Captioning sponsored by Macneil Lehrer productions ifill in the nine weeks since the schoolhouse shootings in newtown, connecticut, police around the country report hundreds more have been victims of gun violence. Good evening. Im gwen ifill. Woodruff and im judy woodruff. Tonight begins a weeklong focus on guns here on pbs, after newtown. On the newshour this evening, we look at political and other developmentsince the december tragedy and zero in on the gun debate in colorado. In the divisive atmosphere of the gun debate, both sides, at the federal and state level, say they know the coming months wont be easy. But they will be critical. Ifill then, we take up the arguments for and against the proposed construction of the Keystone Pipeline, as environmental activists mounted a protest this weekend. Woodurff ray suarez updates the hugo chavez story, after the president s surprise return to venezuela following more than two months of Cancer Treatment in cuba. Ifill and Jeffrey Brown talks with filmmaker kirby dick about his oscarnominated documentary the invisible war, detailing the high rate of Sexual Assault in the u. S. Military. 86 of men and women who are sexually assaulted in the military dont report. They experience reprisals that are, in many ways, a second betrayal thats even worse than the actual rape itself. Ifill thats all ahead on tonights newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. And by the alfred p. Sloan foundation. Supporting science, technology, and improved Economic Performance and Financial Literacy in the 21st century. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. And. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. After aurora, after virginia tech, after columbine, the question of gun violence becomes a recurring national conversation. This evening, newshour joins pbs in a week of special coverage on the topic of gun violence after newtown. The waves of reaction since decembers Connecticut School shooting continue to reverberate from coast to coast. Now ifill as guncontrol activists push for stricter laws. And gun owners chafe against the prospect of new regulation, crossing for. Causing for now an increase in sale in firearms and attendance at gun shows. That dpebt is now spreading well beyond washington as cities and states take steps to distance themselves from gun manufacturers. In new york last week, the city School Teachers pension fund sold off 13. 5 million it held in stock with five gun makers. That followed action in california where the state teachers retirement system also stripped itself of 11. 7 million of investments from three gun manufacturers. And the golden states 254 billion Public Employees retirement system is also deciding whether to withdraw the 5 million worth of shares it holds in two companies. In chicago, mayor Rahm Emmanuel focused on banks, asking t. D. Bank and bank of america to stop financing gun manufacturers. Chicagos gun violence has placed it in the center of the National Debate. Michelle obama attended the funeral of Hadiya Pendleton who was shot to death near her school days after marching in the president ial inaugural parade and pendletons parents joined mrs. Obama as her guest at the state of the union speech last week. President obama returned to his hometown last week to stress the need for action on gun violence. Last year there were 443 murders with a firearm on the streets of this city. And 65 of those victims were 18 and under so thats the equivalent of a newtown every four months. Ifill in fact, just hours after the president spoke, 18yearold janay mcfarland was shot and killed in chicago. Her 14yearold sister destiny warren had attendd the president s speech. The fallout from gun violence has extended to politics, as chicago moves toward next weeks special election to fill the congressional seat vacated by Jesse Jackson jr. In the race. Fill a guncontrol grup financed by new york mayor Michael Bloomberg has spent more than a Million Dollars on ads attacking candidates there supported by the National Rifle association. Another group organized by former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and her husband mark kelly is paying for gun control ads airing nationwide. What were going to do is were going to support people running for office. Were going to oppose others to are unwilling to do something on this issue. I mean were going to spend money in these races. We are committed to making sure that we have safer schools and safer communities. And the first thi we can do, the thing we can do right now, is to pass a universal criminal background check. Ifill in at least 20 states from wyoming to virginia, lawmakers are pushing back. With bills they say will preserve the rights of gun owners. For a closer look at how the politics of gun control is spreading beyond the nations capital, we turn to newshour Political Editor christina bellantoni. What is the difference between what we see happening in these state capitals and these city halls and the debate weve seen periodically here in washington . Well, theres a big difference in that state legislatures are all meeting right now most of them are in session. You have governors who want to get on the national stage. Youve got a lot of republicans who control state legislatures particularly in the south. They want to strengthen gun freedoms. And then you have aate low of more liberal legislatures controlled by democrats who want to strengthen gun control. So in colorado today we saw a measure where they advanced expanding background checks. They advanced a measure that would limit the number of magazine sales. Contrast that with arkansas even though theres a democratic governor there its a fairly consertive state politically. The governor signed a bill allowing you to carry a concealed weapons in churches and on a college campus. Youre seeing a lot of that. At the broader level this pensions issue is where the more liberal democrats are really wanting to get at these gun manufacturers where it hurts financially. Ifill lets talk about the pension issue. I remember back in the day that people wanted universities to divest on investments in south africa as a way of making a political statement. Is that where the battle is now with guns . Its ieresting wn you look at tumbe. The big decision with the new york city School TeachersPension Program that came last week, this is 13. 5 Million Dollars out of a 46. 6 billion fund in total. Thats not that much of their fund but its a much larger number than the others we saw. The california teachers had a smaller number, less than 12 million. Calpers talking about 5 million. The california Public Employees penguin. Theyre trying to pull that out. Youre also seeing efforts coming from the mayors. Philadelphia, for example. They passed this sandy hook principals legislation which basically says we want you to adhere to better background checks, more expansive background checks and not selling magazines in certain capacities. We want to make sure that you are supporting those. If you dont were not going to fund you. Ifill in a city like chicago, we saw Rahm Emmanuel say hes going to tell the banks to stop doing things. What leverage does he have . Very little. One mayor has very little. Basically hes saying you cant lend in this case to be able to give money to these gun manufacturers. But at the same time if more and more mayors start to do that, if theyre adopting the thingse saw it happen at the Los Angeles City council level. Youre seeing it expand rapidly. Very similar to what happened with south africa as well. Ifill Jesse Jacksons congressional seat in chicago has become ground zero for lots of reasons but in this particular case when it comes to gun violence, how much is this bloomberg money, mayor Mike Bloombergs pac having on this race. A billionaire is willing to spend here. He spend 5 million in a democratic contest in california in the fall last year and was able to oust an incumbent, congressman joe bacca a bring in a newcomer to this race. Thats similar to what hes trying to do here. Hes running against a former member of congress in that ad that we saw in that setup there. Hes saying i can spend my money here. I can really effect change in little ways. Thats where he wants to make the difference. Ifill you look at this and whats happening in philadelph philadelphia. Not arkansas. But you see whats happening in colorado. All these different placeses. You wonder to yourself, is the allpowerful n. R. A. Taking this lying down or is there a pushack. Theres a pushback. They say that their members and the broader public dont support these efforts to tighten gun control efforts. Youre seeing them spending more money in their own congressional races. With mark kelly theyre going to spend a lot of cash in the upcoming 2014 election with House Democrats trying to win back control of that chamber. The n. R. A. Plans to get involved here. Ifill is it too soon to say that this is going to be a major issue on a lot of state agendas this year . Not at all. I was just looking at numbers from state track. There were 2,319 bills introduced just this year. Ifill how many . 2,319 bills introduced already. 132 signed relating to guns in general. Ifill since january. Yes. Youre seeing legislatures take on this issue whether its for it or against it. Of course the National Debate going. Everybody wants to get a piece of that at all. Ifill well be watching that National Debate, of course. Well be watching the local one as well. Christina bellantoni, thank you. Woodruff our special reporting project continues online. Today we hear from High Schoolers around the country who speak about the case for arming teachers, and how violent video games affect their peers. Find that on our home page, newshour. Pbs. Org. Still to come on the newshour, to build or not to build the Keystone Pipeline; the colorado gun debate; hugo chavez returns to venezuela; and the militarys invisible war. But first, the other news of the day. Heres hari sreenivasan. Sreenivasan thousands of shiites in pakistan mounted a second day of protests after a bombing killed 89 people on saturday. The protests were held in half a dozen cities, urging the army to go after militants whove targeted the countrys shiite minority. Many relatives of saturdays victims stayed by the bodies of their loved ones and refused to bury them. The attack in quetta was the second mass casualty attack aimed at shiites there in just over a month. Al qaeda in iraq took responsibility today for car bombings that killed at least 37 people in baghdad on sunday. The three attacks occurred within minutes of each other, in open air markets of the iraqi capital. In addition to the dead, more than one hundred people were wounded. The bombings came amid rising discord between the shiiteled government and minority sunnis. U. N. Investigators said today the time has come for suspected war criminals in syria to face the International Criminal court. Carla del ponte, a member of a u. N. Commission of inquiry, said even if there is ultimately a peace settlement, it must not give a free pass to those accused of atrocities. Im concerned about what hes done in the political side to achieve