cnn contributor john avlon bk now in new york. are the candidates stances on guns, what are they, tell us about them, and how are they reacting, if at all, today? >> sure. president obama supports strengthening some gun laws except his administration offers no specifics. romney doesn't support adding or strengthening gun laws at all. when he was governor, he actually signed an assault weapons ban. you make your pilgrimage down to the nra. so despite a lot of anxiety about gun laws, activists on both sides very engaged, no new proposals to deal with gun violence from either candidate. >> the president came out today first, john, and spoke and then mitt romney and both campaigns took down their ads in colorado today and both candidates changed plans for today. both addressed the shootings instead of campaigning. so here's what they said. >> there's going to be other days for politics. this i think is a day for prayer and reflection. >> this is a time for each of us to look into our hearts and remember how much we love one another. an

>> "outfront" now, john avlon. john, do you think the mayor has a point here? >> i do.nd i think he's trying to point out the ill logic mindset on this. it stops at the point where we should be able to have a conversation about taking small steps to solve the problem. embracing the opportunity for reasonable restrictions. it's a debate we haven't been able to have in the past. it's what leadership is about. by pointing out these flip-flops, it's a way of nudging the candidates to have more courage and dealing with the reality of the situation. >> i want to move on and talk about the politics of this. but some people also are questioning the timing here and saying the victims haven't even been laid to rest yet and people who are talking about gun control and those issues, maybe they should wait a moment and be respectful of the people who were killed here. >> this is a moment to honor the victims and to celebrate their lives, that's true. but as we absorb this test incident of mass gun violence, this tragedy, it is reasonable to start saying, what could we have done to s

i'm working on that. >> and, john, you know, john avlon's with me. he had a whole list of places.'m thinking to myself, okay, you want to take hillary clinton here, here and here and she probably just wants to sit on a beach after traveling to 100 countries over the past few years. but of all the things we talked about tonight, i really wanted to get you to weigh in on what he said about mitt romney and his taxes. that he think, he should release a dozen years. >> yeah, you know -- >> what do you think? >> first of all, it's the way he talks about mitt romney and his taxes. when bill clinton talks about policy, he always roots it in values. he does it in a very commonsense, almost offhand way. saying i can't imagine whatever's in there could be worse than the heat he's taking. then it's almost like he thinks there should be one rule for himself and one rule for everyone else. those are value statements. it's just about fairness without using the word "fairness." all throughout this interview, you see the touches he has. the interview's been fascinating to watch, erin. to see just

william cohan, doug holtzekan and john avlon join me.to say this is why mitt romney has offshore bank accounts, right? to save money? >> i presume it's to make money. i'd be quite surprised -- >> that's an interesting way to put my words back at me. well done. >> this is real simple, i think. for the average person whose only account is in a bank down the street, this seems quite mysterious. and it's very easy to demagogue, we've seen that as the white house and others have tried to change the channel. all that could be going on here is that mr. romney's investment investor who makes his investments for him has chosen to invest in some overseas entities. if could be as simple as buying a share of british stock. and when the dividends got paid, he paid taxes on it like everybody else. or he could invest in something in the bahamas or the caymans, those entities are organized to attract investors from many countries. >> right. >> europeans -- >> but they give you benefits -- talking about that debt tax benefit. if that were the case and we

john avlon, this is just an amazing story.s is a guy who came in as a knight in shining armor for the teachers unions, to fight back and say, i'm going to help you out. and here he is, involved in multiple, seemingly, corruption scandals. >> this was the establishment striking back. the democratic machine. teachers unions. to push back against adrian fency's controversial reforms. the clubhouse in many big cities is often corrupt and the allegations of corruption are unbelievable. in epidemic proportions now. the question is, when you've got this many distractions, and we now know he knew about the $650,000 shadow campaign infusion back in january, how long can you continue to govern? >> and let's talk about this. i mean, what does this mean for the unions? i mean, we talk about unions across america. right now, this battle. people like chris christie are taking them on wisconsin obviously. this guy goes. a place where they were seemingly gaining power. >> the broader point absolutely stands. when adrian fenty lost that closed

joiping joining me now is john avlon. you've been taking congress to task on this over and over again. i appreciate the congressman talking about this. but in the end, these are, as i said, dog and pony shows. both sides do it all the time. what ought congress to be doing right now? what could they be doing to help the people in california and idaho and alabama and pennsylvania? >> let's lay out three things that congress could be doing instead of this dog and pony kabuki. one study estimates it could lead to as much as 1 million new jobs. >> and both parties are saying, we want to help small business. >> both parties will pray at that altar because it makes good sense. but in this case, this bill should be a no-brainer, it's getting caught up in the bush tax cut debate. >> give me two more. >> second, u.s. post office, people know it's losing billions of dollars a year. the senate passed a bill to reform and restructure the post office. it's sitting in the house. they're doing the health care vote. instead of trying to s

now, let's bring in our senior legal analyst jeffrey toobin and john avlon.what defines something as a civil rights issue. >> i think alderman was talking around the issue. this is very simple. what set off this controversy was the president saying he's against same-sex marriage. that's a position held by many people in this country, including the president of the united states, till about six weeks ago. >> right. >> that is not a basis for prohibiting a store from opening. and if, in fact, they do prohibit the store from opening, they are opening themselves up to a serious lawsuit and they could lose a great deal of money. if they want to criticize chick-fil-a, that's fine. but they cannot ban them because of a political view. >> and there are, john avlon, many companies in this country which are working around this issue still. there are some who went out and said -- goldman sachs for a very long time has been very pro-same-sex marriage and benefits. there are many companies that still don't have all those policies in place. they're not getting banned. >> t

