speakers at our cross generational global mentoring event featuring women from the forbes 30 under 30 list and from our global 50 over 50 list. hillary clinton, tyra banks, jenny justin, so many more. it's going to be on and around international women's day to honor the next round of global lists, not just u.s., but europe and asia. for more information head to no knowyourvalue.com and forbes.com. it is the top of our fourth hour. 9:00 a.m. on the east coast. 8:00 in the morning in highland park, illinois, where new details are coming in about the shooting on the fourth of july. the suspect in that massacre has been charged with seven counts of first degree murder. police say she managed to flee the scene by blending into the

panic stricken crowd. the mayor of highland park nancy rotering will join us in just a moment. first, let's go to tom llamas. >> reporter: good morning. seven families now dealing with the ultimate loss. even those that survived dealing with their open type of pain. this as we're learning more about disturbing incidents involving the alleged shooter in the years leading up to what happened here, leading to the question why was this young man who had made violent threats in the past able to purchase so many weapons legally? this morning, the lone gunman who police say unleashed a rooftop ambush on this fourth of july holiday parade is facing seven counts of first degree murder with more charges likely to come. police revealing they visited the home of the suspect twice before, but he was still able to legally purchase weapons afterwards. his firearm application

sponsored by his father. overnight i spoke with the attorney now representing the alleged shooter's parents. >> people are upset with the alleged shooter's parents. they're telling me how did they not know something like this wasn't going to happen? >> it's easy to say now, well, the parents should have known. but the fact is that nobody knew. nobody saw anything, because there was nothing to see. >> now in custody, the 21-year-old suspect, robert crimo is talking to investigators, though they have yet to determine a motive. authorities say he arrived at the independence day celebration dressed as a woman to help hide his facial and neck tattoos and aid in his escape. >> he blended right in with everybody else. >> seven are now dead and 38 injured. investigators say his attack was several weeks in the making. in the hours after the shooting, the atf says they successfully traced thered rifle

left at the scene back to the shooter. the shooter borrowed his mother's car, initially driving to wisconsin. nbc news learned he left his cell phone in that state before driving back to illinois. a tipster alerted police, who pulled him over and took him into custody. this woman who grew up with the alleged gunman described him as a loner. >> i think he was always an outsider and maybe he wanted to let the world know he didn't belong. >> witnesses to the massacre still have trouble grasping what they survived. >> i could see the shooter on the rooftop. >> david salek grabbed his loved ones and shoved them behind a metal park bench. just steps away a child and an elderly man, both of them hit. >> has it hit you how close you guys were?

>> i don't want to think about that. i don't want -- i don't want to think about that. >> reporter: that father tells me that his son has not spoken about the shooting since monday, but he did tell his dad he no longer wanted to go to parades. i also want to mention that last night vice president kamala harris came out here. she took a walk, she looked right down where all this mayhem happened and she spoke with first responders that she's here to pray for highland park. >> so difficult to hear those accounts from lives changed forever. tom, i want to go back to your interview with the attorney for the parents of the alleged gunman who said there was nothing for the parents to know, they couldn't have seen. which raises the question, who then called the police back in the fall of 2019 when they came to the residence and took those swords and knives and daggers

away from the young man. the parents say they didn't know anything, but who called the cops that day? >> reporter: right. the lawyer basically is telling us everyone wants to blame the parents, why didn't the parents notify authorities. the lawyer says this young man was interacting with people at work, with people at school, with teachers and no one ever said anything. that being said, we know now from police in 2019 police responded to his house because there was a report he wanted to kill himself. then later there was another call to police that he was going to, quote, kill everyone. in that incident, police ended up confiscating 16 knives, a sword and a dagger, but apparently no charges were filed. it's unclear if any paperwork was filed. later on when he goes to purchase those weapons, five guns including the assault style rifle that he used to allegedly kill all these people, there were no red flags, no warnings, no paperwork. he was able to obtain those

weapons legally. that's got a lot of people here in highland park, upset about the social media videos and the incidents in 2019. and they are upset with the parents. how did they not know that their child was capable of something like this. i asked the lawyer and he said the parents didn't know he was this bad. he used the word, they didn't know he had this type of mental illness. >> nbc's tom llamas on the scene in highland park, illinois. thank you so much. mika? >> we're learning new details about those killed in monday's mass shooting, among them jacki sundayheim was a lifelong member of the north shore congregation israel and a former preschool teacher. members released a statement how jacki's work, her kindness and warmth touched us all.

