defense, like we test a driver's familiarity with traffic rules. no one loses their right to own a gun. they just demonstrate competence. americans, many of us, will not soon abandon our fetish for firearms. that doesn't mean we can't be more adult about it. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "the ed show" with ed schultz starts right now. >> good evening, i'm thomas roberts in for ed schultz tonight. unspeakable tragedy has left a colorado community reeling and a nation in morning. one of the deadliest mass shootings in america's history. the chaos eraupted earlier this morning in a denver suburb of auro aurora, colorado, when a gunman opens fire in a pakd theater showing the latest batman movie. >> we have another person outside shot in the leg. a female. >> we need rescue inside the auditorium, multivictims.

>> iigate seven down in theater nine. seven down. >> i got a child victim i need rescueats the back door. right now. >> we have one we cannot move in theater nine. get an ambulance crew in here. >> we may have a number of people dead inside the theater. >> we're in a mass casualty situation at this time. >> authorities say 24-year-old james egan holmes bought a ticket to the midnight opening of "dark knight rises." as the theater went dark, he was seen on his cell phone exiting through the emergency door. a federal law enforcement official believes holmes then put on the bullet proof gear, returned through the exit door, which had been propped open, and started shooting. in all, 71 people were shot. at this hour, 12 people are dead. ten of those victims died inside the theater. two others died later at area hospitals, survivors are now speaking out. >> i just grabbed my daughter and just got her out as fast as i could.

just ran out. i didn't turn around, i didn't look behind me. i just got out and there was a moment where my daughter tripped and i pulled her up and was dragging her. i was thinking, we just got to get out. i got to get out the doors. and even if i just fall dead, just get my kedz out of here. it was so horrible. >> police found holmes near his car parked in the back of that theater. aurora police chief dan oates said police are confident he acted alone and that he used an ar-15 assault rifle. a remington 870 12-gauge shotgun and a 40 caliber glock hand gun. another was found inside holmes' car. >> we believe as part of this assault, mr. holmes set off two devices to distract the crowd. they ignited in some form and released some sort of irritant or smoke. the suspect was dressed all in black. he was wearing a ballistic

helmet, a tactical ballistic vest, ballistic leggings, a throat protector, and a groin protector and a gas mask. and black tactical gloves. >> law enforcement official tells nbc news hat holmes-hair was dyed red when he was arrested this morn. i ing. he told police he was the joker. all of his guns were purchased legally. they were purchased from two national chains, gander mountain and bass pro shop. he was a ph.d. candidate studying neuroscience. his apartment was rigged with explosives, but now is not cooperating with authorities and has retained legal counsel. they have called in bob technicians to evaluate the scene, have evacuated the buildings in that area. >> our investigation determined that his apartment is

booby-trapped. with various incendiary and chemical devices and apparent trip wires. >> as police continue their investigation, president obama has ordered the flag to be flown at half staff at all public buildings and military posts for the next five days. the president also called the mayor of aurora earlier as well as the police chief oates pledging full support from federal authorities and met with his senior advisers to discuss the shootings. he discussed it earlier in florida, cutting the campaign short. >> there are going to be other days for politics. this i think, is a day for prayer and reflection. >> president obama canceled campaign events and fund-raisers for the day. his opponents did the same them. mitt romney addressed the situation earlier from new hampshire. >> ann and i join the president and first lady and all americans in offering our deepest condolences for those whose lives were shattered in a few moments. >> both campaigns have pulled

ads off the air for now in colorado, in the meantime, police presence is being ramped up at movie theaters across the country for people who would be going out to attend the opening premiere of the new batman movie. we're going to turn to chris jansing, also the host of jansing and company on msnbc. i understand you have new information on the alleged suspect's apartment, the one which is booby-trapped. >> i want to apologize. we're having technical difficulties. we're going to work to get you back on the line to get the latest information. chris jansing reporting from aurora, colorado. we apologize for the technical difficulties. there's new information from the scene, the apartment roughly three miles away from the movie

theater where the shooting happens. technicians have been on the scene all night long, trying to find out what they can do to disarm the sophist skaicated ded they found. holmes is the one who tipped police off to the fact the apartment was booby-trapped in the first place. and now is not cooperating with investigators, has retained his own legal counsel. we're going to bring in tanner coon, tanner, it's good to have you back with me. we had a chance to speak earlier today. as we have heard your story, just recount for everybody where you were in the theater as we're getting a better idea of what happened early this morning. >> i was the fourth row from the very back. i saw -- the first thing i saw was the canister thrown, with smoke trailing. i saw the first gunshot flash,

and you know, up to that point, i thought there were kids throwing smoke bombs and lighting off a firecracker. then i heard more gunshots and i realized they were gunshots, and that's when i told my friends that we needed to get down. on the floor, and so that's what we did, we got down behind the seats in front of us on the floor. and the guy shot off about 20 rounds, 20, 30 rounds, and just consistent shots, and then there was a pause. i looked up, saw him, a glimpse of his silhouette, and then he started shooting again. and so i took -- ducked my head again, and then once the shooting was stopped, people started running up the stairs toward the exit, and i was on the opposite side of the exit, so i got up, noticed a man on one of the side seats who was

sitting there, still, while everyone else was running up, and he was kind of sitting there, kind of slouched over, so i assumed he must have been hurt or maybe he was dead. and then i noticed that everyone who ran up to the top of the auditorium was either in the first or the second row. so i decided to take the third row to the exit so that would be easiest for me, and basically right behind where i was sitting, i slipped and fell on some blood. and i landed on a woman, and i told the woman, come on, get up. i shook her, and i said, we have to get out of here. she did not move. she did not respond or anything. i assumed she was dead. i went to the exit doors. and waited for my friends, and managed to get our way out of

the lobby from there. >> tanner, so much new information has come out since the breaking news happened, again, this all happened after the midnight showing where the gunman came back into the theater roughly 20 minutes into the moveie itself. now authorities are saying there's the potential that holmes was a moviegoer in there with you in the beginning. did you notice anyone fitting holmes' description on the phone, leaving through one of the exits of the movie theater? >> no, i was talking to my frentd and i was further up in the seats, so i did not happen to notice that. >> when the person came back in, the person, the gunman, you say you thought that this was just somebody pulling a prank, maybe a publicity stunt, somebody to drum up attention for the movie itself, being that this was a highly anticipated premiere. when did it click in for you that this was not a stunt and that you needed to get out of

there? do you remember the exact second that you realized that this was serious? someone was trying to take people out inside the theater. >> yeah, well, the moment it dawned on me was about three shots after the first shot, like, they were really consecutive, really consistent. i realized that was -- it was gunshots. that's when it really hit me that this was a real situation. >> tanner, have you had an opportunity to speak with the friends that you were with? i think you were with a 12-year-old, one of your friends' brothers, younger brothers, that was with you. how are you friends, the people you were with? how are they doing tonight? >> they're doing better. the 12-year-old, he felt much better just being with his family after a while. he's doing fine. and his brother is coping well, too. they're doing fine. >> tanner coon, thanks so much for joining us. just one of the many people able

to survive that shooting massacre inside the century 16 theater. thanks. i want to turn back to chris jansing. i understand you had new information about the apartment, the booby-trapped apartment of holmes. >> yes, there's some good news in that of the five buildings in that immediate area, police have just announced in the last few minutes, thomas, that they're going to allow people in the other four buildings, obviously, not james holmes' apartment building, but the other back briefly to get medicine and baby items, but they have a tremendous delimozin his apartment building and it could be hours to days to figure out how to approach it. when they looked into his apartment, they could see these incendiary chemical devices. this is according to someone who lived in the apartment before holmes, a one-bedroom apartment. he estimates it's about 850y square feet. the police say they can see fireworks, they can see these

soda cans, these one liter bottles that have liquid in them. and the question is, is this real? there also is ammo in containers. here's the reason they think that they have to approach this with the abundance of caution. first of all, holmes has shown he has absolutely -- apparently, he has given statements to other people, to witnesses, we don't know what they are. and nbc news has also been told there are some purchases that he made, and again, we don't know what the purchases are, but that would lead investigators to believe that they have a very dangerous situation on their hands. the first obvious thing would be to bring in sniffer dogs to see if some of the things in those bottle were indeed what they thought they were. just seeing the fireworks would immediately get the dogs go so

