That does it for the cycle. Martin, its all yours. Just a quick question. How many rounds did Jared Loughner fire off before he was tackled . Whats your point . How many rounds had he fired off . Im not sure. I dont remember. 31. Okay. He was actually tackled because he was reloading. We should be trying to stop crazy people and criminals, martin, from shooting one person, not tenplus one person which all is accomplished when you ban high capacity magazines. Thats all thats accomplished. Okay. Thank you very much. Good afternoon. Its tuesday, january the 15th, and the pressure is on the white house, congress, and the nation to take action and prevent another slaughter of innocent children. Our hearts are broken. Our spirit is not. This is our promise h the sandy hook promise. If there is a step we can take that will save even one child from what happened in newtown, we should take that step. My dad would always say ben is going to do amazing things, and i always say now i just didnt know it was going to be in his death. I thought it was going to be in his life. Under pressure, pressure we begin as the president prepares to unveil his plan to address gun violence with an announcement at midday tomorrow. Even as congress waits in the wings with responses ranging from deep skepticism to threats of impeachment. Yes, but white house spokesman jay carney said this afternoon that just because something is difficult, it doesnt mean its not worthwhile. We can no longer stand by without taking action. We will look to congress to put together, you know, a legislative strategy. Well work with them, and we will push for things that are hard because theyre the right things to do. The president will be joined by Vice President joe biden who presented his Task Force Recommendations monday. Also joining the president tomorrow will be children who wrote letters to the white house after the deadly shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School just over a month ago. And this Pivotal Moment comes as more americans are calling for stricter gun laws. A New Washington post post shows 52 of people believe the shooting at sandy hook has made them more supportive of gun control. The latest Pew Survey Shows big support for universal background checks and preventing gun sales to the mentally ill. Broad backing for a federal gun database and the banning of semiautomatic weapons. So why is it that even the suggestion of such measures is provoking such fear and trembling from conservative quarters . Possible executive action such as limiting gun imports, sharing Mental Health records, and, heaven forbid, researching the Public Health impact of guns have led this congressman, steve stockman, of texas to threat be impeachment if the president pursues any infringement of gun rights. Edwin meese is the late toast jump on that bandwagon. As the president has said many times, he believes in the Second Amendment, right to bear arms, and has no desire to limit the rights of responsible gun owners. But how can he do nothing and answer to the families of 20 children and 6 School Staffers riddled with bullets . How can he answer the parents of slain 6yearold ben wheeler who spoke with my colleague rachel madd ow on monday. Just, just dont stop think being this. Just keep thinking about this. Keep this in your head. My dad would always say ben is going to do amazing things, and i always say now, i just didnt know it was going to be in his death. I thought it was going to be in his life. Those are the people whom the president has to answer to today, tomorrow, and every day. Joining us now is congressman john larson, democrat of connecticut. Good afternoon, sir. Good afternoon, martin. Mr. Larson, i have been struck by your Public Comments since that terrible day in december. You said, and im quoting you, we have to act. We cant just stand and lower flags and ache with everybody. But in the last few days, weve heard that an assault weapons ban wouldnt make it through congress. The nra says reducing high capacity magazines would also fail. So what do you expect could be done to address the issue of gun violence in america . Well, just because things appear to be hard, doesnt mean we shouldnt attempt to do them. And as you pointed out at the start of the show, martin, i think the American People have the memory of these children is permanently seared in everyones memory, and the fierce urgency of now in taking action is upon this congress. That, of course, has caused the lobbies to act and repel against it, but it doesnt mean that we shouldnt continue to put forward common sense, practical legislation. Mike thompson, who has been designated by nancy pelosi in our caucus to head up a special task force, has been holding hearings, and i think whats gripping the country is that there are common sense, practical solutions. And standing behind that is the resolve of a president , our president , who i was fortunate to fly to connecticut with. When he came out and spoke, he said this was the worst day of my presidency, and you could see to the marrow of the individual how much this has impacted this president and his resolve to protect our children. And as congress has demonstrated most recently with respect to fiscal cliffs, that it cannot act, i expect the president will. And i applaud him for taking executive action, and doing so where he can, abiding by the constitutional amendment, which, of course, as you know, martin, says there shall be a wel wellregulated militia. It has nothing to do with taking the guns out of the hands of people but regulating and control assault weapons, capacity clips, making sure that theres universal background checks for people. Come on. These are common sense, practical things that we can agree on, and, in fact, most members of the nra agree with universal background checks and closing the loopholes that exist out there is that we can in a very practical sense stop the violence. And, yes, