[gunshot] chris: every week he killed somebody. gunsmoke the longest running tv series and number two, the huge it, bonanza. cowboy country isn't really reality today of course but our culture celebrates guns as part of american history. the president is always careful to speak to that. here he was out west this week. >> there's a strong tradition of gun ownership that's handed down from generation to generation. and it's part of the fabric of people's lives. chris: and now it seems, joe, everybody seems to -- in politics, everybody is mr. careful. mr. joe biden the vice president you norwood your shotgun. it seems like we're starting from the idea of we're a cowboy country, cowboys carry guns. >> we've become a wimpy country because these gun advocates at the n.r.a. want these semi automatic weapons, and you seen marshall dillon only used one shot.

what do they need those bullets for? they just don't feel very strong. chris: what about the culture? the cowboy thing? >> well, i think that's at the root of it. but there's something else that's going on now that is really, really dangerous. and it's this festering sense that we need to have these semi automatic weapons because the government in washington is about to oppress us. and that is paranoia that these groups like the n.r.a. and gun owners of america they feed this crap and it really is anti-american. chris: this country is unique. i always tell people the good part about being cowboys is we're self-reliant and we're -- we're out there on our own and don't need government if we're lucky and having a gun somewhere in the house and these guys say we can't have background checks or any limits on anything because that's a slippery slope to taking away what we grew up with, our american hardware. >> yeah. it's certainly true that if you look at the number of guns per capita in society, america far outstrips any other country.

and there is this emotional attachment to this idea of freedom. that's associated with guns. i interviewed people in texas who have told me we in america are more free than you europeans because we are allowed to have guns. and that's a link that other countries making, an emotional values association with gun ownership in other countries as there is. chris: have you guys noticed this? this idea you -- joe biden spent two months going at this saying you should have a shotgun at least and the starting point is we americans have guns. that's new -- i've never heard a debate -- after bobby kennedy and previous discussions got heated i never heard people say gun control. you can't say gun control anymore. you have to say gun safety. >> this fear among so many americans that the background checks and we saw this in the poll, quen pack poll came out with this the other day, quinnipiac poll came out with the other day, they think it will lead to confiscation of guns. chris: and by the way, you're

right. 90% say let's have background checks and half say it will lead to confiscation. of that half you can't tell people which want to -- which people think it will lead to confiscation. and your point about per capita gun ownership the united states is way over on the charts. the country right below us in terms of per capita gun ownership, serbia. ok? and right below that, yemen. we are so far above the west, talking about the west. no one in western countries like us. >> and we have this conversation as the president was trying to show his understanding of that other community in america that doesn't seem to believe that he can possibly understand them. as he brought up michelle obama, his wife and said when we were campaigning through iowa, i remember she said to me, if i moved out here on a farm like this i too would want to own a gun. and conjures up the image of showing the president who is shooting at camp david a while back and michelle would have wanted a gun as well and that doesn't change the conversation for the people who couldn't possibly imagine the president would be on board with this. on the issue of background checks the question is those exemptions. the question is can you get

some people a -- a mark pryor, somebody with a state -- where some big urban areas and i can't vote no on everything. i got to vote yes on some -- chris: that's what they're afraid of. the n.r.a. doesn't want any vote because if you take up something reasonable like background checks, might get off the reservation. >> and that's why the president made such a big thing during his state of the union address. not saying we need gun control, we need gun controls, we need a vote. and the way he stressed the vote is they deserve a vote so that we can call people out. and in america, not so much democratic and republican, it's regional. chris: the gun lobby isn't just the n.r.a. and has this smaller organization called the gun owners of america. they used the congressional recess to exert big pressure on senate republicans around the country. and on hardball" this week. why is it bad for the government of the united states to maintain information on people that are criminals, wife beaters, addicts or sosh so

