Jennifer more than 30 michigan schools will close two days early for the holiday break this year. Why . Well, it is not to give students an early Christmas Gift. It is because officials are concerned about copycat killers following the newtown tragedy. Now, the superintendent of one of the districts issued a statement saying. John fuglesang my friends has it really come to this . That kindergarteners cant go to school because we, as a country cant ensure theyll be safe from semiautomatic weapon wielding lunatics and the solution from our far right wing friends . Arm the teachers. The very teaches theyve called union thugs. We should pay to train these teachers. The people who scream us to about fast and furious and said gun proliferation and mexico was dangerous are still telling us gun proliferation in america makes us safer. Welcome to the u. S. A. Where of some you will find its easier to buy a weapon designed to kill a lot of people in a short amount of time than it is to marry who you love or vote where you want or send your kids to kindergarten. We now live in a society where the aurora, colorado, shooter could buy 6,000 rounds of ammo online and tommy chung went to jail for selling bombs. It is painfully obvious. We need change in this country and the good news, the majority of americans and the majority of gun owners agree. In fact, a new ppp poll finds that the majority of americans and the majority of gun owners support banning assault weapons and closing the gun show loophole. But the nra opposes both of those measures and in the past, the nra has successfully fought gun control legislation by threatening to attack any politician who doesnt take their hard line. Even after last years tragic Gabby Giffords shooting, gun control introduced by Chuck Schumer and Carolyn Mccarthy could not get passed congressional republicans. The Justice Department didnt get very far either. Attorney general eric holder created a task force on gun control but most of its proposals were shelved as the election and the fast and the furious inquiry heated up. This time, it seems as though, however, there might be a bit more cooperation. Today, Speaker John Boehner said he could be willing to consider Vice President bidens recommendations on gun control. We join the president in mourning the victims of that horrible tragedy in connecticut. Hes appoint Vice President biden to lead a commission and when the Vice President s recommendations come forward well certainly take them into consideration. John fuglesang now john boehner may say hell consider but he did give himself a good amount of wiggle room. Do you hear that right now . Thats the friend of the nra revving up their spin machine. Fox news reported the gun lobby has remained silent to allow for a proper period of mourning but that soon they would start to push back. Because, you see guns dont kill people but nra people who own congresspeople make it a lot easier for o derange people to get gun and kill innocent people. Tomorrow, the nra will hold a press conference outlining their position. And an honest source gave fox news a preview saying that the nra would push politicians to talk about hollywood and the video games that teach young kids how to shoot heads. If you really want to stop incidents like this, passing one more law is not going to do a damn thing. So again what are we saying here . Dont enact gun control laws. Blame video games. Even the conservative National Review magazine found it ridiculous writing blaming violence on video games is unfair and worse unlikely to lead to effective policies. Friends, if the conservative National Review is preemptively taking the nra to task, maybe maybe things are on the verge of changing. For more on this story im joined by think progress Senior Investigative reporter josh israel from washington d. C. Josh welcome to the war room. Thanks for having me, john. John fuglesang pleasure to have you. What do you think the nra will say tomorrow . Will there be anything that we havent heard before . Well, i certainly couldnt say for sure theyre not going to surprise us. But they have a very, very long history of not doing so. Every time over the last couple of decades theres been a disaster like this, theyve followed the same pattern. First they wait. They say nothing. And then they go right back on doing what they do. Which is lobbying against any restrictions and actually actively fighting to get rid of the restrictions we have and to make access to guns easier. The sort of big hint we got was on nra news earlier this week, they called the assault weapons ban from the clinton administration. It failed experiment. So it doesnt really sound like theyre ready to change their tune and embrace it two days later. John a failed experiment i guess because the Bush White House allowed it to lapse so easily. The nra has backed Mental Health background checks, josh. It sounds like that will be their subterfuge, what theyll get people talking about instead of gun control and keeping weapons designed to kill people out of the hands of civilians. Do they have an advantage on that . Could that work . Well, i first of all want to point out that is a very real part of this discussion and it should be. And this country right now it is much easier for people to get a gun than it is for them to get access to Mental Health treatment. And thats a problem that needs to be addressed. However, thats not going to be enough here. I think the American People are to a point where theyre not going to let that one portion of the solution be the only thing thats discussed. Or the only thing thats addressed. John i agree josh. Im heartened to hear the nra wants more government money spent toward healthcare. However, when you think about it, wouldnt an National Unified database of all gun owners include that, include the Mental Health