joining me to talk about this issue is one of the senators who sponsored that legislation, pat toomey. >> thanks for having me. >> let me ask -- would that gun control legislation that you and senator manchin introduced would that have prohibited dylann roof from purchasing the handgun that he used in this massacre? >> from what little i know i think the answer is probably not. the reason jake is i believe that he was never adjudicated as mentally incapacitated from this point of view nor did he have a criminal record that would have forbid it. so it's entirely possible that he still would have been able to obtain a weapon. >> the overwhelming jors of the american people, 86% of the public in a recent cnn poll support your legislation, your idea to expand background checks but i have to ask, can you point to a shooting that expanded background checks might have prevented? >> i think that the case of the virginia tech case may have been one, where had the information about his mental state been made available, that might have made a difference jake. i would have to double-check on that

. >>> united states senator pat toomey is proposing a fix to the national crime victims fund. >> thiscomes weeks after the nbc 10 investigators exposed millions meant for crime victims spent on congressional pet projects. mitch blacher found this affects victims from battered women to sexually abused children. >> reporter: the national crime victims fund has collected billions from criminals. its restitution and fines meant to help victims and meant to help child advocates like those at mission kids child advocacy center in montgomery county. >> we get about $40,000 from the crime victims fund. >> reporter: is that enough? >> in my opinion that is not enough. >> reporter: abby newman runs the center one of 23 in pennsylvania. the nonprofit is a state place for sexually or physically abused children to tell their stories. this is the place where money from the crime victims fund is supposed to go but as the nbc 10 investigators first told you, congress capped how much of the money is released. we also showed you how what's left over can be used on things like a grammy museum and premiu

senator pat toomey joins us. you're watching morning joe. we'll be right back.ou total your brand new car. nobody's hurt,but there will still be pain. it comes when your insurance company says they'll only pay three-quarters of what it takes to replace it. what are you supposed to do, drive three-quarters of a car? now if you had liberty mutual new car replacement, you'd get your whole car back. i guess they don't want you driving around on three wheels. smart. with liberty mutual new car replacement, we'll replace the full value of your car. see car insurance in a whole new light. liberty mutual insurance. >>> so mika following up on your swastika question. we've gone to ebay and can you find a nazi german swastika. 24 karat gold plated coin. you can see world war ii hitler nazi stamp. look at this multicolored stone art -- >> that's sweet they're not going to do the confederate flag. >> they're not going to do the confederate flag but they have swastikas for sale all over ebay. huh? that's interesting. >> yeah it's really interesting. i think it kind of just d

pennsylvania republican senator pat toomey joined democratic west virginia senator joe manchin to try to strengthen background check rules for gun buyers. they failed then. toomey wants to try again especially in the wake of what's happened in charleston. >> i'm not going to give up on this. background checks isn't gun control. it's common sense. >> toomey does not think there are enough votes to pass such a measure. >>> a bill allowing students opt out of standardized tests is on the way to the governor's desk. the bill would allow parents to have their children skip annual state assessment without any penalty. governor markell has already said he'll veto it. >>> all hands on deck. >> plan for the worst, hope for the best. >> hospitals in our area are telling us that they've been planning for the pope for more than a year now. this morning, how a recent tragedy helped them get ready. >>> clouds overhead not too many showers around this morning. just a few in the area. right now it's 69 degrees at 5:37. there is some rainfall on the way that could be turning heavy. we'll go through th

senator pat toomey's office says it's offering assistance to the company here. i reached out to the governor's office. they, too, say they're aware of the situation and also working with state police to monitor this location. reporting live in the lehigh valley deanna durante, "nbc10 news." >> thank you. >>> this morning more than two full days after a severe storm blew through our region thousands are still without power. we just checked within the last half hour. here are the latest numbers for you. peco says nearly 17,000 customers don't have electric. ac electric has the most, nearly 84,000. pse & g crews tell us 2500 customers are affected and 178 delmarva customers are still without power. monique braxton joins us. do you have an update on peco's operations? >> reporter: we reached out and asked them their one area of focus. this is where they told us to come. we are on the southbound stretch of route 1 between thornton and schoolhouse road. it is completely shut down on the southbound side. peco says more than 242,000 customers lost power wednesday. since

