larry gersten joins us to talk about laws on the book as it applies to controlling violence.ry, obviously, moments after the shooting happened the talk of gun control. some people said it was too soon to talk about it. some said, it's too late to talk about it. where do we stand as far as the laws and governing what's going on? >> it's one of these things where, you know, virtually any government can do something about gun control if they want to. the question is really, you know, what do you do? how do you do it? lawmakers -- generally speaking, this thing gets very touchy, very, very quickly. so, people have to think twice about what they're going to do. remember, we've got the supreme court that will always serve as the referee, if you will, when there's a debate between someone who says we've got to watch out for the public good and someone else who says, well, we have the right to own guns, as we know from the second amendment. that's when the court will step in and say, you know, this is okay, this isn't okay. but it's touchy, no question about it. >> what's interesting

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nbc bay area political analyst larry gersten joins us., what those special funds are. >> yeah. i think that's where we start. special funds are accounts, various accounts set up for programs that allow the money to be spent only for designated projects. california has a recycling program. it gets its money from deposits we put on bottles and cans. that money can be only used for recycling and conservation projects. that's it. multiply that very narrow, specific program times 500 and suddenly you find yourselves with all kinds of different programs designated for specific spending. that's all the money can be used for. that's it. so it's actually designed to promote transparency. we want people to know where the money's coming from, where it's going, no place else. >> right. that often makes people feel more comfortable about having their tax dollars go into a fund. but when we hear $2.3 billion, i wouldn't lose a chunk of change like that. i find it hard to believe that there is a good explanation for losing $2.3 billion. >> yeah, $54 mil

larry gersten, thanks. that's just a glimpse into his brilliance. insight any time on nbcbayarea.com. >>> now, mexicans are voting for a new president today, speaking of elections, a lot on the line for mexican's war on drugs and the impact it has along our southern border. we get a report from nbc's mark potter. >> reporter: the murders this week of three federal police officers allegedly shot by two fellow officers smuggling cocaine at mexico city airport have brought the drug war to the forefront. days before the mexican presidential election. president calderon's six-year war against traffickers has cost an estimated 55,000 lives. >> people here are so upset with all the violence. they're sick and tired of being afraid in their own homes. >> reporter: all the presidential candidates, including the clear front-runner, vowed to reduce the violence. but that could mean easing up to drug cartels to focus more on street crime. >> people are fed up with the war. and he's a politician and he will feel it's time to move on and, perhaps, look at this who

for more let's bring in nbc bay area political analyst larry gersten.g that happens in california, that proposition way of doing business. we have lawmakers. they make laws. but we can make laws, too. >> they don't like to make a lot of hard ones. we'll put it off to the voters. it's all about state ballot propositions. most are initiatives. there are a few others. most are initiatives. created by reformers about 100 years ago to overcome the grip that powerful interests had over legislature. sounds like a good idea. >> go ahead. >> they believed if people collected signatures, you know, usually about 5% of the voters in the last election, that then they could go put the issue on the ballot and get around that gridlock that the legislature was suffering. sounds all good in principle. >> right. then all of a sudden, you have a lot of laws and a lot of things making it onto the ballot. i think sometimes they're really complicated issues that you have to understand in order to decide. you know, that question on the way out of the grocery store, don't you c

we bring in nbc bay area's political analyst larry gersten, we know they get the money here but they don't really spend the money here. >> obama has raised $73 million in california and romney a pal try $21 million and yes, very little of it is going to come here. we know california is going to vote for obama, no secret here come november. just like we know that texas will vote for romney. we can tell how about 40 or 41 of the states are going to go right now. but it's the rest. we call them swing states. those are the ones where the real action occurs. so they scoop up all the money here and spend it in places like nevada, colorado, ohio, pennsylvania, virginia, north carolina and of course florida. in those states, you are seeing ads nonstop on the network televisions every day and night, like crazy. >> larry, this election has such a different tone, such a different tenor and feeling than the last one, the public more restless, it has to do with the economy and ambivalence on the people's part? >> a little bit of everything, the sluggish economy has left millions of americans with