64-year-old katherine goldstein was looking to get out of the house when she decided to attend the holiday parade with her daughter. her husband calls her the kindest, gentlest person you'd ever meet. irina and kevin mccarthy was a parent of the 2-year-old who was unharmed during the shooting, according to an online fund-raiser verified by go fund me. the child will be cared for by other family members, according to the fund-raising site. nicholas toledo was 78 yeas old and had nightly not wanted to go do the parade, but family members brought him along because his disabilities meant that he needs to be accompanied full-time. one family member wrote online, please hold your family members

tight and appreciate every moment with your loved ones. >> you look at this, mika, the tragedy of not only mr. toledo, but of the mccarthys. the child they left behind, it's a tragedy that unfortunately we're seeing time and again, whether it's church goers being slaughters, whether it's people going to a supermarket in buffalo being slaughtered, people going to walmart in el paso being slaughtered, people going to a movie theater in colorado, children going to school in connecticut, children going to school in texas. >> joe, i read that some people were responding to this shooting like they sort of knew what to do, you know? >> yeah. >> i don't want to say they weren't surprised, but they had been training in their minds for this moment, because they hear about it so much. there's a mass shooting practically every day. it's publicized all the time

when it happens in a school or when it's a large number of people. people were responding here, like, here we go, it's our turn. >> whether it's a fourth of july parade or whether it's uvalde or whether it's in buffalo or whether it's in colorado or whether it's in parkland or whether it's sandy hook, just time and time again these ar-15s, these ar style weapons, these military weapons, weapons designed for war. these are the weapons that keep showing up where our streets and our schools and our churches and synagogues are being turned into killing fields. it's not because of mental health that the mccarthys will not be with their 2-year-old child today or ever again. it's not because of mental

health that mr. toledo won't be with his grandchildren ever again. it's because unlike other countries, we allow people to buy weapons of war and we allow them to buy weapons of war without really doing a significant background check, because you've got a party that's against universal background checks. you've got a party that's against regulating. a well-regulated militia? how about regulating in a serious significant way people that can buy ar-15s, people that can buy ar style weapons, people that can buy weapons designed for war. and the bigger question, why do we need these weapons in our streets? the majority of americans don't think we do. >> there are other things we don't let people buy, so i don't understand why this is somehow

okay, especially to 18, 19, 20-year-olds. and, you know, i'm really tired of hearing republicans who say mental health is the problem, mitch mcconnell. we're talking about mental health. stop hiding behind something not only we're talking about, but we're doing something about. in fact, the latest gun legislation that was passed addressed mental health. there's nobody who knows more than democrats and teachers and mental health professionals and anybody who knows someone who's suffering, anybody who's on social media that mental health is a huge struggle and, yes, we need to deal with it. we need to deal with the root causes, like social media and different other reasons that information that's inappropriate just flies around the internet and into our children's phones. we understand mental health. >> mental health is a common

denominator between the united states and britain, the united states and france. >> oh, they have it too, yeah. >> that's the common denominator that we all share. what don't we share? the fact that we have an extraordinary proliferation of weapons of war spreading all over this country, hundreds of millions of guns out there. the reason why? because of a lie that continues to be told to americans by gun lobbyists, by people that are seeking to make americans paranoid, suggesting the federal government is coming after them, suggesting that the police are coming after them, suggesting that the mobs are coming after them, they have to be ready for the apocalypse. they're creating their own mini apocalypse, gun manufacturers who are making millions off of these deaths. >> joining us is the mayor of highland park, illinois, nancy

rotering. mayor, i know there are some 40 to 50 people who were injured. do you have any information on the injured and how they're doing and how is the community holding up? >> the community is still in just unbelievable grief and sadness. you saw that from one of your earlier speakers. the first day it was shock and now it's being processed. we are now preparing funerals. the folks who are in the hospitals, i will be reaching out to them later today. i wanted to give them some time and some space to stabilize. but to your earlier point, we came together as a community to celebrate freedom on the fourth of july. this was our first parade in two years after the pandemic. it was as joyful as a community gathering could ever be. and to see this turned around, the sick terror from somebody who grew up here. and to your other earlier point,

