and cnn.com. just log on to our website, cnn.com/yir to see the finalists. i'm don lemon. thanks for watching the top ten of 2013. in you listen to the news these days, you might think america is a very divided nation. you're either for gay marriage or against it. you're a republican or a democrat. but when it comes to guns, things get a little trickier. no matter which side of the line you stand on, you can't ignore the news about gun violence. >> another deadly shooting. >> the gunfire erupted at this birthday party. >> a 7-year-old boy. >> tons of people around. >> more than 11,000 homicides were committed with firearms in 2011 alone.

mass shootings and gun suicides are on the rise in the united states. that's disturbing to people on both sides of the issue and it's obvious that something's got to change. we just can't agree on what that is. >> the majority of the people want sensible gun rerestriction. >> the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. >> if it's one thing we are united on, it's everybody wants to keep guns out of the hands of the wrong people. but how do we come together to do it? are there more than two sides to the story? gun s don't scare me. crazy people with guns scare me.

♪ >> good shot. do you want to put the target further out? >> yes. >> or do you like where it is? >> in the united states, we love guns. it's like it's in our dna, it's in our constitution, the right to bear arms, the freedom to defend ourselves. >> there you go. >> as an american, i myself own guns. when i was 12 years old, this is a true story, i was given my first rifle, a .22 that my grandfather hand-made the stock for me, gave to me as a present. on the first day of he and i out shooting it were in the backyard shooting at the target. at some point walking back, my dog went and hit behind the

target and on my 12th birthday, i shot and killed my dog. true story. terrible story. still doesn't stop me from owning guns. but i'm somebody who even as a gun owner believes there should be some sort of change to gun policy. you know that there should be certain people that shouldn't have the ability to get high-powered firearms, you know, etc. and i do believe there's people out there who are just like me. but if you turn on the television, you get one side who's basically saying there has to be this overwhelming revamp of gun policy in the country, and then on the complete other end of that are people saying we can't touch it because it's in the constitution. as a gun owner, i don't believe those two polar opposites represent america. so what i want to do is go out and talk to some people who i think are representative much more of what's going on in kind of the centrist attitude of americans.

in november, just one week after the re-election of president obama, gun sales were reaching record highs in the u.s. i wanted to know, who were the people buying these guns and why were they doing it? so i figured taking a job in a gun shop would be a good place to start. hey, man, how are you? morgan? thanks for letting me come down. >> i went to work at ssg tactical. a gun retailer who specializes in class 3 firearms. >> class 3 guns are basically -- that's a generic term of any guns restrictive under the 1934 act, machine guns, silencers, short barrelled rifles, destructive devices. rifle over 50 caliber. >> couldn't any gun be a destructive device? >> well. so you're coming around here, this is our main gun area over here. >> a lot of people preparing for zombie apocalypse? >> the zombie phenomenon has caught on big. the tactical shotgun rifles.

>> what's the average price of a rifle? >> a good quality rifle is starting around a thousand dollars. >> what's the most expensive rifle? >> we have the lwrc, just a little under $4,000. >> wow. so why would somebody buy that gun? >> for that platform, that's cadillac. so if yo want the best, that is actually a legal caliber for deer. so you could hunt for it. >> if that deer really is asking for it. you guys do layaway? what's the most popular gun? >> ar-15 is probably the most popular version in the u.s. the semiautomatic version of what the u.s. military use. a modular weapons system. the ability to accessorize it is unlimited. a lot of people jokingly say it's the barbie for men. >> i'm curious to see who comes into the store, what they're looking to buy and why they want it. >> i'm decked out and ready to go. >> and i'm hoping to find out

today when i step behind the counter. >> now i'm an employee. see that? any advice? what should i say and should i not say? >> well, typically, we want our guys not to ask a simple yes or no question, like can i help you. then it's easy for somebody to say no, thanks. >> maybe what are you interested in buying today. now i've planted the seed that they want to buy something, not just browsing. >> introduce you to kirk, the store manager. >> the employees at ssg know the guns they sell because they use them. they believe in the power of weapons for protection. >> are there a lot of gun store robberies? >> they're less likely to come in knowing that we're armed. >> what's up, man? how are you doing? >> i'm good. >> morgan, i'm j.r. good to meet you. >> what are you looking for today? >> looking for a .38. a little conceal job for the wife. >> pleasure meeting you. >> and business is booming at

