As the nation mourns the tragic shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, the issue of guns and violence in America took center stage on Meet the Press. New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg discussed what he believes to be a life and death issue and said that he ultimately holds the president responsible to do something about it.
Bloomberg called on President Obama to make gun regulation his "number one agenda."
"If he does nothing during his second term, something like 48,000 Americans will be killed with illegal guns." Bloomberg added that it was "roughly the number of Americans killed in the whole Vietnam War."
Gun control advocate Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) also made news this morning when she announced on the program that she will re-introduce a federal bill to ban assault weapons, reportedly like the one used in the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school.
"As a first day bill I'm going to introduce in the Senate and the same bill will be introduced in the House. A bill to ban assault weapons," Feinstein said. "It will ban the sale, the transfer, the importation and the possession. Not retroactively but prospectively. And it will ban the same for big clips, drums or strips of more than 10 bullets."
Feinstein was the sponsor of the original assault weapons ban in place from 1994 until Congress allowed it to expire in 2004.
It's also important to note that Meet the Press reached out to all 31 pro-gun rights Senators in the new Congress to invite them to share their views on this subject this morning, but no one took us up on the offer.
You can watch the entire program on our website including our conversation with Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy with the latest on the investigation and how the community is coping in the wake of the tragedy.
We'll be back next week. If it's Sunday, it's Meet the Press.
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Is there any doubt that Michael Bloomberg is going to run for President in 2016?
I have to say, there is a high likelihood that I would vote for him!
The media is the ones that continually press the gun control issue! You cannot even report the story accurately? Throwing camera’s in child victims faces minutes/hours after a traumatic event! WTF? You want answers? Look in the mirror!
What can I say about Mayor Bloomberg…Money + Intelligence does not make you right. It is so telling that gun control/ban advocates admit it would not stop any of these incidents but still push it.
No mention of the war on unions (teachers) etc., TV/movie violence, our nations perpetual state of war since WWII (Korea / Viet Nam cold war, South & Central America drug war, Bosnia, Mid/Far East terror war), now perfecting killing via remote control. We are governed by fearful war mongers whose only answers are increasing surveillance on our own citizens and limiting more of our rights. We increasingly are becoming more & more like the enemies we fight.
The difference between 10 and 30 round magazines…10 seconds total for two swaps. Mental Health stigmatism is real. Telling someone your darkest thoughts is a good way to lose friends, jobs, etc. and be marked for life. I do not have the answers and it does not seem your guest do either. Status quo.
If this heartbreaking event does not compel Americans to demand common sense gun control then she is doomed and may she wallow in the blood of these tiny children.
Gun ownership in the People's Republic of China is heavily regulated by law. Generally, private citizens are not allowed to possess guns.
Lets look at China as an example of what we could be.
Dec. 14th 2012
A man wielding a knife attacked students Friday at a school in central China, leaving 22 children and one adult injured. The attack marks the latest in a series of violent assaults at elementary schools in China. In 2010, a total of 18 children were killed in four separate attacks. On March 23 of that year, Zheng Minsheng attacked children at an elementary school in Fujian Province, killing eight. (with a knife)
One month later, just a few hours after Zheng Minsheng was executed for his crime, another man, Chen Kanbing wounded 16 students and a teacher in a knife attack at another primary school in Fujian. The following month, on May 12, a man named Wu Huangming killed seven children and two adults with a meat cleaver at a kindergarten in Shaanxi Province. That attack was followed by an August 4 assault by Fang Jiantang, who killed three children and one teacher with a knife at a kindergarten in Shandong Province.
In 2011, a young girl and three adults were killed with an axe at an elementary school in Henan Province by a 30-year-old man named Wang Hongbin, and eight children were hurt in Shanghai after an employee at a child care center attacked them with a box cutter.
Some Chinese bloggers have blamed the lack of freedom of expression for the attacks, suggesting people frustrated by their own circumstances but lacking the means to seek justice or voice their concerns with the all-powerful communist government, lash out instead at the least powerful members of society.
