changed in a word is in inflation, and that's how marine le pen has gotten so close in the contest, and she focused not so much on her famous anti-immigration stances but focusing on the rising costs of living in france. she has proposed things like cutting an energy tax to help make energy more affordable for the people in france because france, like many countries around the world have seen energy prices go up because of the war in ukraine. the big concern for europe and the world is if marine le pen is elected, she's famously anti-nato and how would that impact the incredible unity we have seen among countries in response to the war in ukraine. she's also an admirer of vladimir putin. you will remember she went to the kremlin in 2017 to meet with putin. all of those things hang in the balance, katy? >> thank you. and with me, his latest book "the power of crisis," ian bremer. thank you for being here. what would it mean if marine le pen wins? >> she would try to end french support on sanctions, and would not support cutting off gas and oil that all of europe has been pushing towards. in that regard, it would be the single opportunity for putin to drive a wedge inside the transatlantic. >> she has had help because there's another candidate to the right to her that makes her look more moderate as opposed to her immigration policy. that being said, and i think there are some out there that might argue with you, the finality of your statement that she will not leave european union, but putting that aside for a second, and our relationship with france, what would it looks like with a president le pen? >> depends on who wins, right? if trump wins in 2025, he is very much aligned with people like le pen, and it depends on which president you are talking about. with biden, it would be a more serious problem. they have been somewhat less aligned because france frequently goes it alone, as different views of leadership in the tran seubg atlantic relationship. macron was the first president that said that's too far, we need to be able to engage with putin, but it would be much worse under le pen. i will tell you, katy, the likelihood that le pen wins is actually quite low. i know the election looked relatively close, but the person you just mentioned on her right, eric zamore, he will not support her very strongly. the person that did well and came in third on the far left, people expected he was going to get 9%, and he got 20. in part because lots of green party members supported him, and they will not be voting for le pen, and le pen doesn't have much of a credible platform and people will focus on that now that it's just the two of them actually in the second round. i would personally be stunned if le pen won this vote? >> it was a landslide just a few years ago. very quickly, she's gaining some support, though. i mean, that seems to be from this polling at least here, clear. between her gaining support and between the uk leaving the european union, and victor orbán winning another election, and the turn towards less globalist policies, let's put it diplomatically, how do you seat world right now? >> the world is fragmenting. when you talk about u.s. leadership, the americans aren't in favor of multilateral free trade the way they used to be, and it's hard for the americans to say they want to be the sheriff internationally for the same reason. this russian invasion of ukraine did make europeans across the board feel like they need a stronger europe, and the reason i said le pen wouldn't take france out of the eu, and she moved away from brexit, which had been part of her platform the last time she ran against macron, because she understands there's no environment, no support for that environment, and the takeaway of the invasion is the importance of a more unified europe. >> that's a salient point. always good to have you. appreciate it. >> sure. still ahead, president biden is about to make a major move on guns. we will take you to the white house where that's happening. plus, people are screaming from the balconies. what is happening with the lockdown in shanghai? 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(cto) ♪ i want the world. ♪ ♪ i want the whole world. ♪ covid-19 moves fast (ceo) ♪ i want today. ♪ ♪ i want tomorrow. ♪ (dispatch) ♪ i want it noooooow! ♪ (vo) get 5g that's ready right now. i always had a connection to my grandfather... i always wanted to learn more about him. i discovered some very interesting documents on ancestry. this is the uh registration card for the draft for world war two. and this is his signature which blew me away. being able to... make my grandfather real... not just a memory... is priceless. his legacy...lives on. unveil new steps to combat gun violence and he's expected to nominate steve tkelgtsback to the head of the atf, and he will announce a new rule on ghost guns that could be purchased online or with cash at a gun show. you just saw the event in the rose garden which is taking place right now. we will go there live in a moment. but joining me now is nbc news correspondent, josh letterman, and josh, i want to begin with you. this is a major move from the white house. >> yeah, it is, katy. it comes as the white house has been under growing pressure from gun violence activists who say he made big promises as a presidential candidate but really has failed in his first 15 months in office to put much emphasis behind a major effort to reduce gun violence. certainly we have not seen a focus by this president on legislative efforts on gun control in congress. the president aiming today to show he's taking action at least where he has the power on his own to do so. the first will be nominating somebody to lead the atf, which has not had a confirmed head of the agency for the entirety of biden's administration after his first nominee, david shipman, had to withdraw after it became clear he was not going to be confirmed. secondly the president will announce new steps on those ghost guns, and the president and the administration will be finalizing these new regulations that say, look, if you are selling the major components, a kit with all of the major stuff you