there's no reason for him to have been able to access a weapon of war. there's no reason for the carnage that unfolded in the middle of our celebration. all of us were there. and if we weren't there, we were there in our hearts. we are feeling this ripped through our community. it's going to take a long time to heal. >> our hearts are with you and your community as well. that looked like every fourth of july parade in this country. we can't imagine what you all went through that day. i was interested to read that you had a connection to this alleged gunman. you were his cub scout leader, i think, when he was a young man. you actually ran against his father in a mayoral election. do you have any sense from talking to people in the community the last couple of days of what happened to this young man, of what drove him to this place? >> i don't know, but i can tell you when he was 6, he was a

quiet little boy. clearly something has gone on in his life. i'm going to leave that to the authorities to decipher. i'm not going to give him an out for a mental health issue. i'm sorry if that's the case, but we need to take guns out of the hands of anybody who can perpetrate this kind of damage to a community. to your earlier point, england, everybody in this world has folks who have mental health challenges, who play violent video games, who may have anger management issues. we need to stop access to assault weapons. we banned large capacity magazines after sandy hook in 2013. there's no reason we should be going through this every single week. i've heard from so many mayors

across the country who sent me the handbook for mayors of what to do in the wake of a mass shooting. all the kids who are on this route knew what to do because their entire lives they've been planning for some mass shooter to come into their day. that's disgusting. that's not freedom. that's a bunch of hooey. we need to take this out of our country. >> mayor, can you give us some insight on the situation where the father actually helped the son with his permit to get a gun, the father who obviously knew in 2019 that he had serious problems when the police were called and removed weapons from his home? what can you tell us about that? obviously a lot of people in the community understandably upset at that. >> right. i reached out to the illinois state police. they reconstructed the timeline. at that point, there weren't red flag laws.

so it looks like there was sort of falling through the cracks within the confines of the laws that existed at that point. his father, apparently was able to sponsor his foid application. i will leave that to the authorities to follow up with him. but suffice it to say, that law needs to be changed. we've seen the beginning of that federally and statewide. but we also need to talk about, if in all of these instances people are bringing lawfully acquired weapons, those laws need to be changed. if the law is there to support the safety of the community, then we need to change those laws, because it's not doing its job. and lawfully acquired assault weapons being used, week after week of mass shootings tells me that our legal system needs to address this. >> mayor nancy rotering of lie

-- highland park, illinois, thank you for being on the show this morning. >> thank you. >> we're going to speak with two county board members who were at the parade. also, as the grand jury subpoenas some special trump allies, we'll have those details. and republican mitt romney and liz cheney both warn of what would happen to the country should donald trump regain political power. we're back in a moment. tical po. we're back in a moment

your record label is taking off. but so is your sound engineer. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. indeed instant match instantly delivers quality candidates matching your job description. visit indeed.com/hire

with xfinity internet, you get advanced security that helps protect you matcat home and on the go.ion. you feel so safe, it's as if... i don't know... evander holyfield has your back. i wouldn't click on that. hey, thanks! we got a muffin for ed! all right! you don't need those calories. can we at least split it? nope. advanced security that helps protect your devices in and out of the home. i mean, can i have a bite? only from xfinity. nah. unbeatable internet. made to do anything so you can do anything.

it's 22 past the hour, a live look at san diego this morning. welcome back, everyone, to the fourth hour of "morning joe." we learned of a big development

of georgia's election and efforts to overturn the 2020 election. subpoenas went out to lindsey graham, rudy giuliani, john eastman and other lawyers, all of whom worked with trump as we contested the 2020 election results. fulton county district attorney says she's also investigating a november 2020 phone call lindsey graham made to the georgia secretary of state, brad raffensperger. raffensperger said graham pressed him about whether he had the power to reject certain absentee ballots, which raffensperger interpreted as a suggestion to toss out legally cast votes. graham has denied this allegation. >> it's going to be hard to tell what legally will be attached to this. obviously it's awfully suspicious that lindsey graham

is a federally elected official from another state calling a state secretary of state about counting votes and asking him if their absentee ballots or mail-in ballots he can throw out at the same time donald trump is telling that same official to find enough votes to put him over the top. so we'll see if there are legal implications to that, but obviously doesn't take much of an imagination to see what lindsey graham and others were trying to do. >> yeah. just a friendly call from a neighboring state, a senator there just checking in on the vote count in georgia. he's of course, a senator from south carolina. the phone call between former president trump and brad raffensperger is on tape. rudy giuliani's testimony is there. the white house is

responding to an emotional plea from britney griner to bring her home. she was arrested in january in russia. more on the growing pressure for president biden to intervene in her case. >> in britney griner's emotional handwritten letter, she pleads with president biden to bring her home, writing, as i sit here in a russian prison alone with my thoughts and without the protection of my wife, family, friends or any accomplishments, i'm terrified i might be here forever. griner's wife reacting to her fear. >> it breaks my heart when i hear her say that. she's probably the strongest person that i know, so she doesn't say words like that lightly. >> the two-time olympic gold medalist has been jailed for 4

1/2 months after russian authorities say they found vape cartridges with cannabis oil in her luggage. she faces a ten year sentence if convicted of drug smuggling. and 99% of those in russian courts are conning -- convicted. griner's wife says she's disheartened she hasn't heard from the president. would you recommend that the president come up with a trade? >> compared to what, ten more years of victor booth in jail versus those three americans staying in jail for a decade? i would take that trade. >> griner's trial resumes thursday. >> we'll have to see what happens with that. i know reverend al really wants to go do a clergy visit there. up next, richard nixon

popularized the term "silent majority" back in 1969. now a new political class, the exhausted majority. plus, congresswoman abigail span berger will be our guest in just a moment. igail span berger will be our guest in just a moment.

for copd, ask your doctor about breztri. breztri gives you better breathing, symptom improvement, and helps prevent flare-ups. breztri won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. it is not for asthma. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition... ...or high blood pressure before taking it. don't take breztri more than prescribed. breztri may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling,... ...problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. if you have copd, ask your doctor about breztri.

this is a bombas performance sock. for such a small item it performs big in many ways. big on comfort. big on performance. big on durability. big on breathability. so whether you're big on running or cycling, big on break dancing or breaking records. bombas gives you big comfort

for all your athletic pursuits. which we know, is no small feat. (screaming) get it... no small feat? ahh you guys are no fun. . i think yesterday's shooting is another example of what the problem is. the problem is mental health, and these young men who seem to be inspired to commit these atrocities. so i think the bill that we passed targeted the problem. >> senate minority leader mitch mcconnell speaking yesterday. again, no mention of the weapon used in highland park. joining us democratic congresswoman abigail spanberger of virginia, she is a former cia officer. we've been talking about this ad

nauseam for months and years now that there's an aggrieved young man who's able to get access to a weapon that can kill many people in a very short time. it's a statement of fact that this guy dressed as a woman, climbed to a building with a shotgun and a handgun. there is some gun legislation that made it through the house and the senate, got some republican votes, signed by the president. but there are no republicans who support, for example, banning all together semiautomatic rifles or at least even raising the age to 21 to buy one. >> your point is exactly correct. he didn't climb to the roof with a baseball bat or a knife or any other sort of weapon. he climbed to the roof with an assault style weapon, which is how it is that he was able to kill seven individuals who were out on the fourth of july celebrating our rights, our freedoms as americans. what we have seen in the house, yes, we have passed some gun

legislation with major investments in mental health, which i applaud. we passed that through the senate and the house and it moved to the president's desk. it's now been signed into law. in the house we also passed a suite of bills. and there was bipartisan support for raising the age limit. many of your viewers may know that you have to be 21 to buy a handgun in the united states, but only 18 to buy an assault style rifle. this is an important change that we can make to ensure that the law treats these types of firearms the same when indeed their lethality is not the same, but at least recognizing that at one point in time from a federal perspective we vi viewed that y have to be 21 for a handgun, you have to be at least 21 to buy an

assault style rifle. the murderer in highland park is at least 21. there was bipartisan for that in the house. there was also bipartisan support for limiting magazine capacity. before i was a cia officer, i was a federal agent during the time of what was known as the assault weapons ban, which included a capacity limit for magazines. the magazines that i carried as a federal law enforcement officer were marked for law enforcement because they carried more than ten rounds. we know that the lethality of shootings is higher when high capacity magazines are utilized because they do not allow for people to escape or for first responders to come in when a shooter is able to shoot off so many rounds in quick succession. >> you're from a swing district,