China's lack of mental health care facilities may also be partly to blame for the attacks. There are almost no mental health care facilities in rural communities, which have experienced dramatic changes over the last several years as China's economy has grown.
China has 1.3 billion people and the US has 311 million. You've just listed 41 knife deaths over a TWO YEAR period. Since China's population is about four times greater than the US population, by your argument we'd have around 30 gun deaths in that same time period. Well, there's more than that here PER DAY.
So I agree with you - China is a great example of what we could be. If only we were prepared to confront our demons and provide citizens with good health care, esp mental health, and gun regulations.
I am encouraged by Mayor Bloomberg's and Sen. Feinstein's positions on gun regulations. Problems that are never discussed are likely never to be solved. People who run from the discussion or simply complain about the opinions\solutions voiced by others are making a statement of their own social apathy. If you don't have a solution to offer, at least openly state your personal position, then provide hope and support for those willing to become engaged in the discussion.
Are you aware that Feinstein personally carries a weapon?
I don't care what Feinstein does or doesn't carry, I care about sound policy.
Do you care about hypocrisy? How about a ruling class that has a separate set of laws? Do you have access to the health insurance plan that Diane Feinstein has access to as a US Senator? The one that you're paying for? Sound policy would not include the above.
My feeling is a family that recognizes an individual with mental health issues has fears of what happens if that issues is brought to the mental health community. There is a loss of control over the individuals treatment and an attitude that ONLY the mental health professional is capable of dealing with conditions of mental health. Once apart of the system, family loses any status in the control of treatment or the path of treatment. Once in the system, there forever.
What happens to the parents that make it possible for their children to have access to guns in their home. What happens when our judicial system has lenient punishment toward these irresponsible parents and the judicial system itself. How about looking at the people who have the guns, a gun does not shoot itself. It time that our irresponsible political leaders take action on our childrens behalf without reguard to their political gain. I guess our political leaders political gain is more important than the safty of our children. How long has the incident been since Colorado? Political leaders still have done zero. What has this country come to ?
Everyone says how the Church is comforting everyone, BUT not 1 person saw the Church as maybe a partial solution to the crime taking place in this world. Oh no, point to more controls, but maybe if we put more emphasis on faith, people in need will be more comforted and know a place to go for help. But talking about God by most of the press is not thought of, maybe the ACLU have contributed to this misguided direction.
I watched the gun debate on Meet the Press and there was only one underlying
thought in my mind…Why are we talking about culture and mental health issues?
As long as there are human beings, society will always have cultural and mental
health issues. How will solving for cultural and mental health issues bring it “home” to the 20 families? I have seen this same argument applied to any number of other “disastrous events” and subliminally it can also be an effective delaying tactic to allow emotions and time to pass.
We will ALWAYS have those issues. This is NOT a strategic problem and this is NOT about addressing fundamental ills in society. It really is about free availability of a weapon of mass destruction.
If we as a country supported spending billions of dollars to rid Iraq of
weapons of mass destruction why can we not do the same at home? How
can we as a nation make two opposing arguments? Compare this to our war on
terror:
Argument 1: Saddam Hussein is unpredictable, hence we are removing his weapons of mass destruction else he will murder millions.
Argument 2: At home – Such killers are unpredictable so let us treat the root cause as a larger cultural / mental health issue problem (instead of immediately removing weapons of mass destruction from the streets)
It is time to accept a fact: The gun is a weapon of mass destruction, particularly an automated gun. More guns on the streets equates to higher probability of gun violence. Less guns = lower probability. Regardless of the statistics, even one occurrence of 20 kids is unacceptable. Human beings can be unpredictable. Allowing a weapon in the hands of even one unpredictable human is unacceptable. The
only guaranteed way of preventing this is:
1) Remove the unpredictable human, or
2) Remove the weapon of mass destruction
Leaders of the country: Decide which is achievable.
