shooting and shooting that results in the death of 17 innocent people at a high school in parkland, florida, yesterday. that is according to court documents. much more on this story in the hours to come after our hour. but i thank the panel for being with us. that does it for our hour. i'm nicolle wallace, "mtp daily" started right now. >> hi, nicolle. we are prepping for another news conference down in broward county and we'll take the baton from you. thank you. if it is thursday, questions and the debate over the gun debate again. ♪ ♪ good evening. i'm chuck todd here in washington. and welcome to "mtp daily." we are awaiting a press conference with the broward county sheriff's office. it will begin in any moment. on the deadly school shooting that killed 17 people in south florida yesterday. we're going to bring you that

press conference when it happens. but first after a mass shooting like we saw yesterday, second amendment advocates and the lawmakers who represent them are finding a way to make the debate about anything but gun laws. and the president did his part, did not mention the word "gun" ann an address of mass shooting. the gun lobby's talking points are designed to avoid the gun debate. for instance, the las vegas strip massacre, they'd argue it is not about how he got the gun, it is bts thing he a -- it is about the thing he attached to the gun. and newtown, it is not how he got the gun, but it is identifying mental illness. what about the virginia tech massacre. it is not about how he got the gun, it is about arming schools to thwart an attack. about none of the arguments hold up this in case. here is many other arguments that don't hold up. the gup was bought -- gun was bought illegally. and someone should warn that the

gunman had mental health issues and in this case someone did. the fbi was given a tip involving a youtube comment with his name on it said, quote, i'm going to be a professional school shooter. the fbi acknowledges getting the tip but it is not clear what they did with the information. the other arguments to avoid debate might go something like this. well cruz shouldn't have been allowed on school grounds and he wasn't, he was expelled. the school should have been armed. in this case it was. a school resource officer was on campus and was armed. while the school should have been trained for this. and in this case it was. by broward county. the president said there were so many signs that the florida shooter was mentally disturbed. well if that is the case, why was he allowed to legally by an ar-15. based on the current background check system it looks like none of those red flags would actually show up on a background check to buy an ar-15. so maybe that is the debate we need to have. and some republicans do seem more ready to have that debate.

specifically when it comes to the issue of mental health and gun access. >> if somebody is mentally hill, they should not have access to a gun. >> what do you say to your constituents who say enough is enough, looking to washington and looking to you to do something here, whether it be on the mental health or guns. >> i agree. the question is what is that something that will work. >> we have not done a very good job of making sure that people that have mental reasons for not being able to handle a gun getting their name into the fbi files and wee need to concentrate on that. >> we'll talk with senators from both parties tonight about this. but we'll begin with the panel as we await the press conference in broward county. and our panel. what i found interesting, i will start with you, ramesh, because

you were going to be put in the defending second amendment rights advocate among this panel. i did find it interesting that you had rick scott, marco rubio and chuck grassley, people never at the forefront of saying we need to be at the background of background checks and the president is not there yet. what does that tell you. >> that florida politicians are responding in a human emotional way but the question is whether that leads to any specific legislation that identifies a flaw in the background system that you could get a consensus around and that is very much an open question. >> after 9/11 had a stovepipe issue, fbi, nsa and if they had shared information maybe this could have been thv warded before it happened.

what if we took this as a stovepipe issue. local authorities or in this case the school had tips, they had no way of getting it to our federal authorities. isn't -- what if we frame the debate that way? >> well unfortunately sadly tragically schools are a battleground now. and i think it is part of cultural landscape that is going to require the breaking down of those stovepipes. there is no reason why somebody like the shooter here should not have been known more clearly to the system that allows people to buy weapons like ar-15s. there is no reason why not. and that is going to require a change of attitude and culture in the schools as well as in law enforcement. those are two groups that will have to get together. >> it seems like we have two or three societal issues to tackle. there is clearly -- there is an obvious profile of who the shooters are. for the most part. they're male between 15 and 30.

