we don't know how an ex-con who is barred from purchasing guns acquired the bushmaster but given that the n.r.a. has lobbied hard to prevent background checks on all gun purchases in america so that today forty percent of gun purchases are done without a background check at all it's fair to assume that the man bought his bushmaster with relative ease and it just so happens that eighty percent of violent firearm crimes are committed with guns bought using this same background check loophole but again to the n.r.a. that's not a problem the n.r.a. the problem is there just aren't enough security guards there just aren't enough good guys with guns out there to take down the bad guys with guns that's why the n.r.a. last week proposed their schools shield program which would place armed guards in front of every school in america armed to big government guards that would also need to be carrying heavy assault rifles to defend against the new weapon of choice for mass shooters in america but as we saw on christmas eve in webster new york mass shootings tragically aren't exclusive to schools t

you're comfortable with this firearm, the bushmaster being legal in connecticut. i will take your answer on that. the other thing, mental health -- you have been against obama care. obama care of course would bring 30 million more people into coverage, which of course would cover mental health examinations. and of course, we could set up some kind of database that would help the sharing of information. >> and you can do that -- you can do that, of course, ed, without obama care. and part of what i think we should do is more local grants so that the police stations and the people as you know in connecticut, you need to register you need to have classes for certain handguns. you have to be under 21 years old -- over 21 years old. so to me, putting on the mental health where you do have some local grants that the law enforcement and the mayors, the political people, if you will in a city can say okay, where are the red flags? and what can we do when we spot the red flags? >> this morning you said on msnbc a 1-800 number. we need more than that. now you'd be saying to

violent if appropriately used it's an extremely poor decision on her >> reporter: especially with the bushmasterne of the most popular guns in the country, demonstrated in a video posted on the company youtube channel. it can fire 45 rounds in a minute and modifies so it is legal even under the connecticut law meant to ban the weapons. >> if you go to their website they have a page called state compliant. but it is still just as deadly. it makes it dangerous of course is the ability to take unlimited amounts of ammunition in the pistol grip. >> reporter: on friday adam showed up at the school with the bushmaster and two handguns and hundreds of bullets, enough to kill everyone, every student and children only the sound of approaching police stopped him. >> that gun empowered him. once he decided to commit the shooting he has now been trained with a piece of equipment that will accomplish that. >> reporter: police and federal agents are working on another key piece of evidence, a computer hard drive found in the lanza home. someone tried to destroy it with a hammer or screwdriver. agents say it w

that would be the sig sauer as well as the glock, along with this bushmaster. so they were able to figure out pretty quickly, due to connecticut law, who had purchased these weapons. nonetheless, this still happened. of course, that's all part of the weapons debate, as you know, in the united states. and twice now over the past 24 hours the president has made reference to some type of common sense laws that the country is going to have to consider in the days ahead. >> this debate is going to intensify. there is no doubt about that. thanks very much for that, joe. our own kate bolduan, she is also here in newtown, connecticut. and she has spoken with a family that had two children in that elementary school, and for a long time could find only one of them. >> the kids started to come out. and when i saw her, you know, the sense of relief is incredible, but it's really short-lived, because i still have one in there. and i'm waiting for him to come. and he didn't come out. and i didn't see his teacher and i didn't see his classmates. ♪ [ woman ] ♪ what i want this

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.

private equity investors will sell the company. bushmasterl the teachers and children in connecticut and now it says, it is apparent that the sandy hook tragedy was a water shed event that raised the national debate on gun control to an unprecedented level. it is not our role to take positions or attempt to shape or influence the gun control policy debate, there are, however, actions that we as a firm can take. let me tell you this, brooke, making guns and ammunition is quite profitable. bushmaster's parent company is a collection of ten gun and ammo makers, earned $232 million profit last year. these are the fastest growing parts of the gun market and, by the way, the rifles that bushmaster makes, they're also the preferred weapon of mexican drug cartels. one of the preferred weapons. it is rare for a private equity to dump out of an investment like this, brooke, but today, cerberus is saying they will sell bushmaster, the parent company that made that gun. >> this is the military-style rifle, one of several that the shooter had friday, kill