I think we have a window and national momentum to treat this like 911. Immediately after 911 air traffic was grounded for a week – let us do the same with guns. Here are some drastic thoughts (we need drastic action):
1) Immediate moratorium for one month on ALL gun sales NATIONWIDE
2) Within one week bring a bill to congress and the senate to ban assault weapons (anything even slightly automated) for one year
3) During the year create a nonpartisan special committee to study, draft and pass legislation with sensible regulation on gun sales and (I hope) make the ban on assault weapons permanent
God bless and give strength to the 26 families.
You forgot to make everywhere a "gun free zone" Sorry, I forgot that criminals and crazy people target these area's to do the most damage. I guess that is a bad idea.
They also ignore all laws as to what they are not supposed to do and or steal and or use to commit murder.
Crazy people will use knives. Knives have caused the death of 1,897 people in 2008. There’s no way to regulate or stop people from obtaining sharp object and it is unfortunate that they are used in murders.
The third most common murder weapons are body parts such hands, feet, fists and head. Throwing a punch, a head-butt or a kick against another person’s head usually has fatal consequences and unfortunately many people have been murdered as such. In 2008 it is reported that 861 lost their lives by fatal body blows in the US. Now what are you going to ban or do?
Lets concentrate on the PERSON rather than the WEAPON.
My prayers are with the families in this senseless murder of innocent children.
US gun deaths in 2008 (homicide only) 9,484 - source: 2009 FBI Uniform Crime Reports.
"Since 1979, America has lost nearly three times as many children and teens to gunfire as the number of U.S. military deaths during the Vietnam War and over 23 times the number of U.S. military deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan." That's 116,385. Source: "Protect Children, Not Guns" (2012)
www.childrensdefense.org
Ok...I am going to start a very controversial conversation with my friends. I want to know what you think. We can have scanning devices and search with metal detectors at all airports. We can place police officers all over the place. We can control guns. But none of these are the solution....treating mental illness is the issue....treating and caring for the lonely, disenfranchised and aliented. Hearing the voice and the heart of rage and anger. Addressing these issues. For guns....lets not take them away, lets have a psych evaluation that is paid for by insurance companies for every applicant who wants to buy a gun. They take in the certificate in to show that they had the psych test...then they can buy a gun. How simple it can be. We are placing a bandaide on the problem, but not address the problem. This problem will just escalate until we address the real problem. So, what do my friends think? Please reply. Teresa thacker
If you can afford a gun, you can afford the background phych evaluation. Why should I pay for your background check, I pay for my own insurance, I know, lets get Obamacare to pay for it. I know, you all do not want to take responsibility for your actions, it is always others responsibility to pay for your ideas or your problems. We do not need more gun control, we need more responsible citizens, leaders, government ect.. Come on America start taking personal responsibility and maybe others will follow.
Nope. Second Amendment. Next you'll want push evaluations for the First Amendment (although, after watching Gregory on MTP, it might not be such a bad idea...).
Your list of gun related massacres left off the Amish School children murders in 2006. 10 shot, 5 dead.
We can have scanning devices and search with metal detectors at all airports. We can place police officers all over the place. We can control guns. But none of these are the solution....treating mental illness is the issue....treating and caring for the lonely, disenfranchised and aliented. Hearing the voice and the heart of rage and anger. Addressing these issues. For guns....lets not take them away, lets have a psych evaluation that is paid for by insurance companies for every applicant who wants to buy a gun. They take in the certificate in to show that they had the psych test...then they can buy a gun. How simple it can be. We are placing a bandaide on the problem, but not address the problem. This problem will just escalate until we address the real problem. So, what do my friends think? Please reply. T
The arc of the discussion this morning was entirely predictable, with the exception of Mr. Bennet's bold proposal to have an armed person in schools. Kudos to you, Mr. Bennet! The unpleasant truth that all the other guests seem to wish to avoid acknowledging is that it takes a good guy with a gun to stop a bad guy with a gun. And the most disgusting thing is that these proponents of more gun control know this. How many armed security personnel accompanied Mayor Bloomberg and Sen. Feinstein to the studio today? Does anyone with a brain believe that calls to reduce the ability of law abiding citizens to protect themselves by banning guns, coming from people who are surrounded by people with guns for their own protection, is a rational solution to gun crime? Criminals and psychopaths are not deterred by these restrictions, and if a gun wasn't available to the Sandy Hook shooter, what was to prevent him from driving a car though the playground at recess, or constructing and IED? This tragedy is no more a gun issue than the 9-11 attacks were airplane issues. Americans, I hope, are smart enough to know that another AWB will not be the solution to this type of heinous act, or the everyday toll that gun violence has. Just look at the statistics- the '94 AWB had NO effect on crime! This is nothing more than politicians trying to make hay with ineffective, and even counter-productive measures that only serve to remove or curtail Constitutionally guaranteed rights of the citizens. They should be ashamed of themselves and their hypocrisy!