background checks . Isnt a National Database a step toward making this a Safer Society . Yeah, absolutely. You could include that. You could include criminal records. Which, you know, the vast majority, even of nra members want to see checked before people get access to guns. Even at gun shows. They would do well to consider that as a serious part of the solution. John with public sentiment shifting toward stricter gun control, is the nra control weakening or are they hoping people will move on to the next shiny thing in the next few weeks and things will continue as the status quo. Their control has been a bit of a paper tiger. They spent a whole lot of money on the last election and it didnt really have a whole lot of sway. Most of the candidates backed extensively from romney, lost. Certainly a lot of members of congress have been scared of them because, you know, theyre loud and the people who support sensible gun control restrictions have in recent years not been as loud. Certainly in recent days, weve seen a wide array of democrats and republicans in the senate. More by the day coming forward and saying we need to get serious about gun control. Or at the very least we need to be talking about gun control. And all of a sudden, you see a lot of people who have had nra ratings of as for their entire career saying i think im spooked. John a decade ago the nra shamelessly had their convention in colorado shortly after the columbine killings. I think it is a sign of how much progress has been made that they wouldnt even consider doing that in newtown connecticut today, do you agree . I think they would be pretty crazy to, given the popular sentiment right now. Im not entirely sure they werent crazy to back at columbine. John i think they were crazy, too and that legacy has certainly hurt them. You mention before about politicians with an nra a rating, do you think that could turn into a strike against the politicians . Could that be the sort of thing that voters scrutinize when they pick who they want in the ballot box . A lot of members of Congress Listen to the nra because those are the voices that hear. And if the people who take the opposite position and also if nra members who dont necessarily share the extreme views of the national nra leadership, let them know that they dont want to see the nra dictating our entire federal policy, not just on gun control but on the judiciary and on so many other things, it could absolutely turn into a strike against them. And i think the National Sentiment were seeing is ones of just people saying ive had enough. This is one one disaster too many. Weve had i think i think weve had 31 School Shootings since columbine but i think you know, this may be the straw that broke the camels back on that. But people are saying enough john i want to talk briefly about one state youve done a lot of reporting on, virginia. Governor Bob Mcdonnell and ken ush nelly are calling for virginia is a bellwether state. Which way do you think theyre going to go . Virginia went for president obama in the president ial election by about three points. Polls showed that by a 9 margin despite huge, hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars of expenditures on virginia by the nra voters in virginia preferred president obamas approach on guns to mitt romneys by 9 points. So i think theres definitely a popular sentiment in virginia that we need to do something. John josh, i realize americans love guns the way the rest of the world loves soccer but it is encouraging to hear how nra members support closing the gun show loophole and sensible background checks. I thank you for the terrific reporting youve done for think progress. Josh israel, political reporter for think progress. Thanks very much. John coming up, do you remember the scene in the bible where jesus side loads of shotguns and says say hello to a real peace make summer me neither. That aint in the bible. Although some think thats exactly what happened. Plus women can be wounded in combat and heroically, they are. Women can die in combat and heroically they do but technically women cant serve in combat. Later in the show, Hillary Clinton, democrats love her. Progressives are warming to her. Conservatives begrudgingly respect her and everybody wants to know what shes going to be doing four years from now. All of that and much more tonight in the war room. Now lets get some real news. vo first, news and analysis with a washington perspective from an emmy winning insider. You couldnt say it any more powerfully than that. Current tv, on the roll. vo followed by humor and politics with a west coast edge. Ah, thank you. It really is incredible. vo bill press and stephanie miller, currents morning news block. Weekdays six to noon. Alright, in 15 minutes were going to do the young turks. I think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that were honest. They know that im not bsing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. When the democrats are wrong, they know that im going to be the first one to call them out. They can question whether im right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us. John welcome back to the war room. Im John Fuglesang filling in for governor granholm. Earlier this week, the revoltingly fake christians of the Westboro Baptist church announced they would be heading up to newtown to picket the funerals of the children on account of their insufficient hatred for gay people. Giving westboro a lot of coverage is what the Mainstream Media does. However, we were soon treated to this inspiring image of the local firefighters prepared to make a human wall blocking the westboro fake christians from any mourners. Sadly, Westboro Baptist church arent the only American Christians trying to exploit the tragedy for their own decidedly nonchristian goals. Former governor and former human being, Mike Huckabee went on his fox show this week and said this. We ask why theres violence in our schools but we systemically remove god from our schools. Should we be so surprised that schools would become a place of carnage . John now, mike this massacre was not caused by take god out of the schools or a lack of governmentsponsored nativity scenes or as you mentioned later in the interview taxpayer funded Abortion Pills which actually dont exist. Heres a tip for our fundamentalist christian friends. If you believe god is everywhere, it is impossible to remove him from our schools. When you say not having god in Public Schools leads to massacres like this, technically, youre really blaming James Madison because our constitution guarantees a wall between church and state. So those of us who support what madison wrote are the actual conservatives on this issue. Taking the bible out of context is something right wing christians do every day because the only way you can cling to both guns and the bible is if you agree to totally ignore the jesus parts. But across america, millions of people of all states are wrestling with a spiritually sane response to gun culture. So im pleased to welcome my next guest. Joining us here in new york is rabbi eric yoffe for the union for reformed judaism. Thank you for coming inside the war room. Happy to be with you. S. John you wrote a deeply powerful piece in Huffington Post and everybody out there atheist and believer alike should read called gun worship is blasphemy. What was it that prompted you to go with that particular title . I believe that gun control is a religious issue. We have turned guns into idols and the worship of idols is blasphemy and the only proper response to blasphemy is moral outrage and moral action. Thats what that piece was about. John i want to talk with you about the whole morality of gun culture. A lot of people are struggling with where do you draw the line between wanting to protect your family and giving easy access to weapons designed to kill people to whoever wants them. Were not talking about protecting your family. We all support that. All of the major religious traditions support that. We recognize the constitutional issues which allow us to bear arms. The question is do you have a right, either a moral right or constitutional right to have a gun that can fire 100 bullets in a minute . And the fact is you do not. Is there any need to have a gun with a magazine that has more than eight to ten bullets and the answer is absolutely not. There is no reading of the jewish tradition the muslim tradition, the christian tradition that poses any obstacle to sensical gun control john i could not agree more. You were part of a group of interfaith clergy members called the faiths united. Which are calling on congress to enact steeper gun control. S how do you think how meaningful do you think a call like that will be for politicians coming from clergy members . This is a grassroots issue. We have the nra the congress is awash in nra cash. You have the stooges in congress who are not concerned with the next generation. Theyre concerned with the next election. We have to speak to them from home from their districts and religion can do that. Were the most religious of the modern democracies the modern industrial democracies. 40 of americans worship every week. Thats more than go to a Football Game in the entire season. John when they say it is my godgiven right to have a gun. Where do they get that from . Theres one line in luke where jesus says buys a sword and hes speaking metaphorically and he tells him not to use sword. Where do people get this notion of a godgiven right to guns . They dont get it from the religious traditions. They get it from various elements of political culture that simply have no place in our religious thinking. Were created in the image of god. All of our major traditions embrace that principle. Nothing defiles the image of god as much as pointing a gun at a small child and pulling the trigger again and again. Religious leaders need to come together now platitudes arent enough. Caring for those who suffered a loss. Very, very important. But thats not enough either. Now we have to act for justice. We have to do so with some anger and some passion. Thats the only way to take on the nra and those who support the terrible things they do. John i agree. Speak of not doing enough, lets talk about the Democratic Party for a second. Gun control is an issue theyve largely dropped over the last 15 years. In your excellent piece you talk about how president obama is the only person who can Show National leadership on this issue. Are you satisfied with what hes said and done so far . Over the last four years im not satisfied. By in large he avoided this issue. I admire the man but i was never pleased with his approach to guns. He didnt have the courage but hes done very well since the terrible shooting in connecticut. Very well. In terms of how hes provided leadership and the specific things that hes said. Once the recommendations emerge from that, that commission, the key will be will he fight for them . Youve got to fight for them. And if he leads the way religious leaders i believe will follow. If he doesnt, i fear that were lost. John if you think you can get this kind of coalition of christians, juice and muslims and jews and muslims and atheists, people of good faith even if they have no faith to do this thats an example of the people leading and the leaders following. I havent seen that kind of Grassroots Organization from a unified religious community really in many years in this untry. Thth artion debat d i i lgely rr drr by the conservative christian right. What youre going for is something much more broad that unites conservatives and liberals correct . I think thats true. Look the nra is t