ssg. just in the day i worked there, i saw husbands, hunters, and whole families come in to purchase guns for all kinds of different reasons. >> when you're carrying and concealing, it's about what i can do to stay alive. you've got to know when not to fire. >> but mainly because they were afraid that tighter gun control legislation was coming. >> two people who have never owned a gun in their lives think things are going to change, so they want to get into the game now. >> one way or another, it's a fear-driven market. >> this speaks all languages. when someone screams get out of my house, i've got a gun and they rack a shotgun, the next thing you hear is -- going down the hall away from you. >> you been looking for this for a while? >> making sure i get one before i can't get one. that's exactly what i'm looking for. >> that's it, man. sold. >> all you need is two forms of i.d. with the same name and

address and a credit card. >> you ain't even got to ask for permission? oh, man. i'm giving you a punch in the mouth. we'll get some paper work and get it started. >> in 1983, federal legislation mandated that all firearm dealers do background checks on potential buyers looking to purchase shotguns and rifles. some states like virginia have their own additional checks. >> you'll have to have two forms of i.d. with the same name and address on it. >> virginia runs the forums through a data base where they check to see if the potential buyer has felon or warrant out for his arrest. >> full name up here. >> background checks also reveal whether the buyer has previously been committed to an institution or determined to be mentally adjudicated or unstable. >> how quickly does the background check go through? >> it depends. solely based upon your name really. somebody that has a name, john doe, whatever, a common name, then a physical person in virginia state police has to go in there and that's where they use place of birth, hair color,

weight, all the identifying features and separate you from that person. and that can sometimes take a little time. it can take five minutes. it can take two hours. it can take a couple days. >> you're looking for recreational? >> going to try to improve my skills a little bit. never know when we might get invaded or something by china. i'm arming myself against all enemies, foreign and domestic. who, i cannot tell you because it hadn't happened. but if it happens, i'm going to be ready. >> yeah. dylan was approved. easy as that, he was able to walk out the door with his brand-new weapon, a gun capable of shooting up to 40 rounds of ammunition per minute. >> zombie bullets. >> you can use them on anything, not just zombies. >> i have to say, i'm a little

conflicted. should it be that easy for someone to get a gun? dylan didn't have to undergo a mental health assessment before he purchased his weapon or view any gun safety demonstrations. he didn't etch have to get an eye exam, but he passed the background check, so he got his gun. >> now you go, i just hope he's not crazy. [ male announcer ] if we could see energy... what would we see? ♪ the billions of gallons of fuel that get us to work. ♪ we'd see all the electricity flowing through the devices that connect us and teach us. ♪ we'd see that almost 100% of medical plastics are made from oil and natural gas. ♪ and an industry that supports almost 10 million american jobs.

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do you have any formal pistol instruction? >> no. >> so you have no clue what you're doing. >> very little. >> don't shoot my guys and don't shoot my truck. >> i've been working at ssg tactical. i need to learn a little bit more about the merchandise. so kurt, a shooting instructor, invited me out to show me how to shoot some of the weapons firsthand. >> we brought a bunch of cool stuff for you to shoot. saws, machine guns. i wouldn't be much of a gun host if i didn't let you shoot the infamous ak-47. >> i grew up around guns. i've got to be honest around you. i love to shoot. i'm pumped to try out these new

weapons. >> can you still hear me? >> huh? >> can you still hear me? >> what? >> that's good. >> it's a multi-million-dollar industry and there are literally hundreds of options for the gun enthusiast looking to drop some cash. there are currently three types of guns available for purchase in the united states. antique firearms. these are anything made before 1898 and are completely unregulated. handguns, rifles and shotguns. and automatic weapons. which are highly regulated. >> all right. this is a revolver. great conceal and carry gun. great personal protection gun. it is a double action revolver. when you squeeze the trigger, it will cock and fire the gun. all right, i want you to shoot with both eyes open. if you're going to carry a gun, i want you to be able to see as much as you can. i want you to see little timmy running from the bus stop. i want you to see that other threat when it pops up.

