among them, caroline mccarthy from new york, long a leader of the effort, joining me now. congresswoman, thank you very much. it's fair to note that this cause for you is personal. it's why you got into politics. when i first met you, you were running, and it was because your husband, dennis, had been one of six people killed in 1993 in the shooting on the long island railroad when colin ferguson, that man, boarded the train and gunned them down and your son also was so seriously injured, your son kevin. how that inspired you and the passion of that memory, which is clearly fresh in your mind, you're bringing to this cause now again. >> well, to be very honest with you, i think you'll find that any of us that have gone through these kind of tragedies when you lose a loved one and become an activist, all you're trying to do is prevent any of the family to go through this. the reason i got involved was when kevin was learning how to speak again, some of his first words were, how did this happen, why, and i didn't have the answers, and i started looking into it. it was during

the scene, and clint van zandt profiler and msnbc analyst, and psychologist jeff grandier, and caroline mccarthy who entered politics after her husband was killed in a multiple shooting on a suburban commuter train, and we have the head of the national association of school safety and also we will go to my colleague michelle franzen. thank you for staying with us tonight. >> well, hi, chris. we are here in the knnewtown ar of connecticut miles from sandy hook, connecticut, where the tragic shooting took place today. right now, hundreds of resident s are gathering at a nearby catholic church for a vigil to for those lives of young people who were shot today. they are holding a prayer vigil to comfort the families who were told that they had lost their loved ones in this town. it is a small new england town in area, and very rural area in the central part of connecticut here. the school certainly k-4 as we mentioned, we don't have identifycations tor age-- of th schoolchildren or the names being released, but we are told that the investigators are processing the scene now and trying to deal with t

>> congresswoman caroline mccarthy who has been working tirelessly on behalf of gun safety since winning her congressional seat after her husband was murdered in a shooting accident -- not accident, in a mass shooting incident on the long island railroad. she is now cosponsoring a bill to limit the size of assault magazines with a democratic congressman from colorado. it's going to force the issue in the house. >> mort? >> merka basically to this day saved the european common market. she has kept it going like nobody else could have and played the politics as you said before of her country brilliantly along with the financial needs that only germany can supply to the rest of europe. >> she's in a class by herself. clarence? >> following mort honorable mention to a demographic group. the hispanic voter. they really showed their voting power this year and that's the way to get respect in america and that's -- indicative of the direction that the country is going. so i think it's really an appropriate award. >> the hispanics any more congenial or less congenial to the republicans? >> yes. t

congresswoman caroline mccarthy joins us. >>> the msnbc policy analyst ezra klein put together a long piece today tying together what he knows about ezra, of course is a policy guy. so he was looking at this through a policy lens. and the data it turns out, some of it is what you might suspect. but some of it really isn't. for example, we all know that there are a lot of mass killings in the united states. gun violence where multiple people are killed by the same assailant. this year alone before what happen today in connecticut, five people were killed in an atlanta suburb in february. a student shot up his high school cafeteria and killed three people later that same month. at that christian university in oakland, california, back in april, there were seven people killed. a targeted shooting spree in tulsa, oklahoma was racially motivated. five black men shot. three of them died. five people killed at the seattle cafe in may. there was the aurora massacre in july. 12 people killed, 58 additional people shot who were not killed. the sikh temple pass killing in oak creek, wisconsin, i

i thank all of my colleagues, especially my friend from new york, caroline mccarthy, who has poured her heart and soul working every day on this issue and to our leader nancy pelosi and all of my colleagues. president obama and the american people are demanding change and we can bring that change by passing this friday a ban on the massacre assault magazines. we can pass it. believe me, if guns made anyone safer, we would be the safest nation on earth. we have more guns per capita than any country on earth. and after the unfathomable tragedy, our country is united and determined in a demand for change. without change in our gun policy, we cannot expect the outcome to be any different from what we are already experiencing and we have already had too many mass murders and the cost is unbearable. these were elementary schoolchildren. and their teachers. but there have been movie goers. americans going to town hall meetings. there are some who say any gun restriction is an imposition on their liberty. but they must understand that the level of gun violence in america today is an imposition

i thank all of my colleagues, especially my friend from new york, caroline mccarthy, who has poured her heart and soul working every day on this issue and to our leader nancy pelosi and all of my colleagues. president obama and the american people are demanding change and we can bring that change by passing this friday a ban on the massacre assault magazines. we can pass it. believe me, if guns made anyone safer, we would be the safest nation on earth. we have more guns per capita than any country on earth. and after the unfathomable tragedy, our country is united and determined in a demand for change. without change in our gun policy, we cannot expect the outcome to be any different from what we are already experiencing and we have already had too many mass murders and the cost is unbearable. these were elementary schoolchildren. and their teachers. but there have been movie goers. americans going to town hall meetings. there are some who say any gun restriction is an imposition on their liberty. but they must understand that the level of gun violence in america today is an imposition