coming up on r t developing news near denver colorado where three people have been reportedly injured high school campus students were evacuated while police say the gunman is dead it's an eerie scene not too far from columbine and it's been one year since the sandy hook nightmare where the massacre of twenty children and six adults shook the nation to its core today the debate on gun control continues more on our teens gun debate specials straight ahead. plus a drone strike at a wedding looking to assassinate al qaeda operatives a u.s. drone hit a wedding envoy instead and yemeni officials say this latest attack was a tragic mistake more details on that coming up.

it's friday december thirteenth eight pm in washington d.c. i'm a mirror david and you're watching r t they begin tonight with the news out of centennial colorado a student opened fire and high school injuring at least three people before turning the gun on himself the shooting began after the student entered the school with the intention of confronting a teacher now we don't know the identities of the wounded but we do know that at least one of the victims was a minor who had a gunshot wound two others were reportedly in good condition oddly the school happens to be located just down the street from the aurora movie theater where a gunman went on a shooting spree in two thousand and twelve and at the same time a robber who is not far from columbine high school they are both part of the same school district which is littleton public schools columbine of course experienced its own shooting back in one night. ninety nine where thirteen people mainly

students were shot and killed colorado governor john hickenlooper called has called the shooting an all too familiar sequence where you have gunshots and parents racing to the school and unspeakable horror in a place of learning according to a white house official president obama was also briefed on the shooting but he has yet to make a statement. this shooting comes almost one year to the day after twenty six children and six adults were killed in a shooting at sandy hook elementary school in newtown connecticut the incident has sparked a fierce debate on gun control and access to mental health care while went to newtown and reports on how the town is coping one year later. one year after one of the deadliest school shootings in american history newtown is healing never could imagine it happening here this picturesque sleepy town was forever changed on december fourteenth two thousand and twelve when the accused

gunman adam lanza opened fire inside sandy hook elementary school all one year later people here in newtown are struggling to cope with the tragedy that took twenty of their children and six of their educators to this day many questions remain unanswered like the question of why and why it happened here and this is typically why it sleepy town residents say that question will never be answered why take the life of a little in this a little baby's george linebacker drives children to school in newtown seven of the children that died were once passengers on his bus sweet innocent wonderful kids you know to go five six year olds a little history of years. catherine and charlotte who like to climb under my seats alley i guess while in the world always happy go lucky. olivia.

jesse james. it's been tough. the tragedy sent shock waves to surrounding towns and across the country when i heard that these kids were first graders it hit really close to home karen elson big as a mother of two in norwalk connecticut about a half hour away from newtown she says the tragedy was a turning point we can't just sit here and not do something because it's going to happen again she is now leader of the connecticut chapter of moms demand action a grassroots group formed days after the newtown shooting we got some very very sorry legislation passed here in connecticut the end of march. right now is being challenged in addition to gun violence sandy hook has raised awareness about the nation's mental health care system because of lanza's history with mental illness.

so much when he has been taken away from that south korea training school closed fairfield hills closed the mental health industry is just you know they don't seem to give people the help they need as the town struggles to move on there's few signs the shooting happened the school has been demolished the scene fenced off and guarded behind a church twenty angels and the names of the victims are at it in stone near the scene this giant teddy bear stands the ribbon it wears reads new towns angels one year later the town remembers the victims as it struggles to forget the pain and horror that came to town that fateful day in newtown connecticut lives of all artes . guns have deep roots in american culture despite the current debate about gun limitations the vast majority of hunters sportsmen and gun owners use them responsibly so far look at why americans love their guns and what they use them for

we turn to our t. correspondent perry and boring. when i want to say yes kathleen bought this rock island armory for self-defense i like to take my own personal safety into my own hands kathleen is a member of the well armed woman an organization dedicated to educate equip and the power women and gun owners with so much debate over the place of firearms in society i joined the group and some other friends at the blue ridge arsenal to learn more about why people love their guns patrick priestly bought his pistol a p two twenty six mostly for target practice but also for self-defense and he's not the only one looking for protection with firearms i wanted something more additional to protect me because if something were to happen the police are there the police will come afterwards when i call them and say i've just been assaulted have just been attacked judy route out uses her savage twenty two for ten a combo gun for hunting. i hunt i've hunt squirrels that hunt deer

i do target shooting i do skeet trap shooting with a shotgun she also has an a k seventy four. in my automatic that was once a legal under the one thousand nine hundred four federal assault weapons ban that expired in two thousand and four it was a bit intimidating but with proper training the gun could be used for hunting larger game such as deer or wild boar the well armed women are also trained in gun safety and learned everything there was to learn about how to point a gun where to point where this is a good direction of where to go and how to clean a gun how to handle gun actually how to shoot a gun how to and things like that but even people with professional gun training face fear for carrying their weapons in march of this year cops in the state of virginia were refused restaurant service because they had their weapons displayed and response the cajun experience became one of the first open carry restaurants and virginia we had is restaurant owners here realize hey let's celebrate the second amendment and let's welcome the law enforcement community into

