This morning my question as tina fey and amy poehler take the stage tonight, are we in a golden era for women in comedy . Plus, when it comes to education is no boys allowed the next best thing for girls . And the mother who lost her son to gun violence twice. First, want to know what joe biden plans to do about the guns . Me, too. Im going to ask his son. Good morning. Im m i im Melissa Harrisperry. Bidens report to the president comes a week after meetings in search of some Common Ground among all the sides of the gun control debate. The usual suspects, firearm retailers including a reluctant walmart, gun violence survivors who shared their firsthand experiences, gun control proponents and gun control opponents pushing for expanded rights. The de facto leader of that opposition, the National Rifle association issued a statement after their sitdown with the Vice President. Their solution . To dig in deeper on the all guns all the time ideology and put armed guards in every american school. The nra promises to marshall their formidable, political and Financial Resources to fight any new reforms every step of the way. They will do so with the support of allies in congress, most notably republicans on the House Committee who continue to propose limits on assault weapons. No surprises there. By now, we are familiar with the political players and per am ters with the debate that feels as old as the Second Amendment itself or at least we think we are. Because history tells us a different story. It tells us that all of our uniquely american relationships to guns, who is allowed to have them, who feels threatened by them and how our laws seek to find a balance between the two extremes have never been fixed. In fact, that history reflects a series of ever evolving, conflicting contradictory points that have been characterized not by policy, but panic. Panic over perceptions of who is with us and who is against us. This time, it is a panic inspired by the fear a madman will walk into a public space and kill indiscriminately. I want to go back a bit. Nearly five decades. There was a Prominent Organization that defended a strict interpretation of the Second Amendment and the right of individual americans to use guns to protect themselves when the state could or would not. The name of that organization was the black panther party. They may have been the farthest thing from what the founders imagined when they wrote well regulated militia in the Second Amendment. A militia depending themselves against the tyranny of the state by taking up arms was their mission. It was started by two men in 1966. The panthers took up arms in response to random and indiscriminate violence perpetrated against black people in california by the Oakland Police in an america catching up to the promise of the civil rights legislation. Members of the organization received training from experienced instructors and how to maintain and shoot guns. They carried them openly in public in compliance with the police and the laws at the time. Go as far as to police the police to patrol them as the police patrolled oakland residents. The response was broad and decisive. A republican state assemblyman proposed a state law that would make it illegal to carry a loaded weapon in any city in california. The law created to disarm the black panthers would affect all gun owners in the state of california. In a dramatic showdown, they responded with their version of nra lobbying on capitol hill. They showed up with shotguns on the state Capital Building in sacramento. They were prevented from entering the chamber, their message was received loud and clear. It was signed into law by someone who seems an improbable advocate for gun control. This guy. No, your eyes are not fooling you. That is Republican Party demagogue ronald reagan, a supporter of what was at the time one of the strictist gun laws in the nation. The panic over black people with guns mag fied in cities like detroit in the shooting deaths of Bobby Kennedy revoked a policy response from the government. President lyndon b. Johnson signed the gun control act of 1968. We have come here to sign the most comprehensive gun control law ever signed in this nations history. As we await tuesday for Vice President bidens recommendations, the president s respond and the outcry from either or both sides, we are well served to keep in mind in recent history, theres no clear liberal or consensus on gun policy. Our freedoms, cherished as they are must be balanced by civic responsibilities. At the table today, dan gross, tracy meres, law professor at yale university. Thanks to all of you for being here. Thank you. I want to start with you in part because i tell this story, a story that i think has been lost even though its recent history. I worry as we enter into the new conversation about guns and the possibility of getting common sense Gun Legislation that we will miss this has not always been a partisan issue and hasnt been id logically marketed. What do we learn from this history . History is long standing. It goes back far beyond the black panthers. During the fugitive slave law resistan resistance, Frederick Douglas resisted slave catchers. We see it moving up through the 1960s. Your point about the black panthers is interesting. Its a stage where in my scholarship i have described at the dichotomy. The leadership and grass roots made a distinction. They thought it was a crucial resource for black folks. Up to the point of the radical resistance of the black panthers, that dichotomy was vividly upheld. The panthers sullied that process. The book im working on talks about that phenomena in more detail. What we find up until the 1970s is a clear endorsement by Martin Luther king and everyone in the movement. As you put on, this is a path that goes way back, right . We might be able to say, look, we would be a better and safer country if theres no Second Amendment. We might be able to say its not part of our tradition, but its not where we are. We are in a place where wherever gun control legislation we are going to implement and institute is in this context. Talk about civically responsible gun control legislation at the time we talk about the Second Amendment. Here is the crazy thing. This is not a partisan political debate in the discourse of america. 