so we have that issue. and i think there is school resource officers that need to worry about that and the issue of we can't seem to decide what mentally unfit people get caught in this background check system with guns. >> there is that and this idea that if you -- i talked to a lot of progun rights advocate and they were talking about the idea even if this system picked him up and said if you are expelled from school, that is the standard. then maybe you can't buy a gun. he bought the gun a year earlier. if that is the case, thennine if you had your mental issue. and the question is why lawmakers aren't talking about and the president doesn't want to say the word" gun" because there is a gun lobby and as a reporter who covered newtown, i covered the parents who went from grieving parents to advocates and they couldn't push through because there is the nra. >> and ramesh, what i don't

understand what the nra does is in moments like this, until we know all of the facts. a lot of facts we already know. but they don't even do the empathy thing. i feel like they're -- in order to avoid a short-term political pain, they are causing themselves potential long-term pain. i think maybe they don't see it. >> and maybe that the nra is making some mistakes. but you have to say that is an organization that has been extremely effective at pursuing -- >> as pursuing the agenda. no doubt about. it hard stop. >> and it is not primarily money but the thinking that is accurate is that pro-gun voters are more activated and more likely to vote. they may not be a majority but there is an apathetic majority. >> and that is the very important point. >> the voters who i know as a reporter from having covered the country in depth and lived in kentucky for five years, they buy the slippery slope argument that the nra offers.

which is that any step you take, any further regulation of any kind, whether it is on ar-15s, whether it is on -- maybe even background checks. they're idea is to build the biggest possible, highest fence around their view of the second amendment they can and not give an inch. and that is the nra strategy from the beginning and it continues to be and i can tell you also that democrats that i talked to who are running campaigns and in states like montana and missouri and west virginia and south western pennsylvania where there is a big special election, those democrats are not going to jump forward with chris murphy of connecticut on it. they are not. >> when you talk about the voters, they are activated by the money the nra could put into the races. if you are a republican, forget the democrats, if you are a republican and come out super strong on guns like marco rubio, the nra could put more money into that race. >> and to ramesh's point, this is not about the money, this is

about the culture. it is not because the nra gives so much money. it is that they have done an effective job to turn the second amendment into a patriotism issue. >> that explains part of the equation. but you also have to explain why do you have this apathetic majority and the answer is most of the regulations that are -- that people are talking about, people like them, they don't see why the nra won't give in but they also don't think they'll make a huge difference and so they don't motivate them to vote. >> and it is just stunning to me, we will hold hearings and major votes on small incremental changes to airline safety, food safety, health safety. but we are afraid of making progress on guns. >> because as i said, the nra strategy is to build the highest, biggest fence as far out as possible and defend that perimeter and they do use the money and the advertising. they awaken the culture but with very targeted advertising.

for example, in south western pennsylvania, don't forget the nra has an ad on in some places with a guy taking a sledgehammer to the mainstream media on television. what does that tell you about -- >> it is not about the issue. this is not about -- when can you buy a gun. >> i was talking about a gun advocate and i said let's piece apart the legislation. what about bump stocks and he said i don't care about bump stocks, could you take them away but once you take that away what is the next thing you will take away. but there is this idea that there are people who think you should be able to have more background checks, you should maybe take away bump stocks, maybe ar-15s shouldn't be the thing that 18-year-olds could get their hands on if they can't buy a handgun until they are 21. maybe looking at that. but they are buying into the idea that -- >> this legislation did empower the atf to go after the bump stocks. so there is some legislative change on that. >> any way -- >> we're talking about

incremental -- >> the broward county sheriff israel is at the mic. >> we have a timeline and talked about the events that happened yesterday. i'll then introduce peter forcely from atf and talk about the origin of the rifle. and then lastly you'll hear from special agent in charge of the fbi rob laskey and he'll expound on the tip. then i'll come back to the podium and answer some questions. so i want to start off by telling you, an uber car dropped off the suspect at 2019 -- 2:19 at stoneman douglas high school. the suspect entered the east stairwell, that is building 12, with a rifle inside of a black soft case. the suspect exited the stairwell, pulled the rifle out of the case. at 2:21:33, the suspect readied