need to build one of these guns, those major components are going to be subject to the same requirements that a real gun that it will eventually turn into are subject to, like background checks and serial numbers and that has been in the works for a while and they hope it will aim to reduce the challenges law enforcement are having in tracking the guns and making sure more people have to go through some kind of check to get them. if you want an indication of how controversial gun rights still are in our country, since they put forward that draft regulation, katy, the administration says they have gotten about a quarter million public comments on it, both against and for. that's what the administration is contending with here. >> let's talk about those ghost guns, because chris, you said this is some of the most significant regulation action on guns in two decades before we came on. >> yes, it is. and i think the point made about the atf is really important. atf, the bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms regulates the sale of guns across the country. they inspect them and it's their charge to shutdown or reform dealers who are violating the law. why is that important? because about 5% of gun dealers in this country -- we have more gun dealers than starbucks and mcdonald's combined are responsible for 75% or more of guns that are recovered in crime. so we are really pleased with this nomination. it's very important as somebody who was a former u.s. attorney, a career prosecutor. he knows this agency, and we have only had two atf directors, katy, since the formation of the atf under doj. we need somebody at the helm that understands the critical control of law enforcement and will fight hard from congress to get the appropriate funds so we inspect more gun dealers than the 7% year on average that are currently inspected. the ghost gun rule is equally important. ghost guns are kits and you can buy them online and assemble them in less than a minute but they are not currently regulated as firearms. the biden administration has spent a year and put together an incredible rule that regulates these firearms just like the ones you buy at the store. what does that mean? gun dealers have to conduct background checks. nobody can get around it. right now, katy, that is happening all across the country. this is a big day for the gun violence prevention movement. >> vaughn, you had a long piece talking about how people get them in the mail and can assemble them, just a couple clicks online and don't need to give any information, and you walked into a gun show and didn't give any information and bought one of these kits. tell me more about how easy it and who can walk in and get one? >> it's straight cash, katy. kris and josh underscore how big today is. we don't understand how prevalent ghost guns are on the streets. philadelphia from instance, from 2019 to 2021, the number of ghost guns recovered by law enforcement increased by five times. these weapons are increasingly used in the likes by felons, and we are seeing them wind up in the hands of kids, 13 and 14-year-olds who are able to order these kits on line and have them shipped to their house -- there's no requirement of a background check, and you are seeing these kids ultimately construct them anywhere from 30 minutes to 90 minutes. there's also a black market. there are just 11 states that passed laws regulating the selling of these kits here, and that's where you look at the other 39 states and they are now going to be under the jurisdiction and will have to abide by the atf rule. when we are talking about what is a ghost gun, like we did. we not only ordered one online and had it shipped to a house, and you are watching some of the video where i went in and i said, do you need a background check, no, just cash, and they don't want to know the purpose of the firearm because they would be implicated in a potential crime, and that's where you are going to be seeing the announcement from president biden here coming so soon. it had no chance of passing at least through, you know, despite democratic strongholds in the senate and house here, you saw a lot of frustration. i was talking with the attorney general from pennsylvania and he said they have a republican legislature and there's no way of out right regulating these kits that are built into ghost guns in pennsylvania, and that's why the atf rule was so important. >> just simply having a registration number on the body of the parts being shipped out, or if some reason, the gun shop gets a hold of one of these they have to be able to track them. it's amazing they can't be tracked no matter what, and even if people are convicted felons, they are able to get a gun with with a couple clicks online. thank you very much for being with us. we will go to the event at the white house once the president starts speaking still ahead, murder charges will be dropped against the texas woman arrested because of an abortion. what this case revealed about the state's controversial law. later, does the january 6th committee have enough to build a criminal case against donald trump, and if they do, will they do anything with that? you can sell your policy - even a term policy - for an immediate cash payment. we thought we had planned carefully for our retirement. but we quickly realized we needed a way to supplement our income. if you have $100,000 or more of life insurance, you may qualify to sell your policy. don't cancel or let your policy lapse without finding out what it's worth. visit coventrydirect.com to find out if your policy qualifies. or call the number on your screen. coventry direct, redefining insurance. and here is president biden. >> she's an incredibly young woman. we spoke for a moment inside the oval office. a lot of people here who have lost someone -- too many here have lost someone -- know no matter the occasion, how celebratory, when you have to repeat it and relive it like a moment ago, your poise and confidence and intellect are impressed upon it. they really are. you know, i think most people here can tell you have gone through serious loss, and the best way to deal with this is to find