that's not a way to approach it. they could somehow detonate it to turn it on. >> have you been hearing there was loud music coming from the apartment or music on some sort of timer that was used to entice people to come to the apartment? >> yes, thomas, in that apartment build, they said here is a guy who is quiet, who keeps his shades drawn, who didn't talk very much to people, and suddenly, right at midnight last night, this techno music goes blasting. and one of the people who actually called the non-emergency number to police to complain said that when nothing happened, but it continued to blast, she went upstairs and knocked on the door, and no one came to the door. and she tried the knob, and she said it seemed to be open, but she decided not to go in. obviously, if that is a true booby-trap situation, that was a split second decision that saved her life. >> chris, back to the movie

theater where police had been investigating that crime scene for the entire day, but there is word tonight that the deceased, the victims, are now properly being moved out of the theater. correct? >> yes, ten were pronounced dead actually in the theater, thomas. and they are finally being removed from there. obviously, it's been an active crime scene. there's no list released of the victims. officials say not all of them have even been identified yet and of those who have been identified, not all the families have been contacted or notified. there has been a lot of reporting on jessica ghawi, she 24 years old like holmes. she was an aspiring sportscaster. we know of the many people taken to area hospitals, quite a few have been released. for example, at the medical center of aurora, 18 brought in, 7 admitted, 2 in critical condition, and then this is a very big military area, the military is the largest employer

in aurora. five of them went to the movie theater together. three were unharmed. one was injured, but one is missing, and his fellow military members believe that he is among the victims, thomas. >> chris, while we're waiting for formal charges to be announced and as you say, it's still an active crime scene and the investigation continued, there has been movement about a court appearance for holmes, correct? >> he's going to be in court on monday morning. up until this point, he has not been cooperating. i think you referred to it at the top of the hour, he now does have a lawyer, but so much new information is coming in about his background. he's being called a brilliant sienls student. we do know that he was an honors student when he was an undergraduate in california. why he dropped out of the ph.d. program here in colorado in neuroscience, neither the university is saying nor have we heard from any of his friends or perhaps fellow students who could say why. but he was studying neuroscience

for a ph.d. and had been incorrectly reported earlier he was in a med program, studying to be a doctor. he was studying for his doctorate and dropped out of it. by high school friends considering very, very smart. again, quiet, somewhat shy. same thing we have heard about people who have known him since he has moved to colorado. but we will see him for the first time since this incident in court on monday morning, thomas. >> chris jansing reporting from aurora, colorado. thank you so much. we want to bring in jennifer seeger to the conversation. another eyewitness, another survivor from inside the movie theater in aurora, colorado. i understand from having heard some of your conversations earlier today, how extremely close you were to the gunman, to holmes himself, and that the gun, one of his guns was actually pointed at you. >> yeah, you know, when he came in, i was literally in the

second front row, and he literally was on my right. he's about four to five feet away from me. and at first, i thought he was kind of an entertainer, i thought he was an actor or something. so did everybody else. then he threw out a gas can. and it let off this tear gas. then he shot his first fire to the ceiling, and everybody knew he wasn't joking around, and he was out there to kill somebody. >> with you being so close to the front, did you notices someone fitting holmes' description, someone that police is saying now had this red orange dyed hair looking like a joker character from one of the earlier batman movies. did you notices a man like tha in the crowd with you and to leave through the exit door on a cell phone? >> no, sir, i obviously didn't. it was way too chaotic. as far as what he looked like, he was covered from head to toe. he was covered from head to toe, had a gas mask on, i couldn't

see his face. he was in full riot gear. he looked like he was from a s.w.a.t. team. i couldn't see what he was in, and if he had taken off his mask and ran out, i really wouldn't have known the difference, hone honestly, because there were so many people chaotically running around and screaming and making noise. he could have slipped out at any point. >> even on the way in into the theater, as you started to get your seats, hearing all this about a description, someone with this fiery orange-red hair, no one like that caught your eye before the lights went down? >> i actually came in a little late. i was running a little late. i originally wasn't the one who bought the tickets, and it was for another person. they had to change their arrangements, so i was a last-minute person. lucky me. i ended up in that situation. when i was walking in, i didn't see anybody with that description as far as the hair and the joker face. >> jennifer, i know you also have in your history, ems training, and instinctually, you

tried to help people at first before realizing that you needed to get out for your own safety. do you know about the conditions of any of the people that you were trying to help? >> i do not, actually. the second i stepped out the door, there was just a blank in information as far as who was hurt and who wasn't hurt, and who went where to what hospital. and what their names were, what condition they're in. that is kind of something that they haven't yet disclosed. and it would be really hard for me to find the gentleman i was trying to see. if i did find them, i would hope he would be okay and he wouldn't be in further critical condition as far as him having a bullet in his back. i honestly, i have no idea, but it's been on my mind this entire day, to be honest. worrying about all of those people who have, you know, been injured or critical or have died.

for the families that also have dealt with those grieving, the lost for their loved ones. >> jennifer seeger, thanks. we appreciate the opportunity to speak to you tonight. coming up, trying to understand how something like this can happen. a criminologist joins us to take a closer look at the 24-year-old suspect. that and much more. stay with us on "the ed show." [ male announcer ] wouldn't it be cool if we took the nissan altima and reimagined nearly everything in it? gave it greater horsepower and best in class 38 mpg highway... ...advanced headlights... ...and zero gravity seats? yeah, that would be cool. ♪ introducing the completely reimagined nissan altima. it's our most innovative altima ever.

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this colorado massacre has raised the same question in everyone's mind. how is it possible for anyone to do such a thing? criminologist james fox joins me next. and later, the presidential campaigns pause to reflect while others ask what will it take for our country to take a real and honest look at modern-day gun control. that and much more. we'll be right back. and i thought "i can't do this, it's just too hard." then there was a moment. when i decided to find a way to keep going. go for olympic gold and go to college too.

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it sounded like madness to me. >> 20, 30 shots went off. i looked up for a second, caught a glimpse of him and he started shooting again. it's just sporadic shooting, shooting wherever he could. it was horrific. >> this is our special coverage of the mass shootings that took place in aurora, colorado. thanks for staying with us. we're learning more about the young man suspected of killing 12 people and wounding 59 others in the movie theater. police say they picked up 24-year-old james holmes in that movie theater parking lot without incident. he was an honor student in high school in san diego and got a bachelor's in neuroscience two years ago. he was a grad student at the university of colorado at denver before leaving voluntarily last month. he was in the process of

completely withdrawing from the university. police say holmes was heavily armed, dressed in black protective gear, including a ballistic helmet, throat and groin protection, and a gas mask. a law enforcement official tells us james holmes had red or orange hair when he was arrested this morning and he told police he was the joker. >> we are not looking for any other suspects. we're confident that he acted alone, however, we will do a thorough investigation to be absolutely sure that that is the case. but at this time, we're confident that he acted alone. >> we turn now to criminologist james fox of northeastern university also author of quali "extreeme killing." it's great to have you with us to help understand the mindset of someone like holmes, the gunman that police picked up in the back of this movie theater. when we hear about the background of this person and knowing what we hear about reports from people inside the

movie theater, i think a lot of people are left scratching their head. there's something that doesn't add up here. where does this honor student, someone going after their ph.d. in neuroscience, end up being this maniac that storms into a movie theater trying to kill everyone he can? >> despite his being an honor student previously, he has withdrawn from school. he did withdraw from school. things weren't quite going well for him. and what's true about mass murderers is they tend to be people who have failed, who are unhappy, who are unsuccessful, who don't have lots of support in their lives. after all, if life is good for you, you don't commit this kind of crime. they deliberately make the decision to commit mass murder. these are not individuals who just suddenly snap and go berserk and shoot anything that moves. they are well planned executions to get even. a person like this would blame others, blame society for his failures and society is the one who has to pay. >> you make a great point about

the planning that goes into this. and not to, you know, so many of us daily go through struggles and failures and things where we feel as if we have embarrassed or shamed ourselves. certainly, we don't resort to this type of manic behavior. but when we talk about the assembly needed to go into a plan like this, the research, the gear that he had on, the equipment, the machinery that he had, and also the sophisticated, james, the sophisticated booby-trapping that he did of his apartment, when you try to break down that mindset and especially with someone who has put together a book like you have, what is the possible motive for someone to do something like this? i mean, that's the basis we're trying to figure out here, the motive that somebody feels the need to take this many lives in such a heinous and violent way? >> well, it could be a combination of someone who needs and wants to feel powerful,

wants to be in control. someone who perhaps wants a certain degree of celebrity. as well as revenge. getting even with society. things have not gone well for him. and other people are going to share his pain as well. but what's clear about the level of planning is that mass killers are quite determined. though he might try to put road blocks in their way, restrictions on gun sales, for example, they will get a gun no matter what road blocks we put in front of them. those who suggest that tighter gun control would prevent this kind of crime, it wouldn't. tighter gun control might be a good idea for other kinds of homicides, the spontaneous case of conflict that turns violent and deadly, but not this kind of killer who will do whatever it takes to kill. and by the way, those who support the idea of concealed weapons and others having guns at their disposal to intervene in a case like this, that

wouldn't help it as well because we're talking about a very chaotic situation. where it's very difficult in the chaos to determine the bad guy with the gun versus the good guys with their guns. >> real quickly, though, james, he said in referenced the fact he was the joker to police. is this setting up the potential for this person to be criminally insane? >> i don't think that he's planning that far in advance, and indeed, it's unlikely to be successful. someone who is criminally insane, who is that out of touch with reality that they don't know what they're doing is unable to execute this kind of well-planned assault. this takes someone who is clear thinking, who is clear-headed. evil, perhaps, but clear-headed, not someone who doesn't understand right from wrong and doesn't know what they're doing. >> james fox, james, thanks for joining us tonight. we appreciate your insight.

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my sister's a fighter, and she had great intuition. she was in toronto last month at the mall shooting and left the food court three minutes prior because she had a bad feeling. so she's -- she's dodged some events. and she's listened to her heart,

but i want people to remember that heart. and remember the good things that she's done, remember the smile and what her possibilities, what her perspective, what she could have done in the future. >> that was the brother of shooting victim jessica ghawi talking about the loss of his 24-year-old sister following the deadly colorado shooting. president obama and governor m romney canceled all events today. here's a portion of president obama's remarks from ft. myers, florida, earlier this morning. >> we may never understand what leads anyone to terrorize their fellow human beings like this. such violence, such evil, is senseless. it's beyond reason. but while we will never know fully what causes somebody to take the life of another, we do know what makes life worth living. the people we lost in aurora loved and they were loved. they were mothers and fathers,

they were husbands and wives, sisters and brothers, sons and daughters, friends and neighbors. they had hopes for the future. and they had dreams that were not yet fulfilled. if there's anything to take away from this tragedy, it's the reminder that life is very fragile. our time here is limited and it is precious. and what matters at the end of the day is not the small things. it's not the trivial things which so often consume us and our daily lives. ultimately, it's how we choose to treat one another. it's what we do on a daily basis to give our lives meaning and to give our lives purpose. that's what matters. at the end of the day, what we'll remember will be those we

loved and what we did for others. that's why we're here. i'm sure that many of you who are parents here had the same reaction that i did when i heard this news. my daughters go to the movies. what if malia and sasha had been at the theater? as so many of our kids do every day. michelle and i will be fortunate to hug our girls a little tighter tonight. i'm sure you'll do the same with your children. for those parents who may not be so lucky, we have to embrace them and let them know we will be there for them as a nation. there are going to be other days for politics. this, i think, is a day for prayer and reflection. >> that was a short time after that that governor romney addressed the tragedy in colorado from new hampshire.

>> this morning colorado lost youthful voices which would have brightened their homes, enriched their schools, and brought joy to their families. our prayer is that the comforter might bring the peace to their souls that surpassed our understanding. the apostle paul explained, blessed be god who comforth us in all of our tribulations that we may be able to comfort them which are in trouble. what we do now is how evil has overcome. we're seeing that great power in the goodness and compassion of a wounded community. grieving and worried families in aurora are surrounded with love today and not just by those who are with them and holding them in their arms, they can also know that they're being lifted up in prayer by people in every part of our great nation. now and in the hard days to come may every one of them feel the sympathy of our whole nation and

the comfort of a living god. today is a moment to grieve and to remember, to reach out, and to help. to appreciate our blessings in life. >> both president obama and governor romney have also pulled political ads running in the state of colorado. they have pulled those ads until further notice. up next, philadelphia mayor michael nutter, michael alter, and eugene will address these questions raised by the tragedy. ♪ this is our pool. ♪ our fireworks. ♪ and our slip and slide. you have your idea of summer fun, and we have ours. now during the summer event get an exceptionally engineered mercedes-benz for an exceptional price. but hurry, this offer ends july 31st. for an exceptional price.

