i didn't know the coal thing was real. it's very real... david rivera. rivera, david. [ male announcer ] fedex one rate. simple, flat rate shipping with the reliability of fedex. it's been a long morning. been out doing work-related stuff and snowplowing. be plowing all day. >> great, i love snow. best thing. >> if you can complain all you want, but it's not going to do any good. >> let it snow! >> that winter storm is on the move. good saturday afternoon to you. i'm craig melvin. you are watching msnbc. right now, a massive system is barreling through 21 states. some places could get more than a foot of snow. we're live with the latest conditions and flight delays. he introduced himself and his sister. they were all very sweet, seemed very clearful. it's been quite upsetting. >> he was armed with a shotgun.

made no effort to hide it and conceal it. >> scary knowing how close to home these things can hit. >> shock and sadness in colorado. right now, one student remains in critical condition. the teenaged gunman is dead. we're live with new details on that school shooting as we remember the somber anniversary of another. newtown, one year later. today's remembrances for the victims and the relatives of sandy hook. how far has gun reform gone since that tragedy? and a new frontier for drones. the homeland, from sports to movies, to farming, it's today's big idea, a whole heck of a lot to get to. we start with tragedy and horror in colorado. police in a denver suburb are investigating a new school shooting. the 27th this year, right now, a female student remains in critical condition after being shot friday. the 18-year-old gunman also a

student took his own life inside that school. nbc's lee ann gregg is in the denver suburb of centennial, colorado, what can you tell us about that student? >> reporter: she remains hospitalized, in critical condition after emergency surgery yesterday. her identity has not been revealed publicly. she just happened to be in the vicinity of the gunman described by many as a normal guy. others said he was outspoken, some called him a socialist who had strong opinions about economic inequality. he was also very active at the school, on the cross-country team. he routinely won speech and debate contests. police say when he entered the school with a shotgun, he was asking where the debate coach was. now identified as tracy murphy. that is the coach. then he fired at least three shots, one of them hitting that 15-year-old girl. the school today is still a crime scene.

it will remain closed at least throughout the weekend. no class is scheduled for monday. but students were allowed to return to the school parking lot today and pick up their vehicles. some of them expressing concerns about what it's going to be like to have to enter the school again after such a horrifying experience yesterday. back to you. >> really quickly, i know it's still very early in the investigation, but at this point, are we getting any indication from authorities there that they might know precisely what this was about? >> reporter: all they're saying right now is it was revenge, some type of a confrontation that the boy had with his debate coach some time back, as far as why he would have taken a shotgun to presumably shoot him. they still don't know. they're in the process of interviewing hundreds of witnesses, teachers, staff, students, trying to piece all of that together. >> lee ann gregg for us out there in colorado, thank you so much. again, it's hard to imagine any

parent in america forgetting where they and their children were a year ago on this day. 20 children and six adults were gunned down at sandy hook elementary in newtown, connecticut. the gunman had already shot his mother to death before he started his rampage at the school which ended only when he took his own life. that tragedy brought new and impassioned calls for reform of our gun laws in this country. now a year later, where are we? congress could not pass a single law regarding so-called assault weapons, high-capacity ammunition magazines or even background checks. statistics show that 173 children -- 173 kids under the age of 12 in 39 states have been killed by guns since newtown. and "the new york times" reports on the state level, 109 new gun laws have been pushed in the 12 months since the shooting. 39 tightened gun restrictions. 70 of them, though, 70 of the

new laws ease restrictions on firearms. kim russell is the national outreach director for moms demand action for gun sense in america. kim herself a victim of gun violence. cleo pendleton is the mother of hadiya pendleton who was gunned down after the second inauguration of president obama. and democratic congressman david sicilyni is also with us. why have attempts to reform gun laws in in this country been such an abject failure? >> i wish i knew the answer. i remember after the shooting at sandy hook and remembering the 20 children whose lives were taken and the six adults, i remember everyone thinking, this will be different, this has to

be different, this involves the slaughter of 20 children in an elementary school. and yet the memories of it seem to have faded. we put forth a number of reforms in the house side. commonsense gun safety legislation, closing some loopholes, fixing the broken background check system and we have been unable to get that pushed through the house or the senate. we need to continue to partner with great organizations like mayors against illegal guns and mothers demand action. but there's no excuse. we have a responsibility to enact commonsense gun safety legislation that will protect children and families from the kind of gun violence that we continue to see in this country. the opposition is well-financed, well-organized, the special interest lobby of the nra is very powerful. but we have to be able to prevail. this is a question of basic safety for our families. >> cleo, you lost your daughter to gun violence. what do you make of the efforts to change gun laws over the past year in this country and in

chicago as well? >> well, you did mention that there have been a number of bills that went up there and a number of changes that have been requested. and not necessarily put in place. i think it's really sad. it's not about a particular child or a particular group or area. it's about the well-being of all of us here. it's too easy to get a gun, it's too easy to cross a state line and still acquire a firearm to then take back across state lines and commit crimes. it's common sense. so i believe that there's definitely more that can be done, should be done. and people need to get off their hands. various people have made decisions that are going to create safer environments for families but it doesn't seem the voices of the families and everyone are being heard. so i don't think enough is being done.

and i don't think that people are even taking it as serious as it needs to be taken. given what's happening, it's becoming an epidemic. you're hearing about it more and more often. >> kim, your group, moms demand action, talk to me a little bit about what you've seen over the past year. you've spent a great deal of time lobbying lawmakers, talking to lawmakers, talking to the media, talking to anyone who will listen for that matter. >> exactly. >> what have you seen over the past year? what have you heard? >> i'm actually hopeful. i know it seems like doomsday for us. but it's not the case. the gun lobby we're up against has been working hard to weaken gun laws for 30 years. our organization has been at this for one year. our anniversary is tomorrow. we are now 125,000 members strong. we have a chapter in every state. our mothers are doing things they never thought they would do before. and the original brady bill in

1993 took seven years and six votes to pass. so the fact that we even saw a vote this year, i think says something. we've also met with senator reid. and we're hopeful to see another vote for the mid-term elections. >> what seems to move lawmakers in washington, mass tragedies. sandy hook seemed to move the needle. do you think that's what it's going to take? another mass incident like this? >> i certainly hope not. now that moms are on the case, i think we're going to see some more change happen. we're in this for the long haul. we know that this is a marathon. and mothers have a lot of power. when we come together, our voices get loud. we vote and we can make a difference here. >> craig, could i say one thing? >> go ahead. >> craig, i want to say i think we have seen unfortunately too many mass murders, too many massacres. what there has to be now and i

think this is where the organizations that are on this show are doing this, members of congress need to understand there's a political consequence, a political cost -- >> is there a political consequence, congressman? you're familiar with what happened in colorado. the two state lawmakers in colorado who backed gun reform legislation were ousted. they were recalled and then another lawmaker -- go ahead. >> we have a recall election happening in rhode island in a town where there was a modest reform that was enacted and the town council members are being subjected to a recall today. but the reality is i think the value, the importance of mayors against legal guns and mothers demand action is because they're helping to galvanize the american people to say, this is a problem we can solve. we can make sure criminals and people who are seriously mentally ill do not have access to firearms. we can fix this broken background check system and at least make sure everyone who buys a gun goes through the background check. people are demanding that.