and one private equityselling t company that makes the bushmaster. it says it will abandon the investment in freedom group says it is apparent that the sandy hook tragedy was a watershed event that has raised the national debit on gun control to an unprecedented level. dick's sporting goods said we have removed all guns from sale and display in our store nearest to newtown. george zornic writes for "the nation." thank you for your time. >> thanks for having me. >> in you also in your piece walmart and they have released a statement saying they never sold the bushmaster online and they've not made any change to i guess their procedure and what weapons they choose to sell in their stores but let me ask you first about the wall street -- it was referred to a titan. deciding a watershed moment and don't want money from the sale of guns. >> absolutely. a lot of that came from a good investor pressure. a big teacher's pension fund in california which was heavily invested with this private equity fund and threatened to reconsider quote/unquote their investme

. >> the bushmaster was used as was explained yesterday in the school in its entirety and the handgun was take his own life. >> nbc's pete williams reporting. >>> last night president obama exited to a standing ovation in newtown, after he called for change when it comes to guns. as sandy hook remains closed indefinitely. nbc's danielle leigh joins us from newtown. how important was it for them to hear directly from the president? >> reporter: bill, good morning. people are finding comfort in the president's promise to do something to prevent future mass shootings. the country and really the whole world is behind them right now. unfortunately it does limit to replace their sadness. as this community prepares to lay to rest two of their youngest victims. for this community they're just struggling to cope with this unimaginable crime, we're just about a week away from the christmas holiday and i was speaking a man who lost a loved one at a memorial yesterday, he said that he can't celebrate this year. for many of them, the reality is just starting to sink in. the schools are here closed

but we know that he took the long gun, the bushmaster, as well as the glock and the sig saue. the fourth gun that you indicated was there, what kind of a gun was that? >> that was a shotgun that was located by investigators after the shooting, inside of the suspect's car. >> we believe that was something that his mother -- that was another gun that belonged to his mother? >> the ownership is undetermined. i'm not privy to that information. suffice to say all of the weapons are being investigated thoroughly by a team from the day they were built, up to the day we seized them, trying to determine every avenue those weapons took, where they were used, who they were used by, and everything associated with them. >> you know, lieutenant, now we have the technology and the ability to do what is called ballistic fingerprints, where, as you say, we go back to actually the making of the gun and the -- there were 30 magazine -- 30 clip magazines here, as well as finding out where this gun may have been used or any of the guns may have been used in the past. it's really a history of each

the bushmaster can fire 45 rounds per minute and is the most popular style semiautomatic rifle in the country. federal agents say nancy lanza bought her bushmaster legally in march 2010. a model apparently tailor-made by the company to be legal, even under connecticut law that suppose bly bans assault weapons. >> okay, brian ross reporting in on his investigation. >>> and tonight, the conversation about assault weapons and gun violence is under way, as you know, brian. every hour, three americans die from a gunshot wound. and consider this. americans are 20 times more likely to be killed by a gun than citizens living in any other developed nation in this world. last night, the president said we cannot tolerate what is happening, and today, a chorus of surprising voices joined a call for change. here's abc's jake tapper. >> reporter: standing by the devastated families of sandy hook last night, the president pledged action to prevent more tragedies. to save future children. >> because what choice do we have? are we prepared to say such violent visited on our children year after year af

tuesday that it's being put up for sale by its owner freedom group international is the maker of the bushmaster rifle the weapons thought to have been used in friday's connecticut massacre shares in publicly traded gun makers have been dropping for a third straight day there's also been reports of a large spike in gun sales in recent days because many believe that the federal government will in fact enforce stricter gun control one commentator told r.t. the gun business is not criticised by some u.s. media that's due to the links to producers and the right. they have a message they have a narrative that narrative has to percolate through their delivery system which unfortunately are their anchors and reporters set up the delivery system for the pundits for the host driven shows where you have the right. mentality come in and it's rehashed and then shot back out you know in these various media outlets where they're pundits feed into this is their message machine at work the talking points coming from the n.r.a. the politicians that are in matched in the n.r.a. and in conservative causes i mean t