let's go ahead and shooting some fun stuff. this time we'll go full auto. >> now we're moving on to automatic weapons. they're much harder to get than other guns and for good reason. >> this is considered a sub machine gun. try and hold it on that black silhouette right on that red dot. >> right on the red dot. >> right on the red dot. >> i didn't hit the red dot once. i was all around it. >> you did great. you can see why tactical teams and different military groups -- and civilians love these things. they're very low recoil and very accurate. i don't know that there would be a practical application for a full auto, but it's fun to shoot. >> newly manufactured fully automatic weapons were banned for civilians in the united states in 1986. you can still apply to get one,

but even if you do, they're extremely expensive. >> how much would it be? >> probably somewhere around 15,000 to 20,000. >> expensive. that's why most people buy semiautomatic weapons instead. millions of them, in fact. >> this is an ak-47. >> they may not be automatic, but they're still extremely popular weapons. >> they are very villainized. >> this style of gun is used in several recent mass shootings which is why they're up for debate. >> ready? >> absolutely. >> depending on the magazine you use, a semiautomatic ak-47 like this one can hold up to 75 rounds and shoot up to 40 rounds per minute. >> you're good to go. >> you know i don't like the term assault rifle because it's not an assault rifle until you assault someone with it.

it's a rifle. >> and that's really what's at the heart of the gun debate. with weapons far more powerful than the founding fathers ever imagined come new questions. should these types of weapons really be so easy to get? >> you ready to do some work? we have some packages that came in this morning. let's go back here and get to work. >> how often does stuff come in? >> it comes in daily. it's like christmas around here, man. every day. >> you're not sweating, are you? >> not yet. >> this ain't some cushy ass acting job. >> ssg is doing a lot of their business on the internet. >> we'll show you how our online business works. >> okay. >> nearly a quarter of their sales come from online orders. >> is there anyone that's a licensed retailer, has the ability to sell guns to anyone on the internet? >> you can go on here and list anything from guns to gun parts to ammunition to anything you wanted. we were looking for rifles.

>> but it's illegal for them to ship weapons to online customers the way, say, amazon ships their merchandise to customers. >> you would basically pay for the gun online, mail us a check, whatever. we then get your ffl information. in other words, what dealer near your home do you want the gun shipped to? so it's literally no different than going into a store and buying it. you're still going to have to do a background check. >> lots of people selling guns don't do background checks because they're not required to. in most states guns can be sold between two private parties so long as they don't ship across party lines. >> what do citizens do? you can't do a background check as a citizen. >> generally, what we tell people to do is get a copy of their driver's license and a clear bill of sale. >> you think that's something that needs to happen that will enable citizens to be able to check on who they're selling guns to? >> i don't think it would be a bad thing. i'll put it that way. as far as dealers like myself,

if you don't pass the background check, you don't get the gun. if you don't have the forms of identification required, you don't get the gun. if you give me anything other than a warm and fuzzy feeling, you don't get the gun, you know i mean? i want to be able to sleep at night. i don't want anything bad to happen to anybody that doesn't deserve it and i certainly am not going to sell a gun to somebody who i think is going to do something wrong with it. >> yeah. it's obvious that kurt's vigilant about who he sells guns to, but i can't help but wonder if everybody on the internet is as responsible as he is when they make private sales. i mean, after all, if you can't even be sure who you're talking to on the internet, how do you know you trust them with a firearm? >> the grand total for today was 1132. a good day. >> pre-election, what would you be hitting? >> probably around seven, eight. >> 7,000 or 8,000. >> any time they think somebody's going to outlaw

something, if they are so worried at the state of the country and their neighborhood and society that they're now looking at buying a gun, taking training. >> why do you think the world would be a safer place if we all had guns? >> because if we all had guns, if you can't defend yourself, what's to protect you? nothing. but the problem is we raised a whole society for who are willing to lay down on the floor and let a gunman come in and kill them at will instead of fighting. i'd rather have that sheep dog mentality, that i've got a little something for the wolf when he comes knocking. >> all right, gents, thank you. >> today i saw america's gun laws in action. >> bye, guys. thank you. >> while i'm confident we didn't put any guns in the wrong hands, i can't help but think there's a lot more we as a nation can do to prevent that from ever happening. but what, and how?

