Long. Morning joe starts right now. I have opposed efforts to ban Deadly Weapons of war like the Assault Rifle used to carry out this crime. The time has now come for me to take responsibility for this failure. Which is why i now call on the United States congress to ban Assault Rifles like the one used by the sick perpetrator of this mass killing in my hometown of lewiston, maine. For the good of my community, i will work with any colleague to get this done in the time that i have left in congress. Thats democratic Congressman Jared Golden of maine, changing his position on gun reform following wednesdays deadly Mass Shootings in his hometown. Well have a live report from lewiston, maine, as the manhunt for the suspect is expanding this morning. Also ahead, well go through the Major Development out of The Middle East overnight. The United States military carrying out air strikes in syria. This comes as iran is threatening the u. S. In connection with the israelhamas war. Good morning. Welcome to morning joe. It is friday, october 27th. With us, we have the host of way too early, White House Bureau chief at politico, jonathan lemire. Elise jordan of the former bush state department. And msnbcs reverend al sharpton. And bbcs katty kay. I love the introduction. Took so long for somebody to come up with the george w. What . It was unintentionally, but i think we found something. This is a catch phrase. If youd only done it 16 years earlier, 17 years earlier, everybody would have been saying it. First of all, that was Congressman Golden out of maine, after a terrible, horrific slaughter. Same thing happened after parkland. Hes a democrat. You had a republica in florida decide after that slaughter that he would also support Military Style, socalled Assault Weapons Ban. Guess what . A republican in a really trumpy area did it. Paid no price. Even when people are saying, oh, theyre not going to do it because the people at home wont let them do it. Thats not true. After sandy hook, there were republicans all across connecticut that did it. You know, this is just again, its just so maddening. You look at the New York Post. Definition of insanity, as the post is saying, he heard voices, yet was free to have, it looks like, an ar15 to kill 18 people. I mean, that is the definition of insanity. It keeps happening. Yeah, i mean, you could ask Congressman Golden. You know, he has a Change Of Heart yesterday, ask why it wasnt any of the previous Mass Shootings withar15s that didnt change his mind. When it comes to your doorstep, clearly its hit him in a way, and it hits anyone, whether its the Pulse Nightclub Shooting, vegas, sandy hook, it touches the people where it happens. Perhaps there will be some change. We talked about extensively yesterday that maine, as you know, joe, is a gun state. Theres a Big Culture Of Hunting and sportsmanship and all that. Well see if thats change. But i think most people agree with your point, which is, someone who was committed to a Mental Health facility for two weeks. Come on, man. Last summer probably should have a red flag next to his name. Exactly. Ive got to say, when i hear people talking about how Red Flag Laws are violations of the Second Amendment, theyre either stupid or just liars. I mean, theyre either stupid or so completely ignorant about what the Second Amendment is and what it is not. Ill say, ive got ive glad when people make the move, elise. I did after sandy hook, and i did based on the fact that just over the decade leading into sandy hook, there was one Mass Shooting after another Mass Shooting. Ive got to say, the Weapon Of Choice is an ar15 for crazy people. The Weapon Of Choice is to go in, get an ar15, shoot up schools, shoot up Bowling Alleys, shoot up churches. Thats the Weapon Of Choice. If its not going to be banned, why it cant be tightly, tightly regulated, so if youre going in to get an ar15, man yes. Youre going to have to pass. That is no violation of the Second Amendment. Whats upsetting is having an Assault Rifle is conflated with having a shotgun and being a hunter. People in maine can still hunt and have access to guns. They just dont need access to highcapacity magazines. Ban the magazines. This is done. By the way, elise, you, from mississippi, me from mississippi, alabama, georgia, florida, we grew up around guns. It was in our culture. I went to a church that didnt go everybody went hunting. Yet, when all of these killings started happening, they all said the same thing, these hunters whose dads had taken them hunting when they were 5 years old. It was a part of theyve lives. Had guns all over the house, locked, safe, you know, everywhere i went. People have shotguns on the walls locked up in a case. Id ask every one of those people, you need one of these, like, Military Style . They go, are you kidding me . So this whole great lie told by the nra and politicians to protect hedgefund Companies Profits that have all gone in to buy these companies that make ar15s, it is all a lie. And its all a lie for money. Its all about money. They are sacrificing you know, were looking