tuesday that it's being put up for sale by its owner freedom group international is the maker of the bushmaster rifle the weapons thought to have been used in friday's connecticut massacre shares in publicly traded gun makers have been dropping for a third straight day there's also been reports of a large spike in gun sales in recent days because many believe that the federal government will in fact enforce stricter gun control. and political analyst loves believes that the battle to control public access to guns will not be won easily. there is a strong tribe the show. and believe for a many americans. to post. on the right that they certainly should write the constitution under the second amendment to the if you look rights i do believe that those forces guns and the free will or the private or on their ships or ownership sorie of guns. and perhaps to be much improved. by decent massacre i was terrible of these because well they are going to argue that the laws of the current laws must be upheld to list you're going to have people who are going to be opposed to the private ownership of guns t

the shooter's mother. tom fuentes, also a cnn contributor. tom, knowing now that this bushmasterwas the likely gun that was used. are you even surprised the situation wasn't worse? >> well, it would be pretty horrific just because of that, john. the bushmaster bullet would be about three times faster, longer and more powerful than the bullets that would have been fired from the two handguns. so, i think that when the medical examiner yesterday mentioned that all of the wounds all of the victims were killed with the long gun, the nature of those wounds would have been extremely horrible. >> and, tom, the bushmaster is a military-style rifle. it's not a shotgun you would use for hunting, you could say. tell me what you know why a civilian would own that rifle? >> well, one reason would be some claim that it has sporting purposes for either hunting or even just target practice, as a sporting gun. but most people that purchase that weapon claim it's for personal protection. it's to protect their homes or their families and they would prefer to have that kind of fire power, as opposed

walmart, the nation's largest seller of guns and ammunition, has pulled their version of the bushmaster semiautomatic rifle similar to the one used in the shooting off its website. outdoor retailer cabella's has decided not to carry the gun used in the shooting in its one store in connecticut. while dick's sporting goods is taking it a step further. company temporarily suspending a whole category of modern sporting rifles at its more than 500 stores in 44 states nationwide. many public companies are torn between showing sensitivity towards what happened in newtown and trying to make a profit. what do you feel like the responsibility is for the companies, their fiduciary responsibility versus being sensitive? >> the sandy hook tragedy profoundly affected a large number of americans, so i think they're going to tread lightly and do their best to challenge both of those obligations. their obligation to be respectful to the victims and also their desire to make as much money as possible. >> reporter: despite the jump in sales, investors haven't felt positive about making a stake in the gun

> the weapons that was utilized most of the time during this horrific crime was identified as the bushmaster ar 15 assault type weapon it had high capacity magazines and in addition the subject had a glock 10 millimeter all weapons had multiple magazines and additional ammunition. >> after killing the heroic principal and four others all women who tried to top them or shield the children in their care. when the tiny victims in the classroom lanza used the assault weapon to kill every child within range of his rage. >> the bushmaster was used as it was explained yesterday in the school in its entirety and the hand gun was used to. >> then he heard the vines cops approached he d what we only wish he had done first. >> his cause of death was gun shot wounds. his death has been ruled a suicide. >> after meeting with the families of lanza's victims in separate classrooms in the local high school the president spoke this evening in a moving interfaith vigil in the school auditorium. here now more of his remarks. >> we gather here in memory of 20 beautiful children and 6 remarkable adults. they los

the guns are a glock, a six sauer, and a bushmaster rifle. d us they now know which weapon he used to kill himself but they have not released that information to the media. a safe town, that's the phrase residents used to describe newtown, connecticut, to describe this idyllic new england town. now, the entire world mourns for newtown and tries to make sense of this incredible tragedy. and the image of the town like so many lives are shattered. >> it was terrifying. i'm still terrified. i think i'm still in shock about it all. i still don't know everything that happened. i know there's some people missing that have been taken to the hospital. it's terrifying. you know, you're rushing over here and you can't get to where you need to go. >> when we first arrived there, there was not a lot of security to guard. and there were three children that came out, one of them was -- had a very bloody face. it was very violent scene and there were two other ones that they were, you know, they were in the arms of a say the trooper. they did not move. their