peace and to negotiate peace. What im sure that once International Justice is dealing with this case, it is no amnesty at all. Sreenivasan the Commission Found the civil war is increasingly sectarian and radicalized on both sides. It also cited the spread of weapons as a growing concern, and urged the International Community to curb the flow of arms into syria. Another member of the u. S. Senate has decided to step aside. Republican mike johanns of nebraska announced today he will not seek a second term next year. In a statement, he said he wants to spend more time with his family, after spending 32 of his 62 yea in various offices. Johanns is the fifth senator to announce plans to retire next year. A hall of fame figure in pro basketball, former Los Angeles Lakers owner jerry buss, died today. Hed battled cancer for months. Buss ran the lakers for nearly 34 years, and they won ten n. B. A. Championships during that time. Along the way, he brought in star players from Kareem Abdul Jabbar to Magic Johnson to kobe bryant. He was also one of the first owners to create his own cable tv networkand sell the naming rights to his arena. Jerry buss was 80 years old. Those are some of the days major stories. Now, back to judy. Woodruff and we turn to this weekends protests and the big debate over the extension of an oil pipeline from canada into the u. S. As the u. S. Tries to navigate between clean energy and economic growth, as well as Energy Dependence versus drilling, the president s upcoming decision is increasingly seen as a crucial test by all sides. Thousands of people marched on the National Mall in washington yesterday, braving a cold winter wind to take part in what organizers called the biggest climate rally in u. S. History. They called for president obama to reject the proposed keystone excel oil pipeline. The reason i came here today was because i feel like president obama. I feel like if we make a statement with our numbers and our passion that hell get the message. Woodruff the keystone project is designed to move crude oil hundreds of thousands of barrels a day that would be extracted from the oil sands of northern alberta in western canada. The oil would be transported across several u. S. States to refinerees and ports in texas. The Company Behind the 1700mile pipeline, transcanada, has altered the route to largely bypass a water deposit in nebraska. But protest organizers insisted the pipeline still threatens land it crosses and will mean even greater Carbon Pollution. The president needs to think about what his legacy is going to be. 50 years from now, no one is going to care about the fiscal cliff. Theyre going to ask, the arctic melted in 2012 and then what did you do . And this is the chance to do the right thing. Woodruff the keystone project has been pending for more than four yes. In 2011, the president called for further study. But supporters of the multibillion dollar pipeline have argued it will create thousands of jobs and reduce reliance on oil from the middle east. Last month, 44 republicans in the u. S. Senate joined by nine democrats called for the president to approve keystone. Mr. Obama has given no direct signal about his intentions. But in his state of the Union Address last week, he promised action on the broader climate issue. The last four years our mission of the dangerous Carbon Pollution that threatens our planet have actually fallen. But for the sake of our children and our future, we must do more to combat climate chang. Woodruff to that end, the administration is also mulling tougher rules to curb emissions from coalfired plants in a push toward cleaner energy. As for keystone, the state department oversees crossborder pipelines and could release its recommendation as early as march. Woodruff we have our own debate on the pending decision and the many issues at stake. Bob deans is with the n. R. D. C. , the Natural Resources defense council, one of many groups organizing yesterdays protests. And scott segals a lobbyist and partner with firm of bracewell and guiani. The firm represents a number of Energy Companies pushing for the keystone extension. Gentlemen, welcome to you both. Thank you, judy. Woodruff bob deans, let me start with you. What is the main harm done if this pipeline extension happens . The main idea here is to take some of the dirtiest oil on the planet, pipe it through the bread basket of america so it can be sent overseas out of the gulf of mexico. Its not about american jobs. Its about profits for Big Oil Companies a bad requested that needs to be denied. Woodruff if itsing if through a pipeline whats the concern. The cal ma glo river, 30 miles of that river was destroyed two years ago by a pipeline incident using these kinds of crude. Its bad stuff. These accidents do put this heartland at risk. The thousands, hundreds of thousands of jobs, we have a quarter of a million farms and ranches in those great plains states that your map just showed. Those are the real jobs in that region. We need to protect them not put them at risk. Woodruff youre saying they would be harmed by . They would certainly be put at risk by having this tar sands crude going through there. But even more importantly, judy, we talked aboutclimate change. This tar sands crude requires 3 to 4 times the carbon inputs to produce that conventional crude oil does. Its a disaster for climate change. We need to turn it down. Woodruff hes raising a number of concerns having to do with the oil itself and the impact of the kind of work that would be done to get it out of those tar sands. What do you say in response . Well, im