they're under some sort of restraining order so they don't get access to firearms? what's wrong with that? >> they're going to get access to firearms anyway. if they have a criminal intent they're going to do it. they have done it ask do it all along. see that? why have squad cars and police, because criminals. to reduce the number of crimes. >> what that group is really all about is the paranoia that i was talking about before. they see the federal government as the enemy. they think that they are about to be oppressed. it's crazy. but there's another culture going on here. it's not just gun culture. it's special interest culture. all of the special interests, whether it's pro-life, pro-choice, environmentalists, every last one of them use this slippery slope argument to raise money. >> yeah. and in the case -- chris: even the pro-choice crowd. >> you have to wonder in the case of guns whether this is really about freedom and values or actually in the end it's about dollars and cents. >> democrats are the ones, if you have mark pryor in arkansas, or mary landrieu in

louisiana or max bachus in montana this is a very tough vote. and let me just say one thing about democrats who for years were told the openly way you're going to win back control. house and senate win these red states and win in red districts and how they did that, they said i'm n.r.a. sponsored. chris: the president's role, the matthews meters, 12 of our regulars including joe and katty about the political consequences for the president. if congress doesn't pass any, any enhanced background checks, forget assault rifles or the magazines or 30-round magazines, will he be seen as a failure in this? seven of our group say yes he would be a failure. and five say no. of the seven the majority are you two guys. joe. >> yeah, i think it's an embarrassment for him. 80% of the country in favor of background checks. you have this terrible tragedy. it really involves presidential leadership. chris: do you think he was too slow to get in this thing, katty? >> initially he did get into it.

but we didn't hear very much from him. and historically when you look at landmark changes in legislation, do you remember what the congress did? you remember which president was there? chris: you start, peter. tough call. a background check law into law. >> it will be heavily water down but i think there will be something. >> i'll go with the watered down but at the end of the day, i'll change my mind. i don't think there will be. chris: i don't, either. >> watered down is worse than nothing. chris: trafficking -- >> because the next time some kid goes berserk, and shoots up a school, the n.r.a. will be able to -- will be able to say, see, we enacted this watered down law and it didn't do anything. chris: i think it won't be, either. huge week for television. nbc announced it will move the tonight show back to its new york home after 40 years out in burbank. jack parr. steve allen. and the great johnny carson made new york the star of the tonight show for -- from 1954 to 1972 when it went west.

and all that hijinks and skets like this famous frontier, carson about a lot of politics. and now for some vintage tonight show stuff, here's richard nixon on the new york set. warming up johnny as nixon geared up to run again in 1968. >> koum over on television like -- you come over on television like gangbusters and i'm the expert on how important that is. you aren't going to -- >> i wouldn't let him -- [laughter] chris: so nbc will fire up the new york studio next year. and in another homage, madmen back. a marriage of politics with that opening of madmen. here's barack obama meeting don draper. ♪

chris: i love it, north korea, wayne lapier, gas -- lapier, 50 years ago, since the days of "madmen" are young women out there forgetting to get married? and scoops and

>> it's been crazy around here

and i'm im-- i'm prismed. you picked the right moment to ask for a raise. >> it's time for me to move on. >> come on. >> i'm serious. chris: welcome back. madmen is back. and tonight for a big season. that was last season of course. there was creative genius, peggy olson quitting when her mentor, don draper, was too slow to take her seriously. things have changed a lot in the last 50 years since those days. not enough some say. facebook c.o.o. cheryl sandberg's recent book urged working women, especially young women, to "lean in," lean in, go for it, turin up the juice and make your profession -- turn up the juice and make your professional goals known. and young women got some more personal free advice in an open letter from a princeton alum to other princeton undergrads. >> for most of you the cornerstone of your future and happiness will be inextricably linked to the man you marry.

find a husband on campus before you graduate. chris: well, this is the other side -- this is the other side of the universe for me and the men here because we live on the other part of that in some cases. lucky casses. katty kay. i have no idea what you're going to say. which one, lean in, not lean forward, lean in, work, get to be the boss and the c.e.o. and along the way, find some guy who's willing to go along with that deal and do it? on the other side which number one goal is to find a way while you're still in college. and marry him. >> i actually think the more important point for women is actually about when you have kids. we are leaving it very late. the professional women into their mid to late 30's and becomes hard to have children. and that is the more -- chris: what's -- when does the clock ring? >> i don't know what the latest science is. increasingly you can have children later and later but i don't think it's particularly increases your chances later and later. and i think that -- my advice would have been to younger

women to focus more on when you have children rather than saying you have to find a husband. when you're in university. look, we live in the world whether you like it or whether you don't like it of a post nuclear family. people are having children by themselves, they are having children with their gay partners and their unmarried heterosexual partners. they are adopting children. the marriage component of it to me feels like a fairly old fashioned piece of advice. chris: your thoughts, amy. >> listen, the frustration that i have is that 50 years, that clip from 50 years ago does not sound much different from what cheryl sandberg is talking about now. which is saying to peggy olson, in order for you to do well in this world, you have to act more, be more, like the men that you are with. and that's exactly what charlie sandberg is saying, too. women are still to this day living up to rules that were not set by them. and i'm not just talking about biological clocks and things like that and family leave. i'm talking about the rules that govern the workplace. when -- i have a 6-year-old boy and know what it's like in

schools. and i think that's where it begins. what makes girls successful in schools is they sit still and raise their hand and follow the rules. that does not do you well in the workplace. what does well for boys in the workplace is what got them in trouble in school. chris: and i've been working with women -- >> i've been working with women for 40 years and any given workplace, that i've been, they've been the sane ones, the solid ones, the bose have been babies. -- the boys have been babies. and all of these books giving advice to women. i don't think they need all that advice. chris: let me ask you -- we don't face, men, generally, maybe greater husbands than us out there, we don't have that -- what about work, i should be home, when i'm at home i should be at work. that i should be somewhere else. background noise of i'm not in the right place. i don't think men ever feel that. women feel -- i believe a lot. >> increasingly feeling it. >> when you poll young men and young women they sound almost the same on issues of work. chris: being at home. >> it's very different from our generation.

>> i'm now newly involved in this conversation as a soon to be father with a baby, a daughter, three months away from now and i focus on this much more closely than i did before. but one of the points that cheryl sandberg makes and one of the most important decisions that is made by a young woman is for a career decision is who your partner will be. so those two things are correlative in some way. when you're in college, i would say, and i have a sister, almost 20 years my junior who's in college now. and we had this conversation. just last night. and she said i'm not even sure who i am just right now. they're trying to form those answers at this time so they can make the decisions in the right way that helps them for whatever career pursuit they have down the road. chris: the problem is a lot of women today to get anywhere in business you want to think about going to b school at least. that's after college at 22. you got to commit yourself to another three years, right? or two years. and that's later on after. and the new rule is college, business experience, then go to b school, and then really become a heavyweight. >> and that's the challenge.

>> it is a challenge. but i think for women increasingly, though, is the possibility of seeing your career as something of a wave. something that looks like this, not a ladder that climbs and climbs and climbs. that's a scary prospect for a lot of women. my career has gone like this. chris: you've been able -- you've been able to get employed. a lot of people think you can marry a corporation, be with them for 20 or 30 years like in japan. >> that's changed. chris: that's changed. you have to get retired again. your strategy i had the professional talent to get rehired and rehired. >> and the technology is increasing will he allowing us to do that. and for women, there are more opportunities now to take time. when you have children. chris: easily employable. that's a big issue. one said most women aren't lucky to have careers. they have jobs and hard to keep the job if you are going to come in and out like that. >> better advice than given by that lady from a second ago not to be go find your partner but meet a bunch of guys and keep their phone numbers and check in with them 10 years later and

be better served. chris: if you really like somebody say goodbye to them and come back when you're successful. when we come back scoops and ♪ alright, let's go. ♪ shimmy, shimmy chocolate. ♪ shimmy, shimmy chocolate. ♪ we, we chocolate cross over. ♪ yeah, we chocolate cross over. ♪ [ male announcer ] introducing fiber one 80 calorie chocolate cereal. ♪ chocolate.