asked about nancy lanza, he says i don't know which gun she was shot with but does know it was the bushmaster the one used in the school, very specific and very careful so we know what we are getting is right. we are learning some new details about how the victims died and the ongoing investigation this afternoon. here is what we know right now. wolf, police say crime scene investigators wrapping up work in the parking lot of the sandy hook elementary school. work continues inside the school and as you just heard lieutenant vance talking about, there were three guns found next to the body of the suspected gunsman, 20-year-old adam lanza, he killed himself with the handgun and used the bushmaster ar 15 to shoot his victims. the semiautomatic rifle really was the main weapon used. we have also used that the 20 children killed inside the school were shot multiple times, every single one of them, wolf, was, of course, 6 or 7 years old. >> so heartbreaking to hear the details come out and to learn about these young kids. 20 of them. 6 and 7 years old. all first graders. six adults as well. preside

look at the money here behind bushmaster. tirement system put in multimillion-dollar into a fund created by cerberus capital management which created the freedom group, a combination of ten ammunition and gunmakers. they're the flow. this morning what you hear from cerberus capital they're going to sell freedom group. "it is apparent that the sandy hook tragedy was a watershed event that has raised the national debate on gun control to an unprecedent the level. it is not our role to take positions or attempt to shape or influence the gun control policy debate. there are however actions that we as a firm can take." california teachers indirectly through their retirement fund own more than 6% of bushmasters, teachers own more than 6% of bushmaster, the company that made the rifle used in that attack on the school. this say statement, "there are a lot of products that can be used responsibly or irresponsibly. in this case it was used irresponsibly. now that a tragic event like this has occurred i'm sure it is something that we wi

you can go get the bushmaster m-4. those today and they've been purchased and they're out there. so to an extent, we have to have a realistic conversation about how you put this genie back in the bottle, and i don't think it's necessarily that possible. >> it's not going to be easy. australia has done it. they certainly offer a good guidepost. they have done it. but i'll tell you what, it's not going to work. if we just sit here and focus on one part of this problem. it's not going to work in a vacuum. we're going to have to take a comprehensive approach that looks at guns, our violent culture where people are making more money from that, then it's all about money. it's all about money. think about the money the gun manufacturers are making. think about the money that hollywood makes. think about the money that these video game makers are making. and think about the money our politicians think they're saving by slashing mental health counseling year after year after year. >> jon meacham in nashville, to an extent when

walmart is no longerizing the bushmaster ar-15 but the retailer says you can buy it at select locations. walmart is one of the biggest gun dealers in the world and high capacities and guns like semiautomatic military style rifles are the fastest growing in the market. you look at walmart's advertising, the bushmaster is no longer listed, not on bass pro shop but you can still view it on cabell's. retailers are trying to distance themselves from the tragedy. >> big stores are distancing themselves, but smaller been stores across its country, some of those say people are buying guns like mad. >> you look at gun sales they've been up over the past few days and in some way it's not a huge surprise. some people want to protect themselves and gunshop owners say they are worried about gun control laws after the president sunday signaled the possibly for more action, it's pressuring, getting people to buy guns and buy weapons now before a possible crackdown can happen and you could also see pressuring stocks and companies that make the guns like sit ami wesson, shares tumbled monday and pointin

i assume the police are investigating all of that. it was a bushmasteremiautomatic caliber rifle, and two pistols, a glock and a sig sauer, two piols, as well, all found at the scene. and they're investigating obviously that. anything else going on over there where you are, mary? >> reporter: there isn't, wolf. just the police are still here on the scene. it is a much different scene today than yesterday. as i mentioned, police, swat teams were here yesterday. residents had been evacuated for several hours. they have been allowed back in their home. >> mary snow working the story for us, the tragic story indeed. meanwhile, investigators are working around the clock to try to answer many of the questions that still are out there. we're asking these questions, including the key question why, how could this happen. right now they're taking a close look at the tragedy, how it unfolded, beginning with first word that a shooter was on the scene. >> six to seven sandy hook school, caller is indicating she thinks someone is shooting in the building. >> the front