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i imagine i will be asked how many rounds were fired. my answer is we have no capability right now of calculating that number. there were many, many rounds fired. >> that was police chief in aurora, chief oates trying trooexplain the scene after the shooting massacre. the suspect was carrying an ar-15. a remington 87012-gauge shotgun

and two 40-caliber blocks. he ought a pistol and the shut gone at bass pro shops, he got the assault rifle at a gander mountain. colorado state law prohibited gun registration, but you do have to get a pumpt to carry a concealed weapon. this happened only 15 miles away from columbine, the high school where 12 students and a teacher were gunned down in 1999. will last night's massacre inspire changes in gun laws? we want to bring in michael nutter, jonathan alter, and pulitzer prize winning columnist infor washington post, eugene robinson. mayor, i want to start with you. a lot of people are going to say it's completely insensitive to have a conversation about gun control in the country right now on the heels of what we saw today. other people are going to say we need to have this conversation right away to make changes.

politically speaking, do you think that something like this, the tragedy that we're seeing in aurora is going to spark the dialogue to change where we are, especially with the assault weapons ban and the fact it was allowed to lapse. do you think that's going to bring new attention back to that? >> again, let me first say that we need to maintain our focuss, no matter what else anybody else wants to talk about or doesn't want to talk about, let us continue to focus on the fact that we have experienced a national tragedy, less than 24 hours that we lost 12 americans, 59 people shot or otherwise injured. and we should never, ever take a moment away from keeping that as the focal point in this matter. and my heartfelt sympathies go out to all of thoz families, especially those who lost loved ones last night. there should be a debate. there should be an appropriate debate at the appropriate time.

to still talk about not just what happened in aurora, as tragic as that it and you mentioned in your intro about columbine, the reality is this kind of murder and mayhem unfortunately takes place on the streets of many american streets on almost a daily basis. the difference is very concentrated, a large number of peopleane short period of time. you think about the fire power that this individual had. and whether the guns are registered or not, we'll sort through all of those details, but murder on the streets, violence on the streets, cities all across america, is what we need to keep in mind, not just at a time of great national tragedy. we continue to pray for those and that they recover. but give comfort to those who lost loved ones. there should be a serious discussion and debate, not a hysterical one, not one that is so polarized that you can't have

a legitimate discussion. people want to be safe in america. and that's what we need to stay focused. >> eugene, is it going to take debate or deaths to change the laws in this country? >> i don't know what will change the laws. we have had this debate before. we talked after columbine. we talked after the virginia tech carnage, which i covered as a columnist for the post. we talked after the giffords shooting, and we will talk again. but i have to say, i am pessimistic that we're going to make progress. what i would consider progress on towards sensible gun control, an assault weapons ban that seems to be a no-brainer to me. i don't think that the conditions are there to move toward that. and the other big issue that i frankly am pessimistic about

making progress on is mental health. we don't know if this person was legally insane. i kind of doubt he was, but clearly he was deranged. clearly he was troubled. and that's a constant theme in these shootings as well. but we don't seem to make progress there either. >> jonathan, should you be able to buy assault weaponry at chain stores where they sell fishing stores and you can buy assault clips? >> no, should you be able to buy a machine gun, a grenade launcher? at a certain point, common sense has to take over. i agree with mayor nutter that the first thing we need to do as a nation is to show our compassion for the people in aurora and what that community is going through. but i think after that period, we shouldn't give up on trying to have a vigorous national debate. we shouldn't give the national rifle association a veto power on what we talk about in this

country. it's almost like they can gag a national conversation because of their political power. the first step is not to assume we're going to get a new assault weapons ban, which by the way for ten years that ar-15 that this killer used, was illegal in the united states. and extremely -- not that easy to get. you could get knock-off versions, but it did by some accounts, reduce the use of assault weapons in the crimes by more than 60%. so the idea that that assault weapons ban was not effective in reducing these sorts of rampages is not true. >> mayor -- >> we could get there. i just want to make my point clear, thomas, for a second. we could have changes in the law, but before that, we have to get changes in the conversation, and that is achievable in the next few weeks if we focus on it. >> as jonathan says, how do you get the genie back in the

