well, we have easy access to semiautomatic weapons in this country, semiautomatic rifles. a good society that does this, allows it? a country where anyone can get ahold of a rifle that can kill 26 people in ten minutes. is this a good society? is it really a free society when you can't be sure your kids are safe sitting at their school desks? i ask the questions knowing the only way we can end this is with the votes of politicians from deer hunting country, not from the big cities. will they be there? will politicians who fear the gun lobby bear up under the strain of attack against any measure, no matter how small, to curb the power of the gun owners? the question tonight, what should and, most importantly, can be done to stop this kind of gun violence? and if nothing will work, say it. go ahead, say nothing can be done. i want to hear an american elected official tonight or any night say what happened on friday in newtown, connecticut, is just part of living in the free society of america. chuck todd is nbc's chief white house correspondent and political director, and ch

if you want to ban all semiautomatic guns, let's talk about that.st guns owned by americans are semiautomatic. >> what is the purpose of an ar-15? >> it's like a hunting rifle that cosmetically on the outside looks like a military weapon. but look -- >> how many bullets can it fire a second? >> there's a reason -- >> answer my question. how many bullets can it fire a second? >> i'm going to answer your other question. >> wait, you will not downgrade what these weapons do. >> you wouldn't let me finish before. >> how many bullets does the ar-15 fire a second? >> the point -- >> it's been used in your last three mass shootings. stwr the question. >> you never let me finish. >> you going to answer or not? >> i'll answer the first question, then the second one. the reason why you have a semiautomatic weapon. take the alternative. if i had a bullet-action rifle to manually load it, with two criminals coming at me. it may be too late to load the second one. what happens if i fire a shot and i miss? >> how many bullets per second? >> the point is -- >> can

anybody can buy one, a semiautomatic, call it what you want. the bottom line is you can pull the trigger and the bullets keep pumping out. any imbecile can do it. society decided that was considered carrying a musket. that was just like a guy that took ten minutes to load up a musket. part of a militia. so a bunch of guys together could defend their community. that's been transformed to anybody can own a fricking bazooka and walk around. >> it has become tied up with this idea of land of the free. that we have the right to do these things. now, i would say, you mention in the ammunition used in this shooting was one of these high round ammunitions. from 19 -- >> and also explosive bullets. >> from 1994 to 2004, those sorts -- anything that carried more than ten rounds was banned under the assault weapons act. the question is what does a comprehensive plan look like? chuck is right, the president -- you can't give a speech like that and then just say, okay, fiscal cliff or just move -- he has to do something. the question is does he do something

an ar-15 semiautomatic rifle. america with more gun stores than grocery stores. tonight, eyewitnesses tell me what they saw when they started. i talk a gun advocate who says there should have been more guns in that mall. and the mother of the aurora, colorado, victims, who thinks the opposite. and talks about guns, north korea's nuclear threat. and the man at both sides of the gun debate, mark kelly. >> president obama hasn't really addressed the gun issue at all. >> this is piers morgan tonight. good evening. our big story tonight, america armed. a day after another gun outrage, a young 22-year-old shoots up a mall of christmas shoppers in oregon. here's the statistics. there's more than 129,000 federally licensed firearms dealers in this country. that's according to the bureau of alcohol and tobacco. there's 16,000 grocery stores and 14,000 mcdonald's restaurants. far more places to buy guns in america than groceries or burgers. 47,856 people murdered by firearms between 2006 and 2010. two more murdered in clackamas center. and it could have been worse. thousan

this was legally purchased by nancy lanza, why would she need a semiautomatic? and what the laws are around acquiring one? >> well, the laws are that you could acquire it. there had been a ban in place that michigan during the clinton administration. but it was allowed to expire and it's not been renewed. anyone that can buy a pistol can buy one of these weapons. that bush master .223, that's the same caliber our military carried in vietnam and since it's used in the m-16 and m-4 automatic rifles. in this case, you would have to keep pulling the trigger, but you can fire as many bullets as quickly as you can pull the trigger with that gun and the two handguns. >> and for the benefit of our viewers, who are not familiar with guns. the term semiautomatic means you keep pulling the trigger, you don't hold it down once, but you don't have to do something to shoot again. >> that's correct. and in the case of a semiautomatic pistol, the bullets are fed in through a magazine and they can range in size from seven or eight rounds to 15 rounds. the two guns you've been sh