so long as members of congress understand that they will be held to account if we don't enact this and voters will say, do you support gun safety legislation, are you a co-spons co-sponsor, will you vote for it, in the same way the opposition does. don't forget the words of president mandela. he said what seems impossible is only possible once it's done. our work is not done. but this is possible. we have to do it and working with great organizations, i think we can do it. >> cleo, let me end with you. are things at all better in chicago? >> are they better? in what capacity? >> with regards to gun crimes? gun violence? >> well, statistics say the gun crimes are down. they went down this year. there have been changes made to put more police on the street. there's definitely an awakening here, i can say that. there are many organizations that are now working together so we can get the word out. i'm part of a new organization

we just formed, chicago voices for change, that is working alongside newtown and that committee so that we can get to washington and do our lobbying. in chicago, there's definitely awareness here. we're having various meetings. it's a lot happening. i do believe that there is an awareness. is there more that can be done? yes. are we done? no. it's all a work in progress. i'm looking forward to the change that's sure to come. >> cleo, thank you for your time. kim, thank you so much. congressman, a big thanks to all of you. we're going to continue talking about this on this broadcast and on this network as well. let's get to that nasty weather that's stirring up trouble from the midwest to the east coast. at least 18 states right now are under either a winter weather advisory or winter storm warnings. as much as a foot of snow is

possible in some spots. the weather channel's mike seidel is keeping an eye on conditions in paramus, new jersey. how much snow have we seen so far in paramus? >> reporter: about 2 inches. it's very powdery because the temperature is only 24 degrees. up in fairfield county, connecticut, we've had upwards of 3 inches. and up in the catskills, 4 inches. it's going to get heavier throughout the afternoon. road so far in pretty good shape. route 4 near the garden state plaza, roads are just wet because it hasn't snowed particularly hard. we've got daylight traffic and they've come by for the third time in 15 minutes dumping salt. across the street is the garden state plaza. you can't find a parking spot today. it's the peak of the shopping season and the malls here in bergen county are not allowed to be open on sunday. we have snow through this evening. then it's going to change over

tonight to sleet, freezing rain and rain. i think the roads tomorrow will be in pretty good shape. we'll get through this not too bad as far as driving today. but tonight once the sun goes down until we change over some time this evening or later on tonight, that's when the roads will be the worst here in the tri-state area. we'll get the latest from dylan. >> dylan, that's your cue. >> we do have a lot of snow about to move in. the whole storm in the northeast right now is just getting started. a lot of people may be walking around downtown in the city and saying, it's not too bad. but it's going to get bad, especially between about 5:00 and 7:00 this evening. that's when the heaviest snow is going to fall. the heaviest snow we're seeing is moving out of indianapolis, moving into central parts of ohio. so we are certainly going to see things ramp up over the course of the next couple of hours. we are looking at the chance

perhaps of possibly seeing several inches, especially moving out of the columbus area and moving a little further to the east. if we could switch it over to the other weather computer, that would help. i can show you some of the snowfall totals that we're actually going to see. as far as interior new england is concerned, we're looking at about perhaps up to a foot of snow. this is your watch and warning map. you can see most of the warnings now expiring through the midwest and now extending up into the northeast. we are going to see the chance, perhaps, in portland, maine, up to around 12 to 16 inches of snow. that's where we're not going to see much of a changeover. but in new york city, about 3 to 6 inches. but by 8:00 tomorrow morning, it's over. it's done. after a changeover to rain a little after midnight. we are going to see this thing ramp up later on this evening and then it all winds down pretty quickly overnight. >> and to nordstrom she goes. >> off right now. >> thank you so much. spy story, who was the american missing in iran working

for when he vanished years ago? what was he doing? one journalist who was kidnapped himself is here with us. we'll get his insight on this week's new revelations. and the affluenza disease. a judge sentences a texas teenager to probation for killing four people while driving drunk. was that teenager too rich to know any better? what does george washington think of abraham lincoln freeing all of his slaves? >> he better not unless he's trying to get shot in the head. >> ask a slave. the actress who has found an absolutely hilarious way to talk race in the digital age. wait until you hear where she gets her inspiration. this is msnbc. company became big business overnight? ♪ like, really big... then expanded? ♪ or their new product tanked? ♪

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details continue to emerge about robert levinson's secret mission. he disappeared in iran nearly seven years ago while working for the cia. secretary of state john kerry was in the region yesterday and talked about it. sort of. >> i don't have any comment whatsoever on the condition with respect to employment or any other issue except to say to you that we have raised the issue of his whereabouts on a continuous basis and we will continue to try to seek his release and return to the united states. >> david rhode was held hostage in afghanistan himself back in 2008. he wrote a back about it with his wife, the story of a kidnapping. this levinson ordeal, before we get into it, sounds like a story

line ripped straight from an episode of "homeland." we're talking with iran about its nuclear arsenal. we have this deal that's in the works. what kind of behind-the-scenes diplomatic dance has to be going on right now since this story's become public? >> i'm sure the u.s. is trying to to talk to the iranians about, do you have him? but for seven years, they've been asking that question and the iranians have been saying no. this is the longest an american has ever been held hostage. terry anderson, the brewer row chief in lebanon, was just over 6 1/2 years. this is extraordinary. i can't tell you how much i feel for robert and his family. >> any reason to believe that iran's new president would facilitate a release? >> the fear is levinson may have died in captivity. and that's an incentive for the iranians to not disclose that

they ever had him. but it should put pressure on the obama administration to make understanding where he is part of any deal with iran. >> how does something like this even happen? >> this is sadly another example of frankly how out of control our intelligence agencies are. you see it with the nsa evedroppievedro eavesdropping. there's rivalries we've heard between the cia and the fbi. this is inside the cia. analysts sort of competing with field operatives. and analysts were running their own field operation. they sent levinson hoout who wa sort of on a contract. but all kinds of protocols were broken. he shouldn't have gone to iran. three people were fired within the cia because of this. it's a huge embarrassment for the cia that they used him in this way and he may have lost his life because of this poor supervision within the cia. >> you had only been married for two months when you were captured. your wife took a lead role in trying to get you home. and in the book she writes about

it and in part, she writes, i'm disgusted at the prospect of facing more months of uncertainty. i hang up. i do not want to incur more damage and my tolerance for speculation coupled with chauvinism is exhausted. this was her writing after she lashed out at some of the authorities who were supposed to be helping facilitate your release. levinson's family has been dealing with this for seven years now. describe the kind of toll that something like this takes on a family. >> it's terrible because the sad thing here is that the person to blame isn't levinson himself. it's the people who have abducted him and held him for seven years and then it's the government of iran, if he is in their territory. it's their responsibility to find out who's holding him. but for the family, they're trying even they can. and in reality, there's nothing they can do. they don't really control the

outcome of the situation. >> david, always appreciate your insight. ke me, and you're talking to your rheumatologist about trying or adding a biologic. this is humira, adalimumab. this is humira working to help relieve my pain. this is humira helping me through the twists and turns. this is humira helping to protect my joints from further damage. doctors have been prescribing humira for over ten years. humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. for many adults, humira is proven to help relieve pain and stop further joint damage. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal events, such as infections, lymphoma, or other types of cancer, have happened. blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure have occurred. before starting humira , your doctor should test you for tb. ask your doctor if you live in or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common.