. >> i want to bring in john avlon now. what's interesting is he said that we didn't have an overall number for how many people they'd have to lay off, even though he stood by the industry lobbying association's number of 2 million. i thought they would have more specifics to make their point. >> that was not all about specifics, that interview. where you stand is a matter of where you sit. the head of this business is not going to want defense spending to be cut at all. but it's stunning to see him not have an answer. when you raised historical comparisons and made the point that we have been here before, the republican presidents have cut defense spending. before that chart, go back to eisenhower, nixon, when we have fewer wars, we spend less on defense. and defense contractors aren't going to like that. that's not news to anybody. >> a lot of the numbers, too -- it's frustrating, he says the cuts are big. that's because we were projected to have lots of increases in spending. >> this is what lobbyists always cry about. t

but first, let's get back to new york with some of the other key headlines around the world with john avlonohn? >> reporter: thanks, erin. we begin with the latest in the aurora, colorado shooting rampage. a judge is barring cameras. the 24-year-old suspect is in court again monday when prosecutors are expected to file formal charges for the attack that killed 12 people and injured 58. >>> we're also learning more about the suspected gunman's bobby trapped apartment. a source who viewed the video from inside the apartment tells cnn it contained more than 30 home made green mads and ten gallons of gasoline meant to harm or kill anyone who entered. cnn's ed lavandera is "outfront" in aurora, colorado. ed? >> reporter: hi, john. we learned today that the judge in this case who is overseeing the criminal part of james holmes' criminal case has it moves forward, he did allow cameras in the courtroom as we documented and you saw yesterday for his initial hearing. but that judge has now made the decision the next time james holmes appears in a courtroom here in colorado, the cameras will not be al

joining us now is john avlon, michael walden and hogan kinley. john, let me start with our strike team question independent political analysts. we polled them and said is mitt romney hurting himself politically by only releasing two years. everybody 100%. you obviously voted. why so certain? >> this isn't subtle. the reality is left, right or center, unless you're on the romney campaign payroll, i think you see that this is a bad decision to stone wall this. because either you'll keep on taking hits because it doesn't pass the common sense smell test or you'll kill people with kindness, put it all out there and use to make a positive argument. blaine offense always beats plain defense. but this doesn't add up for the campaign at all. >> i promised to make a point here that this isn't just democrats calling for this. take a listen. >> he should release the tax returns tomorrow. it's crazy. you've got to release six, eight, ten years of back tax returns. take the hit for a day or two. >> if there was nothing there, he would say have at it. so someth

john avlon is a cnn contributor and also writes for "newsweek" and "the daily beast." good morning, carol. >> so is rush limbaugh right? are we dealing with something new in 2012? >> well, i don't think there's anything new under the sun in politics, but what rush limbaugh is alluding to this race is going to get uglier and more nasty and when he says romney needs to do to obama what he previously did to gingrich and santorum. that's a specific prescription. for example, in florida, when romney was trying to beat back newt gingrich's surge in south carolina, he outspent him 5-1. and 92% of the ads in the last week were negative. that's what rush limbaugh is encouraging mitt romney to do, to go negative and to use a financial advantage to try, to you know, look, politics ain't beanbag but that's the prescription rush limbaugh is saying mitt romney needs to follow. i think additionally, you know, it's not just an issue of going negative. i think mitt romney needs to lay out a compelling vision for what he would do as president, not simple police attack president obama. t

i'm john avlon in for erin burnett who's an assignment.s we care about. one of the worst droughts to plague to united states in more than five decades is taking a huge toll on this year's corn crops. nine counties in eight states have been designated as primary natural disaster areas due to losses by excessive heat. the dotted line shows the average percentage rate of corn crop rates. this is a dramatic decline that could impact your wallet. 75% of what's found on grocery store shelves contains corn. >>> a military official tells cnn's barbara starr seven army soldiers and two marines will receive nonjudicial punishment while in colombia as part of president obama's security team. the nine are not being charged with criminal offenses. nonjudicial punishment refers to things like confinement to quarters or loss of rank or pay. though never publicly confirmed, some personnels were believe to have been involved in pursuing prostitutes. >>> ben bernanke was back on the hill today. lastly the like time he will face representative ron paul who h