has renewed calls for more gun control after the 2012 sandy hook shooting pennsylvania senator pat toomey joined senator joe manchin in trying to strengthen background check rules for gun buyers. they failed then. today, toomey says he would like to try again. >> we're not going to give up on this. this is the right thing to do. to me background checks isn't gun control. it's just common sense. >> he says right now, he does not think there are enough votes to pass such a measure. >>> elsewhere, brush fires are spreading in santa clarita california just outside of los angeles. more than 400 firefighters are battling the flames which popped up yesterday afternoon. at least one firefighter was hurt. so far, more than 350 acres are scorched and more than 1,000 residents are out of their homes. the cause of this fire is under investigation. >>> severe weather strikes our area as it did this week, it helps to be prepared. >> we have a playbook to help you get ready. >> nbc 10 first alert meteorologist brittany schipp joins us. >> reporter: any day there's a chance of severe storms means the pos

senator pat toomey wants to quadruple funds for those groups in pennsylvania. >>> from our delaware bureau saving students from suicide. the governor signed a bill relating to suicide prevention in schools. house bill 90 requires all public school employees to receive 90 minutes of training every year on suicide prevention. every school must also establish a suicide prevention committee and policies. >>> the battle between the new owner of atlantic city's former revel casino and a local power company is cooling down for now. a federal judge approved a deal between glenn strong's polo north country club and acr energy partners. the agreement will keep power flowing to the former revel building for the near future. a back and forth battle over utility services prevented him from reopening revel. >>> an important heads-up to commuters traveling around center city philly this week. i-676, the vine street expressway will close in both directions between 11:00 at night and 5:00 a.m. for the next three weeks. penndot is working on overhead bridges there, replacing the 18th 19th 20th 21st and 22nd

members of the senate are going to be nervous -- >> specifically rob portman, kelly ayotte and pat toomey>> i think some democrats may be nervous about taking this vote. >> for the 2016 senate map, there is a real concern for republicans in particular given the seats that are up for grabs. that they don't want to wait. this is reporting from reputable news outlets, that they don't want to wade into social issues like this or have mitch mcconnell bring it to a vote on the senate floor in advance of 2016. >> this season the a floor vote they want to take. they're all on the record supporting this. >> yes. >> it's bad if you do if you don't. it's top line it's late term i get all that. you talk to lindsey graham about this. can you choose to do that or not do that. >> lindsey graham is staking out all kinds of political positions. >> he looks at the polling and thinks it makes it okay. if you talk to republicans, not necessarily political republicans who are looking at different races in different states. you talk to different anti-abortion activists in general. they're more than willing to

and remember one other thing that mcconnell is trying to protect people like mark kirk and pat toomey who are going to be up next year in very blue states. so he can't verge that far to the right. this presidential campaign is an enormous series of ongoing headaches for mcconnell. >> as an additional fact here, i cannot remember a more incompetent performance by a majority leader than mcconnell to be totally frustrated and i think he does not understand the role. when you take leadership in a legislative body, you're making a tradeoff. you are increasing your authority and your power in general. but you are no longer a free acting individual. you do have to take into account the views of your membership. what mcconnell tried to do here was to use the power of the majority leadership to force through a view that he holds that much much is a minority view in the body he's leading. and the result was a disaster. and that is a fundamental misunderstanding of the role of leadership in a legislative body. yes, you have more authority, and you get to say more, but there are limits. and you c