at the horrors visited upon israel. Im talking about hamas has to be destroyed. Here we see this in our country day after day, week after week, and you have these republicans going, oh, you know what in Mental Health. FundaMental Health. Oh, well, no, were not going to fundaMental Health. Or, you know, oh, its not the weapon. Susan collins yesterday, its not the weapon. We need to look at the magazine. Come on. Its harder to get certain Prescription Drugs than to get a gun, and there are no what about with a card . You have to have a license and pass a test with a car. Guns are free flowing in this country, and we have to expect this is going to happen again and again and again unless somebody is done. It keeps happening, john. Authorities in maine havent been able to identifying all the victims because the damage on the bodies is so great because of the weapon used. Maine is a yellow flag state, an effort to pass red flag law were defeated in the last couple years, rev. We heard about Mental Health. We also heard the new Speaker Of The HouseYesterday Say in an interview, this is not the right time to talk about Gun Legislation. This simply shouldnt be our focus right now, and he offered up prayers. He said, we should be praying. No solutions, knowledge prayers. Youre a man of the cloth. Seems to me that more than prayers is needed. Prayers without work is a dead thing. Thats in the bible. Weve been praying since the first carnage. When are we going to do the work . I didnt grow up in mississippi or alabama. My mother did. But i grew up in brooklyn, where we lived under siege. That is now the people in maines condition. When are we going to stop this, from urban to rural areas . This young man, if i can say young man, had a Mental Health problem that were not even able to get this congress to pursue Background Checks, less alone red flags. Not even Background Checks. Theres not even a deposit on getting to it in this congress. For the speaker to tell us this is not the time tells us what kind of speaker he is going to be. In this time . If you have a guy still at large after killing almost 20 people, and this is not the time, then it is time to get these people out of office. Yeah, i mean, it keeps happening over and over again. They say its never the time. I mean, how many Mass Shootings have we had . What, are we supposed to give weeks . No. Actually, the time to talk about it is after kids were getting gunned down and destroyed and people are getting gunned down in Bowling Alleys, loved ones cant even identify them because theyve been so mangled by the bullets. Its what we heard was so haunting about sandy hook. Parents going in, seeing their 6yearold children and not being able to recognize them because the guns had destroyed them so much. Here we are, katty kay, willie showed the daily news, but heres the list, vegas, people gunned down seeing a Country Music festival. Pulse, 49. Virginia tech, 32. Sandy hook, 26. The Baptist Church in texas, 26. A walmart in texas, 23. San diego, 22. Lewiston, maine, 18. The shooter still on the run. Again, the ar15. People used to say, oh, youre banning something because of the cosmetics of it. Its just, again, its a lie. The ar15 was designed to be the most effective Killing Machine in the jungles of vietnam. Congress didnt adapt it for political reasons, but it was meant, it was developed to hunt human beings. And it of course, katty, ill ask you the perennial question, or the monthly question, where else does this happen but the United States . Talk about london. Talk about, you know, other big cities across europe. It just doesnt happen. They have Mental Health problems in france. They have Mental Health problems in the uk. They have Mental Health problems as far as im aware in germany and italy and korea and china and the philippines and brazil and mexico and nigeria. What dont they have . They dont have Mass Shootings. They dont have Mass Shootings because people do not have access to the kinds of weapons that can kill people in large numbers at high speed in other countries around the world. They dont. In countries around the world where they have had Mass Shootings like in australia and the uk, theyve put in place regulation afterward that mean that since those Mass Shootings which happened decades ago, they have not had any more Mass Shootings since. The United States can do this. It can choose to do this, like it did back in 1994. In that tenyear period, from 1994 to 2004, guess what . You were 70 less likely to die from a Mass Shooting in the United States than you were before the Assault Weapons Ban or after the Assault Weapons Ban. So you had a window in this country where you tried to regulate this, successfully regulated Assault Weapons. Not perfectly, they werent all taken off the streets, but enough were taken off the streets that americans didnt have to fear being killed in the shooting weve just seen in maine. Its a choice. We talk about it is a choice. Willie, you held out the headline. Yeah. We dont have to do this. No. The suspect here, mr. Card, bought, legally, this