his rifle and began shooting into rooms 1215, 1216, 1214. he went back to 1216. back to 1215. and then to 1213. the suspect -- suspect then took the west stairwell to the second floor and shot one victim in room 1234 on the second floor. the suspect then took the east stairwell to the third floor, he dropped his rifle and backpack and ran down the stairs. he exited building 12 and ran towards the tennis courts and then took a southbound turn on foot. the suspect crossed fields and ran west along with others who were fleeing and tried to mix in with the group that were running

away, fearing for their lives. the suspect arrived at the walmart store, he bought a drink at the subway and then left the walmart on foot. the suspect went to mcdonald's and sat down for a short period of time, this was at 3:01 p.m. and he left on foot. at 3:41 p.m., 40 minutes after he departed from the mcdonald's, the suspect was detained at 4700 windham lakes drive in coral springs by an officer from the coconut creek police department. he was taken into custody without incident. today we've interviewed between the fbi and the broward sheriff's office and a significant amount of investigators from many other agencies, fdle, local law enforcement, so over 2,000

people were interviewed and we continue -- this is a fluid investigation. we have so many facts coming in. some true, some is unsubstantiated, some rumors. it is going to take a lot of time to sift through what is true and what is accurate and what is not. i wanted to honor the deceased victims of this horrific killing. i'm gooding -- going to do my best to pronounce the names accurately. forgive me if i don't pronounce the names how the families do but i thought it was important, to pay homage to the families an the victims. carmen sen trump, meadow par lock, nicholas dworet, christopher hixon, my very, very special friend who i'll miss,

aaron feis. luke hoyer, alana petty, jamie guttenberg, markin duque, alyssa alhadef, alyssa fluid, and aex shakter. may they rest in peace and may god comfort their families. at this time special agent in charge of atf peter forceelly will speak about the firearm. >> good afternoon, on behalf of the men and women from atf i want to extend any condolences to the families of the victims and the people of the community and i also ask that you keep in your thoughts and prayers the first responders who responded out to the scene at 30 plus years in law enforcement i could tell you it was a difficult one. the firearm that was utilized in

this event was purchased lawfully here in the state of florida short of a year ago by the individual who is charged with this crime. we're here to help the broward county sheriff's office follow up on any leads that may pertain to the firearm or anything else that they need. again, i ask that you keep the folks who responded to this scene and the families of the victims in your thoughts and prayers as we get through these difficult days. thank you. >> special agent in charge laskey addressed some of the questions you had today about tips received regarding the suspect. mr. laskly will ex pound upon that information. >> good afternoon. i'd like to take this opportunity to provide additional information about the -- the tip that we spoke about this morning. on september 25th, 2017, the fbi field office of jackson, mississippi, received a tip

about a comment posted to a youtube account by someone with the user name nikolas cruz spelled nikolascruz. the comment said, i'm going to be a professional school shooter. there was no additional information about the particular time, location, or further identifiers about the person who posted the comment. the complaint ant provided the same information to youtube. youtube removed the comment. after receiving this information, fbi jackson conducted an interview of the person who made the complaint. this person lives in mississippi, has no connection to south florida, and has no knowledge about the person who posted the comment. the fbi also conducted internal data base reviews and opened source checks. no additional information was

found to positive live identify the person who posted this comment. there was no connection found to south florida. moving forward, we will continue to gather all information about the subject as we try to identify his motives, his associates and his actions leading up to yesterday's events. we are looking into his social media posts, his movements, his conversations leading up to the shooting. as well as any other indicators that may have been out there. again, my heart goes out to the victims, the families, and the friends and everybody else who suffered by this cowardly and horrific act. >> i want to take this opportunity to thank this amazing group of people flanking me, your elected officials who came from places as far as

washington, d.c., tallahassee, and just came down here, the calls i've received from congress woman wasserman schultz and from mayor beam furr and the commissioner and on and on. i can't thank them enough. they just want to see safety in broward county. to all of you, thank you. we will be go -- i will go over at 6:00 to pine trails to a vigil for those that passed away. i know some of you are going to heed my remarks, and i know some of you are not. but i'm going to say them any way. you need to respect the privacy of these families. these families are going through the most horrific time in their lives, and if they say they don't want to talk to you, respect them. don't move forward with your camera, don't move forward with your microphone. let these families be. let them heal. they deserve that. please honor them.