one that will determine whether republicans or democrats take control of the house in january 2023. i'm curious, what are the views of your constituents on universal background checks and the possibility of banning weapons designed for war, the so-called assault style weapons? what are those numbers? >> so across our district we see varied support. you characterized our district as a swing district. it was long a republican only voting district until i won in 2018. across the district i hear from people who identify as republicans, identify as independents, identify as democrats supporting universal background checks, supporting red flag laws, supporting common sense measures, including limits on magazine capacity, changing and raising the age limit for assault style weapons purchases, a full production stoppage for assault style weapons is something that doesn't have as

much broad, broad, broad support. but certainly it's something that i have been very honest with the people that i represent, that i do support it and i clearly give the reasons why. all of the incoming to my congressional office, all of the conversations i have along the campaign trail, there's broad support for, you know, an incredible suite of common sense reforms that would save lives. as we look towards a future where potentially we do move forward and ultimately perhaps we do garner bipartisan support for a prohibition on assault style weapons like the one we had in 1994. >> you talk about common sense. we've been documenting lately just how extreme the current republican party has become not just on the issue of guns. here is south dakota's republican governor christie gnome speaks on sunday with cnn. >> the indianapolis star is reporting that a 10-year-old

girl in ohio who is six weeks and three days pregnant now has to travel across state lines in indiana to receive an abortion. because this is a trigger law that was passed before you became governor, i want you to be clear. will the state of south dakota going forward force a 10-year-old in that same situation to have a baby? >> in south dakota, the law today is that abortions are illegal except to save the life of the mother. >> here are some of the answers in a recent republican primary debate for arizona governor. >> i'd actually like to ask everybody on this stage if they would agree we had a corrupt stolen election. raise your hand. >> why can't we treat human life in the same way we would treat alien life. >> i'm pro-life from conception to death and i believe -- >> no exceptions for rape or incest? >> well, that's a gray area. >> abortion is evidence that we have failed women. >> so here are some of the

candidates in a republican primary debate for liz cheney's wyoming congressional seat. take a listen. >> i think that mr. fauci is one of the most corrupt individuals in washington, d.c., which is saying a lot. >> the coronavirus was actually, it's engineered to attack what we are -- >> you have the department of education pursuing radical gender ideology and pursuing things that are anti-american. >> what about facebook using the system to steer people. we know for a fact all the major internets do that. >> what people are concerned about in terms of the january 6th committee is it's just totally unfair and so contrary to everything that our country stands for. >> in contrast, congresswoman cheney warns the republican party cannot survive if it

remains the party of trump. >> can the republican party survive in the way you've known it if donald trump is again chosen? >> it can't survive if he's our nominee. >> no? >> no. i think that he can't be the party nominee. i don't think the party would survive that. i believe in the party and i believe in what the party can be and what the party can stand for, and i'm not ready to give that up. those of us who believe in republican principles and ideals have a responsibility to try to lead the party back to what it can be. >> and republican senator mitt romney echoed that notion in a recent piece for "the atlantic" writing in part, quote, a return of donald trump would feed the sickness, probably rendering it incurable. congress is particularly disappointing. our elected officials put a finger in the wind more

frequently than they show backbone against it. too often it demonstrates the maxim for evil to thrive only requires good men to do nothing. >> let's bring in fritz david. so much to talk about here. let's talk about something i've heard you say before. you know, i've written in the past repeatedly that i was a big believer in federalism. i tried to move as many things to the state as possible. when i was doing that, you have people like jeb bush and mitt romney and others like that being governors. you've talked about it. i've talked about it. there are some freaks, crackpots and whackos on the state level passing some of the most bizarre lawyers imaginable. >> right now the incentives at the state and local level seem

to be toward really performative, punitive legislation, whatever you can do to take on the wokes. florida has been a leader in this that's passed unconstitutional law after unconstitutional law that's designed to be anti-woke, again, performative and punitive. that's only the tip of the iceberg of the grassroots culture. you talk to a lot of long time republicans, they're still republicans. they're not going to vote democratic, but they are utterly repelled by the grassroots politics. things get increasingly extreme. donald trump didn't just bring himself, he brought a culture to the gop. that culture has metastasized throughout the local level. there are definitely signs of hope. the fact that brad raffensperger won his seat despite taking on trump so directly is a sign of

