you have a way with words. puppies and rainbows in the white house. hallie jackson at the white house. amid the chaos, gun violence in schools is another issue the president has been focused on. earlier the president held a private meeting with students and parents and law enforcement experiencing the worst mass shootings, including the most recent at majory stoneman douglas high school. one of the parents was mark barten who was also at a similar listening session the president held last week with survivors. mark lost his youngest son daniel who was 7 years old when he was killed in the sandy hook massacre back in 2012. mark is the founding and managing director of sandy hook promise. he joins me now. good to see you. thank you for joining us. thank you for having me. on one level, you ve been frustrated for many, many years. since 2012 going out and having conversations and finding that every time something like this happens, nothing happens. on other level, are you gratified t
barden from sandy hook promise. mark lost his 7-year-old son daniel in the sandy hook massacre. you were making a point, yesterday, 24 hours ago the president met with bipartisan members of congress and certainly i thought other didn ts share my opinion but i thought it sounds like a more productive conversation than we ve otherwise had. the president talking about maybe making a bigger bill than the toomey and manchin bill that looks into back ground checks and putting other things in. obviously people who want greater gun control are not going to get everything they want out of this. but did you have some sense that the president is willing to put his back into more than you would have expected? well, you know, the conversations are great. it is very positive and it is encouraging to see the president taking this issue up and taking it seriously. he s going to have to back that up with actions. so we have to see what the plan is and what the next steps are. so right now we re w
of the american people want to see the background check system enforced and bolstered. loopholes closed. and better reporting through the fix nics bill. we can do all of that right away. mark, thanks very much for joining us. mark barden the founder of sandy hook promise. it started after the shooting at sandy hook school. public pressure is pushing more and more companies to disentangle themselves from the gun industry embedded in america s culture. as we ve been talking about, dozens of companies from various industries are halting discounts with national rifle association members. now three retailers are taking things further. dick s sporting goods and walmart and kroger are taking a stance. today kroger said it will stop gun and ammunition sales to people under 21. i imagine you didn t know that kroger sold guns. it sells them at the fred myers