one of which was a bushmaster semiautomatic assault rifle.olice say adam lanza drove to sandy hook elementary school arriving around 9:30. unable to gain entry through the main entry, he broke through a window and that's when police say his shooting rampage began. in total 20 children were killed as well as six adults. there were also two surviving adult victims. police say adam lanza turned a gun on himself when he heard and first saw the responders coming onto the scene. three guns were recovered from inside the school. there they are. one handgun was left in lanza's car. we're joined by nbc national investigative correspondent michael isikoff in newtown, connecticut. michael, thanks so much for joining us. we've only got about three minutes for your presentation, so run through what you think is salient, what you have been able to put together about the motive and the method of this killer. >> well, first of all, chris, about motive, we are still clueless. he didn't have any connection to the school at all. he may have gone there as a chil

it looks similar to the m-16 on the outside, but it's semiautomatic.ne bullet gets fired per pull of the trigger. so this legal version takes ten to 15 seconds to fire off 30 rounds. some ar-15 style rifles were covered under the ban on semiautomatic assault weapons that joe biden wrote and that expired in 2004. but not all of them. we know so little about the ar-15 style rifle used in the massacre of 26 people at sandy hook elementary, it's unclear if it would have been covered. these bans are technical and complicated. and often contain many loopholes. this is the difficult political terrain to which the president now treads. but he said that's where he's headed. >> if we are not getting right, the need to keep our children safe, then nothing else matters. >> reporter: this is jake tapper for "nightline" at the white house. >> thanks to jake for that. >>> as we say good night this evening, nine "nightline" teams are imbedding in various locations across the country for a special edition -- a day in the life of the american gun. make sure you tune in

>> it's a semiautomatic gun that looks like a military weapon. if you want to ban all semiautomatic guns, fine, let's talk about that. >> what's the purpose of an ar-15? >> it's like a hunting rifle that is cosmetically on the outside looks like a military weapon. >> how many bullets can it fire a second? how many bullets can it fire a second? answer my question. >> i'm going to answer your first question. >> you will not downgrade what these weapons do. how many -- answer the simple question. >> the point of the semiautomatic -- >> how many bullets does it fire in a second? used in the last three mass shootings. answer the question. are you going to answer or not? >> i'll answer your first question, and then i'll answer your second question. the reason you have a semiautomatic weapon is because, take the alternative. if i were to have a bolt-action rifle where i have to manually load it, and i have two criminals coming at me. i can fire one bullet and then it's going to take me a second to load it again. what happens if i fire and it misses? >>

. >> it is a semiautomatic gun that looks like a military weapon.t guns owned by americans are semiautomatic. >> it is like a hunting rifle that on the outside looks like a military weapon. but look. >> how many bullets can et fire in a second. >> i'm answering your first question. >> no wait. you will not downgrade what these weapons do. >> you wouldn't let me finish before. >> how many bullets does it fire a second? >> the point -- sir, you have to let me finish. >> do you want to anner? >> i'm going to answer your first question and then i'll answer the second question. the reason why you have a semiautomatic weapon. if i have to manually load it. i have two criminals coming at me. i have to load the first bullet and then i have to load the second. what happens if i fire a shot and i miss? >> how many bullets does it fire in a second. >> the place can't be there all the time. the police can't be there all the time. >> are you going to answer my question. >> you how many bullets can it fire in a second. >> i think your estimate is high. >> it can

guns are semiautomatic.r society. it's not going to stop people from hunting or defending themselves but it will stop somebody from being able to walk into a classroom of kids and kill his mom -- >> you just have watched the president today when he spoke with such emotion. he's such a cool guy. we know that. yet today he had to stop himself for almost a minute before he could continue talking. i think he was overwhelmed by the message he had to deliver in front of all those cameras. we've been struck by one of our own. one of our own has killed 28 people that would have been alive tonight having dinner and enjoying friday night. it's a fact. being with their families, and he had to say that to the country, that this is a nationally important issue. how do you get across the fact that this isn't just the kind of thing that has to happen. it's the kind of thing that might not happen if you do the right thing as politicians, including the president. >> well, i would say to the president there are politicians ou

these are semiautomatic weapons, and there is a lot of confusion.st was saying this is not an automatic weapon. you have to understand what it does. it doesn't require the trigger go -- that the hammer go all the way back and you squeeze again really hard. the triggers are very sensitive. you just pulse the finger. you can get off three to five rounds in one second. >> there is a difference between the power of a automatic and the ar-15s if they have the right equipment. that's the reality. we'll be right back. ht from us . so, i'm happy. sales go up... i'm happy. it went out today... i'm happy. what if she's not home? (together) she won't be happy. use ups! she can get a text alert, reroute... even reschedule her package. it's ups my choice. are you happy? i'm happy. i'm happy. i'm happy. i'm happy. i'm happy. happy. happy. happy. happy. (together) happy. i love logistics. sfx- "sounds of african drum and flute" look who's back. again? it's embarrassing it's embarrassing! we can see you carl. we can totally see you. come on you're better than this.