i get the feeling, you know how pat toomey went on gun control just far enough without offending thening up for better kind of background checks. will she attempt to position herself left enough while giving herself room to get back to the center for the general. >> i hope that's what she hopes to do. isn't that what every candidate -- >> romney couldn't do it. >> but he wanted to do it. he wanted to go far enough and the goal kept getting pushed a little farther down. >> is that happening now? the bernie sanders and de blasios saying unless you're willing to come out against the trade bill break up the banks, carry the interest all the big standards, unless you do that you're not one of us? >> the goal posts are moving. the longer she doesn't stake out clear positions the more the left of the party that's really energized will push for her to take positions that are agreeable to them. >> what is the left wing standard, to do things that really bothers the establishment? what is bernie sanders -- for the bell to ring for him on the stump, he has to say something that no other liberal

. >> that's why we were hoping senator toomey would be here. >> maybe pat will show up too. seriously, great to see you, bob. thanks for coming. this is great. >> i want to thank the chairman and the ranking nobody give me this opportunity to introduce david shapira. mr. chairman you read -- or you highlight the some of his business background. and that's i think one of the most significant parts of his record and resume. i won't dwell on the details of his background. but i do want to say something about his character. i think that's what i'll start with. we all know the challenges of being in lekted service. appointed public service comes with challenges as well. the process itself is substantial challenge and i'm always amazed and gratified that we have people willing to put themselves forward for public service even though the process to get there to be confirmed or

the fact that we have joe manchin and pat toomey talking about it is an interesting development. what we saw last time they brought this up was the political prospect is difficult. there's a lot of opposition in congress, although generally the american people seem to support background checks in polling. we'll see whether it gets any further now than it did in past efforts. >> couple of reactions on twitter here. jay is saying that there's probably change like you're talking about david graham, because of greater awareness of hate due to greater mass media. and then rick on twitter says, "the kansas caller says it is a symbol, and he is correct. it is a symbol of hate. full stop." tampa, florida kenneth independent. good morning. >> caller: yes, good morning, greta. how are you? >> doing well sir. what's your question, your thoughts this morning? >> caller: yes. i'm a retired veteran. and what i look at when it comes to the rebel flag because i -- i originally am from south carolina is it don't bother me to see the flag because once i see the flag i know where that person stands

we honored senator pat toomey for his work two years ago on the background checks bill as well as debbie stabenow. senator stabenow, of course, has been a great advocate for increasing resources in our mental health system. as wonderful a night as it was to honor these champions of change, it also was a night in which we were reminded about that terrible, terrible morning in december of 2012. we watched a short video of the news coverage and we listened to parents of daniel barden and dylan hockley the husband of mary sherlock talk to us about what their lives have been like in the years since that shooting in sandy hook. and i remember the hours and days after the shooting. i remember feeling like i needed to be really restrained about talking about the obvious policy issues to me that were due for airing that sort of tumbled out of the facts surrounding that tragedy. i mean, this kid this really troubled young man who walked into a school with a semiautomatic weapon that's designed for the military and he shot 20 kids in less than five minutes. and the gun designed for the military des

we welcome pat toomey. he has a few words of support as well. >> i do. thank you very much, chairman johnson and ranking member carper. i appreciate you giving me this chance. apologize that i was not here at the beginning but, you know, there is a rule in the senate that requires conflicting simultaneous scheduled meetings. but it's a pleasure for me to be here and to just say a few words on behalf of mr. shapira with respect to his nominee to be a governor of the u.s. postal service. i'll be brief. let me just say the postal service and the united states are very, very fortunate that a man of his accomplishments and capabilities is willing to serve in this capacity. i am delighted that he's willing to do this. we will benefit enormously from his wisdom, his experience and the very hard work that i know he'll do here. i think mr. shapira was way too modest in describing his accomplishments in building giant eagle. it has become a very, very large business, employing tens of thousands of people and really doing great work. he developed a terrific range o