purpose, and you found real purpose. you are very impressive. thank you for sharing your strength, for helping us remember your friend, dominic blackwell and gracie. i don't want to embarrass you, but could you stand up? [ applause ] if you have a moment afterwards, maybe you could come into the oval with me if you wouldn't mind. i would like to talk to you. frank, nancy, brian and cindy, everybody here, as they say, feels your pain a little bit particularly if they have suffered a serious loss. you have now joined a terrible fellowship of serious loss that many have experienced, and too many survivors and advocates here today for me to mention, but let me say the loss in the crowd is incalculable, but so is the strength. i believe our nation will be safer for your bravery, and i mean that. survivors like the los angeles deputy sheriff that survived the ambush by a shooter with a ghost gun represent victims all over the country whose lives were changed by a ghost gun. some made national headlines and many did not, and today we honor your strength and action, and a year ago standing here with many of you i instructed the attorney general that would reign in the ghost guns, and i used what we call regulatory authority. a year later we're here and we are going to keep that promise. the gun lobby tried to tie up the regulators and paperwork for a long, long time. i will call this rule i am about to announce extreme -- extreme. but let me ask you, is it extreme to protect officers, extreme to protect children, and extreme to get the guns without a background check? it's not extreme. it's just basic common sense. you know, if you buy a couch that you have to assemble, it's still a couch. if you order a package like this over here that includes this, you bought a gun. look. it comes in this package. this is the gun. it's not hard to put together. a little drill, a little hand drill at home. it doesn't take very long. anyone can order one from the mail. anyone. folks, a felon, a terrorists, a domestic abuser can go from a gun kit to a gun in as little as 30 minutes. buyers are not required to pass background checks because these guns have no serial numbers. when they show up at a crime scene they can't be traced. harder to find and prove who used them. you can't connect the gun to the shooter and hold them accountable. in fact the atf reports they have been able to trace less than 1%, less than 1% of ghost guns reported by law enforcement. it makes sense that police across the country are increasingly finding ghost guns at crime scenes. by the way, ghost guns can be rifles, essentially assault weapons as well, and this is just one version of the kit you can buy. last year alone law enforcement reported approximately 20,000 suspected ghost guns to the bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms and explosives. that's ten fold from 2016. ten fold in five years. these guns are weapons of choice for many criminals. we are going to do everything we can to deprive them of that choice and when we find them put them in jail for a long, long time. law enforcements are sounding the alarms and the communities are paying the price, and the united states department of justice is making it illegal for a business to manufacture one of these kits without a serial number. illegal! illegal for a licensed gun dealer to sell them without a background check. starting today weapons like the one used at sawdust high school and the one that was used to ambush the officers here today, dealers must make the firearm with a serial number before reselling it, and all of a sudden it's no longer a ghost. it has a return address. it's going to help save lives, reduce crime and get more criminals off the streets. this rule is only part of our strategy to go after ghost guns. in february the department of justice launched a national ghost gun enforcement initiative, intensifying going after them. and assigning a coordinator in each of the field decisions to serve as a point person to prep law enforcement to go after ghost guns. if you commit a crime with ghost guns, expect federal prosecution. expect federal prosecution. this is an important step. it's going to make a difference, i promise you. a lot of other things we know work to reduce gun violence and other violent crimes and save lives. that's why i put together a comprehensive strategy to supercharge what works while pushing congress to work on sensible legislation to prevent gun violence. in addition to today's rule, we're working on four areas. first, we're going after rogue gun dealers. the last time we had data on this was more than 20 years ago. 5% of gun dealers sold 90% of illegal guns found at crime scenes. 5% sold 90%. these merchants of death are breaking the law for profit, selling guns that are killing innocent people. we're cracking down on these gun dealers and the violent criminals they knowingly arm. second, we're disrupting illegal gun trafficking. attorney general garland has directed all u.s. attorneys to prioritize gun trafficking that is moving guns across state lines and city boundaries. the justice department is surging resources to help shut down these trafficking corridors, including the one known as the iron pipeline that funnels weapons from gun shops in states like georgia to crime scenes up and down the east coast. thirdly, we're funding a strategy we know will reduce gun crime. community policing and community violence interruption. look, i've said it many times. the answer is not to defund the police, it's to fund the police and give them the tools and training, the support they need to be better partners and protectors of our communities in need. and i've already made clear that i want cities, states, counties and tribes to use some of the $350 billion we sent to them in the american rescue plan that i wrote in the first month to reduce gun violence, hire police officers for community policing, pay police overtime, purchase crime-fighting technologies. they were given the money, they can do it. spend it. now on top of that i'm calling for additional funding to put policing on the streets for community policing. one thing we learned in the