many of them have called me and asked me to transfer this message and i hope you will consider listening. many of you will would have done it any way. some of you might not. please respect the families. they lost children. they lost loved ones. could you imagine what they're going through? thank you for your time. any questions? >> did you belong to a white nationalist group? you have been able to confirm that. >> it is not confirmed -- there is so much -- we've heard that and looking into it. and we'll keep following on. >> did he speak to anyone at the mcdonald's? >> he might have. i don't know at this time. >> [ inaudible question ]. >> it fits in perfectly. he could have shot them. he could have been within the school. they could have been outside. this is an ar-15. this is a powerful rifle. and could have easily gone through a door or shot while the

door was open. so we are still examining video. it is a great question. it is something that we've asked ourselves within a day or two, we'll have the exact answer to that. but at this time, it doesn't change or alter the timeline at all. >> [ inaudible question ]. >> it certainly could. >> were they targeted for any particular reason. >> yes. he bought the weapon in coral springs at a -- a dealership called sunrise tactical. >> [ inaudible question ]. >> no, i never -- i didn't talk about releasing any video. we're examining video and we might release information. we recover all -- capture from the video. but at this time we have no plans to release any type of surveillance video. i also want to acknowledge superintendent runsy, he's been with us -- >> yes.

>> bob wants to speak. >> i'm just going to give way to the mic to superintendent, he has some important things to say and then i'll come back to the microphone. >> let me just first say on behalf of the school board members, and myself, our school board members here today, just reiterating what the sheriff said. please respect the privacy of -- of the families as they go through this horrific situation. again, we stress that enough. if you could honor them and respect them during these very difficult times. we've had hundreds of people today that have gone through crisis services that we provided at several locations. two here in parkland and two in coral springs. we'll continue to provide those tome -- tomorrow and the next day as necessary.

again, the school is closed from now throughout the weekend. we'll be spending the next couple dav-- days figuring out path to reopen the school and what type of logistical challenges we're going to have relative to what is occurred in building 12 on this site. once that information becomes available we'll provide it out to the parents and the families and the community and the media as well. again, thank you for respecting our families, give them the space and time to grieve and get through this very difficult time. >> sheriff, is there a reason he targeted certain rooms? he seems to have gone to specific rooms an then upstairs. have you found any reason for that. >> that is what our detectives and the fbi are doing, we're interviewing him and speaking to him and gathering that information. but i can't enlighten you on that right now. >> [ inaudible question ]. >> well he was dropped off by an uber vehicle.

and let me say this, at this point the driver is not complicit in any way shape or form. he just picked up a fare and dropped the fare off at stoneman douglas. he walked into the gate and he walked into the school and i don't know that anybody recognized him or knew who he was at that point. >> is mental health -- [ inaudible question ]. >> i don't know anything at this time. >> [ inaudible question ]. >> at this point we have no -- there are other people we want to talk to. there are people of interest that might enlighten us to as why he did what he did. but at this time there is no accomplice or nobody else that we're looking at from that perspective. >> i'm sorry?

>> [ inaudible question ]. >> i haven't seen the videos yet. i'm going to be briefed tomorrow on that. but i don't know that he had a mask on at any time. >> he was a student here. was he required to care his belongings in a clear back for fear of the teachers he might bring a weapon into the school. >> i've never heard that before. >> and this morning you said there were still remains inside of the school. have they been taken from the school and is the school cleared yet. >> all of the victims are at the medic medical examiner's office and right now the medical examiner is doing a thorough investigation. as i said before, we want to release the victims to their families. we understand that the sabbath is tomorrow and we're very cognizant of that. but the main thing we want to do is we want to make sure this is