adam lanza shoots himself in the head as police storm in. >> the bushmaster was used in the school in its entirety. handgun was used to take his own life. >>> the newtown shootings have start a conversation about safety at schools across the country and nbc's mark potter has that. >> police around the country will be on heightened alert on increased patrols. >> we're committed to ensuring the safety of our students and i'm confident that parents should safe taking them in. >> reporter: in los angeles, police are ramping them their presence up to calm parents' fierce there school officials are providing counselor to support the students after yet another attack on innocent children. >> payback for the misery they have been through, they can go to the school and find our most precious members of society c congregated there. >> reporter: school's security plans are now being reviewed worldwide. >> to make sure the schools in connecticut are safe. >> reporter: an argument on sunday talk shows was just how far to go to protect students at school. >> randi weingarden is uncomfortable with t

the shooter still had lots of ammunition left. a bushmaster with a high capacity magazine was the primary weapon, according to lieutenant vance there. there was also a .10 millimeter glock and a sig sauer, .9 millimeter. those three guns were found next to the shooter inside the classroom, we understand. there was also a shotgun that was recovered from the trunk of his vehicle in the parking lot as well. i want to bring in criminologist james foxx also an msnbc analyst as well. you heard the news conference there. based on the information that you just heard, can we glean any more about the shooter? >> only about the level of planning that was involved to assemble that kind of arsenal of not just weapons but ammunition. this was something he clearly planned for some time. i doubt it was -- we had heard about an altercation the day before. >> right. >> this has been brewing perhaps longer. we do know we tried to get a gun on tuesday and was deterred. this was not a sudden decision on his part. >> again, i don't want to generalize or stereotype,

the bushmaster rival adam lanza used in the newtown killings was legally owned and registered to his mother, nancy lanza. she was also a victim of her son from a murderous rampage. police say he shot her four times in the head before going to sandy hook elementary and shooting 20 schoolchildren and six female educators. gun sales are on the increase. according to maryland state police, and in november there were more than 7200 gun purchase applications filed. >> we are projecting over 8200 purchase applications for december to be processed. >> more than 46,000 applications were processed and at the end of 2012, state police project at least 62,000 will be handled. troopers will not speculate on why, but some reasons are apparent. the holiday season, high-profile crimes, and lawmakers who advocate measures to change on lot. >> i think when people see school children slaughtered, they get the message that something has to change. that is our hope. >> according to fbi crime statistics, last year maryland had 398 murders. to hundred 62 were committed by people using firearms. 260 to happ

. >> even with the assault ban, in 1994 to 2004 didn't cover the bushmaster that was used in the newtown shootings. >> no. as a matter of fact, my understanding is that there will be 100 specific assault rifles banned and any magazine that carries 10 rounds or move which would have included that rifle. >> is that part of the new proposal. >> that was her old proposal that we are asking to be reinstituted without any expiration date. >> but the bushmaster was a legally obtained gun. >> yes. >> at the time. >> at the time. >> right. >> it would be grandfathered in even if we passed gun control right now. it would still be -- if you owned one right now you wouldn't have to give it up, right? it would still be sitting in that house waiting to go. >> if it was sitting in the house, right. but a lot of times when we come across these things, granted, we take them off -- keep it at a minimum if it's a legal gun and we don't give a lot back. >> if somebody in law enforcement as long as you have and not, you know, and actually been on the streets, the toughest neighborhoods in san francisco, when

is the bushmaster a hunting rifle? >> right. the inside guts of it in terms of how it functions is a hunting rifle. the outside of it is what people get upset about, but whether -- when you talk about somebody using an ak .47 in one of these attacks, not the type of gun militaries use around the world. this is a military version. you have been working on this long enough, you know these are civilian versions of these guns. look, when civilians -- it's very important for them to have semi automatic weapons for defense. if you had a single shotgun and two criminals attacking you or you missed the first time you fired at a criminal, you'd be in a lot of trouble at that point. so, if you want to go and talk about banning the vast majority of guns, which is semi-automatic, fine, we can talk about the costs and benefits of doing that. here's the big thing that nobody is talking about. that is, all these attacks are occurring in places where we ban guns. you know, you go and look at the aurora, colorado, shooting. there were seven movie

the bushmaster used by john muhamed. for weeks he and li the surge -- while loading the family car at home depot, she suffered a bullet wound to the head. the bullet was fired from as much as 45 feet away. assault weapons are regulated just like handguns. buyers must go through a background check and wake up to seven days to take possession. but in the wake of connecticut, is it enough? >> we have all been changed by the life of innocent lives in connecticut. >> gov. martin o'malley after a meeting with his cabinet says that he is likely to introduce new bills about school safety, the sharing of mental health records for background checks, and an assault weapons ban. >> should we have an assault weapons ban in our state? i believe there are probably greater numbers of delegates and senators coming to a conclusion that we should in light of the carnage in connecticut. >> an assault rifle was used by another notorious criminal in maryland in 2000. among his victims -- a woman shot driving to church. the bullet was so lethal

the gun and i'm not allowed to sell it. >> this owner says you wouldn't be able to get one if you wanted to. >> bushmaster changed names recently and yesterday, they sold out completely. >> maryland has some of the touchest gun control laws many the country. those charged with conducting the background checks say they can only go so far. >> what that does not alour our investigators to do is access private mental health records. so if an individual was treated in a private mental health facility, we don't have access to those records. >> while talk of renewing the federal assault rifle ban may ultimately a-take many of them off the market, it has apparently created a rush to buy them now and sellers say they're for protection. >> everybody's scared. theytalk about banning stuff and people are just scared. >> firearm applications have jumpeded from just over 5,000 in october to more than 8,000 this month. state police say i task force is currently looking at maryland's gun control laws and their relation to mental health issues. the findings are due out at the end of this month. >> governor o'malley says he may introduce gun law

illustrated here in a video posted on the company youtube channel, the bushmaster can fire 45 rounds nute, and it's the most popular style semiautomatic rifle in the country. police and federal agents are working on another key piece of evidence, a computer hard drive found in the lanza home. when they found it, someone had tried to destroy it with a hammer or screwdriver. but agents say while that will slow them down, it will not stop them from recovering what was on the hard drive. perhaps the secrets that adam lanza wanted no one to see. brian ross, abc news, new york. >> perhaps further proof how premeditated this thing was, that he took the time to damage that hard drive. >> he mentioned a former adviser said he had a bizarre condition where he had the inability to touch and feel and empathize with anything. another neighbor and classmate said adam lanza had been a weird kid since we were 5 years old. as horrible as this was, i can't say i'm surprised. why didn't anybody reach out? so many of these kids that are loners and we know they're possibly going through a tough situation,

this is a private company -- the bushmaster company is a private company. companies. the two big public companies down either 3% on the stock exchange or 5% on the stock exchange. a company called olin, makes ammuniti ammunition, up just a little bit. gun shops are seeing a spike in interest in buying weapons, because gun owners are concerned about the gun control debate right now, big, big retailers where you can buy soccer gear for your kids and buy military style assault rifle. dick's will stop selling some semiautomatic weapons and stopping all gun sales in the store closest to newtown. i have a call into friday. on friday early afternoon, i googled bushmaster 223. first thing that came up was a sponsored link to walmart. saying i couldn't get it online but go to carney, new jersey. says it aims straight and true, a military style rifle. you don't see that on the walmart website. not clear if they are no longer advertising the gun or no longer will sell it. >> i'm fascinating about what cerberus has done. they are in business to make money and clearly ma

sporting goods has pulled them from stores nationwide and wal-mart has taken down a wal-mart add for the bushmaster ar15 that was used friday. the nra said "meaningful contributions to stop fur tragedies." >>> california is no longer invested in assault rifles. illegal to either have or sell that weapon in the state of california. so obviously, the state shouldn't be a participant in that kind of activity. >> california's teacher pension fund has a stake in freedom group. it is reviewing the investment. >>> one bay area city is looking for the cash to pay for the guns bought back. people turned in nearly 600 firearms for cash, way more than expected. linda yee says san francisco had to start handing out io us . >> reporter: this gun buy back program was more successful than expected. >> thank you very much. jr. dr. joe marshall says he ran out of money after buying back 125 weapons at 200 bucks apiece. ingly was ready to shut down. i was going to walk out and tell the crowd that's all we have. but the chief said, oh no no no. we have all these guns, we have to get them. one mar long rifle, one shot