Please publish the names of those 31 pro gun senators who refused to participate in your excellent discussion this morning. We, as citizens, have a right to know and be to better informed when it comes time to vote next time.
balanced programming? I think not. You had a big collection of the most rabid anti-gun people in the country on with only one agenda - gun control - so what do you expect to be their take? give me a break - it's not the guns, it's the evil deranged people wandering our streets - you failed to mention that the Perp tried to buy a gun and was refused as he failed the background check - the gun control laws are working and the last couple incidents involved stolen guns so what good would feel good legislation do? The police are not there to protect us - the Supreme Court said so - they are very good at taking reports after an incident has occured but little else and we need to be able to protect ourselves from the growing number of home invasions etc - so where was the opposite view point on the program?
a few seconds ago · Like
Please post the names of those 31 pro gun senators who refused to participat
The people committing these mass murders are sociopaths not ignorant. Sociopaths come in mini forms including CEO's. So called assault weapons are just guns that look scarier than standard repeating rifles and shotguns. Limit magazine size - they will buy or steal more magazines. Ban guns - see the rise of IED's. Where there is a will there is a way. Lets grieve and bury our dead then we can discuss possible solutions...although in reality I do not think these tragedies can be prevented by any number of laws short of becoming a nanny state forcing all citizens to pass psych test and 24/7 monitoring of all for life.
I have worked with children throughout my life. I've worked in a pre-school, psychiatric hospital, prison for serious juvenile offenders and a hospital’s trauma center. I have interviewed murderers and victims who survived horrific assaults. I cared for a 15 month old baby with a bullet in his belly. Senseless, brutal.
The only way to prevent even one senseless death or another massacre is for all of us to take off blinders, open our minds and revisit current mental health and gun policies. There is a connection. There is a solution. It is worth saving even one life.
In-light of the tragedy that happened Friday, maybe we should enact one part of the Affordable Care Act today.
IS ONE COMPONENT OF THE HEALTH CARE BILL
(3) B .—A BEHAVIORAL CHANGE COMPONENT
behavioral change component which
encourages healthy living through counseling, seminars, on-line programs,
self-help materials, or other programs which provide technical assistance and
problem solving skills. Such component may include programs relating to
(A) tobacco use;
(B) obesity;
(C) stress management;
(D) physical fitness;
(E) nutrition;
(F) substance abuse;
(G) depression; and
(H) men(D) physical fitness;
(E) nutrition;
(F) substance abuse;
(G) depression; and
(H) mental health promotion.
Again, it seems alot of people are missing the point. It is not gun control. It is not about access to weapons. It is the person who did it that needs help. Parents are unable to help their children medically after they turn 18 (HIPPA Laws). We need to alter the law so that a child that has been diagnosed with mental illness before 18 can not be considered a valid adult. Obviously something happened to him after he turned 18 that led to more withdrawal from society. The mother probably knew this and was helpless because the law will not allow you to interfere in a person's life after 18 - irregardless. You cannot even make appointments for your child after 18. Then there are the waning benefits of mental health. Perhaps this should have been something we "rushed" to pass. Instead of an inadequate AHC bill that no one read that punishes the middle class with many yet unknown fees and penalties. Interview the mothers of mentally ill children 18 and up. They can tell you where the problems are. It is not about the guns, the knife, the bomb. . . it is the mentally handicapped person that needs help and no one cares until it affects them.
Than what you need to do is raed the AHC, that come directly from it. I would not pretend to speak on something I know nothing about. H.R 3962.
Strictly speaking it's not HIPAA laws (which have to do with privacy of medical information.) The issue is that at age 18 in most states most individuals are recognized as adults, no longer minors who can be compelled by family members or anyone else to do anything, whether or not it is in their best interest. They have aged out of PINS (persons in need of supervision.) Depending on the state and the situation there are temporary legal remedies which may order (by a judge) a person into involuntary treatment but the circumstances are very limited and short term, not long enough for serious mental illnesses treatments to take hold, even if the patient is willing, which many are not. Who pays for this generally expensive treatment is another issue.The most seriously ill need inpatient help, over months, not days or a couple of weeks - and except in well-defined circumstances, are legally at liberty to refuse any and all treatment options. Even for short-term commitment, immediate risk of harm to self or to others must be proven.
Mental Health reform will only be as good as those who wish to seek it out ..what is needed is to give Parents the guarantee that if they have a child who has problems and cannot and will not go to the Hospital or a Psychologist, for those who can afford it, that their children will not be prosecuted or hospitalized without their permission. The parent needs to have the guarantee that should he/she report that child that he/she is the primary in the choice of how that child will be handled.
too many Parents fear retribution on their children, by law enforcement and by Mental Health Officials and therefore don't report their children. We need to know our children will be safe from retribution by Police as a danger to society and arrested, or by Mental Health officials who see a problem and then automatically hospitalize in Mental Health Institutions. We need to be assured that we can get them private Psychological Help, Medication without retribution, because this is sometimes the only way we can get our children help.
We cannot force our children, who don't see their illness, to get help. We know they have it but our hands are tied for fear of the safety of our children. Who knows how hard this Mentally Ill 20 year-old's mother fought with her son
We tend to fear for our own children without giving thought to what horrible and horrendous acts they truly are capable of.
Best show ever. You had a real debate. Every week I look for real conversations and I believe it gets missed most of the time. A tragedy like this is not a singular problem, everyone agrees. I would like to see mental health for everyone. We can not have that with continued cuts in funding. Not just the actual dollars missed, but the loud voice it says - mental health does not matter. It matters to prevent so many tragedies, including the horrible. literal, pain our citizens with mental illness live with. Schools are our first line of defense for way more than they should have to be. Without the tools: Therapist, social workers, psychiatrist; they can not help or protect our children or our world. Big picture thinking here folks.
I have worked with children throughout my life as a nurses' aide and a teacher. I've worked in a pre-school, psychiatric hospital, prison for serious juvenile offenders and a hospital’s trauma center. I have interviewed murderers and victims who survived horrific assaults. I cared for a 15 month old baby with a bullet in his belly. Senseless, brutal.
The way to prevent even one senseless death or massacre is for all of us to take off blinders, open our minds and revisit current mental health and gun policies. There is a connection. There are solutions.
I'm so sick, and angry, at hearing from the talking heads that, oh, well, we just can't explain why this happened - from one of the guests on this show today. And what is Bill Bennett doing there? The man has no credibility. I am sick of seeing piles of teddy bears and Christmas trees and candles and vigils. We know why this happened. Guns are too easy to get, any kind of gun -- In Colorado, the theater shooter bought 6,000 rounds of ammunition online. Did that raise any alarms? Fix these gun laws. If these parents do what Emmet Till's mother did, and have an open casket for their children, gun laws would change for the better, in my opinion, within the hour.
Let the tears dry before we start going off in a million directions trying to make sure this never happens again. As for Sen. Feinstien go ahead and pass another Clinton ban, sure you will limit people from LEGALLY owning assault style weapons and high capacity magazines. But will you be able to stop people from acquiring these same items ILLEGALLY? The answer is simply no. The best defense is a strong offence in some cases. If you arm teachers and principles one of them may have a bad day and so something just as terrible, just from catching his or her spouse cheating on them, or they get asked for a divorce. No one can predict what will happen.