a successful prosecution and we want to -- we want to go as fast as we can but accurate is better than speedy. >> [ inaudible question ]. >> the school is a crime scene and we're examining the crime scene. thank you. >> [ inaudible question ]. >> that i read out. no. no. there is a -- there are adults on the list as well. >> the family that they were staying with, that they noticed anything like that, the room that he was staying in. >> i'm not sure. we're still examining. >> [ inaudible question ]. >> i've never heard that -- the first gentleman you named, i've never heard his name before. thank you very much. i appreciate it. >> that was the broward county sheriff israel there giving us a bit of a tick tock first on sort of where the gunman, what time

he got to the school, what time he was dropped off by the uber driver and the rooms he shot people in and what he did in half hour aftermath and ending up at walmart and mcdonald's and we had victim names made public. and the panel is back. i want to put up something gone viral. which is a reminder, it is a -- from a facebook group called march on vancouver, done a while ago. it sort of -- it is called the sad cycle of gun violence in the usa. and it goes the shooting, thoughts and prayers to the debate, to everyone forgets to congress does nothing, to crickets chirping until the next one. we've had three major -- the largest church shooting happened in texas and people don't remember when they say the texas shooting. they don't know which one we're talking about. there is las vegas. country music festival. this is -- a festival, school,

churches, high income and low income. it is across our demographic spectrum. >> in my view, this is something that a president like donald trump who comes from where donald trump comes from politically has to take the responsible for breaking the circle here. barack obama wasn't going to be able to do it. don't forget, barack obama was quoted out in san francisco saying these people cling to their guns and their religion -- >> he lost that ability -- >> he lost that ability. >> and from pennsylvania or missouri or montana is going to listen to barack obama on that. they will listen to donald trump. if he says, you know what, mental health is a big problem so i'll triple federal support for mental health programs for kids, in fact his budget cuts community health care money, he's doing the opposite. if background checks need to be expanded, if there need to be tweaks or adjustments, as have been in the past, donald trump needs to suggest them.

he's a guy who prefers to run his presidency with a hands-off attitude for congress except when he issues veto threat in the case of immigration today. >> and he was to want to. >> he has to want to. i haven't seen it. but he is the guy who has to break that circle that you showed up there. >> based on my reporting, there is no interest in this president to have weighed into this issue. i was on the phone with white house officials asking the question was there something in the works before this or even now and they told me no. the only thing we've been talking about is immigration and that is the legislative talk we've had. but the president even in his tweets and in his speech said nothing about guns, nothing about regulation and about changing our laws. he just said safety and mental health so you could put it in that circle of what he was saying. so i don't -- i don't expect as a reporter that he's going to -- >> i'm not expecting it. but he has to be the one to do it. >> you talked about, ramesh, gun

control advocates need a win to perhaps change this debate. and look, that is what we wrote this morning. th debate doesn't change until somebody loses the election because they've been associated with the nra but do the eefbl eefblgt -- the events in the last six months create critical mass. >> i think this apparent contagion that we now have of the mass shootings is certainly -- it is raising the fear level and it is changing the background of the debate. but is it going to actually change the votes? that has yet to be demonstrated. >> i think the background noise is changing a little. to get -- i would say, grassley and rubio and scott, i agree with ramesh. scott and rubio, they went through pulse and now this. they've bur -- buried a lot of people and it may be lip service. >> what i get from talking to

people, the republicans, because they are the one with the responsibility, you are going to see more guns. i think it is a focus on safety in the schools, that everybody in the community is going to have to sign on to including people who aren't going to want to necessarily because it is going to result in more guns. more armed guards, more security, more magnetometer and more background checks and more guns, not fewer guns. >> and that is a line came out from republicans when they were shot at at the baseball game. steve scalise is still on a chair wheeling around congress and someone suffering with the kons quens of gun violence, he has not moved that far and said that he -- they were saved because the capital police had their own guns. so even in their own experience they say more guns is the way that kept me safe and way forward. >> there are parents, ramesh,

uncomfortable with armed camp schools. what about the rights of those parents. we worry about the rights of hobbyists more than the rights of parents sometimes. >> there are. but these sort of in stances can change public opinion on that question. i had a couple of meetings with various house republicans today and the thing that strikes me is it is not a question of their thinking we need to move on guns, but unfortunately we can't for political reasons. they don't think this is -- that's the right thing to do. they don't believe that it is a promising strategy for fighting this and things like armed guards, metal detectors, arming teachers, they sincerely think that is a better way to go. not to mention focusing on mental health. and i'm not sure they are wrong. >> i'll pause and sneak in a commercial break. up ahead, is now the time to talk about this. will it ever be time. we'll discuss that with a member of congress after this. even with insurance, we had to dip into our 401(k) and it set us back a little bit.