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we continue to track that massive winter storm that's expected to impact more than 110 million people across the midwest and east coast today. up to 8 inches of snow is expected to fall in central pennsylvania, new york, new england as well. airlines have already canceled more than 1,000 flights so far because of the storm. a majority of those flights were at newark airport. a number of delays as well. i'm craig melvin. good saturday to you. here's a quick look at the other top stories making news right now. no winner. lottery lovers, you still have a shot. last night's mega millions jackpot drawing did not produce a winner. that raises tuesday's jackpot to half a billion bucks. that's a lot of money. the game is rolled over 21 times without a winner, apparently. a u.s. district court judge

has declared utah's polygamy laws unconstitutional. the brown family filed a lawsuit back in 2011 arguing the law violates their privacy. and same-sex spouses of national guard troops in any state can now get benefits. secretary of defense chuck hagel directed the chief of the national guard bureau to work with states to provide id cards to spouses regardless of their sexual orientation. the department changed their policy in september following the supreme court's ruling on the defense of marriage act. but some republican governors did not fully supply. a texas judge is facing growing public pressure to resign after making a controversial ruling. on tuesday, judge jean boyd sentenced 16-year-old ethan couch to rehab and ten years of

probation. couch, the teenager, admitted to driving drunk and killing four people on a texas road back in june. prosecutors wanted the maximum of 20 years in state custody. but the defense argued that couch suffered from affluenza, essentially meaning he's so rich, he didn't know any better. can you be too rich to be guilty? lisa bloom is an nbc news legal analyst. lisa, we should probably first let folks know what the term affluenza means. according to the oxford dictionary, here's the deflection. a psychological malaise supposedly affecting wealthy young people symptomings of which include a lack of motivation, feelings of guilt and a sense of isolation. the american psychiatric association does not recognize the term. my question is, if they don't recognize it, how can it be used successfully in a defense? >> right. craig, i think most people think of affluenza as a disease involving having too much money,

where do i sign up for it? >> right. how do i get it? >> i don't want to be immune from that. this is ridiculous. as you point out, it is not a legitimate psychological condition. and many of us have thought for a long time that the rich get a different kind of justice than the poor. well, this judge has openly confirmed that. this kid essentially argued -- by the way, this kid killed four people in a dui and injured ten others. his attorneys argued in the past because he was a wealthy kid, he'd misbehaved and there were no consequences. in this case, misbehaved is an understatement. he killed four people. he has basically no consequences. ten years of probation, as you say, the state wanted 20 years in jail. he's a 16-year-old. i don't think we should lock him up for the rest of his life. but clearly there should be major criminal justice consequences to a dui that kills four people. >> is this a strategy or is there a similar strategy that

has been used successfully like this in a case before? >> well, reminds me very much of the twinkie defense. we all remember that, when somebody ate too much junk food and said that was the reason why they committed a murder. we've also seen in one of the teacher/student sex cases, the attorney argued she was too pretty to go to prison because if she did, she would be abused there. nobody's too pretty or too rich to go to prison. that's ridiculous. it undermines our criminal justice system. >> the texas attorney general this morning said that he's now looking into this case as well. couch's treatment apparently could be served as an expensive california rehab facility that would be paid for by his parents. does this also set up some sort of double standard for our justice between rich and poor? >> well, i think it does. by the way, the treatment is

$50,05 $500,000 a year. this is an extraordinarily wealthy family if they can afford that. potentially year after year for up to ten years for this young man. many people do get sent to private treatment programs for a few weeks or for a month. and that relieves the taxpayers of some of the burden. i don't have a problem with that. but to use that as a replacement for real consequences for the dangerous acts this young man engaged in -- by the way, he broke into a walmart with a bunch of friends, stole the alcohol, then drove around with double the legal limit of alcohol in his system. also had valium in his system. his actions were way outside the bounds of the law. he should be punished for them. >> nbc news legal analyst, lisa bloom, always good to have you breaking it down for us, thank you. time to flash back to this day in 1799. that's when the first president of the united states, a fellow by the name of george washington, died. less than three years after leaving office. his funeral was held at mt. vernon where more than 200 years later he finally got a

presidential library. also this day in 2008. remember this? say what you may about the president. he was a swift one, though. during a news conference in baghdad in a highly offensive move, an iraqi journalist threw his shoes at president george w. bush and missed. >> so what if the guy threw his shoe at me. emale announcer ] we eased your back pain... ♪ ready or not. [ female announcer ] ...so you can be up there. here i come! [ female announcer ] ...down there, around there... and under there for him. tylenol® provides strong pain relief and won't irritate your stomach the way aleve® or even advil® can. but for everything we do, we know you do so much more.

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you say the word drone and a lot of people probably think military predators. but there's big potential on the domestic front as well. and it is today's big idea. from assisting in search and rescue missions to gathering data for farming, one group is promoting the benefits of the civilian use for drones. those unmanned aircrafts that we

continue to read, watch and hear so much about. timothy reuter founded the drone user group network. good to see you. >> thank you for having me on, craig. >> i just mentioned that some of the uses that your group is promoting, what are some of the other uses and how do drones help in these instances? >> sure, so we decided that september was going to be drone community service month for us. and we worked with a local park in the d.c. area helping them make aerial trail videos to advertise their facilities. and making maps by stitching together aerial photos so that they could more effectively manage their natural resources. there's also infrastructure inspection which could range anything from pipelines to seeing whether your gutters on your roof have leaves in them. we're actually seeing some other, more significant uses in search and rescue and in turkey,

political activists have used them to show the size of the crowds at protests. that the government was trying to minimize. so there's all sorts of amazing applications out there. many of which we've only begun to think of. >> here's the thing, though. you're talking about -- you talk about all of the good that drones can do, all the great things that drones can bring to the world. why drones should be our friends and not our enemies. but you're aware of the other side of this debate. drone use has set off a significant debate in this country about privacy and security risks. what's your group's position on those? >> sure. we're concerned about the safety and privacy issues as well. and our mission is to teach as many people as possible how to build and operate their own drones and do that within a culture of safety and respectful use. so i think it's interesting to look back at the history of the camera. when the camera first came out,

people had a lot of these same concerns. how will we protect privacy when anyone can make images? and it's not that we've solved all those problems. but i think that we see the world as a better place because people can take photos of their families easily rather than legally restricting who can own a camera. >> show us your toy. >> sure. this is an example of the kind of drone that anyone could own. we actually have an event right now where we're teaching people how to build this exact drone. and one of the things that we just think is so exciting about this technology is that it's easy enough to use and cheap enough that anyone can access. >> how much is something like that going to cost me? if my wife were watching right now and if she were considering maybe buying a drone for me for christmas, something like this might run? >> my wife asked me the exact same question when i started getting into this.

and you can get everything you need for about $450. >> all right. >> get something off the shelf or get a kit that you build yourself. in which case, you'll understand it a little better. but for $450, you can get anything you need. >> what's your website? >> it's dugn.org and we're giving away a $10,000 prize. >> your commercial is over. timothy reuter, thank you so much. appreciate your time on a saturday idea. drones for domestic use. drones doing good in the world. if you've got a big idea that's making a difference, we'd love to hear about it. tell us by shooting us an e-mail. there it is right there on your screen. bigidea.msnbc@nbcuni.com. and pa. how naughty was he? oh boy...