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right here in newtown, connecticut. the site today of a mass shooting and gunfire aimed at elementary school children. >> even for a nation that's sadly becoming more and more desensitized to mass shootings, the newtown massacre was sickening, promptly taking its place as one of the worst mass shootings in u.s. history. but it wasn't an isolated incident. >> they were shooting people and

throwing grenades. >> seven are dead at least in this shooting. are when a gunman opened fire, killed five people before taking his own life. >> among those shooting victims is congresswoman gabrielle gifford. >> what's even worse is that as horrific as mass shootings are, they're only responsible for a tiny fraction of violent gun deaths in this country, less than 1% in 2010. mass shootings may get the media coverage, but on the same day as the newtown shootings, at least 21 other people in this country were also killed by gun violence. no matter the circumstance, the toll these shootings take on victims and their families is enormous. they're united in their grief, but also in their desire to put a stop to this type of tragic gun violence once and for all. in fact, the newtown killings galvanize people on both sides of the issue. >> the tragedy in newtown demands a powerful response.

>> i quall on congress to appropriate whatever is necessary to put armed police officers in every single school in this nation. >> you can pass common sense laws. protect our kids and protect our rights. >> do we really think that adding any more laws to our books would have stopped him? >> it's been a few weeks since newtown. you can't help but feel that the world is a different place. people are opposing assault weapons bans, magazine bans. everybody is talking about how the gun business is going to be suffering. so i have to imagine that right now, they're starting to see the impact of that, that people are, you know, kind of rethinking whether or not they're going to buy guns. so i want to see what's

happening with them at their shop and how they're dealing with it. >> finding everything all right, man? >> wow. look how much stuff is, like, missing from the store right now. it's kind of amazing. is there any restriction to how many you can buy a day? >> per day, it's five handguns. >> we can show you something. >> hey, boss man. good to see you. >> i needed you last week. >> i can't believe the walls. where are all those guns? >> in somebody's home. i had every member of my staff 12, 13 people -- i even had some customers, regular customers, that i actually threw ss t-shirts on and threw them behind the counter. it was way worse than this. we sold in a couple of days what we would normally sell in several months. >> that's unbelievable. >> this was shotguns from back there. we spread them out a little bit to try to fill the gaps. >> were these just

semiautomatics? >> these were all just semiautomatics. civilian guns. just some automatic guns. they're all gone. >> you can't get handguns either? >> very few. >> everybody's bought them up. >> not only have they bought them up, some of these manufacturers have already saying there's a 24-month back order. >> they're sold out two years? >> yes. >> wow. how many people are buying guns that are already gun owners versus first-time gun owners? >> probably half and half. we've seen a lot. i've seen grandpas and grandfathers and soccer moms. they're scared that they're not going to be able to defend themselves. >> in case they need it. >> yes. because of the fear of the u.s. government currently. and the fear of that liberal mindset to disarm the american people. i mean, that's what it comes down to. >> but is there not a way that having more guns contributes to a problem? >> no. i don't see it that way. you can't disarm the criminals.

they believe in that protect and serve, law enforcement is here to protect and serve. well, let me break it down for you. i'm former law enforcement. law enforcement can't become involved in an issue until a crime has been committed. >> until there's an issue. >> so in order for a crime to have been committed, there has to be a victim. so unless you're willing to be that victim, law enforcement can't solve your problem. when seconds count, police are generally minutes away. >> the fear of people right now is that ultimately, they think somebody's going to come and try to take the guns away. do you think that's going to happen? >> i hope not. >> yeah. >> they ain't getting mine. >> right.

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i'm completely blown away by the response people have had to newtown. on the heels of a tragedy like this, i think they feel like they have to arm themselves. it's people who have never owned a gun in their life that are coming in for the first time saying i've got to get one and i've got to get one now. you have to believe that part of this fear that's being generated is also coming from kind of the gun manufacturers themselves. in the middle of a crisis like this, in the middle of tragedy, it's just this incredible boom

of opportunity for them. to kind of capitalize on. and it's terrible. but some people took a different type of action after newtown. people whose lives have been affected by gun violence saw their opportunity to be heard, too. on an issue that they know is literally a matter of life or death. >> i'm here as a voice for my son malik, who at 17 years of age, lost his life due to an act of gun violence. >> on december 14th, we lost the love and light of our family, our daughter grace. >> gun violence in the united states is a much bigger problem than the shooting that killed my father. >> on the tragic incident of gun violence affected his life forever when a disgruntled employee suffering from mental illness came to the workplace and let loose with a barrage of guns.