a rational beginning with this go in that just went from law enforcement. law abiding citizens who are open carry in your state with the cajun experience takes precautions by not serving alcohol to anyone carrying a gun although it is legal to do so in the state of virginia if some gun control advocates had their way it might not be legal some responsible gun owners are concerned that any gun control measures could lead to a total erosion of the second amendment only the law abiding people are going to be turning their guns and what about the other people criminals by definition don't follow the law and if they've got guns to shoot at me why can i not defend myself affectively guns are very much a part of the culture in the united states some people on them for personal defense other people have them for hunting and sporting activities and we do everything to believe that people that don't respect the laws to begin with probably are going to respect any new ones so is now really the time for gun reform chantilly virginia perry and boring r.d.

and this week congress voted to renew a ban on plastic firearms it's called the undetectable firearms act and it makes it illegal to manufacture the vast or receive any firearm that would have a to metal detector or x. ray machine but with the advent of three d. printing and the ability for individuals to now craft a gun in the comfort of their own home i took a look at how this developing technology may be a little too quick for the policy to catch up. the gun is made almost entirely of plastic capable of firing a three eighty caliber bullet and almost every single component was made using a three d. printer bought from e bay for nearly eight thousand dollars this new generation gun is called the liberator and it was developed by defense distributed a group based in austin texas that promotes the use of three d. firearm technology we want to use a three d. printer to print a gun to release the files open source that's the voice of cody wilson the group's

co-founder he made waves earlier this year after successfully firing the gun. and even though the shot could only be heard at a remote firing range in central texas the sound quickly reverberated in the halls of congress wilson's demonstration prompted fear from politicians that criminals would be able to arm themselves in the future by printing guns in their basement something that became particularly easy after file sharing sites publish the guns blueprint online making it available to just about anyone but this week those concerns were mitigated as congress voted to extend the undetectible firearms act which effectively bans a sale or possession of firearms that aren't detectable by x. ray machines or metal detectors and that means guns cannot be a hundred percent plastic or at least ten more years they'll be mandated to include steel components but it seems that the plastic gun is not the only innovation

congress will have to keep it sajjan just last month solid concepts announced it had manufactured the world's first three d. printed metal gun this is the powder this is actually what the what starts out in the machine so this is just you see it's it's basically just lose power like sand and. the this is what levels out of the machine and then the parts that geometries are sliced in very thin layers. and then those layers are melted one layer to time the process involves a high powered laser that fuses small particles into a three dimensional shape in response some gun control advocates have voiced concern that this technology could get into the hands of the wrong people i understand the concerns i don't think they're all that you know well founded because quite frankly is the cost and experience level to actually use these to spread far. you know kernels to be much smarter they just go out and buy these off

the street indeed right now these are not the most successful of printers industrial size three d. replicators equipped enough to print metal guns can carry a price tag ranging from six hundred thousand to one million dollars but last week michigan technological university announced it had developed a new low cost three d. metal printer totaling fifteen hundred dollars this shift to three d. printers mimics the technological transition we saw happen years ago when the single bullet rifle evolved into the high powered semiautomatic so the question on the minds of many people is how do you regulate a technology that's only becoming cheaper and more accessible by the day in washington david r.t. . and now we move on to the news of the national defense authorization act also known as the n.b.a. it passed in the house where it had overwhelming support with three hundred fifty yes votes and sixty nine knows the senate will take up the bill next week before

its december twentieth the deadline the n.b.a. is the major funding measure for the united states military the two thousand and fourteen bill will authorize five hundred fifty two billion dollars in national defense spending and nearly eighty one billion for overseas contingency operations on monday of this week leaders of the house and senate armed services committee announced they had come up with a deal and incorporated a number or a number of new provisions that includes major changes to the rules governing the transfer of prisoners from guantanamo bay take a listen to what senator carl levin had to say earlier this week at a press conference. the bill basically takes half of what we did in the senate and passes and that is to give flexibility to the president to transfer detainees from guantanamo to third countries it maintains the prohibition on transferring detainees here for trial and detention so prisoners