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for the new york daily news who covered the shooting at newtown and was so affected by it that he quit his job, moved out of the country and wrote the book "newtown, an american tragedy." i asked him why after covering other massacres this story, this particular shooting affected him so profoundly. >> i was a reporter for "the new york daily news." and i covered all these mass shootings. and newtown struck me as -- it's children. so it's different. i'd be remiss if i didn't say that. but it was, again, another situation where a person who was clearly mentally disturbed and is not getting treatment is kind of set loose on a community. and i felt like a lot of times the issues get a little bit diluted. and i didn't feel like the mental health issue was getting enough play. as i started researching more

and more into the case of adam lanza, it became apparent exactly how severely mentally ill this young man was. >> you pored through thousands of e-mails for your book dealing with that history of mental illness that you alluded to. what were some of the things you found out? how extensive was it? >> look, since the age of 5, his mother had identified him as mentally ill. these e-mails, she's trying several times to get him help and has him seeing therapists on and off throughout his life. and it's about the age of 18, things take a real downward turn. and kind of this perfect storm occurs in newtown where this young man is extremely loses track of reality and he surrounds himself and isolates himself around all these violent video games and violent poetry that he's writing and he's left alone there.

and i guess one of my big takeaways is this was a tragedy that could have been prevented. and i know this is a hard discussion for people to have. but i think it's necessary to have because it's again another case where these very severely ill people are not getting treatment. and in the case of adam lanza, there were warning signs all along this ten-year path. and it was very hard to write. and it's going to be difficult to read in some ways, i imagine. you come to these moments where you think, somebody could intervene right here and change the trajectory of what happened that awful day. and nothing happens. one of my hopes is that moving forward that people will kind of see these warning signs a little more clearly for what they are, which is not necessarily that somebody's going to shoot this school. nobody could have anticipated that. but that something bad could happen. i think after sandy hook we no longer have the luxury of just sort of sitting back and being passive. >> in addition to the book, you

pinned this "newsweek" cover story that's an eye-opening read, to say the least, about newtown. and you looked at some of the unanswered questions about nancy lanza. and you write in part, quote, over type, the desperate mother began to believe everyone had given up on her son and of course there's the issue of her guns. how a mother who had devoted most of her time to the care of her troubled son obsessed with violence could keep several semiautomatic guns in the house is a question my book isn't able to answer. i doubt anyone ever will. what did the people closest to nancy lanza say about that? >> nancy was a contradiction in many ways. i'll tell your audience one thing, though. her e-mails made it very clear that she loved her son dearly and devoted so much of her life to sacrificing for him. so how she allowed these weapons to be around kind of was this

incredible suspension of disbelief. as far as her friends went, i did speak to somebody who brought this up to her at one point, not as brazenly as we might. but just, the guns, why is adam going to a shooting range? is that okay? she made mention that this is one of the few ways that they could bond. in retrospect, that's one of the tragically stupidest things that anybody could ever imagine happening. she's not here to defend herself. and she's going to probably take these questions -- she took these questions with her to the grave. >> guns were the way that she connected with her troubled son? >> that's my understanding. >> before i let you go here, i know that you were the only journalist who was at nancy lanza's funeral as well. how is the family -- how has that extended family -- how have they received you and what's been their response, if you will, or what's their -- what

have their lives been like over the past year? >> adam's father and his brother will not cooperate. let's be honest. they're victims in this, too. they lost people. my understanding from people outsi outside, they're devastated. it's a lot of loss. and the loss -- around this whole story, just from newtown moving on, that's why i feel like it's so important to keep bringing up these stories. and i appreciate you having me on like this to discuss this because this is going to happen again. this is not an isolated incident. violent crime has been going on. but these cases of severe mental illness and mass shootings is going to continue to increase unless we act. >> thank you so much for your time, matthew. do appreciate you. >> thank you. a special display hangs in the halls of connecticut's state

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good day to you, lords and ladies. i'm lizzie mae, personal house maid to president and lady washington. and i'm here to answer all your questions about the washingtons' home and plantation. so don't be shy, now. >> that's a clip from the youtube series "ask a slave." it features one of george washington's house maids, lizzie mae, answered questions about slavery. she came up with the idea while working as a character at mt. vernon, washington's plantation home. s she joins me live now. how did this thing come about? how did it start? >> well, i was working at mt. vernon.

and i was encountering those questions from visitors and i was having these very interesting conversations with people from all around the country, all around the world. and i talked to friends and family about them and they would laugh or they would be horrified with me. and so i collected all the stories and i said, i've got to do something with this. so after throwing around a few different ideas, i decided to make a web series. >> and not just a web series, we should note for folks who have not seen this, it's wildly popular. each one of those episodes gets somewhere in the neighborhood of 600,000 up to 800,000 hits, right? >> yes, in the first week, the first two together had 500,000 views. >> you've called yourself the time traveling black girl because in your career you've played everyone from harriet to diane nash. do you feel like you've been type-cast to a certain extent?

>> when i was living in d.c., a friend of mine told me when february comes, we call it black actor employment month, i think. which was obviously a joke. but i think -- >> well kind of. kind of not. >> kind of and kind of not. i think as an actor of color, a lot of times these roles come out of the need to show a certain historical event. and so that happened to me. i also personally have a lot of interest in history. so i just sort of -- it went from one show to the other to the other. that kind of thing. >> i want to play for our viewers at home really quickly another clip from the series. these are some more of the questions that you've answered. take a listen. >> didn't i read somewhere that george washington actually freed all of his slaves after he died? >> well, i don't know nothing about that because he's not dead yet. but even if he was, it would

make no difference to me, like most of the people around here, i'm owned by mrs. washington. >> where do your kids go to school? >> what's next? i hear that you're working on another series. >> yeah. i'm actually getting out of the 18th century. and a friend of mine, amani stearns, who has her own series about being a biracial actress in hollywood, we're coming together and doing a show called amazing. it's a sketch show. >> really quickly, you may not know this. i work here at 30 rockefeller. there's an operation here that's looking for a black funny actress. i'm just putting it out there. >> yeah, i've heard about that. yeah. thanks for letting me know. >> have you considered applying? >> well, you never know. you never know what will happen. >> if it happen, we're going to take full credit for it. >> thank you, craig.