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we're the latest statistic on school violence and as a society, as americans, we're failing our children, we're not keeping them safe and congress is failing us and government is failing us. and something has to be done. >> welcome back. that was a journalism teacher at marjorie stoneman douglas high school. and joining me is the senator -- a state like florida seen multiple mass shootings in my lifetime. senator bennett, welcome back to the show. >> thanks, chuck. >> so, look, let's get to what is realistic for you guys in the united states senate, we just saw a massive failure on the immigration front. so color me skeptical that you guys can get much done there right now. but what is realistic when it comes to this issue that you have at least some republicans senators, grassley and rubio talking about mental health and the background check system in

the same sentence which is something new. >> and i hope we're able to build on that. like you, i -- i can't say you are disappointed by the result today on immigration, but i was disappointed by it. once again a reflection in our inability to get anything done here in a meaningful way and nothing is more illusive than guns. but background checks would be a great place to start. we've done that in colorado. a western state, a western state that has had, as you mentioned, the tragedy of columbine and aurora. we passed tougher background checks and last year 385 to you peop 385,000 were applying and 2% of the people applied and those were people who were domestic abusers, murderers, kidnappers and i'd like to see anybody in this senate come and tell me why colorado isn't safer as a result or why this country wouldn't be

safer if we did it nationwide. >> look, i think it is clear that the questions going to be what should be put into the data base? when you do background checks. i think one we've learned is there were some warning signs with this shooter. he was expelled from school. there was a social media -- if we had a magical way of searching social media, there would have been some warning signs there. you were a former school superintendent, would you have been in favor of expulsion of a student means they are automatically put into the gun data base for instance. >> i haven't researched it, chuck, to know the answer to that. but i do know that kids are often the best source of information for what is going on in a school. it is sad to hear howard in the last panel talking about more police -- more armed people in schools. i pulled the last metal detectors out of the denver public schools as a demonstration that we could build a culture in a school that

didn't need a metal defector in the front door. that is a school where a young person had been murdered by another student with a knife the year before. and so i think we should think seriously about. it i will say this, chuck, to me -- the question is now the right time, is tomorrow the right time. i have three daughters that go to the denver public schools and i knew the students well and we have created a situation where school children all across america are having to go to school under conditions of fear that none of us had to do deal with. and we should be asking ourselves a fundamental question about whether we think that is fair or not. i heard somebody say the last time this happened, when the las vegas shooting happening, that it was the price of freedom. i reject that. and i think as a country we need to reject that. and we can't just have this conversation the day after, we should be having it until we get to some solutions. >> so how do you -- how do you change the culture of the senate? because we can't even really get

hearings -- my friend ron forneyer tweeted yesterday, had we had 18 small cessna plane crashes, you guys would have been holding hearings to figure out what new regulations will be passed with cessna as. we've had three of the biggest mass shootings in our history at a church and a school and out door concert and you haven't done anything. >> it is a great point and what must also be said is that in addition to the mass shooting, that another country in the world or on planet has to endure. we have the daily ritual of gun violence in this country that hopefully we're not just going to elect -- or permit to go forward. so i think you put your finger on it. which is we ought to make this place operate by regular order and ought to hold the politicians here, including myself, accountable to whether they are actually delivering results instead of pontificating

and one way of doing that is by having hearings so the american people could speak. not so politicians can speak. i would love the people whose kids were gunned down to have the chance to come to congress to tell them what this is meant for their families. and for that matter, for responsible gun owners to come to the senate and explain what their views of this is and then hopefully people that are -- have the responsibility of being in the senate can actually craft some bipartisan legislation. there is nobody else to do it. that is what our job in theory is about. and it is a long time since the senate worked that way, chuck, and you know that. >> i know. and senator cornin, a republican from texas after the massive -- the church shooting, in southern land springs did file a bill that was sort of a mandating an attempt to try to at least survey agencies to find out how to better fix the become ground check system and yet that bill didn't go anywhere.