I believe that we should ask the school teachers, principles, and other administrators if they would like an opportunity to arm themselves with proper training using some source of self protection. I also noticed that the Ft Hood shooting was listed among the different mass shootings that the country has suffered. I don't believe that that particular incident should be grouped in with the school shootings. Here is why. The Ft Hood shooter was not in his early twenties, he was a field grade officer in the US Army with weapons training. Whether or not he was a mental health professional he had the training none the less. That man was in his early thirties, next off he had connections to known Al-Qaeda influences.
In short if we want to make a difference let's stop blaming inanimate objects for our problems, and instead take a look at ourselves as a nation.
We have heard this all before.
Gun fanatics want to suppress discussion of reasonable gun control after these types of tragedies because they don't want reasonable measures to be put in place.
It is quite obvious that the killer could not have caused such mayhem without using the 'inanimate object' he used that was DESIGNED to kill large numbers of people easily, efficiently, and quickly.
do you really think removing guns will remove mental illness? guns are not the only source of weaponry..and look at the age of the assailants...they haven't found their niche in life... in one way or another they are outcasts seeking attention. our media gives recognition to evil..to the bizarre...and as disgusting as the senseless death of children is, the killer will now be infamous; his behavior has made history...and finally people have noticed Adam...could it have been prevented??? probably only in hindsight.
Guns are not the only source - but they are clearly the most efficient and deadly for what they are designed to do, which is kill. You have to get up close and personal to knife someone or swing a baseball bat at their head. Even planting explosives requires some propinquity. But you can hit multiple targets from well out of reach of others. In 1966 Charles Whitman holed up in a bell tower 28 stories up in Austin (TX), picking off 45 people (one unborn child, 13 others dead, 32 wounded) with assorted firearms before being shot and killed himself. And that doesn't count the two family members he stabbed to death first. Imagine the carnage he could have created with today's weaponry. He had with him:
He had an additional 14 boxes of ammo.
This is truely a tragedy, but here are some facts, limiting gun control only limits Good people from owning guns, a dirtbag such as this will find away to go on a rampage.
Here are some facts everyone should think about. Kennesau Georgia in 1987 enacted a law requiring all heads of households to own a gun and ammunition and take a firearms course, with exceptions such as felons and mentally ill ect... in the first year crime dropped 74 percent, and an additional 45 percent in the second year and has remain that way for 20 years and has remained the lowest per capita crime area in the us.
Now look at a more recent example thats not reported, the mall shootings in oregon, the coward was a bad ass when no one was able to stand against him, but whats not reported is someone with a concealed weapon did confront him, and the coward retreated to a hallway and killed himself as soon as someone else could be there to stop him.
Facts are that making this illegal only make it illegal for GOOD PEOPLE. See cowards such as this dont care about laws and they will find away to inflict the horror they are wanting to inflict. Facts are reaction is always slower than action, and if a coward wants to kill someone odds are they will, but if some GOOD PEOPLE such as the teachers and principles had a way to defend those kids he may still have killed some but there may be many more alive today than dead
In the case of the Sandy Hook shootings, the guns used to kill children and educators were purchased by someone who would probably fall into your definition of GOOD PEOPLE -- mom Nancy Lanza.
I am a teacher in a school for children with psychiatric disabilities -- the kind of school that, in an ideal world, Adam Lanza would have attended as a child. As much as I love my students and my job, I would quit teaching altogether if mandated to carry a gun. And I doubt I'm the only teacher in the nation who feels this way.
If MSNBC would quit promoting this kind of behavior maybe just maybe some crazy out there wouldn't try to top it.
You news media gave him credit for the second worse shooting in America I wonder who will try and top this.
Can't you see they want you to put them in history, the less you say the better off we all will be. Bless all lost in this tragedy.