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one week? that's just my speed. rapid wrinkle repair. and for dark spots rapid tone repair. from neutrogena®. winter wallop. the fifth big storm of the season is moving from the midwest to the east coast right now. conditions will only be getting worse today. we're live on the ground. good saturday afternoon to you. i'm craig melvin. you're watching msnbc. also, a school shooting in colorado. >> we heard that there was a shooter. >> the fact that it was a real situation instead of just a drill was scary. >> i'm trembling a little bit. >> i'm confident we'll find information that will help us put the pieces of the puzzle together. >> what we are learning about that teenaged gunman and the student who's in critical condition right now. we're live with the latest on the investigation in colorado. also, saying good-bye.

the final farewell to nelson mandela starts in just hours. we've got the last-minute details from his native village in south africa. also ahead, obamacare enrollment is on a roll. but who's actually signing up? i'm going to talk to an h.h.s. official about the latest efforts to get the young and the healthy to join in. and a cruelty-free christmas. several stores are boycotting types of rabbit fur after undercover video shows shocking animal abuse. but can humane fur keep up with high fashion? we start in the northeast where a major winter storm is kicking into high gear. nbc's kristen dahlgren is live for us in scarsdale, new york. krist kristen, how bad is it out there right now? >> reporter: you know what, things are getting worse. we moved from manhattan up north into westchester county. and this area is expected to get more snow than manhattan. and things expected to get worse

as we go through the day here. right now, just a little bit sticking on the ground. the roads are relatively clear. but things are slick out here. people walking on the sidewalks are using caution. shopkeepers are out trying to shovel. this is a huge storm and it's affecting some pretty big cities. it's estimated more than 100 million people will in some way be impacted by this storm. we're already seeing some airport delays. we're here at the scarsdale train station, metronorth trains still running right now. but a lot of people still feeling the effects. there's already been at least one fatal accident in michigan reported in association with this storm. if you are headed out and you're anywhere from, say, ohio up through the northeast, you need to use some caution out there. >> kristen dahlgren for us in scarsdale, kristen, thank you. meteorologist dylan dryer standing by for us. continues to track the storm for us. what can we expect over the next few years in the northeast

specifically? >> it's going to get worse. this is just the atmosphere kind of moistening up a little bit so that the snow is reaching the ground but not accumulating in most areas, especially on the roadways, which are -- it just takes a while before you get heavier snowfall. that's when you're going to see your higher accumulations. that's going to happen later on this evening in the northeast. it's been happening so far back through chicago and into indiana and into ohio where we do have about 6 inches of snow -- 3 to 6 inches of snow on the ground. where we see a little bit of rotation through west virginia right now, that's the center of the storm. that's what's going to move in later on today that's going to make for some heavier snowfall. already starting to clear out of illinois. now it's moving into eastern areas across the great lakes and heavier snow moving into southwestern parts of pennsylvania. you look for the blues on this radar. you can see just north of pittsburgh, we have heavier snow. it's very light. it's also already changing over to rain in southern new jersey. so there is a warmer component to this storm system. even in new york city, even in

boston, we're going to see a changeover from snow to rain eventually. but in the meantime, there's that icy mix that we'll have to track. that's going to play a role in just how much snowfall we get. but it looks like we should end up with about 6 to 12 inches in interior parts of especially new england, closer to a foot. interior parts of new york and western massachusetts, closer to about 6 to 8 inches. in new york city itself, about 3 to 6 before it changes over to some rain later on tonight. but most of the 3 to 6 inches we'll get in the city is going to happen between about 5:00 p.m. to 7:00, 8:00 p.m. that's when we'll get the bulk of our heavy snow. that's when you don't want to be on the roads. >> is there anything behind this one or are we out of the woods? >> most areas. lake-effect snow will kick in. but after this one, i think we're okay for at least a couple of days. >> couple of days. >> no guarantees past that. >> dylan, thank you so much. now to our other big story today, the scene of friday's school shooting in a denver suburb is returning to normal.

one female student remains in critical condition. the gunman, also a student, took his own life at the scene there. students returned to the school today to pick up their cars left in the parking lot when they were evacuated. nbc's lee ann gregg is in the denver suburb of sen ten yellce, colorado. not far from that movie theater in aurora, colorado. are officials in that part of colorado, are they saying anything at all about why this continues to be happening in that part of this country? >> reporter: you know, they are not saying why this happens in this part of the country. but there is some amazement as to why it does. no one really knows the answer to that. there's a lot of debates on the

gun laws. many heated opinions on that. they're also talking about how there have been so many changes since 1999, the columbine shooting. they talk about one critical change in how s.w.a.t. teams respond. they move in more quickly than they did before as was seen yesterday when police were able to identify the gunman 20 minutes after receiving the first calls. and they said that he shot and killed himself only after he realized that he would be caught. as for schools, not only in colorado but all across the country, active shooting drills are routine, much like we grew up with fire drills. the practice, the protocol, the planning, officials say really did likely save lives yesterday post-columbine. the school is still a crime scene. and it will remain closed throughout the weekend. no school is scheduled for monday. you mentioned earlier, the students were allowed to go back today to the parking lot and pick up their cars. some of them did express concern about what it's going to be like

to go back inside the building after the horrific events yesterday. >> arapahoe high school, leanne gregg, thank you. in washington, the website may be working but the white house is still not free of obamacare headaches. this week, the administration admitted that enrollment is lagging. it announced as of the end of last month, roughly 365,000 people have gotten private coverage through the new marketplaces. the number enrolled more than tripled in november over october. but the projection was to have roughly 1.2 million people signed up by now. and who are these enrollees? anton gunn is with the department of health and human services. a.k.a. mr. health care. the administration has made it very clear that young people have to sign up for obamacare in order for it to succeed. healthy young people needed in the exchanges to offset the cost of the sick.

however, according to this recent harvard university poll, less than one-third of people ages 18 to 29 who are currently without health insurance said that they are likely to enroll in the exchange. how concerning is that? >> well, it's not because we have a long period before open enrollment is over. we have another 3 1/2 months to get people enrolled. that's why it's important for people to come back to health care dove.gov. the site is working a lot better, more smoothly. people are giving it a second chance. that's why the numbers are quadrupled in the last 30 days. we see this as a good opportunity to have a conversation with young people one thing that's clear is young adults want health insurance coverage. they want to take care of themselves. we've taken this approach to focus on talking to other young leaders about how to reach young leaders. we had a great summit at the white house last week. over 116 leaders from around the country. we had everybody from student body presidents to radio deejays

to student activists. it was a great event, having a conversation with young people about what young people want to talk about in terms of their health and getting good access to quality care through the marketplace. >> "the washington post," editorial this weekend that they wrote -- the penalty for lacking coverage next year, a mere $95. and it may be hard for the internal revenue service to collect even that from some people. a larger fee which was in early drafts of the law, would be a more effective incentive than what's in place now. what's your response to that, that penalty itself is not enough to encourage people to actually get insurance? >> well, the penalty is a penalty. what i think more to have a conversation about is what do young people want out of their lives and what do they want out of health care? what we found in our conversations with young people, not polls, not studies, but conversations with young leaders, people want to be helped. they want preventative medicine.