he had 6,000 rounds of ammunition. >> we are 875 and more, mayors from all across the country unified by one thing, which is the belief that we can respect the second amendment and the rights of law-abiding gun owners and do much more to keep guns out of the wrong hands. >> mayors against illegal guns is the largest advocacy group in the country. they've come to washington to help members of congress put a human face on america's gun violence problem. >> every day, we lose 32 more americans to gun murders. 90 to gun deaths. hundreds more are wounded in our homes, in our streets, in our schools. >> you say to yourself, well this didn't happen to me, but i say to you, it could happen to you if you don't help pass this. >> teresa hoover's son a.j. was a victim of the aurora, colorado, mass shooting in a

movie theater. >> he had gone to the movie with some friends for their midnight showing that they always did. and 3:00 in the morning, i got a knock on my door and it was a couple of friends of theirs. i was like, where's a.j.? it's not something you ever want to go through. i just thought if i prayed enough, he would be okay. and he wasn't. but that's why i'm here. it is easy to just kind of move on if it hasn't affected your life. but that's why i'm here, is to make a difference. and don't let people forget how important it is. >> we're going to do our first interview, okay? >> teresa is here with her brother dave, a policeman, a republican, and a gun owner. >> these mass murders, on average, we've had four a year

since columbine. last year we had 15. so things don't seem to be going in the right direction. we've had a lot of discussions and we're hoping we get some meaningful legislation out of this. it's time to take some action and not just make some promises. >> teresa and dave are here to demand action, and for the first time in a long time, there's a chance they might actually be heard. over the next few months, americans would see a slew of new legislative proposals about guns. >> my colleagues and i are introducing a bill to prohibit the sale, transfer, manufacture, and importation of assault weapons and large capacity ammunition feeding devices that can accept more than ten rounds. >> overwhelming majorities of americans, americans who believe in the second amendment, have come together around common sense reform. >> it's time for congress and the white house to put public health above special interest

politics. >> and then, finally, a bill was put forth in the senate with nine amendments regarding gun control and safety. one of the amendments was the amendments which focused on instituting universal background checks for potential gun buyers across the nation. an idea that 90% of americans support. >> nobody's going to take anybody's guns away. what we're saying is if you buy a gun, transfer a gun, there should be a criminal and a mental background check. >> i urge the new congress to hold votes on these measures next year in a timely manner. >> seems like common sense legislation. if you want to keep guns out of the wrong hands, try to better restrict who can gain access to potentially devastating high powered weapons. but remarkably, not everyone thinks that's a good idea. >> one, two, three -- guns! >> guns save lives! guns save lives! >> the most frustrating part of

this is the people out there that are not listening to what the message is. and they're afraid that people are going to start knocking on their doors and taking away their guns. that's not what we want. >> we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights. among these, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. ladies and gentlemen, without our firearms, we have none of the liberties! >> the nra was founded in 1871 as the sportsman organization, aimed at building marksmanship as a skill among its members. >> you can become a part of this great heritage by calling now. >> today the nra has nearly five million members and considers itself the voice of the american gun owner. but here's the thing. about 70 million americans own

guns. that makes around 65 million who aren't card-carrying members of the nra. so the nra doesn't really get its power from its membership dues. it gets its power from the deep-pocketed corporations that have contributed nearly $52 million to the organization in the last eight years alone. the nra spent that money pretty well. they've ushered in expansive conceal and carry laws, tied up federal regulation, and effectively blocked the renewal of the 1994 ban on assault weapons with high capacity magazines. in spite of numerous polls that show most nra members support tighter restrictions on gun ownership, the nra has strong armed legislation. the nra is really good at defending the second amendment, and some of its members are persuaded by all the talk about home invasions, chinese hackers and a post apocalyptic america.

but the main thing they're defending is the bottom line for gun makers. but if the nra doesn't speak for gun owners, who does? i figured i'd just let them speak for themselves. >> so we are at the nation's gun show, which is the largest gun show in the state of virginia. >> we have some nice toys back here. >> i saw that. >> you can see everything here from handguns to rifles to shotguns to, you know, ar-15s and semiautomatic rifles. >> yeah, check that out. a grenade launcher. not for sale.

>> there's going to be a mad rush on high capacity mags and assault weapons. >> what are your thoughts on the legislation? >> well, i think it's an infringement on the second amendment. i think it's an excuse to try to confiscate the firearms. >> even if they ban assault rifles, would it make a difference? >> i don't think it would make a difference whatsoever. i think it's just going to create a black market for them. just like the drug market. drugs are illegal and they're still everywhere. >> for you, it's more of just making sure people don't know what you own. >> all sales go through a background check, only the government would actually know exactly what guns you have. and you don't want that for confiscation reasons. >> everybody thinks that the democrats are going to take their guns so they think they need to stockpile now. >> is obama going to take your guns? >> no, of course not. i own 12 guns. i voted for obama. i'm not worried about him taking my guns. >> yeah.

>> it's all about money. the nra, motivates people by fear to say i have to go out and get -- because i don't want them to ban this. it's about selling weapons. >> you're a member of the nra. what are your thoughts with the legislation? >> i agree with that. i believe it's responsible. anything over ten, 15 rounds, you're on the offense. because you're hoping to fire ten rounds will get you out of a situation. but that's what the goal is to have a weapon, to get out of a situation that's lethal. >> and he wasn't the only gun owner i heard from that felt that way. >> i don't agree with anything the nra does. i don't think they're true to gun owners at all. >> so you think the process now is flawed, where you come in, pay for your gun, do a background check and you walk out in like an hour. >> yeah. i did that. that's what happened to me. but at the same time, like i said, they don't know if i'm crazy. it's the person, not the gun. >> so what do you think is the

solution? >> definitely mental evaluation or something like that, you know? >> with guns flying off the shelves, it's obvious that the nra's tried and true sales tactic, fear, is still working. but it's also pretty obvious that a lot of gun owners don't agree with the nra. they want common sense regulations and responsible gun ownership. just like the proposed legislation calls for. and maybe the time is right for those voices to be heard. ♪ ♪ maybe i'm wrong ♪ ♪ and nobody ever says goodbye ♪ ♪

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they i've been invited to come down to the headquarters of the baltimore police department by jim johnson, the dhechief of police. he's a spokesman for gun control. >> i'm a target shooter. i enjoy going to the range. i'm a hunter. but i believe that gun violence reduction strategies do work. >> chief johnson is a gun owner and a second amendment defender, but he's a man who supports legislation put forth in the senate that aims to reduce gun deaths in this country. >> up to 40% of firearm transactions occur through

trident individuals. it's like allowing 40% of passengers to board a plane without going through security. would we do this? >> what would you like to see happen? >> three things must change to make america a safer place from gun violence. number one, a national background check. weapons.wo, a ban on the assault and three, a capacity of no more than ten rounds on magazines. >> according to one study that focused on mass shootings, high capacity magazines were used in half of the incidents occurring in the u.s. in the last 30 years and shootings were significantly deadlier when assault weapons and high capacity magazines were used. i've heard the idea that limiting access to high capacity magazines would make a difference before. now it's time to put the theory to the test. >> that's a lot of bullets. >> it is, sir. on this table is a sampling of magazines. this particular set here is for the ar platform rifle. you have a ten-round capable and they're also marked 20, 30.

and a drum that can also fit the ar platform rifle, which will hold 120 rounds. >> wow. >> this is a standard ar platform rifle. semiautomatic only. >> how quickly can somebody change one of those? >> it all varies depending on the skill level. >> how quick could i do it? >> i'll walk you through. there's your magazine release button. merely pressing in will allow the magazine to release. right now, the bolt is open. here on the left side is a lever that will drop and drive the bolt forward for you. so pressing that will charge the weapon and load the round for you. >> okay. so i want to have one end. >> you can leave it in the pocket, put it on the table. so you ready? >> you tell me when. >> three, two, one, go.

>> that was pretty fast. >> you were at 2. 5. >> is that pretty quick? >> that was fast. >> but in the stress of the situation, you're never going to go that fast. >> correct. you're sweating, you're freaking out, you're hearing police sirens. people aren't going to be able to change that quick. >> it's possible. >> i feel like i'm getting more stressed out as this is happening. >> push-ups. get your heart rate. >> like 15? 10? >> ten, 15. get your heart rate up good. >> okay. >> three, two, one, go. >> that wasn't as fast. that was terrible. so basically the idea is having smaller magazines. just less bullets that can come out, the more time people can come in to try to stop a situation. >> your drum magazine over there

holds 120 rounds. if you want to go up against somebody on the street with that and wait for that to run out, that's 120 rounds versus the ten. ten rounds, you have to continuously come back in and reload. >> as soon as you hear that thing eject, like in the two seconds somebody has, what could somebody do to react? >> depending on their distance to the shooter, the individual could come up and attempt a tackle, or with that weapon being unloaded, go for that weapon and try to remove it from the suspect. >> you can cover a lot of distance in two seconds. that's what happened in tucson. the shooter was attacked by a citizen when he tried to reload that .33 round magazine. >> when seconds count, i know i'd want the time on my side.

there's no secondhand smoke in here... ...and no cigarette advertising around here. there's a reason we know this is really bad... ...and this is really good. there's a reason 2 in 3 people are surviving cancer. and we cannot be silent until it's 3 out of 3. this shout-out is for everything the american cancer society has done in the last 100 years. make your tax-deductible donation by december 31st and help finish the fight.

on april 17th, at least 15 more americans were killed from gun violence. on the same day, the legislation drafted after newtown came to the senate floor for a vote. >> the bipartisan compromise to expand background checks on guns just failed to break a republican filibuster. the vote was 54-46. so technically, six votes short.

>> in spite of all the talk about change and the deaths of so many victims of gun violence, the u.s. senate voted against a range of gun control measures. the failed legislation included universal background checks, something 90% of americans favor, which makes you wonder, how often do 90% of americans agree on anything? not too often, it turns out. according to an online poll of americans, background checks were more popular than apple pie, kittens and child labor laws. 76% can agree on liking kittens. a mere 71% support child labor laws. but there was one big winner in the poll. ice cream. it came out on top with a tiny 3% edge over comprehensive background checks for gun sales. so how in the world did the one thing americans virtually like as much as ice cream still manage to fail? you can thank the hard-working

nra for that one. >> the gun lobby and its allies willfully lied about the bill. >> they launched a misinformation campaign to derail legislation by willfully misleading their members into thinking a national gun registry was possible even though it was against the law. >> this is not universal background checks. this is universal registration of all of your firearms and all people like you all over america. >> those laws upset an intense minority of gun owners and that in turn intimidated a lot of senators. even though the bill did the opposite. this legislation, in fact, outlawed any register. plain and simple, right there in the text. all in all, this was a pretty shameful day for washington. >> but just because the nra's lobbyists are shouting in the ears of washington's politicians doesn't mean the conversation is over. >> this is just beginning. this is not the end.

>> just last year, even talk of gun legislation was considered political suicide. not so now. people everywhere are demanding action. there's been a seismic change in the political landscape. we're ready to battle it out and we aren't going to back into our corners without a fight. >> after traveling around and meeting all these different people, the one thing that you start to realize is that we're much closer than anyone would really like to believe. you know, we all want this nation to be a safer place. we do want to keep these guns out of the hands of people who shouldn't have them. but at the same time, we all do have to give something up to make that happen. but i think there's a way to do this that is going to be better for everyone. the majority of the population is for universal background checks. do we need 120-round magazines for target practice, an ar-15 for home protection? actually, no. when the second amendment was created, nobody could have envisioned the types of weapons we have today, and the sheer fire power that they have.

so, you know, at some point, we have to say we should do what's right. you know, rather than just what's easy. . . . . marijuana, the burning weed with its roots in hell. >> marijuana has not always been hated by the u.s. government. in fact, before 1937, it wasn't even considered an illegal drug. but after prohibition, the government needed a new evil to go after, so they formed the federal bureau of narcotics and put marijuana near the top of the hit list. they've been hating on pot ever since. but in 1996, california became the first state to legalize medical cannabis and 18 other states followed suit. now with more and more states not only decriminali,