are still not allowed to be transferred to the us foreign prison meant or to stand trial however the detainees that have been cleared will now be permitted to return to third party countries also included in the bill are new policies for the military regarding how soldiers will report sexual assaults. and a suspected u.s. drone has mistakenly targeted a wedding convoy and yemen's province after intelligence documents eroni asli reported that the vehicles were carrying al qaeda militants this is all according to yemeni national security officials who say that at least thirteen yemenis have been killed and twenty two injured with nine in critical condition a wedding convoy had been travelling in the city of rada and it consisted of eleven different vehicles officials say that four of them were specifically targeted in the attack which left charred bodies and burnt out cars on the road among the

killed were two prominent tribal leaders within the province residents and rada are outraged over what happened and have called on the yemeni government to put an end to drone strikes in the region yemeni security experts have argued in many ways drones have backfired and perhaps played into into our favor earlier today r.t. spoke with code pink founder medea benjamin and here's what she had to say about that. every time there's a drone strike that's the best recruiting tool for al qaeda and killing people in a wedding party i am sure that this will lead to not tens but probably a hundred people joining al qaeda and this guarantees the cycle of violence will go on in perpetual war the drone strikes actually are a support to al qaeda it doesn't get rid of al qaeda u.s. officials have declined to comment still ahead here on our t.v.

an american man who was kidnapped in iran is moron and he seems it turns out that he was an unapproved cia mission and now his family demands of the u.s. government help them we'll tell you more on that after the break.

and we're now learning that robert levinson an american who was kidnapped in iran nearly seven years ago was in fact working for the central intelligence agency and an off the books intelligence operation just before he disappeared this is all according to an a.p. news investigation that reveals levinson was a cia operative it comes despite years of repeated denials from the white house. the state department and the intelligence community who over the years called levinson a private citizen there is no confirmation of who captured levinson or who may be holding him now and there has been no hints of levinson whereabouts since his family received photos and this hostage video back in two thousand and ten. one more. migrants. in

response to the recent news levinson's family released a statement that said quote the u.s. government has failed to make saving this good man's life the priority it should be it is time for the u.s. government to step up and take care of one of its own today the white house addressed the issue and its press briefing affirming that it was still trying to locate levinson and that the a.p.'s report was dangerous. and that mexico has approved a very controversial bill that opens up state control controlled oil deposits to foreign investors for the first time in seventy five years the law will allow foreign companies to look for oil and extract it alongside the state owned giant p.m.x. and then pocket those profits the country's opposition says the president is simply caving to pressure from the united states nicholas sanchez o'donovan has the story . it has been a very tense couple of weeks in data mexican politics and finally the day has come

when the country's controversial energy reform group first passed the senate and on thursday the same thing happened in the lower house of congress although we have to say it was one of the most chaotic moments ever seen in the history of mexican politics outside the barricaded building hundreds of protesters rallied against the reform and inside the picture wasn't really so much different members of the left wing party p.r.c. practically hijacked the lower house of congress in the entrance which they have called the vote had to take place in a different room to give our viewers an idea of the atmosphere we saw politicians take in the gulf we saw fights and insults we even saw a politician had to disguise a policeman to get into the building and be able to vote now the p.r.g. and the more than a movement both left wing movements have called for a massive rally on sunday regarded the content of the reform well it basically

means that the government is now allowed to give private companies contracts and licenses to explore and drill the oil and gas in mexico until now it will obviously. under mexico's constitution the reform also affect unions that will no longer have a decided role in pemex mexico's national oil company opponents to the reform say they fear the big corporations especially from the us where we have complete domination over mexico's natural resources and the truth is that it can be a big very big deal actually for the u.s. we can't forget that mexico remains one of the top five food exporters no more than neighbors ship in over a million barrels a day. and. reform also modifies three points of the mexican constitution therefore it now has to be approved by

a minimum of seventeen local governments this this is step is really only a formality and groups on the left think that the measure is so big that it should have been subjected to a national referendum. that was artie's nicholas centuries o'donovan. and if there is one man who got his fair share of fame this week it's. the man fake sign language doing fake sign language excuse me at the memorial of former south african leader nelson mandela was accused of signing in jibberish during the service afterwards he gave a number of peculiar stories as to why he couldn't affectively do the job for one he told news outlets that he had been suffering from schizophrenia had been hearing violent voices in his head and was hallucinating visions of angels flying into the stadium when asked by the associated press how often he had become violent in the past he said quote a lot but declined to provide details well interestingly we now know

a little bit more about his violent past according to the south african news website and ca dot com john taylor has had a number of run ins with the law it says. who is being treated for schizophrenia has also faced rape one thousand nine hundred four theft one thousand nine hundred five housebreaking one thousand nine hundred seven malicious damage to property nine hundred ninety eight murder attempted murder and kidnapping charges two thousand and three. raises a whole lot of questions over whether this man was even vetted and how he was able to get within just three feet of so many world leaders including president obama. and since nelson mandela's death last week the world has been celebrating the former leader of south africa who ended apartheid although he became a symbol of liberation around the world today the country continues to struggle with inequality and poverty as our policy there are reports it's an even bigger