we have a lot of young people that work out and exercise. they get injuries in the gym all the time. but do you have $7,500 to pay for a broken arm or broken leg if you get one. if you have health insurance, it won't be that high. it helps them to have a better longevity in their life because they can get treatment for illnesses. and there are many young people right now that have pre-existing conditions that before the affordable care act couldn't get treatment for those if they were discriminated against by an insurance plan. now because of the law, they'll be able to get treatment for juvenile diabetes or heart condition or any other condition they may have had. they will sign up as we continue to work with young leaders. we have until march 31st. everybody should remember that. we have lots of time to get this done. >> "financial times" reported this week that some obamacare enrollees are going to have limited access to some of this

country's leading hospitals, including two world renown cancer centers. experts say it's a move by insurers to limit consumers' choices and to steer them away from hospitals that are considered too expensive. sloan keterring, one of the hospitals that's mentioned specifically. what is the administration doing to prevent that kind of thing? >> one of the things we're continuing to do is work with the industry. the insurers are an important part of this process. we're continuing to have conversations about things like the deadlines in terms of open enrollment, when people can enroll in coverage. we want to continue to make sure the networks and the plans are robust. we've left some of that up to the states. the states have some responsibility to make sure the networks and their plans are filled with providers that can provide care. we're continuing to have this conversation and work with them to make sure we have great products so people can access the marketplace and get the care that they want for the price that they can afford. that's what we're doing. >> anton gunn, you can follow him on twitter where he tweets

about health care and scandal and gamecock football. >> thank you. it's a war on capitol hill. >> one of these groups stood up and said, we never really thought it would work. are you kidding me? >> the speaker's being absurd. the speaker is trying to turn this into a boring fight between outside groups and himself. >> speaker boehner bashes tea party and conservative groups, they're fighting back now. the battle for the heart of the gop. also -- a very generous gift. a software engineer teaches computer coding to a homeless man. now those skills are taking him off the streets and into the app store. mine was earned orbiting the moon in 1971. afghanistan in 2009. on the u.s.s. saratoga in 1982. [ male announcer ] once it's earned, usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation because it offers a superior level of protection and because usaa's commitment to serve

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with two extraordinary people whose random meeting on a new york street several months ago changed their lives. here's their story. leo grand lives on the new york city streets. patrick walks to work. one day, the software engineer stopped. >> i just asked him a question. >> would you like an offer $100? >> young guy, starting out. >> $100 on a laptop and learn how to code? >> i'll spend an hour a day for two months. >> came to an immediate decision. the $100 will last you for a short time. learning how to code will last you for a lifetime. >> reporter: so patrick bought leo a laptop, three textbooks and got started. the 23-year-old who learned the language of computers as a child spends an hour before work every morning teaching him, to a 37-year-old what says he lost

his job. >> they were building expensive condominiums. so the rent just shot up and i was evicted. >> reporter: for two years, he's been sleeping in shelters and finding spots to hang out during the day. he has a favorite. >> i spent most of my time at the apple store. so i was working on the computers. >> we're loading it into the script. the speed at which i'm going through these lessons is insane. we barely cover things twice. his memory is really good. >> reporter: after their daily session in the park, leo puts in another six hours by himself, studying. >> it's not a walk in the park. no pun intended. the java script language is difficult and tricky. >> reporter: but he's getting it. the lessons are going so well, leo is close to unveiling a free app designed to promote carpooling. >> i want people to use this application and become more

knowledgeable and aware of global warming. >> reporter: an upcoming product launch and a fan page. nearly 40,000 on facebook follow his progress and cheer him on. he hopes to land a job soon and a place to live. but for leo grand, this is also about shattering stereotypes. >> all homeless people are mentally ill, lazy, unintelligent -- that's the stigma. it doesn't really matter your living arrangements, as long as you've got the mindset to do it and the will, the drive. >> you give a man a fish. you feed him for a day. you teach a man to fish, and you watch him change the world. >> amen. patrick joins me live here in the studio. we should note, leo grand was also going to join us. a family situation came up. but let's start with just the response so far. what has the response been like since the app itself was unveiled? was it earlier this week or last

week? >> it's been about five days now. it's been incredible. he's 292 five-star reviews on the app store. he's been number one in travel for the worldwide app store since it launched. so it's just -- it's amazing. you open up the app and there it is. there's his app. >> i love it. walk us through it. show folks at home how it works. it's called trees for cars. >> trees for cars available for ios and android. this is the log-in page. you log in. and then it's going to ask you whether or not you're a rider or driver. you choose what type you are. it's very straightforward. and then as you fill out the forms and continue through each one, it's going to look in your local area for who's going to

the same place and who's around where you are right now. and he actually worked out a pretty cool model. it really does find people that are around you. let's see if this works here. there you go. these people are taking carpools around his demo location. >> right now, these are people who are carpooling? >> these are people who have set up drives in the future. >> that's amazing to me. in the app i also understand, it lets people know the sort of footprint that they are saving as a result? >> yes. so his whole -- the idea with trees for cars for him has been the environment is something that needs to come back into the public focus. so he built in this co2 tracker. when he asked me about how to build this feature, i had to go back to the books to find out how to calculate co2 emissions. >> right. >> but ended up, it will track

how much you've actually saved with every ride and how much you can save against the other users that are using the app. >> what's next for leo? >> he's going to keep coding. his next step is an intensive coding course. >> three-month course, right? >> three-month course. he actually got a full scholarship for it as well. >> of course he did. keep us posted. we love happy endings here. and we know that this is going to be one. good luck to you. good luck to -- please pass along my well wishes to my buddy. >> i will. >> he may be watching. if you're watching, good luck, buddy. santa, by the way, santa claus, rolled into detroit earlier. this is detroit. well-off couple in the motor city enlisted police to help them hand out $100 bills to unsuspecting people. they've been surprising people with cash at bus stops and businesses in low-income neighborhoods. what's the catch, you ask?

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as you can see there, the snow, not stopping the tree people here at 30 rockefeller. you can see the hundreds of folks who descend this time of year to come see that christmas tree and ice skate as well. not being deterred. we continue to watch that major winter storm moving into the northeast. as many as 110 million people could be impacted. up to 8 inches of snow is expected in central pennsylvania, new york, new england as well. airlines have already canceled more than 1,000 flights because of the storm. a majority of those flights were at newark international airport. as you might imagine, a number of flights have been delayed as well. we continue to watch the weather. i'm craig melvin. good saturday to you. here's a quick look at some of the other top stories making news right now.

china says it has successfully landed a space probe on the moon. it marks the first lunar landing in nearly four decades, if it's true. china hopes to eventually put an astronaut on the moon. thousands of people in germany have received letters asking them to pay fines for allegedly streaming copyright-protected pornography. recipients are being asked to pay about $350. some say they have been wrongly accused of watching porn from the site redtube. ♪ 14 songs, 17 music videos, beyonce's unannounced album released friday is apparently selling so fast, it crashed itunes at one point. you like this video that we selected, too, don't you? critics are calling this album