these are semiautomatic weapons, and there is a lot of confusion. saying this is not an automatic weapon. you have to understand what it does. it doesn't require the trigger go -- that the hammer go all the way back and you squeeze again really hard. the triggers are very sensitive. you just pulse the finger. you can get off three to five rounds in one second. >> there is a difference between the power of a automatic and the ar-15s if they have the right equipment. that's the reality. we'll be right back. a hybrid? most are just no fun to drive. now, here's one that will make you feel alive. meet the five-passenger ford c-max hybrid. c-max says ha. c-max says wheeee. which is what you get, don't you see? cause c-max has lots more horsepower than prius v, a hybrid that c-max also bests in mpg. say hi to the all-new 47 combined mpg c-max hybrid. >>> she was the type of person that could light up a room. she always had something kind to say about anybody. her love and the strength she gave us and the example she showed us is remarkable. she is an incre

automatic weapons, but with semiautomatic weapons, sure.oint. we only have tiny areas in the united states where thaw are completely gun-free zones, but time after time, that's the place these criminals go. take the aurora, colorado, movie theater shootings. seven movie theaters within a 20-minute car ride of the killer's apartment. only one that banned guns. he didn't go to the movie theater closest to his home. he didn't go to the movie theater that was largest. the one he went to was the only one that banned guns, and you see that -- >> let me stop you there. let me stop you there. here, again, a case where someone had a semi automatic riffle, how do you know that he chose that because they banned guns? have talked to him? i have not seen anywhere in any transit of anything he has said that he picked it specifically for that. he has not spoken to the media. how do you know that? you don't know that. >> okay. there are two points. one, i don't know in this particular case. he picks one out of seven. only one there, and the point is, every

i think that the founders were as you mentioned just now conceptualizing semiautomatic weapons but i also don't think that they were necessarily thinking that technology wouldn't advance i mean obviously it had gotten to the point where they were able to create a goal that's what jefferson said if you know every twenty years we should reinvent the constitution he said you shouldn't expect a man to wear the clothes that he wore as a boy you know that we grow up and you know the first part of the second amendment says in order to maintain a well regulated militia so let's say the only people who own guns are people who are militia members first let me say it's good to be on the show and secondly we want to extend our prayers and condolences to all of those who are affected by this tragedy we've seen this happen to many times this year so our prayers go out to the parents and to the students and all of the victims but to your point i mean obviously the original intent behind the right to bear arms does not i think allow for people to have semiautomatic weapons people have super clips yo

they are the nation's most popular semiautomatic rifle, similar to the one used in the newtown shootingshas been charged with drunk driving. he was arrested by alexandria police before 1:00 this morning. an officer witnessed him running a red light at m hume and mt. vernon avenues. his office issued a statement saying he was deeply sorry for his actions and would deal with whatever penalty comes his way. the senator is due in court on january 4th. >>> it was a mad rush today to get those last-minute gifts. but in other places getting a lot of businesses is the grocery store. apparently folks are not only interested in fathering around the christmas tree, they're also interested in gathering around the dinner table. surae chinn reports on the quest for preparing that perfect holiday dinner. >> you're real busy here today. >> we want to finish and go home. >> reporter: there's a lot to do before christmas and a lot to cook for. >> we have eight total and cooking for three vegetarians. >> i'm beginning to panic a little bit, but i'm okay. as long as the redskins win today we'll be about. >>

and it's going to ban by name at least 100 military-style semiautomatic assault weapons. and it's going to ban big clips, drums or strips of more than ten bullets. and it's this particular category of weapon which the bushmaster is. it's a killer weapon. you can fire it very quickly. it has very little recoil, very little kick, and it's very high velocity. and it doesn't belong on the streets of our city. and it doesn't belong in a place where a 20-year-old like this particular 20-year-old could get ahold of it and go in and do what he did. and this makes me very angry.