92 of americans support things like background checks to keep guns out of the hands of criminals, felons, abusers, dangerously mentally ill. That has nothing to do with the Second Amendment right. 74 of nra members support criminal background checks. The only place where this is a heated partisan debate is in the halls of congress and sometimes, in the media when they pit two extreme sides against each other. Its not the conversation the American Public wants to have. They dont want a conversation about putting more guns in schools. The gun lobby puts out out there with the hope of dragging it into the uncivil conversation contrary to any solution that would keep guns off our streets and out of the hands of dangerous people. The teachers with guns, right, this image of teachers actually standing there being trained with guns scares me like this is exactly the wrong direction for this conversation. It scares teachers to death, too. Right. It feels like it is based on who the good guys and bad guys are. We are responding to newtown, basically. We have to arm teachers because in this case, teachers would have done something different. We cant assume teachers are always the good guys. We dont want to give them pensions but we want to arm them. Nobody else is responding that way. A few people on the extreme of this, that is not the conversation the American Public wants to have. Its not the conversation they want us to have on this show. Themt to talk about the things we can do to prevent gun violence and the respect for the Second Amendment. They can coexist. We should be proactive. If we look at two things, short term fixes, which is the gun, we have Long Term Solutions the potential shooting and victim. We have to do both. Not just Gun Legislation on tuesday to look at the recommendati recommendation. How do we do assault weapons bans and close loopholes . How do we look at young people who might be potentially dangerous. We have to look at how do we stop that. From the beginning, not just how do we get rid of guns. This is the challenge. Its in response to the kinds of gun violence that is actually not in other words, it is the teenagers being shot in the streets of chicago. Two points on that. One, i like your point, michael, about making it broder. One way is recognize the issue for what it is, Public Health. When we think of it as Public Health, we Pay Attention to the fact there have been 4 million firearm injuries in the last 40 years. They include not only the good guys and bad guys, but suicide, accidents and the like. The fact that because of some of the nra activism we havent been able to do the research to figure out the parameters and scope and details of the problem. I think thats one. Its kind of like, the abortion debate, to bring Something Else high profile in. Theres a problem between characterizing it on prochoice on one hand and prolife on the other rather than a concept of reproductive justice. In the broader sense. We have a lot more to say. We are going to spend the whole hour on this issue. It is complicated. Stay there. The Vice President is set to deliver his suggestions on gun policy on tuesday. Up next, im going to ask his son, delaware attorney general, bo biden for a preview. When Vice President joe biden presents the president with his recommendations all options will be on the table. Not all options will make it to the final legislation. Banning assault weapons, limiting high capacity magazines face strong opposition from opponents. The president is fond of saying letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. I want to make it clear that we are not going to get caught up in the notion unless we can do everything, we are going to do nothing. Its critically important we act. My next guest can give us a closer look at what the action may look like. Hes involve of the state level of new policies and the son of the Vice President who is directly involved to the man crafting them. Joining me from delaware is state attorney beau biden. Nice to have you mr. Biden. Happy to be on, melissa. First in your role as attorney general, you and the governor will be presenting state level plans at the beginning of next week even as the Vice President is going to help us see what the federal level plans are beginning on tuesday. What does the gun problem look like from your Vantage Point . Well, the gun problem here in the city of wilmington is pronounced. We have many things you talked about in the previous segment, young people are arming themselves with a cell phone, a weapon and committing violence at record levels in the city of wilmington. We are focused on it very much in the state of delaware. Obviously, we are concerned about school safety. Tomorrow the governor and i will be putting forth a whole package of laws that will hopefully protect kids in schools and on the streets in wilmington. One of the pieces i can preview what im going to do, not what the Vice President is going to do. The governor and i are going to resubmit