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after more than a week of commemorating his life, south africans moved former president nelson mandela's body to its final resting place in his hometown of qunu. i'll talk with maya angelou tomorrow. with the shopping season well under way, a major clothing retailer is changing things up. after recently learning about animal cruelty toward rabbits with angora fur, h & m has stopped using the fur at all in any of their clothes. in a statement they write, h & m will immediately stop the production of all angora products. h & m does not accept that animals are treated badly.

we will now accelerate further inspections of our sub-suppliers to ensure compliance with our policy. are other retailers following suit and going from santa's naughty list to his nice list this year? ashley burn is with peta. let's talk about h & m here. they halt production after peta makes them aware of how badly these animals were treated. i went to youtube and watched the video and got through about 15 seconds before i was disgusted. have other major retailers started to follow suit? >> they have. peta is talking to several companies about using their use of angora on the heels of this investigation that turned up gruesome cruelty to rabbits on angora farms. >> without getting into too much detail about precisely how it is angora fur is created, how is it done? >> well, 90% of angora comes

from china. so a peta asia investigator visited angora farms across asia and found rabbits living in filthy conditions in cramped wire cages. several times a year, they are tied up and they have their fur yanked out by the fistful or they're very violently sheared. it's a terrifying experience for these animals. and many rabbits succumb to shock and die within a couple of years. >> and people pay top dollar for the fur. a lot of people might be surprised to learn it's easy to shop at major companies that do not use materials like angora fur. and you've brought some props here. what examples have you brought today? >> from h & m, we have a few examples. this sweater has the look and feel of angora. it's soft and fuzzy, very warm. totally cruelty free.

there are no animals in this whatsoever. if you feel this, it's very cozy. >> that is soft. and this one is a similar sweater -- is that a hat? >> this is a hat and a pair of mittens. these also are totally animal-free. they feel like a woolly knit. they're very cozy. but they're vegan. >> how can people when they buy cosmetics get a guarantee that these are cruelty-free? >> because animals are still suffering by the millions for unnecessary product tests, peta has a website, we have a program called beauty without bunnies where people can go. we have a database where they can search to learn about companies that are cruelty-free or to check and make sure the companies that they're buying from are cruelty-free. a lot of companies are even

using this peta logo, peta's little bunny logo that you can look for right there. this in particular is makeup from tart. you can find this brand at sephora and a lot of major department stores. >> when we use the phrase cruelty-free, what does that actually mean? >> in this case, it means these products have not been tested on animals. millions of animals every year are being blinded, poisoned and killed for these tests that are not mandated by law. the results are unreliable. and so companies like this have decided to use technologically advanced, safe methods that don't involve any animals. that means that the product is safer and it's kind. it's cruelty-free. and people care about this. people do not want to support cruelty to animals. again, people can go to peta's

website, peta.org. search our database and order a cruelty-free shopping guide. >> ashley byrne, thank you for stopping by. we turn back to politics now. the house of representatives did something quite unusual this week. you may have missed it. it passed a budget with bipartisan support. but that may not be the biggest story coming out of the house this week. let's go to the "brain trust." angela rye, anila richardson. and we should note, you are a first-time brain trustee, no? >> i am. very happy to be here. >> oh, she lies. we love it. and also msnbc contributor robert tranham. good to see all of you on a saturday afternoon. we should go ahead and start here with what the speaker said. this is speaker of the house, john boehner, confronting conservatives over the budget. take a listen. >> they pushed us into this

fight to defund obamacare and the shutdown of government. most of you know, my members know, that wasn't exactly the strategy that i had in mind. but if you'll recall, the day before the government reopened, one of the people -- one of these groups stood up and said, we never really thought it would work. are you kidding me? >> robert, what does this mean -- we could do a whole segment just on john boehner's facial expressions. that's the liveliest i've ever seen him. the ongoing power struggle between the gop mainstream and tea party hardliners, robert, what does that mean for that struggle? >> well, i'm not sure it's really a struggle, per se. the speaker was upset, he was angry and has every right to be. the last time i took a look at the constitution, they are the elected officials. they were elected by the people, not freedom works, not --

>> you say that. but you know good and well for the last decade or so those organizations have wielded outside influence over our politics. that's undeniable. >> it is undeniable. it happens on the hard left and the hard right. but the question becomes whether or not elected officials are going to stand up and say, wait a minute here, i was elected by the people and quite frankly the strategy and the advice that you've given me over the last couple of months or years has been flat-out wrong and the american people have said, enough is enough. when you take a look at the polling data and obviously the speaker's done the same thing, the american people, even republicans, craig, were fed up with the tea party part of the wing, my party, that have said, not only is this irrational in terms of your political advice but also it just doesn't make sense and doesn't even pass the smell test. what you saw here is the speaker, congressman ryan and other conservatives come out and say, you know what, talk to the hand, enough is enough. >> talk to the hand.

>> i'm going to vote what's in the best interest of my constituents. you saw that clearly with the bipartisan vote. >> angela, what might this mean for the relationship between house speaker john boehner and house democrats? >> well, craig, let me first say what it means for the "brain trust" panel. we need speaker boehner t-shirts that say, are you kidding me? that would be great. i literally laugh every time i see it. but at the same time, i'm very grateful to see this speaker boehner come around. this is the john boehner that many of his colleagues both on the right and the left have talked about for so long. this is the speaker boehner that i got to know as representative boehner and around the same time that i met robert for the first time, lobbying for black colleges. the more reasonable boehner. if this reasonable speaker stays around, this means great things for his legacy as well as an opportunity for him to really work with the president and the administration at large. but we have to remember, this speaker boehner wasn't around

just a couple of months ago when they talked about what his strategy was. his strategy is to do exactly what they're on pace to do right now, that is to beat their record from last year of being the most unproductive congressional session in history. and if he goes back to that and says, my strategy is going to be to see how many bills are laws we can repeal, we're going to have a huge problem here. i hope he sticks around and i hope he continues to push the status quo to just do and be better. >> conservatives are saying that speaker boehner and congress paul ryan gave away the store with this budget. in the simple lest of terms, are they right and how will this budget, if passed, affect the nation's debt and what's it going to mean for middle class america? >> craig, it's no secret. this is a better-than-nothing budget. no one's happy with it. for the democrats, there are things they wanted to see in terms of extending employment benefits. for republicans, they felt that too much was given away in terms

of the sequester and reining in government spending. nobody wanted this deal. but at the end of the day, a deal was needed to get back to a functioning government. and at minimum, that's what it's done. as far as middle class families, look, businesses don't invest when governments are broken down. what this deal does is it eliminated the biggest risk, political uncertainty. finally we have a government who can pass a budget after three years. that's a big deal. >> "washington post" speculates how this budget agreement could impact the white house. they write in part, a round of successful deal-making on capitol hill has altered the political dynamic in washington raising hopes within the obama administration that stalled second-term priorities like immigration might still have a chance at success. robert, how optimistic should the white house be that political realities are a changing? >> i think the political winds are shifting a little bit. but the speaker has gone on record and leader mcconnell has said they want a bipartisan immigration deal. i think that's going to happen within the next year or so.

the real question becomes after the immigration bill, after both sides come together on that and when the budget deal gets passed, is there any other juice there? is there any other incentive for republicans to work with democrats and vice versa leading up to the 2014 mid-term elections? unfortunately i have to say there is no incentive whatsoever. i think after immigration, after this budget deal, i think you're probably going to see some partisan gridlock, unfortunately for the next 24 to 48 months. >> one year after the massacre at sandy hook, another school shooting. the 27th school shooting this year. where does this national gun conversation go from here? [ woman ] too weak.