as well as that semiautomatic known as a bushmaster. now, authorities tell us, our sources tell us, those three weapons were, in fact, found next to the shooter's body at the school. one was not in one of the vehicles outside, but all three were with him. they also do know which one he used to kill himself, according to our sources. but they're not ready to reveal that yet, because they consider it an important part of the investigation. also at a news conference today, the medical examiner explained how vicious the attacks were. that the victims were shot at close range. wolf? >> susan, i'm going interrupt, because the governor is speaking right now. dan malloy, the governor of connecticut. >> all of connecticut's people, indeed, the people of the world, weep for the immeasurable losses suffered by the families and loved ones of these victims. though we could all try, when something as senseless as this occurs, there's precious little anyone can say to the families that will lessen the horror and the sense of loss they feel. we could s

semiautomatic rifle, killed 54-year-old cindy ann yuille, and 45-year-old steven forsyth. a third victim, 15-year-old kristina shevchenko was seriously wounded. >> this was a heartbreaking tragedy, by any standard. >> reporter: police are trying to figure out what triggered the brutal attack. unlike other rampages, roberts, they say, did not leave behind signals his life had gone off-course. in fact, he had no history of serious trouble. >> we do not understand the motive of this attack. >> reporter: roberts' ex-girlfriend, hannah sansburn, told abc news that roberts quit his job, sold all his belongings and said he was moving to hawaii. she still has no idea what set him off. >> this was the last thing i would ever have expected. especially from him. he was just too sweet. >> reporter: detectives say roberts made a beeline from his volkswagen jetta, parked in the mall lot, and entered macy's carrying the rifle, which he stole from someone he knew. roberts wore a ballistics vest that carried ammo, and a hockey-style mask. that grisly image, different than the one released

the ar-15 the nation's most popular semiautomatic rifle similar to the weapon used in the newtown shootings washington meanwhile the gun control debate ramped up. on "face the nation" bob schieffer spoke with national rifle association president david keane, the first time the group has spoken since making a statement on friday. >> when you came on television at this news conference friday you seemed to blame the mentally ill. you seemed to blame hollywood. you seemed to blame the media, the video game manufacturers. you did not seem to think that your policies have had anything at all to do with this. >> well, we don't think they have. >> you see no responsibility. >> you know, we're living in a country, a free country which people have a right to exercise their second amendment rights. we're living in a country where in the last few decades as gun ownership has increased, violent crime has fallen. what we have, though, in this country are and in any country, a percentage of people who are frankly either evil or crazy. >> jeff: the nra says existing gun laws are not being enforced. margare

same with the semiautomatic pistol. semiautomatic assault weapons means you squeeze the trigger each time to fire, you can squeeze fast though. >> host: 30 # rounds in ten seconds. with a semiautomatic, you pull it back, and it keeps firing. >> guest: if you have a magazine with a hundred rounds in it the way the shooter did in the movie theater massacre, bathman episode, you can get a lot -- although the magazine jammed so, you know, couldn't get off all hundred rounds -- >> host: like the tucson shooter with gifford, that was a magazine with 31 rounds and got those off in 15 secs probably. >> guest: and prevented -- >> host: when he tried to reload. >> guest: so -- >> host: the brady bill, assault weapons ban -- >> guest: allowed to last. when the momentum behind keeping the ban ran out and president bush was in office -- >> host: instead of bill clinton. .. if you reinstated the ban now it would probably have the same grandfather clause as weapons previously purchased so i think a lot of times liberals, and i call th

it looks similar to the m-16 on the outside, but it's semiautomatic. one bullet gets fired per pull of the trigger. so this legal version takes 10 to 15 seconds to fire off 30 rounds, adding up, potentially, to hundreds of rounds in minutes. and tomorrow, vice president biden will meet with law enforcement officers from all across the country to talk about next steps. we should point out that the fraternal order of police supports reinstating that ban on some semiautomatic rifles, which vice president biden wrote in 1994, but it expired in 2004. diane? >> all right, jake, thank you so much. >>> and no american town, of course, is studying the solutions more urgently than newtown, connecticut, where today, four more of the victims were laid to rest. and we learned that someone is coming out of retirement to help. a woman who knows the children of sandy hook and has agreed to return so that they can heal. abc's linsey davis tells us about her. >> reporter: today, some of the students of sandy hook elementary visited their new school for the first time. p

the shooter chose two semiautomatic pistols and one semiautomatic rifle.se the two deer hunting rifles. it seems to me that the congresswoman is absolutely right, there is a bright line here that we should be able to, you know, hunt. you know, hunters should be able to go about their sport, but there's no need to hunt with a semiautomatic rifle. there's none. >> congressman? >> well, look i'm a concealed carry permit gun holder. i have a glock .23. i'm not the person you need to worry about and there are millions who deal with this properly. it's their second amendment right to do so. but we have to look at the mental health access. >> is there such -- any kind of weapon, any capacity -- >> there are prohibitions -- gun rules are very stringent. there is a lot of conjecture out there that i don't think necessarily would solve this particular problem, and i want to look at anything that we think will solve all the problems, but we have to, i think, look at the mental health aspect. >> we do have to look at the mental health aspect, but the complex problems