we welcome pat toomey. he has a few words of support as well. >> i do. thank you very much, chairman johnson and ranking member carper. i appreciate you giving me this chance. apologize that i was not here at the beginning but you know, there is a rule in the senate that requires conflicting simultaneous scheduled meetings. but it's a pleasure for me to be here and to just say a few words on behalf of mr. shapira with respect to his nominee to be a governor of the u.s. postal service. i'll be brief. let me just say the postal service and the united states are very very fortunate that a man of his accomplishments and capabilities is willing to serve in this capacity. i am delighted that he's willing to do this. we will benefit enormously from his wisdom his experience and the very hard work that i know he'll do here. i think mr. shapira was way too modest in describing his accomplishments in building giant eagle. it has become a very, very large business, employing tens of thousands of people and really doing great work. he developed a terrific range of e

we honored senator pat toomey for his work two years ago on the background checks bill as well as debbietabenow. senator stabenow, of course, has been a great advocate for increasing resources in our mental health system. as wonderful a night as it was to honor these champions of change, it also was a night in which we were reminded about that terrible, terrible morning in december of 2012. we watched a short video of the news coverage and we listened to parents of daniel barden and dylan hockley the husband of mary sherlock talk to us about what their lives have been like in the years since that shooting in sandy hook. and i remember the hours and days after the shooting. i remember feeling like i needed to be really restrained about talking about the obvious policy issues to me that were due for airing that sort of tumbled out of the facts surrounding that tragedy. i mean, this kid this really troubled young man who walked into a school with a semiautomatic weapon that's designed for the military and he shot 20 kids in less than five minutes. and the gun designed for the military desig

and as joe mentioned, and pat toomey showed you can get to the middle on this.ive congress the backbone, and who's responsible for that is the voters. you can't say, as the president did, as long as the nra has a grip on congress we can't pass it. it's our job to break the nra's grip on congress. i was endorsed by the nra eight times in vermont. but they've moved so far to the extreme right that i'm embarrassed by that. they are a trouble-making group of people who feed extremism. we ought not to allow that any further. >> howard dean ron christie, i appreciate you both. good to see you guys. >>> still ahead, more from the a.m.e. church in charleston and the healing service there. i'll talk to the pastor of the second presbyterian church that is just blocks away from emmanuel. audible safety beeping audible safety beeping audible safety beeping the nissan rogue with safety shield technologies. the only thing left to fear is you imagination. nissan. innovation that excites. welcome to fort green sheets. welcome to castle bravestorm. it's full of cool stuff, like.

. >> that's why we were hoping senator toomey would be here. >> maybe pat will show up, too. seriously, great to see you, bob. thanks for coming. this is great. >> i want to thank the chairman and the ranking member for giving me this opportunities to introduce david shapira. mr. chairman, you read -- or you highlight the some of his business background. and that's i think one of the most significant parts of his record and resume. i won't dwell on the details of his background. but i do want to say something about his character. i think that's what i'll start with. we all know the challenges of being in elected public service. appointed public service comes with challenges as well. the process itself is substantial challenge and i'm always amazed and gratified that we have people willing to put themselves forward for public service even though the process to get there to be confirmed or even to be considered is challenging. i think that's -- the fact that david is willing to do this is an

pat toomy, the governor tried legislation in 2013. they fell a couple votes short and it collapsed. senator toomey saying try it again.ewtown once is charleston now the gal v nizing moment we could pass new background checks? part of that conversation was to deal with the mental health aspects. >> you heard people talk about it. if they could carve out something narrow. four republicans voted for the last bill that failed. perhaps this is a gal vonizing issue. it's doubtful. we'll have to see. >> it's going to be difficult because you need in this congress republican control to have the political capitol to push something through. will speaker boehner take this up as a cause? doubtful especially as we approach a presidential election. you see toomey seeking out the votes. are the votes there? >> they all voted no. let's see if one of them decide to change the debate here. let me try to get ahead. i don't see it happening, but it will be interesting if a republican says take it with the bill address concerns. we'll keep an eye on that. a poll out in the state of new hampshire, we have seen this. when you announce your