struggle for those who sought refuge in the country. don't lean software fusion south africa from the congo because of one man nelson mandela cause is the one who allowed if the do nothing. that had a camp but now he's gone and orleans afraid she and other foreigners like her will be kicked out i think that they would as well but in the eyes because they don't one foot in the area on the new beds put in there that they're going their jobs millions of africans have fled their troubled countries in search of a better life in south africa but more often than not they've swapped one horror for another with no money work or prospects a handful have made this place a methodist church in downtown johannesburg home if you're a green or if you're german or if you're friend and you come into this country you were in to experience what experienced here one of the things apart it did for

instance was that it divorced us from the rest of africa rafale is struggling to support his wife and five children in a brutal attack she was beaten so badly she miscarried he was left for did the crime being foreigners in a strange land i think we could we have. a right to life i think i should call. to work in south africa prejudices run deep not only are african foreigners accused of taking jobs away from locals they're also held responsible for accelerating crime so it was the innocent and we're going to be the one to whom i wouldn't. want to deal with somebody going home though is not an option political instability acute poverty and violence awaits them. for twelve long months to lean has been too afraid to step foot outside this church and now with mandela gone she's more afraid than ever lose to

set something on by the foot in a moment no one will talk about the flooding and as night falls the stores close providing refuge to people seeking sanctuary in a country that doesn't want them here r.t. johannesburg south africa and artie's own larry king visited south africa and had this to say about meaning president nelson mandela i found myself in johannesburg on a series of speaking engagements for a group of banks the former president mandela had heard i was there and who enjoyed the interview so he invited me to his home for lunch we had a wonderful one she wore suspenders in my honor i never forgot that and what i adored about nelson mandela was not only his love of country but his gentleness his sincerity and his ability in incredible circumstances to forgive

was the highest christian ethic i know of no greater figure in the twentieth century than the late nelson mandela rest in peace. us trail yes high court has overturned the country's first law allowing same sex marriage less than a week after the it came became law and another blow to gay rights india just up how legislation criminalizing homosexuality artie's guy in a teacher can look at the countries taking a conservative approach. most western countries already recognize in some form the right of gay couples to get married and about children but in other parts of the world there is the opposite in less in less than a week. we've been married and we've been on there eight you know where we are just days after the nation's capital allow same sex couples to get married the high court there struck down that decision saying regional authorities had no right to

decide the matter and to live in a relationship of love and trust to get any seven australian couples and saw their marriage or not moving day australia's high court ruled that gay marriage was illegal because the marriage act only recognizes marriage between a man and the woman and only the parliament behind the legislation the most recent attempt to change the law and yossarian for women failed last year polls in the country so support for gay marriage spends that sixty three percent. that salute the amazing that trauma now history written jumping through hoops to try to make sure that every tree on the planet has its natural environment so far east that we would be challenging the definition of marriage which creates exactly that environment for a child requiring that it's between a man and woman in india the supreme court is just me he says legal again since the nineteenth century india has had a ten year span and that his book bore quote cornel into course against the order

of nature four years ago a lower fourth founded on constitutional the supreme court just brought the law back in to see. by making the similar argument don't feel really enjoyed only the nation parliament has the right to change it but with the overwhelming majority of the media is against saying thank you very much and with a conservative nationalist group meeting in the upcoming elections in a legislative change in the next two years and by leon likely you have about it or did he just let us. know all the communities of this country feel that albert allegiance did it does that open so i think should remain so if. something similar this december. referendum outlaw same sex marriage there are going to most happily population. changes. in the tug of war between those who are and those who are not allowed to say i do the conservative view on marriage seems at least at the moment

to be prevailing in many parts of the world. got a second or two. and before we go don't forget to tune in at nine pm for larry king now tonight's guest is country music star garth brooks we'll talk about the world of country music and much more here's a special snippet of tonight's interview you came for gay rights are you against the trend is country still conservative oh no no no country is country is real life country is the news at six o'clock put to music i mean that's it i'm not going to i'm not going to label country music as a close minded format at all i think it's i think it speaks well the times and even when it was blamed as a close format the sixty's haggard jones these guys were singing about real modern day stuff loretta lynn comes out with the pill you know the songs that address all this stuff oh my god i'm trying to think could be a gay country artist sure there could be sure and there probably are mad as

a for now i'm a mirror david have a great night. well . it's technology innovation all the developments around russia we've got this huge area covered. and a society that i think corporation kind of can. do and the bag and all that all about money and i think that's like that for a politician right a lot and. that. somehow. there's just too much. of a diet. that.