hope. but for right now in too many places the grassroot's gop has been seized not just by a maga devotion to donald trump, but by a maga culture that elevates this performative, punitive conspiracy mindset. >> you talk about extremes. of course, we could talk about election deniers, we could talk about pandemic deniers, but let's talk about a couple of issues that have been mainstream for republicans for quite some time, that is the second amendment and being pro-life. if you look at some of the legislation that's been passed now, this tragic story of this 10-year-old girl who was a rape victim who's had to cross state lines. you're going to have one republican governor, one republican state legislator after another have to answer questions like that. the same thing in uvalde,

buffalo. we see the whack jobs carrying around ar-15 goings into 7-elevens. again, i don't think the republican party can forever continue this rightward lurch without turning off a lot more americans. >> i mean, it's continuing. john cornyn goes after negotiating a very sensible, promising compromise that i think has a real chance to do real good in the country. he goes to the texas gop convention, where he's booed and shouted down. you have a texas gop convention that talks about succession, that calls biden an illegitimate president. this isn't a marginal group of people. this is the state convention of the gop in the largest republican state in the country. so these things are not fringe anymore in the gop even if they're quite fringe in the general public. here's the problem.

we are so heavily gerrymandered right now in this country that you can be quite extreme and that's the more rational political position for you. you know, here in tennessee there are state representatives that everyone knows bear no resemblance in their underlying philosophy to marjorie taylor green, but are acting like her because they know they will be primaried if they don't. all of the short-term incentives are pushing more toward radicalism and the exhausted majority better wake up quickly and assert itself or we're going to hand american politics to the extremes. >> he makes the contention that trump might be legally drowning, may not be able to make a comeback. but is liz cheney going to win

back her seat? what do you say to your republican counterparts in these districts that have such extreme views? are you able to have a conversation with them? >> sadly, for too many people may not even hold the ideology they're gotten in front of cameras espousing but far too many people live in fear of primaries. we've seen principled true conservatives like tom rice, for example, in south carolina, who is as conservative as the day is long and ultimately did not make it through his primary. but right in our district the clear contrast is there. my opponent has doubted that a rape victim can become pregnant as a result of that rape. this same sort of comments that when todd aiken made them ten years ago he was roundly denounced by the republican

party, by leadership within the senate campaign committee. now this has become just a news blip that everyone attempts to ignore and no one really has to be held accountable for. these are the sort of extreme views that are really being pushed forward. it's on everything, right? whether or not a victim of rape can become pregnant, but then we see there are states because of the bans they've put in place that now hospital protocols are not giving plan b to rape victims. the extreme nature of where so many states are lurching is becoming clear. in our race, the candidate running against me doubts what happened on january 6th. she's defended the insurrectionists. these are people who beat police officers with american flags and

american flag poles and fire extinguishers. and yet in virginia in a district that has long been republican held that i did flip in 2018 that is a toss-up district, this is the sort of engagement we're seeing on the other side of the aisle. those are the extreme issues, but what about the meat and potatoes of governing? the i-95 corridor runs through our district. the infrastructure bill is vitally important to our district and i've got an opponent who most assuredly would have voted against that, not to mention federal bans on abortion and these very, very extreme positions that aren't tracking with what the country needs, let alone what voters want. >> congresswoman abigail spanberger, thank you as always for being with us. we greatly appreciate it. david, to her point, i saw clips of the liz cheney debate. the most bizarre things being

said. then they go to liz, who would say the sky is blue. like it was a "saturday night live" clip. i would never believe -- you could not parody it. it was too crazy. but let's talk about your piece, your fourth of july police about -- piece about the red, the blue and the exhausted. >> we're always talking red, blue, red, blue right now. of course red and blue are driving american politics. but there's another group of people that have been identified since 2018 by a group called more in common that studied the full spectrum of american politics in a deeper and richer way than most polling does. what they found is two-thirds of americans are in what they call the exhausted majority.