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church bells tolling across the state of connecticut this morning in remembrance of the newtown shooting victims. 20 children, six adults all killed one year ago today. we're back with the "brain trust."

angela, let me start with you. president obama this morning saying that the nation must act to prevent more tragedies like newtown. take a listen. >> if we want to live in a country where we can go to work, send our kids to school and walk our streets free from fear, we have to keep trying. we have to keep caring. we have to treat every child like they're ours. like those in sandy hook, we must choose to love and together we must and can change. >> federal gun reform legislation, as you know, is stalled. what more can this white house do, angela rye? >> well, on a serious note, craig, we just talked a little bit about the changing tide in the republican-led house. i think it's really time for speaker boehner to consider his legacy more broadly than even immigration reform and the budget deficit plan that is his team has and considering the

measures that the senate looked at earlier this year. and also to think about why the president worked on over 20 executive actions to address gun safety. there are human lives at stake, whether it's from a school tragedy or a near school tragedy with miss tuft when you think about what she did. what if someone doesn't have that type of courage? it shouldn't be up to individual citizens to defend ourselves. it's time for the elected officials of this country to act. >> nela, the freedom group is the company that made the rifle that adam lanza used in the newtown massacre. it said at the time it was going to sell the firearms company. but to date, that has not happened. "mother jones" magazine says, judging from the fortunes of similar publicly traded gun companies, selling the freedom group in the aftermath of the sandy hook massacre would have meant leaving a lot of money on the table.

how strong is the firearm industry and how much does it contribute to the economy? >> you know, this topic blends together three things that are really hard to get around -- culture, politics and money. and it is a strong lobby. it has an enormous revenue stream. and that revenue has only gone up since these tragic shootings as more people are actually buying guns now than fewer people. and so it is a strong group and it is responsible for a lot of revenue. but i'd also submit, craig, that we can't look at gun control in isolation. it has to be paired with reasonable mental health changes and reforms as well. so these two things have to act together to prevent such tragedies, horrific tragedies like we saw last year. >> robert, are you at all surprised that more has not happened, even with regards to mental illness in this country? are you at all surprised that more hasn't happened in the wake of newtown?

>> first, let me say my heart simply goes out to all the victims and the families of newtown. but to answer your question specifically, i hate to say this, i'm not surprised. let's go down memory lane and take a look at virginia tech, let's look at columbine. this is deja vu all over again. after every single shooting massacre, we always have this national conversation about gun safety and gun control and so forth. and there's this huge rush to do something and then nothing happens. but i think something is extremely important here. three things we need to have a serious heart-to-heart conversation about. you're right, it is about mental health. it also is about the culture of this country and it's also about millions of americans out there that do practice safety with firearms and so forth. so we need to have a comprehensive conversation with all the players at the table in order for this to be a rightful and fruitful conversation, with clear results and measurables. >> you're right. the culture of violence that exists in this country is

undeniable, whether it's television, movies, video games. the top bestselling video games over the past three years, all of them are exceptionally violent, not just a little violent. exceptionally violent whether it's "call of duty." but, again, that's a conversation for another day. angela, gun law reform activists, they spend a lot of money on television ads trying to influence members of congress. a study found that gun control groups spent more than $14 million on tv advertising. pro-gun groups, pro-gun rights groups only spent $2 million on advertising. organizations backing gun rights like the national rifle association, reported lobbying spending of some $12.2 million. more than seven times as much as gun control groups. the nra has been so undeniably successful for so long in this country, why don't gun control advocates, why don't they take a lesson from the nra and just

start by spending more on lobbying? is it because they can't raise the money? >> i think that that is in large part a result of that. but robert also just talked about how this is a conversation that happens after the tragedy. i thinktragedy. i think folks have to be more reflective of what it means to be proactively engaged. when you think of nra, they have their hands in so many different spaces, pro gun laws, they were involved with alec. it was the entity that was responsible for the stand your ground bill templates introduced in states across the country and the reason why trayvon martin's not here. in large part why so many other young black kids and others regardless of their race lost their lives because of this and we need to be much more proactive. the conversation has to happen not just when a shooter goes in a place with lot of people.

>> angela, nela and robert, a big thanks to all of you. when we come back, my final thoughts, my personal thoughts on the tragedy of sandy hook, the question that is remain and the promises broken one year later. back pain... ♪ ready or not. [ female announcer ] ...so you can be up there. here i come! [ female announcer ] ...down there, around there... and under there for him. tylenol® provides strong pain relief and won't irritate your stomach the way aleve® or even advil® can. but for everything we do, we know you do so much more. tylenol®.

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there's not been a story to affect me more, not merely as a journalist but as a person than the shooting at sandy hook elementary school. i never wept covering a story until newtown and i was not alone. all over our country tears flowed and questions were asked. many of the same ones we ask after a mass shooting. what warning signs did we miss? what can we do to keep guns out of the hands of certain people? can we realistically do anything at all to stop the determined and deranged? promises and pledges were made in d.c. and other state capitals, as well. we've got to do something.

something. here we are one year later. the shortness of our collective attention span laid bare in a new poll. back in february, in the wake of the shooting, 61% of those polled said they wanted stricter gun control laws. today, that number has fallen to 52%. a push to expand federal background checks failed miserably in congress. to be fair, in really blue states mainly, there's been some action taken. of the 109 state laws passed in the last year, according to a "the new york times" analysis, though, 70 actually loosened gun restrictions. in colorado, sight of aaro auroa and yesterday, they limited gun transfers. two of the legislators who backed the measures were

recalled. another quit before it could happen to her. and when the nra promised more officers in schools and when they trotted out wayne laperriere on television, the group was roundly mocked and its leadership ridiculed from being detached from reality. here's the reality, though. nra membership has exploded. according to its chief executive, they're approaching 10 million strong. something else that's soaring, smith & wesson's stock. the gun maker's stock up 26% seasons t since the day before the shootings. for them, the massacre was good for membership and good for business. and here's the thing. what happened at newtown, what happened at virginia tech, what happened at the navy yard, it will happen again. so says matthew, the guy that wrote the researched book on newtown we talked to last hour. he's also covered more mass shootings than he recacares to recall. we can't figure out what to do

about those who live amongst us who are mentally ill and many cases obviously disturbed people. here's a thought. next time there's a mass shooting, and there will be one, and our hearts sob for the fallen and we vow to do something, let's actually do it. thanks for watching on this saturday. see you tomorrow. "disrupt" is up next. [ male announcer ] it's simple physics... a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms.

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