the only thing i will say about what the nra does care about, with the 23 states that the nra has gottenpass these stand your ground laws it is my humble opinion that they are just fine with making sure that guns are easily accessible to poor urban, non-white americans and they are perfectly happy to see them kill each other. now with these stand your ground laws allow anyone to kill anyone. and as long as a high percentage of the victims are frankly poor and non-white, i think the nra is perfectly likely to see that continue. >> wow. that's a powerful statement. but the problem is of course ever since the brady bill was not passed you have seen this argument be lost at the federal level and state level as well. how can people raise their voices in an effective way against the nra? >> they really have to -- to vote. get out to the polls. they have to go to their legislatures and talk about common sense gun laws like background checks without banning guns. look we all love our children as much as -- you know anybody. and today 83 americans will die, 105 will be shot and of the people that

and tomorrow, lawyers and guns and money, and the nra is winning the battle over guns in country. when is the last time you heard a debate over gun control? the arguments today are over how far and how fast to expand the gun owner rights, and mitt romney towed the line today at the nra calling gun control an assault on freedom. and now the state attorney decided to pursue charges against george zimmerman and now after weeks of publicity, is it fair for george zimmerman to get a fair trial? and habits of insulting stay-at-home moms in election years. and it distracted us from mitt romney's gender problem which will not go away by trying to make the case that it is president obama waging a war against women. the obama campaign is trying to paint romney as rich and out of touch. so today the president and the vice president released their tax returns, daring romney to do the same. and let me fin wish the battle of the 2008 campaign which is not finished barack obama versus bill clinton. we begin with gun, and former governor ed rendell is a political analyst and jeff gottlieb who is

he was not a darling of the nra. marks. >> he promised to juphold the massachusetts gun law and now he is promising to hold up the nra's agenda. they are an organization that is pretty splart. they don't say you should have a gun or let's force guns in everybody's hands. they basically say, you cross this line, come into our territory, and we'll take you out. and they can do that, because they have massive firepower. >> but their power is no longer indispensable. even in a state like colorado and virginia, yes, the nra can hurt you very much in the rural parts of those states, but in suburban denver and northern virginia, there's actually more support for gun control than democrats have been willing to try to speak to. so it is a very different model now. democrats are much less dependent upon the votes of blue-collar white voters than we were even the ten years ago. and that really does give them more freedom to depart from the nra, but they haven't taken it. >> just on that particular issue, i think the challenges t

the nra should be called a death convention. it should be attended by morticians and funeral directors. because what they want is the wholesale of guns without any legitimate restrictions knowing full well that the guns will be used in heads, it will be used by gang members, they'll be used in crimes. the nra and its lobby has advocated for these crazy laws like stand your ground that has led to the trayvon martin case. it's absolutely criminal that we have this lobby that absolutely is creating chaos in our streets in the community in which i represent, gun violence is destroying that community, it's ending lives and it holds economic development in that community. >> even after the trayvon martin shooting that has had such an affect on the country's politics and the way people are talking about gun rights in this country, even after the gabby giffords shooting, one of the things you and i have discussed is that the real world consequences of our gun policies n terms of gun violence, gun massacres that happen, never seem to fact

gottlieb and the nra are effective in spinning and lobbying. take a law i tried to get instituted in pennsylvania. one handgun a month, barring people from buying more than one handgun a month. that would stop the straw purchasers. it would have allowed you to buy 12 handguns a year, 24 if you're married. that's no limitation at all in a practical sense. i couldn't even get it out of committee. everyone is afraid, because the nra has done such a good job of spooking our cowardly legislators. >> mr. gottlieb, the success i think that you've had is with this mindset of you can't -- the slippery slope. you can't give an inch because if we give anything on any issues it will be the ammunition. then it will be -- >> it's purely bull. >> that's worked. >> unfortunately we've seen that happened not only in the united states but in other countries as well. what the former governor is talking about here, though, is prior restraint. limiting how many guns you can buy, limiting the ammunition you can use, limiting the size of your magazines. granted you ca

they shouldn't be the nra convention. it should be a death convention and intended by morticians, funeral directors and people who reside over funerals. their policies, practices and conventions in real life celebrates the death of young people on our streets and in our community. >> pittsburgh city councilman ricky burgess. it's nice to see you again. thank you. >> thank you. >>> still ahead, i could not make a trip to california without seeing bill maher. i didn't make a trip without seeing him. how they'll live tomorrow. for more than 116 years, ameriprise financial has worked for their clients' futures. helping millions of americans retire on their terms. when they want. where they want. doing what they want. ameriprise. the strength of a leader in retirement planning. the heart of 10,000 advisors working with you one-to-one. together for your future. ♪ until i had the shingles. i have never encountered such a burning sensation... together for your future. it was like a red rash. like somebody had set a bag of hot char