that wasn't even an attempt to enact a regulation. >> remember the discussion about the bump stock after the las vegas shooting, that lasted for about 30 seconds. so you asked about how to break that cycle, that horrible cycle, and i think the only way to do is by elected representatives here doing their job at the insistence of the american people. i think people are just fed up and i feel at -- at home when i have to call my kids and we talk it through one more time, it is just -- we can't accept it as normal. after the las vegas shooting happened, i had a-- a series of meetings in my office the next day and nobody raised this. and i wasn't to my caucus and i said there is a problem when we're living in a country where this is become so ordinary that somehow it is customary. our kids don't see it as customary.

they are terrified by this. >> they are. they are. and it is a different conversation when you have it with 15-year-old daughter and son and nieces and nephews and it touched all of us personally. the more likely we have somebody now and that is what is so sad. senator bennett, thank you for coming on. >> thank you. up ahead, why so much of what we talked about tonight sounds so familiar. that my ex-ex- ex-boyfriend actually went to law school, so i called him. he didn't call me back! if your ex-ex- ex-boyfriend isn't a lawyer, call legalzoom and we'll connect you with an attorney. legalzoom. where life meets legal.

welcome back. tonight i'm obsessed -- probably not alone, that three of the deadliest mass shootings have occurred in the past five months, that since the shooting at sandy hook elementary school, the horror that was supposed to change everything changed nothing. i'm obsessed that there have been 239 school shootings since sandy hook. 239. and i'm upset that bump stocks and tight epping background checks wouldn't have prevented all gun violence. i'm obsessed that mass shooting are so commonplace their names become instantly recognizable. you just have to say aurora, columbine, sandy hook, virginia tech, pulse. i'm obsessed that nowhere is safe, not schools, movie theaters, nightclubs or churches. i'm obsessed with politicians who say now is not the time to talk about gun violence. i'm obsessed with people who say the way to prevent more gun violence is more guns. and i'm obsessed with that now famous headline from the onion that they put up over and over

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time for "the lid", we are all back and i want to change gears because the big -- the big senators today were very busy. doing immigration and we had four bills and it went nowhere. what was supposed to be an interesting open debate process, mitch mcconnell just declared disappointing. i think everybody is disappointed because nothing got close to 60 votes except the president's plan which got 60 no votes. howard. >> they agreed on a couple of things. they basically agree on the dreamers and they agree on the wall. up to a point. but they can't seem to find 60 in any combination with the other things that are involved in this. and how deeply to go into the whole immigration debate or stick to just those two points.

and really it is another version in a way of what we've been talking about for the rest of the hour. this is another deep cultural thing and sometimes you think that the people in both parties want -- as they used to say, want the issue not the bill. >> it is -- these are cultural fights that are layering, because if this was just on the policy, splitting the difference is not hard. >> there are two things going on. the first is that i was talking to democrats going into this debate and they felt -- high ranking democratic aids and they felt like they lost the shutdown and mitch mcconnell had the upper hand so they didn't expect anything to come of this. that is the one thing. the second thing is culturally we're talking about the browning of america. people looking outside of their doors and seeing their neighbors change and the people that their kid go to school with change. they don't want that to happen. and there is no way bringing

that back -- but i've interviewed so many people who don't like -- this one woman sticks in my head, i don't like the fact that the taxi drivers now are all brown people and they are all people from northern africa. it is columbus, ohio, what are they doing it's not going to change. no matter what happens in congress, that fact is probably not going to change. but people really think it's going to change. >> i know people hate getting into the weeds of process here. . but this is a screwy process. we didn't have a base piece of legislation that you had hearings on and you have amendments and you try and find out what votes you can forge. complicated combinations of policies and we're going to vote on this, this and this. >> that's the problem, donald trump is anti process. he session here's my three or four things, go and figure it

out. >> this got missed yesterday, obviously the shooting and everything, but the president essentially ended the immigration debate when they prebutted the results using the department of homeland security venue, and i am shocked that we have never seen such a partisan plan come out of dhs. they said the president's plan is the best plan ch. >> when other people got it, we said is this from dhs? >> the white house blasted it and then you have president trump quoting from it. and then we go back, we have to hit on that point that those 60 senators said, we don't like your plan. that's a really, really loud message to the president. the only thing that we can agree on is that they don't want what you have. they said this is not going anywhere well. and the president said he's not going to extend the daca fix, so

these kids could really be deported. >> they may have some extra time because of the courts, that's what they're relying on. >> does the politics, because the president's plan is the only one that got 60 votes in a negative. is that why paul ryan brought it up? >> i think that the house republicans are going to put a vote up on -- on the good lot bill is essentially the trump bill. >> it is significantly more immigration hawkish than most of the pieces of legislation. they want to be able to say they passed the law. >> they have to try to vote on something. forget passing, the house hasn't even attempted a vote. >> the other questions, we're not clear the senate can pass anything, but even if it did, can something that passed the senate also pass the house. >> the house republicans want to pass something, because they

want to be able to say, again, for campaign purposes, we did this, this is where we stand and to our base, and the people we hope to turn out in 2018, this is what they want to hear and this is what they're going to get. this is not legislating at all, this is the opposite of that. >> fun little things that our guy here went through to quickly, like the dems that voted with republicans, and republicans that voted with dems, there's one that vote with the the republicans every single time, manchin voted yes, but only on the rounds, basically the official rain stick compromise group, whatever is susan collins group is, but he voted with the are ens republic on the trump plan, i think manchin is the one trying to be closest to trump on immigration. >> he's trying to be close to trump on immigration. maybe it's too political because he's thinking about his own political future when he's doing

this. i don't know if you're going to see -- even if you're seeing him vote that way, in the grand scheme of things, what we're talking about is a whole group of people that are hoping that the government works this out and it's not going to happen. >> i have to say i'm running down the names of the yes republicans offen the compromise, alexander, collins, flake, gardner, mrk carkowsky, rounds. all of those who would be considered conservative right. >> the substance was to the left of the durbin bill that was announced in january. i don't think even if it passed the senate it was going to get a majority in the house. >> why is daca so difficult? >> there are people on the left -- >> i think the left has found their way to accepting the wall. >> so do i. i don't think it's that, i think that now we have family reunification or so-called chain migration. >> and they want the issue. they'll throw whatever stuff

they need to in there to not have a deal. >> all right. thank you guys. much appreciate it. we'll be right back. - there's a common thread i see every time i'm in the field. while this was burning, you were saving other homes. neighbors helping neighbors and strangers alike. - this is what america's about. - sometimes it's nice to see all the good that's out there. bringing folks out, we have seen it in community after community. this new day. looks nothing like yesterday. roads nowhere to be found. and it's exactly what you're looking for.

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welcome back. 17 people are dead. 17 families are in mourning. 17 people went to school yesterday morning and will never come home. moments ago we learn their names. >> carmen sentrup. meadow pollock, peter wang.

nicholas floorette, christopher hixon. aaron feis, alana petty, jamey gutenberg. martin due que. helena ramsey, scott beagle. joaquin oliver, carol offren, gina molitu, and alexander shackter. >> the victims and their families are going to need a little help in the coming days. that's why this gofundme page was put up. it's up to $427,000.

if you would like to give, go to gofundme.com/stonemandouglas victi victimsfund. "the beat" with ari melber starts no now. we begin our coverage on this horrific massacre that has left a nation shot. 17 dead, 14 wounded, this is one of the united states worst shootings in a school ever. today the suspect, 19-year-old nikolaus cruz appeared in court, he has been charged with 17 counts of murder for this killing spree tat a high school in broward county, florida. police say he used an ar-a rifle. and there are parents, teachers and students who are calling for action. >> we need to do something.