middle of a crime wave not long ago, when the cop knows by first name who owns the corner drugstore, who lives in the apartment above 6b, the people, the pastors of the churches, guess what, people talk to them. they trust them. the attorney general in delaware would go around and make sure people knew him in high crime rate neighborhoods. he's give his personal cell phone number and instructed all the cops to do the same thing, and they did. and the crime plummeted. not a joke, look at the record. not just my son, but all across the nation. they need to hire agents they need to fight gun crime, more agents. my budget funds body cameras, make sure police work with the local communities and are accountable to the local communities. we're also investing in community violence intervention. these are local programs that utilize trusted messengers, community members and leaders, who are most likely to commit a gun crime or become victims of gun crime. get to them early, it works. it works. they intervened before it's too late. fourth, we're funding jobs and training young people. summer programs, drug treatment, mental health, housing availability, criminal justice reform and re-entry support for people coming home after incarceration. right now you get let out of prison after serving your time, you get a bus ticket and $25. you end up under the same bridge you left two, five, ten years earlier. if you serve your time, you qualify for pell grants, you qualify for housing, you qualify for food, you qualify to get back into the community, give them a fighting chance. these are all demonstrated ways to reduce crime, and i'm strongly urging cities, states, counties and tribes to use the rescue plan funding we sent them to do more in each of these areas. they need to do more and do it quickly before the summer when crime typically surges around america. so we're pushing in each of these areas, but none of this absolves congress, with all due respect to my members of congress here, the wrong people i'd be talking to, for the responsibility to act. we need congress to pass universal background checks. universal background checks. and i know it's controversial, but i got it done once. ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. i was getting criticized when i first passed this law when i was a senator. and guess what, i was down in southern delaware to do a lot of hunting and fishing down there. i was walking up one of the creek beds and a guy standing there said do you want to take my gun? i said i don't want to take your gun. he said you're telling me i can't have more than x number of bullets in my gun. and i said, do you think the deer you're hunting wear kevlar vests? what do you need 20 bullets for? you must be a hell of a terrible shot. i'm serious. think about it. think about the mass shootings. as many as 100 rounds. it's a weapon of war. it has nothing to do with recreation. outright ban of the sale and possession unserialized guns. eliminate gun manufacturers' immunity from liability. they're the only outfit in the country that is immune. imagine had the tobacco industry been immune to being sued. come on. in february, the families of nine of the sandy hook shooting victims achieved a settlement against a maker of guns that was used to kill their children. the sandy hook folks that are here, are you embarrassed if i ask you to stand up. these folks right here did more to keep all this going than anybody. we owe you, man. we owe you. it never goes away, does it. god love you. look, this is incredibly rare because gun manufacturers have more immunity from liability than any other american industry. so they have never had to take responsibility for the death and destruction their products cause. but as part of this settlement, remington agreed to release thousands of pages of internal documents. they did that. and here's why it's so important. remember it wasn't until we saw the internal documents that we really understood what cigarette manufacturers were doing to our kids and our families. now we may begin to see what gun manufacturers are and are not doing when it comes to making and marketing their deadly products. by the way, it's going to sound bizarre, i support the second amendment. it doesn't say you can own any gun that you want as big as you want. you couldn't buy a cannon and certain people weren't allowed to purchase guns. it's nothing new, it's just rational. look, this should be just a start. we need to repeal the liability shield of gun manufacturers and finally hold them accountable for false advertising and many other things they do. there's one more action i'm taking today. it's only been -- there's only been one senate whose confirmed a director of alcohol, tobacco and explosives in the bureau's entire history. it used to be it didn't require senate action but it's only been one since it required confirmation. this is an agency whose mission is to protect communities from violent criminals, illegal trafficking of firearms, acts of arson and bombing and a lot more. the mission of this agency isn't controversial, it's public safety. today to lead and support the dedicated men and women of the aft, i'm proud to nominate steve dedilback. he is immensely qualified. he served the department of justice for two decades. he worked side by side to support the work of federal, state and local law enforcement including aft agents and one of those was -- a case he personally tried as a u.s. attorney where the serial arsonist firebombed the courthouses in mansfield, ohio. for his work steve got death threats but the defendant got 60 years. steve also partnered with community leaders and law enforcement to help prevent violent crime. he's worked with the police to combat domestic extremism and to take violent criminals off the street. steve's record makes him ready on day one to lead this agency. and by the way, in 2009 the u.s. senate unanimously confirmed him to serve as u.s. attorney. i look forward to working with the senate to get him confirmed once again. with what i know about him and why i'm so enthusiastic about supporting him, i'd like to introduce my nominee. steve, come on up here.