. >> sandy and lonny phillips are here from colorado. >> reporter: martin o'mally introducing a couple who took on that fight head-on and lost. >> they were slapped with $200,000 in court fees because of the way that the nra gets its way in our congress and we take a back seat. >> from the moment we got the down. and they've never righted. they've never come back to a norm. >> reporter: sandy and lonny phillips lost their 24-year-old daughter jessica when james holmes unleashed a hail of bullets in a darkened movie theater in aurora, colorado in 2012. >> they left a five-inch hole in my daughter's face. a five-inch hole. that was one of six wounds to my daughter. that's what these bullets do to human flesh. >> reporter: last year the phillips sued the companies that supplied holmes with his deadly ammunition and protective body armor. >> it should bother everyone in our country that somebody, anybody, can go online and buy 4,000 rounds of steel-jacketed ammo without any i.d., without any background check. >> reporter: but a judge in denver not only dismissed their case, but made them r

sandy and lonnie phillips are here from colorado.jessie was one of those who lost their lives in that awful mass shooting in aurora. now, to try to transform their grief, they went to court where sometimes progress does happen when you file in court, but in this case you want to talk about a rigged game, senator? the game was rigged. a man had sold 4,000 rounds of military ammunition to this person that killed their daughter riddled her body with five bullets and he didn't even ask where it was going. not only did their case get thrown out of court, they were slapped with $200,000 in court fees because of the way that the nra gets its way in our congress and we take a back seat. >> he just mentioned their names, and here they are joining me from las vegas, sandy and lonnie phillips, following their daughter jessica's death in aurora, they have made it their life's mission to travel the country and make progress on gun violence prevention. thank you both for joining me. welcome. >> thank you. >> thank you for having us. >> before we g

[cheers and applause] there is a couple with us here tonight, and they are sandy and lonnie phillips. jessiest their daughter, , in the incident in aurora, colorado. it is unfathomable. courage andthere their resolve, because they set out to transform the grief of their daughters off into real action and they went to court. true story. they wanted to hold accountable those who recklessly armed a mass murderer by selling him 4000 rounds of ammunition. no questions asked. they said the man that so that ammunition in the attack, and what happened when they went to court? case thrown out of court, then they were slapped with $200,000 in court costs. why? because of the special immunity to lawsuits that the nra managed to muscle out of our own congress. it does not have to be this way. congress should work for us, not for the nra. [cheers and applause] lives, weley: to save know what to do. common sense tells us what to do. to save lives and must require universal background checks. we must ban the sale of combat assault weapons. we must use the buying power of our own federal government,

joining me now, sandy and lonnie phillips. they are the parents of jessica gowy, one of those killed in aurora, 1 of 12 people killed in the theater massacre three years ago. they are now violence prevention activists. thank you both for joining me once again to talk to us. >> thank you for having us. >> absolutely. i know you still grieve. and i cannot imagine when you see or hear a headline of a mass shooting, lonnie, that you don't instantly go to that place you were when you heard that something had happened at the theater where your daughter was. >> we go to that place immediately. it takes us to our knees. and you have nothing but empathy and sympathy for those who are going through what you have already gone through. and then you get angry, very angry, that we're not moving this ball forward, that we're not changing things at a national level. we certainly are at a state level, but not at a national level. >> lonnie, when you hear the conversation, the president says he anticipates being criticized for being "political"

o'malley: there is a couple with us here tonight, and they are sandy and lonnie phillips.lost their daughter, jessie, in the incident in -- in the mass murder that occurred in aurora, colorado. they are here tonight. what they have endured is unfathomable. so, too, is their courage and their resolve, because they set out to transform the grief of their daughter's loss into real action and they went to court. true story. they wanted to hold accountable those who recklessly armed a mass murderer by selling him 4000 rounds of ammunition. no questions asked. they said the man that so that -- they sued the man that sold that ammunition in the attack, and what happened when they went to court? not only did the case thrown out -- did the phillips case get thrown out of court, then they were slapped with $200,000 in court costs. why? because of the special immunity to lawsuits that the nra managed to muscle out of our own congress. it does not have to be this way. congress should work for us, not for the nra. [cheers and applause] gov. o'malley: to save lives, we know what to do.

[ cheers and applause ] there is a couple with us here tonight, iowa, and they are sandy and lonnie phillipsy lost their daughter jessie in the mass murder that occurred in aurora, colorado. and they're here with us tonight and now what they have endured is unfathomable. but so, too, is their courage and their resolve. because they set out to transform the grief of their daughter's loss into real action and they went to court. true story, to hold accountable those who recklessly arm add mass murderer by selling him 4,000 rounds of ammunition no questions asked. they sued the man that sold that ammunition in the attack and what happened when they went to court? not only did the phillips' case get thrown out of court but then they were slapped with $200,000 in court costs. why? because of a special immunity to lawsuits that the nra managed to mull out of our own congress. it doesn't have to be this way. congress should work for us, not for the nra. [ cheers and applause ] to save lives we know what to do. common sense tells us what to do. to save lives we must require universal background chec

sandy and lonnie phillips are here from colorado. their lives in that awful mass shooting in aurora. now, to try to transform their grief, they went to court where sometimes progress does happen when you file in court, but in this case you want to talk about a rigged game, senator, the game was rigged. a man had sold 4,000 rounds of military ammunition to this person that killed their daughter, riddled her body with five bullets and he didn't ask where it was going. not only was the case thrown out of court, they were slapped with $200,000 in court fees because of the way that the nra gets its way in our congress and we take a back seat. it's time to stand up and pass comprehensive gun safety legislation. >> senator sanders, i want you to be able to respond. 30 seconds. >> i think the governor gave a very good example about the weaknesses in that law. and i think we have to take another look at it. but here is the point, governor. we can raise our voices. but i come from a rural state and the views on gun control in rural states are

guns come from, they're the states with the most lax rules when it comes to purchases and lonnie and sandy phillipse. they called us and said we want to be there. our daughter was killed in aurora. we want to transform this loss of ours into a greater awareness. we need to do something about this as a people. >> that was a poignant people. >> very good people. >> didn't that shooter pass a background check? >> they didn't even ask. 4,000 rounds of ammunition. the online gun store sold this man 4,000 rounds of ammunition, six of which made their way through the phillips daughter's body and killed her and without even asking. >> you would like to see gun shop owners ask more questions of everyone who comes in to buy ammo and guns. >> i think it's ridiculous. look at the things we've done. one guy has a failed shoe bomb attempt and we all have to line up at the airports and take off our shoes. and look at the people that are being murdered in our country by guns, again and again and again. what's our response to that? we should be asking questions and not just making it so easy tore people to buy comb