these are republicans, these are democrats, these are independents. they span the spectrum, but they share these real simple characteristic characteristics. they're sick of the infighting and they're flexible in their views, willing to have conversations and compromise. where do these people fit in? right now social media seems to be perfectly engineered to cattle prod them out of the conversation. unless you're all in or all out you're going to get gang tackled in social media or the primary process, for example. this is a huge segment of americans and their voices need to be heard in the american political process, because they're standing apart from this escalating polarization. >> coming up on "morning joe," we'll speak with two county board members who were at the

fourth of july parade in highland park, what they saw and how the community is working to heal. t they saw and how the community is working to heal

we have to look harder as a country on particular assault weapons and we have to take it seriously. understand this can happen anywhere. >> tough to hear there, but vice president kamala harris saying we have to be smarter as a country and restrict access to the kind of weapon used in highland park on the fourth of july. that statement made during a visit by the vice president to the town in illinois last night. joining us now, ross and paul. both are lake county board members representing districts that cover highland park and both were at the parade on monday. gentlemen, thank you both for being with us. mr. perek i'll start with you. you were there and saw what happened. it's a shock to any community when there is gun violence, but particularly when there's no violent crime to speak of, how is the community reacting?

still in shock i assume? >> thanks for having us. we're processing. i mean this is -- you heard repeatedly, we are a small, tight-knit community. everyone knows -- if we don't know that person the person next to them knows that person. we were just there and paul and i and our friends and family were lining up to be in that parade, and everything changed. we're grieving and we're just cycling through a number of emotions, from disgust at what happened to being worried about, you know, other communities, to being angry at having to deal with this and how fearful for our children and all the children that were present there or in our community that know about this. >> i'm so sorry you had to be there and witness that, paul. we're hearing about some of the victim, grandfathers in their 80s, men in their 70s in

wheelchairs. the young married couple whose toddler will be raised without parents by her grandparents. what have you heard from community members? how are you beginning to cope with this? >> we are a strong community that helps each other. i see incredible outpouring of support from within the community and across the country, and we're going to process and raise together the stories of who the fatalities are and their lives and their families that they left behind who are all impacted by this and we're all grieving and i know that we're going to go through this together as a community and support each other. the other emotion that i really want to mention, willie, is that a lot of people are angry, and i'm angry, that these weapons of mass murder are still readily

available and it's shocking what happened to us at a parade in our community. like you said, it's a peaceful, safe community, but it's also the least shocking thing that could happen in this country today because these weapons of mass murder are everywhere and it will happen again some place else soon, sadly to say. >> and to both of you, is the anger at politicians for not doing more? there's also reports that this -- the young shooter's father helped buy the permit, that there were some warnings that police had come to the house before and some anger being directed at the family, although i'm not sure how any parent could ever in their wildest imagination think their child would do something like this. >> all are on the first part. we're just angry at the

situation. my daughter, who was there, she's 10, with my son who are twins and my wife were all there together, they're processing. my daughter said to me and my wife yesterday, why does one person get to change everything? why do we allow unfettered access to weapons of war to be above our freedom of safety, our freedom to congregate peacefully? our freedom to honor our nation? somehow this has become uniquely american and uniquely un-american at the same time. our anger is directed -- i'll let paul speak as well -- but we are angry at the people that are allowing this to continue. >> you know, to your question, mika, the specifics do matter. we need to get to the bottom of -- and i know there will be a complete, thorough investigation, and so the answers do matter and the

community wants the answers, absolutely, but as our state's attorney eric rhinehart said last night when he announced the charges, we've had an assault weapons ban in this country before for ten years, and it reduced the number of these incidents, and so in some ways the details matter and some ways they don't. these weapons should not be so readily available. >> lake county board members ross perek. thanks for being on the show today. >> we will be following this story all day today. also what's happening in georgia, going to be following that as well. >> new subpoenas. >> new subpoenas coming out. willie, yesterday, a big day in the "morning joe" family. i don't know if you know it or not. >> yeah. it was. >> the man with nine horses. >> yeah. >> had a big birthday. >> can't afford ten. >> put it up. >> he can't have ten. >> celebrating -- sorry, steve.

celebrating my 70th with my wonderful wife, four great children, four terrific plus ones, and alexander h. not shown, one granddaughter, three dogs and nine horses. it is so wonderful. steve is such a great friend and we wish him and maureen and the entire family a happy birthday. >> yeah, for the charts nap does it for us this morning. >> happy birthday, teev. >> thank you. jose diaz-balart picks up msnbc's live coverage right now. and good morning. 10:00 a.m. eastern, 7:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart reporting this morning from new york. this morning, the death toll is now up to seven in that horrific shooting at a july 4th parade in illinois as we're now hearing from the loved ones of those lost whose lives are now forever changed as the result of this tragedy. we'll be hearing from an eyewitness to the attack. a georgia