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chris: welcome back. joe, tell me something i don't know. >> i hate making predictions. but i fearlessly predict that we're going to get a bunlt deal this year. and we're going to do it and happen for two reasons. one is that obama is laying out a very realistic plan this coming week. the other is that he's moving it through the senate first.

and they're going to get the votes in the senate and it will put pressure on the house to do it. chris: six-year terms help. katty kay. >> europeans love to criticize america's gun culture but we're very happy to take their money. a quarter of all guns sold in america are imported from europe. >> so we talked about guns. we talked about immigration. here's an issue we haven't talked a lot about. health care. remember, these exchanges open in october. and we're going to start kicking in in january 2014 and a lot of democrats this week, especially those who were involved in campaigns who are very nervous about another 2010 type election with health care reform kicking in. chris: cumbersome? >> it could be problematic in terms of like how it actually rolls out. are people more upset than they were? >> so this isn't guns, health care or the budget but in south carolina we're talking about elizabeth colbert bush and talking about mark sanford and kwla you don't know is that several years ago there was a special that both of their moms shared the stage together. sanford's mom, the moms of famous celebrities, the two of them sat side by side on a

mother's day special where colbert bush sat next to san for's mom and said it was negative news that hit her personally and face a lot more. chris: who wins that special? >> i think mark sanford wins. chris: when we come back the big question of the week, is obama set to propose social security cuts and will democrats let that happen? [ male announcer ] listen to this symphony of flavor:

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chris: welcome back. president obama will put out a budget this week calling for a change in social security. that would reduce cost of living increases. in an effort to cut a grand bargain. our big question, will democrats let that pass? joe klein. >> absolutely. >> they'll have to. >> absolutely. >> yes. pelosi already said so. chris: wow. i love certainty. thanks to a great rountable. joe klein, katty kay, amy walter, and peter alexander.

the -- about to be a father. thanks for watching. we'll see you back here next week. ♪ ♪ if loving you is wrong ♪ i don't wanna be right [ record scratch ] what?! it's not bad for you. it just tastes that way. [ female announcer ] honey nut cheerios cereal -- heart-healthy, whole grain oats. you can't go wrong loving it. bee happy. bee healthy. with clusters of flakes and o's. oh, ho ho... it's the honey sweetness. i...i mean, you...love.

try to answer questions after officers critically wound two people in san francisco this morning. also taking liberties with time sheets. we investigate how some of santa clara county's highest paid employees are getting time off and you are paying for it.

rain heading back to the bay area. we will let you know how it will impact the beginning of your work week. nbc bay area news starts right now. >> good evening. i'm terry mcsweeney, diane has the night off. they are the lord of the rings. for the second time in three years a ring ceremony held at at&t park. giant players were handed their new jewelry before the game but there was one conspicuous absence. henry wolford is here with details. henry? >> reporter: activity wrapped up at at&t park today and it was the day players and fans had anticipated most since winning last october. >> world series most valuable player, the panda, pab when sandoval. >> barry zito. >> the world champs received their championship rings during

pregame ceremony on the field. the rings made by tiffany and company have a white gold face that includes the sf logo made out of, get this, 52 diamonds. and on each side of the ring, seven round diamonds representing the giants seven world championships. by the way, general manager ryan fabian and manager bruce bochy were given their rings first followed by giants legends and then the players. and big news, aubrey huff was the only former joy ant from the 2012 team at the ceremony. he got a standing a ovation. wilson was a no-show. that was surprising. well tell you what happened once the giant took the field against the cardinals. terry? >> henry, thank you very much. sunshine turning to showers tonight, including late season snow. meteorologist rob