bottle? he makes such a great point about the assault weapons ban and what was illegal that is now legal and we're seeing showing up on creime scenes like the aurora massacre. how do we change the conication to have a common sense conversation to say you're stepping all over my constitutional rights, but there's no need to have assault weapons on the streets? >> there's no reason for any civilian person to have an assault weapon. it should only be law enforcement and the military. there's nothing that the civilian can do with that. it's not like it's a hunting weapon. there is nothing -- there's virtually nothing left if you were to hit -- whatever your thing is. peel, you know, go hunting le t legitimately, there's nothing there. that is a starting point. only military and law enforcement personnel. i think, you know, one of the issues for me is the american

public, i would think, would like to be at least as safe as the members of congress are when they're at their job. you can't walk into the capitol with any kind of weapon. of course not. well then, why are you allowed to walk down many of the streets of america, especially those who should not have weapons in the first place? >> mayor michael nutter, jonathan alter, eugene robinson, thank you for joining me. coming up, the director of "the dark knight rises" wayi weighing in on his thoughts on the senseless killing. back with much more. i brought your stuff. you don't have to do this. yes i do. in on his thoughts on the senseless killing. back with much more. i want you to keep this. it'd be weird. take care. you too. [ sighs ] so how did it go? he's upset. [ male announcer ] spend less time at gas stations. with best in class fuel economy. it's our most innovative altima ever.

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the tragic shooting in colorado was spurring a national debate, but also raising questions about doing something as simple as going to see a movie. stay with us. [ man ] ever year, sophia and i

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♪ what the... what the... what the... ♪ are you seein' this? ♪ ♪ uh-huh... uh-huh... uh-huh... ♪ ♪ it kinda makes me miss the days when we ♪ ♪ used to rock the microphone ♪ back when our credit score couldn't get us a micro-loan ♪ ♪ so light it up! ♪ even better than we did before ♪ ♪ yeah prep yourself america we're back for more ♪ ♪ our look is slacker chic and our sound is hardcore ♪ ♪ and we're here to drop a rhyme about free-credit-score ♪ ♪ i'm singing free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ dot-com narrator: offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com. this is a safe city and a safe state and a safe country. we need to recognize that we can't allow people that are aberrations of nature to take away the joys and freedoms that we enjoy. >> welcome back, everybody. that was colorado governor john hickenlooper reminder the public you can't allow one tragic

incident shape your life. movie theaters stepped up around the country in the wake of what happened in aurora. theater employees are searching patrons' bags and there's a heightened police presence. for more on this type of mental anguish that a lot of people are going to be facing this weekend, dr. gale salts joins me. it's good to have you here. as peag are digesting this, taking it in and thinking about what it will be like to be in that movie theater, certain people are going to cool their jets, not want to go to the movies for a while. what is your recommendation about how parents, people need to talk to their kids to understand the feelings they're having? >> it's normal to be anxious in the aftermath and to identify with the victims in the community, but that should be temporary. really, what you need to be explaining to your children is whats an aberration this is. this is so highy bizarre and the

odds are so unlikely, they have to put it into that perspective. more anxious kids will be more worried about this. you may need to give them other coping skills, distractions, and keep them away from the television because for children, watching this over and over again is like it occurring over and over again. >> i think the same thing could be said for adults having to live through this over and over again. >> the more anxious adult or if you have had a recent experience that has made you anxious or concerned, a violent encounter, you're more likely to be suceltable to that and try to keep away from as much as you can in a way. you want to be honest, you want to answer their questions, let them express their childrens. if your child develops symptoms of anxiety, you want to think about if they need help. >> speaking of anxiety, certain movie theaters and chains saying they are going to be searching bags and adding more security. does that les n the anxiety or

heighten it? >> people recognize that's probably not going to keep them safe. we can't do that with all of our malls, all our post offices, all places that something like this has ever occurred, and it's probably not logical. in the shortterm, it does make people more comfortable. that's because what everyone is concerned about is copycats. unfortunately, the more we talk about the shooter, the more we're concerned about the copycats. we should be more focused on the victims and the families. the short term protections i think do make people feel better, but we will have to return to normal. >> returning to normal for parents that do want to have this tough, heartfelt conversation with their kids because they may be planning on going to the movies, maybe not to see this movie this weekend but something else, what do you rememb recommend, the steps that parents need to take to alever their childs' fears? >> ask what is on their mind. you don't want to fill them in