the nra is a powerful lobby. in part for what happened to trayvon martin. >> in reality they were interested in promote agriculture where people take the law into their own hands and face no consequences for it. let's call that by its real name, vigilanteism. >> the nra has refused our request for an on camera interview. the president did talk to a st. louis newspaper reporter before charges against george zimmerman were announced. wayne lapierre is the man. when they come down to a determination, then we'll have something to say. bloomberg is repealing the stand your ground law in two dozen states. that's not likely to happen any time soon. right now no gun control law that has a chance of passing in congress. and more about protecting gun rights. the talk back question for you this morning. should gun control laws be reviewed or not? facebook.com/carolcnn. i'll read your comments later this hour. and we'll talk more about mitt romney's message to the nra. should he change his message in the wave of the trayvon

i'm a member in the nra and believe firmly in the right to bear arms. romney later admitted he didn't actually own any guns. the guns he used belonged to one of his sons. a few months later, he put his hunting skills into perspective. >> i'm not a big game hunter. i'm a rodent and rabbit hunter. small varmints if you will. i began when i was 15 and have hunted those kinds of varmints more than two times. i also hunted quail in georgia. it's not really big-game hunting if you will, not deer and large animals. >> we're not telling anybody what to think about guns or hunting, that's up to you to decide. today mitt romney is hunting for votes and he needs the nra support. joining me now, cnn contributor erick erickson and democratic strategist and political contributor donna brazile. last time, mitt romney got a lot of grief after he said he hunted varmints, so called. he didn't make one personal comment in the whole speech. do you think that's a better approach? >> i think he probably wants to keep the personal out of it. every time he's tried to relate an

does going to the nra and making an address undermine that? >>. >> it opens up problems in terms of criticism from the democrats. ted strickland had a big column related to it. it's going to be part of the character message by democrats. i agree with the former chairman here. he needs to do some level of outreach. there are still some ruffled feelings on the right. usually when you're in a primary, you does coalition building during the primary. i think mitt romney has to do it because this is not a narrative he wants to deal with for the coming months. >> if there's a moment when he's going to turn on conservatives, i would wait for september and october. they're all expecting that. this is the moment when he brings them to his boson. >> this group of conservatives is not going to vote for the president. >> maybe with the women thing he moved a little bit closer to the middle and pivots back when he does the nra stuff. is that the strategy? this is a firearms instructor quoted in the "huffington post" by the enimtable sam stein. i trust him a

she joined her husband at the nra meeting. earlier, the romney campaign did not miss an opportunity to appeal to women voters. >> this is what i love the most. women are talk about the economy and jobs, and about the legacy of debt that we're going to leave our children. we are mad about it, and we're going to do it something about it november. >> the problem for the republicans is ann romney isn't running for office. her husband is. needless to say, she stole the show. >> you know, i've heard recently something how women were being referred to as a special interest group, and i thought to myself, really only washington could do that. there's only one part of that phrase that's correct. women are special. >> what mrs. romney should have pointed out, it's the republican party that considers women a special interest group. the president recognizes that. >> women are not some monolithic block. women are not an interest group. you shouldn't be treated that way. women are over half this country in its work force. >> that's why conse

we are at the nra convention. over seven acres of guns here and outfitters, more importantly perhaps for romney, what he has to do is try to find that delegate balance, appealing to the conservatives who make up so many of the gun owners in the country. not scaring off independents. we spoke a short time ago in a conference cup who said this speech will be less about guns and more in his words about freedom in the speech that mr. romney, governor romney will refer to the assault on freedom, personal, economic and religious. and they say this will be one of several major speeches that the campaign gives going forward before the fall election. trying to crystallize the choice between president obama and mitt romney himself. >> peter, the governor has had a really interesting relationship with the nra over the years, becoming a lifetime member. roughly about six years ago. do we expect anything to come up about stand your ground laws? the nra backed those laws. the defense now, the center of the trayvon martin investi

i think the nra has been too damaged. ngrich presidency will submit to the united nations a treaty that extends the right to bear arms as a human right for every person on the planet because every person on the planet deserves the right to defend themselves from those who would oppressed them, exploit them, raped them, or kill them. [applause] far fewer towns would be distorted people everywhere on the planet had the right to bear arms, and far fewer dictators would survive if people have the right to bear arms everywhere on the planet. [applause] let's take the george soroses and hillary clinton's head on. they represent a world in which the elite's disarm the rest of us so we are helpless when the latest turn sour and when evil reappears. we represent a world in which we trust in the basic decency of millions of people and believe that they can protect themselves and be armed with safety because they are in charge of their life because god has made them sovereign, not government. [applause] remember -- i want you to thin