do we need semiautomatic rifles to be easily available? that's a worthy debate. and there are strong points on each side. clearly we the people, have to take a tough look at our violent society and find some effective solutions without violating constitutional rights. a very difficult situation, but we have to try. that's a memo. now for the top story, reaction. joinings from phoenix, alan gottlieb, founder of the second amendment foundation, national rifle association, would not provide, would not provide a spokesperson this evening. so do you have any give at all? is there any area that you would compromise as far as new laws making it more difficult to obtain certain weapons? >> first, bill, let me say i thought your talk points were really excellent. >> thank you. >> if you take a look affidavit the data here, we banned assault rifles one time in 1994. if you look at the national institute of justice's study on that ban that was done in 1999, as well as the university study at the university of california berkeley, hardly a basstive pro-gun rights thought, it

if it means semiautomatic weapons, that's most of the guns in america. they're not going to ban those. and it's been tried. it's been -- they banned guns in england, ireland, jamaica. crime went up. >> bill: not in england, though. their murder rate is very, very low as compared to ours. so is australia and canada. but they've different culture and we understand that. but in england, and i lived there for a year -- gun crimes are taken very, very seriously there. here they're not taken that seriously. i think there should be federal law, any criminal using a gun, any criminal should go into the federal system with mandatory prison sentences, ten years or so. that takes the criminal element and makes it much harder for them. but i agree with you that law-abiding citizens have the right to protect themselves. and that's what the left doesn't want. they want the government to have all the power and individuals to have no power. and that's why i'm not buying into this liberal agenda because that's really dangerous. however, there has to be some kind of middl

>> that's correct. >> we went inside a walmart today where we did see an ample supply of semiautomatic weapons available, although the bushmaster ar-15 was sold out. i asked what conversations they have had since the murders. >> this week we've had a lot of conversations internally and externally. we reached out to mayor bloomberg's coalition on responsible firearms. we have been a charter of their organization. we reached out to sportsmen's groups and others. >> what walmart executives ultimately decided is their customers want to buy these guns so there's no plan to change anything now. is there any collective guilt where you hear of a case where someone bought a weapon at walmart, a semiautomatic weapon at walmart and committed a crime because that has happened. >> unfortunately, those things do happen. we're like people around the country, mothers, fathers, parents, and we have heavy hearts when those unfortunate incidents do happen, but we do know that we have a very strong program to sell firearms in the most responsible manner as we can. >> walmart sells guns in less than half i

dick's sporting goods is pulling certain kinds of semiautomatic weapons from stores nationwide and su spendsing all gun sales in the stores closest to newtown. >> the national rifle association is releasing its first statement. theorganization says it stayed silent out of respect for the victims. they say they are quote, prepared to offer meaningful contributions to make sure this never happens again. >> and for more coverage on gun control and safety, visit abc2news.com and there you can find the latest information on gun laws and complete coverage of the tranl i did. >> now the developing story out of caroline county where a woman is accused of murdering her father on his birthday. >> he was found dead in a chair dm his kitchen yesterday. police say his daughter called 9111 to report that her father was dead but her story on how he died didn't add up. she toldpolice two men broke into the home and assaulted her dad. shefaces charges of murder, assault, manslaughter and reckless endangerment. >> three children are hit by a car in baltimore county ranging in age from 6 to 17. the driv

the virginia tech shooter had a semiautomatic pistol. we've got to try to identify these people before they commit these acts. >> so clearly, it is something that there are many things that need to be addressed. i'm not understanding why people make mental health and gun control binary issues. they're not binary issues. if someone sane or not sane did not have access to these weapons, we wouldn't have these shootings. we don't have the numbers for people who are mentally ill or unstable, no different in this countries or other countries, yet, with our gun laws, with have much more proliferation of guns and these incidents are at an all-time high in this country, are much higher in this country than other countries who watch the same videos. the same sorts of images on television. they listen to the exact same music that we do but don't have the these incidents of gun violence as we do. so it seems to me that the one constant here is the access to guns. so, or at least these assault weapons. so i -- most people, most americans don't under

well, we have easy access to semiautomatic weapons in this country, semiautomatic rifles.allows it? a country where anyone can get ahold of a rifle that can kill 26 people in ten minutes. is this a good society? is it really a free society when you can't be sure your kids are safe sitting at their school desks? i ask the questions knowing the only way we can end this is with the votes of politicians from deer hunting country, not from the big cities. will they be there? will politicians who fear the gun lobby bear up under the strain of attack against any measure, no matter how small, to curb the power of the gun owners? the question tonight, what should and, most importantly, can be done to stop this kind of