a law he put forward 18 months ago that would require universal background checks. I loved your lead in with the history of the 1968 gun control act and the work the bradys who are now citizens of the background check. Instant criminal background check noun as the nix was fought tooth and nail by the nra. Its over the course of the last 15 years stopped 2 Million People prohibited on the gun control act from getting weapons. Half of whom are convicted felons who have gone to purchase weapons. What we have heard, the leader from brady knows this. No one is dumb enough to go to purchase legally a weapon. The facts have born Something Else out. The brady law helps stop it and make this is safer place to live. The background check allows us to trace how many more gun sales occur monthtomonth. One of the more shocking statistics we have seen since the holiday tragedy at newtown is as the New York Times reports, this enormous increase in the number of people seeking guns. The New York Times reported december was a record for criminal background checks before many gun purchases, a strong indication of a big increase in sales. We are looking at 2. 2 million background checks performed in the month of december. It was an increase over that period in 2011. What does that tell you, attorney general, about how people are reacting both to newtown and the attempts to make some common sense legislation around guns . It makes it difficult. What we have seen in my office as a chief Law Enforcement officer, im in charge of doing background checks for people applying for concealed weapons permit. We have seen a huge up tick in that. Well in front of what happened in connecticut. I see a lot of misinformation out there. Gun sales went through the roof well before the tragedy in connecticut upon the election of president barack obama in november of last year. So, theres a lot of misinformation. The same thing happened when the president and Vice President were elected in 2008 and 2009. Gun sales went through the roof. Theres a lot of misinformation outs there about what the administration wanlts to do, what others want to do and we need everybody to take a deep breath here and come up with a reasonable, sensible approach about how to honor the Second Amendment and keep our schools and the streets of our cities safe. Let me ask you one question. Very specifically about your father who is now leading this charge. What insights do you have about him either as a man or legislature to help us understand how he is approaching the task of bringing forward a gun proposal . Well, i can tell you, hes going to do what he and the president have done on every piece of legislation they have approached the last four years. One, bring all the stake holders together and hear them out from the nra to sportsmen to victims to survivors. My father was on the phone last night with folks, survivors in connecticut and the parents of the children who were, you know, killed in that awful tragedy. So hes going to listen to everyone. Then come up with a common sense approach about how to make sure that Something Like what happened in connecticut doesnt happen again and bring a sense of safety to city streets around the communities. Thats what hell do. He has a, you know, he gets a lot of credit for having relationships with congress over the last four years. Really, what his talent is is having an encyclopedia knowledge and what the stake holders position is and finding Common Ground. Its what he did at the turn of the year with the negotiations on the fiscal cliff. I think its what the president asked him to do as it relates to bringing some legislation in front of congress to make us a safer country from gun violence. Its what hes in the midst of doing as we speak. Thank you beau biden. I appreciate your insights on this. Thank you. Up next, jumping in front of loaded guns, on purpose. [ male announcer ] staples is the numberone Office Superstore ink retailer in america. Now get 6 back in staples rewards for every ink cartridge you recycle when you spend 50 on hp ink. Staples. That was easy. A great cup of coffee should be easy as one, two. Well, just one. New single serve cafe collections from Maxwell House now available for use in the keurig kcup brewer. Always good to the last drop. It smells worse, and it can happen any time to anyone like when i ran to catch the train to work and a draft blew my skirt up and everybody here saw my unmentionables. Yeah, and they arent even cute. Hello, laundry day. No. Stress sweat can happen to anyone, anytime and it smells worse than ordinary sweat. Get 4x the protection against stress sweat. Introducing new secret clinical strength stress response scent. Washington does the slow work of crafting gun policy around gun violence, people on the ground in americas cities are confronted with the real world consequences every day. Activists in cities that arndt hard hit are taking aix on their own. Joining me is the director of ceasefire illinois an organization that stops the violence before it starts. Nice to see you. Yeah, glad to be here with you, melissa. I watch a bit of the documentary on your organization. It is pretty intense work. Tell the viewers a bit about what your organization does. Well, ceasefire is a Public Health model that is aimed towards changing behaviors associated with violence. We hire violence interrupters and people who work in the field of behavioral change. Its a Learned Behavior and handed down from generation to generation. We teach that they can unlearn it. Lets be clear. When you say trying to teach young people, this is not like your friendly saturday afternoons with 4yearolds to ta