>> they are under the influence of the corporate lobby, nra, walmart. they give campaign contributions. they work through to propose legislation. and those are the views that are being heard now sense they are the ones that are in power. >> so the gun lobby, are you saying the gun lobby is too powerful for the democrats to go against? >> well, unfortunately, there are not many democrats who are willing to stand up to the nra and there are not many republicans -- there are not any republicans that i know of willing to do that. >> why no democrats? >> well, i don't think that they want that special interest super pac money coming at them during their primaries. and they don't want to be challenged by the tea partiers, who will be there to oppose them. >> all right. goldie? >> you know, with all due respect to the congressman, and my mother lived in the district and i think she voted for you -- >> tell her thank you. >> and arthur, jump in here any time. >> the real issue here is democrats by and large have attacked the problem have the wrong perspective. t

it was created by the national rifle association, and the nra has been the driving force behind the lawthey got stand your ground on the books in florida. since then it pushed the law in 24 more states, and it doesn't stop there. remember the shooting of gabrielle giffords and it panned the sale of high capacity ammunition magazines? why would anyone need to carry around a .09-millimeter glock with 36 rounds? >> it is great to be with so many friends here today from the national rifle association. >> yes, friends. the friends that drew up the stand your ground law. he pretends he one of them, but the truth is he has been in every chamber of the six shooter. zle with tough gun laws in massachusetts, i support them, i won't chip away, they protect us and provide for our safety. >> i don't line up 100% with the nra. >> even with that sound, can you really believe this guy? >> i'm not a big game hunter, i made it clear, i'm a rodent and rabbit hunter, small varmentes if you will. i started when i was 15 and hunted like that some time. >> u remember you were teased for saying you hunted varm

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and the i think people don't understand is how powerful the nra lobbies is. the stand your ground laws are largely a result of the nra lobbying power. so ted nugent may not be a romney surrogate, but he's certainly an nra surrogate. and this language of violence -- here's the thing, ted nugent is a nut case, and he's going to say crazy things and maybe we'll pay attention and maybe we won't but when you give him a platform, then you have to begin to worry about the kind of people he's going to influence. and god bless the secret service here. with this particular president, they've had to field a lot of credible and less credible sort of threats and different situations, much more than any president prior to president obama, and so people may think that they're overreacting, but in actuality, this is their job. they actually have to address this guy and figure out how serious he is about the things he's said in the recent past. >> i'm also curious about the report out of texas, that says that romney talked to nugent and wanted his support. because it was tagge

here is one of the favorite things said at the nra convention. of the facts, but accused the news media of not covering other violent crimes. he spoke to reporters who said you dishonesty is directly contributes to the classic american's freedom in our country. reporters are investor relations responsible. and he said right now there is a reporter out there that is writing that the nra and i am crazy. that reporter should think of what it must have september like on that faithful september day in the world trade center. >> shut up! [ dramatic music ] >> when if everyone was bearing arms we should have just shot those planes down. >> what an idiot! >> he said people should have shot the planes down -- >> their answer is always more guns. if everyone on the gun -- or on the plane had had a gun -- >> if only the north vietnamese had more gun -- >> people on the titanic had guns they should have shot that iceberg down to like an iceberg this big. >> unless it ricochetted and killed everyone on the deck. stuff happens. even children should have gun. a

romney can overcome issues of the past with your group. >> i think when we listen to comments at the nra convention, i think he can overcome it two ways. one, he's not hostile to gun rights, and the second thing is the average gun owner is a little upset with barack obama, particularly his appointment with the supreme court on down. as you're aware, there is a sufficient number of second amendment court kcases that are going to the court system and the gun owners are very concerned about who will be making the ruling on the federal ben benches. >> isn't the question what he is going to do compared to what he has done? has he done something thus far that you believe messed with second amendment rights? >> if you look at his record both as united states senator, and the state senator in illinois, he was extremely hostile to gun rights. he hasn't exactly been a friend of gun rights, banning certain imports of antique firearms into the united states. and his administration has been putting out test balloons, the clinton regulations ban on certain firearms. as a result, we know where his hear

he talked nothing but b the major legislative challenges of the nra. he was on exactly the opposite position for them for most of the last decade. >> i have to take issue with you going after listens eight lohan. she's done her service to society. she is trying to live a better life. i think that does a disservice to her quite frankly. >> i was referring to the probation. >> isn't it incredible that now this man is literally deteriorating in front of our very eyes to someone who krootdly and reflexively immediately champions whatever cause he needs to. yesterday it was mothers at home. today it is gun owners. who knows what it will be tomorrow? yet all the time what we're looking for is a continuing conviction. what are the policy convictions this man has? today it's guns, great, but what about tomorrow? >> i think his major conviction is a conviction to win the presidency at all costs. that's the clear message we get time and again. but speaking to the point julian made, he was right. he chose to talk about freedom in this broader sense that you hear a