sniper rifle. Its a sniper rifle that he purchased, despite everything we now know about the trouble he was having and having been committed to a Mental Health institution. His Family Raising Concerns, as well. Hes still on the run. The manhunt continues this morning for the suspected gunman in the lewiston, maine, Mass Shootings. Roughly 50,000 people remain under lockdown across the state after the 40yearold suspect killed at least 18 people and injured 13 at a Bowling Alley and bar Wednesday Night. Eight victims at the bar, seven at the Bowling Alley, and three at area hospitals. Hes been charged with eight counts of murder so far with the identification of the victims. Bowdoin is where the suspect lives. Four senior Law Enforcement officials tell nbc news a note was found at the suspects home during a search. Investigators are trying to determine the meaning of that note and how it might be able to guide their investigation. The u. S. Coast guard, meanwhile, also is joining the search effort. The suspect owns a boat and at least one jet ski, leading to questions as to whether he could have fled across the water. Remember, he left his car at a boat dock in lisbon. Investigators also are looking into whether a gun found in the suspects car was the same used in the shootings. The weapon is believed to be a sniper rifle purchased legally this year, according to officis. Law enforcement also looking into whether a female acquaintance of the suspect who frequented that bar may have been a reason he targeted that location. We go live to lewiston. Whats the latest there, toni . Reporter were hearing all throughout the state of maine, people have been hunkered down at home. Businesses closed. Schools out for the second day in a row. When i talk to residents, they describe a combination of extreme shock and excruciaing grief here. In part, because its hard to really pick up the pieces, to grieve together, when youre on lockdown at home. People are turning out their lights at night, fearful that he might be out there in the woods looking for another target, a home to come and visit. Theyve been locking up their barns, locking up their cars. The pain here is immense. I had a conversation with one resident yesterday who was actually here at the medical center. This is the primary center where victims have been treated. Three people are still in critical condition. Behind me here, three people passed away. This resident, Cynthia Hunter, was outside of the Emergency Room, watching minutes after 7 00 p. M. , after the shooting unfolded, people arrived. She saw young people and adults coming in in critical condition. Just to see that, you know, in a community where people dont even really lock their doors, where people have grown up here. She is 64 years old but lived here her entire life. Used to hang out at some of these spots when she was a teenager. The realization that things are forever changed, people are going to be altering their routines, buying ring cameras. We heard that from several people, as well. Theyll think about their security and community in an entirely different way. I know this is a story weve seen, you know, as you guys just talked about, transpire across this country and touch people, but it is, you know, such a small area, to have a high number of casualties, almost approaching the number of casualties you see in the state of maine in an entire year, its really hard to put into words just how shocking all of this is. You know, keep in mind, people are seeing Armored Vehicles go through their neighborhoods. They watched last night as police executed some of these search warrants. It is making it hard, again, to grieve when theres still such an active threat here. You know, were going to be talking to folks all day as they hope this doesnt turn into what we saw happen in pennsylvania, where there is a manhunt that extends and extends, and the community cant find peace. We hope it ends before that. Antonia in lewiston, maine, thanks so much. Joe, reading the early names of victims, they identify a father and son at a Bowling Night, 14yearold son. 10yearold grazed by a bullet. Her life changed forever. This was a youth Bowling Night, where parents and kids were bowling together. And it happened in maine, a state that is, i think, the safest state as far as acts of violence go. I think i read that in the times yesterday. Its also a gun owning state. People own guns. A lot of hunting in maine. Those two things can go together, but the idea that, again, Red Flag Laws are defeated, voted down in that state. The fact that 90 of americans want universal Background Checks, and republicans are blocking that. The fact that an overwhelming majority of americans want Red Flag Laws, republicans are blocking that. The fact that a majority of americans do wt to ban Military Style weapons, republicans are blocking that. They wont even talk about regulating them to make sure that people like this dont get thoseweapons. It keeps happening time and time and tim again. The ar15 is the Weapon O Choice for deranged shooters who want to go kill a