i want to thank chris and the leadership of the nra. they do a terrific job for us every day, fighting for our fundamental rights. let's give chris and the entire team around of applause. [applause] i had the privilege of meeting him at eight years ago when i was first elected to congress. we have become great friends. i am a great fan of the entire team here at the nra. they do a great job in washington. they do a great job across this country. i have listened to the speakers today and one thought has gone through my mind. as we think about who we elect to office, we need leaders who are thinking not about the next election, but we need leaders who were thinking about the next generation in america. [applause] we are here today to talk about american values. i want to share with you where i got my appreciation for american values. it starts for me with my father and my mother. mark twain said this better than i could. he said "the older you get, the smarter your parents become." you know what i mean. look, i have three young children. i

george zimmerman is the nra. he is the creation of the nra. he is the creation of the politicians who have done their bidding. and we need to take all this outrage that's focused around this trayvon martin tragedy and hold our leaders accountable. and yes, i do believe that this one is different. anything else? we can -- what's that? so do we want everybody to sign these now? all right. so i guess what we're going to do now is we are going to the -- all of the 32 that are here, we're going to start by signing this statement of principle against arming dangerous people and, again, to remind you, this is the very simple statement we're going to be asking our elected officials to sign. do you or do you not believe that these people listed on this list should be able to buy a loaded, hidden -- should be able to buy a gun, carry a gun, own a gun anywhere in our country? thank you. so i guess we want to go in alphabetical order? >>> defense secretary leon panetta and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, general martin dempsey, testify tomorrow on t

. >>> 83 year-old in the nra? by rick santorum and his wife just got their daughter a membership. >>> diving in to save their neighborhood pool the sacrifice one bay area community is making. >>> and brad know more the california wonder not too far from here that will be opened up to the public for the first time. >>> right and that he owns guns. but he got a laugh when he said that his wife karen has away more guns than he does. and that is not all. karen and i are live members of the nra wants to announce today that i talked to chris and now bella is a life member of the nra to. the hope is a long life. degrees ballett and sandworms three year-old daughter suffers from a rare and fatal genetic condition. >>> surprising tax revelations today from both the white house and campaign trail, he called for attacks extension the commander-in-chief and actually paid to a lower tax rate than one of his staffers lisa sylvester takes a closer look at the base over the high-profile returns. who is texting high rate the presid

our topic, one should democrats take on the nra? he had yet another shooting in oakland today. ou a quick report on that. >> reporter: eyewitnesses said he showed up at the school monday morning, walked into a nursing class and then started shooting. police sources tell abc news he used a 45 caliber handgun during the attack. >> we heard probably about six shots, i looked outside and somebody said he has a gun. >> reporter: some heard as many as 30 shots. >> how many shootings is it going to take before democrats fight back? >> we sat here months ago, years ago in talking about this issue on "the young turks" and thought cavalierly we'll give the republicans -- we'll give the gun guys the second amendment if they will give us the other and i think that was the wrong decision. because now it seems like you are starting over again in a gun-control debate. >> you know the democrats are scared to death of the nra, so it is realistic they would fight for any kind of gun control in the foreseeable future? >> i think it would be a good strategy. if you look at the florida gun control r

i watch ed it before the nra yo were covering that as well. >> absolutely. piece. a very interesting speech. a lot of really red meat, if you will, to the national rifle association. as far as the romney campaign is concerned, this speech in st. louis marked the unofficial launch of his push to the general election and what better place to start than by cleaning up the questions about romney's commitment to gun rights. he says there's a clear choice between himself and the president. >> if we're going to safeguard our president, it's time to elect a president who will defend the rights president obama ignores or minimizes. >> actually, a force that is mostly about opposition to gun control. the nra sees president obama, the supreme court justices he's named and eric holder as poised to scale back gun rights. romney says holder has to go. >> i applaud the nra leadership in calling upon attorney general holder to resign or get fired. >> it's all red meat to the nra. >> we know if president obama gets a second term, america as we know it will be on its way to b

i think the nra has been too damaged. the gingrich presidency will submit to the united nations a treaty that extends the right to bear arms as a human right for every person on the planet because every person on the planet deserves the right to defend themselves from those who would oppressed them, exploit them, raped them, or kill them. [applause] it is not enough to be against the small arms treaty that keeps us psychologically on defense. the time has come to win with the following proposition. far fewer women would be raped, far fewer children would be killed, far fewer towns would be destroyed if people everywhere on the planet had the right to bear arms, and far fewer dictators would survive if people have the right to bear arms everywhere on the planet. [applause] take the george sorus is and the hillary clinton head on. they want to live in a world where the elites disarm the rest of us so the we're helpless when the elite's turn sour. we believe that millions of people can protect themselves and the armed with sa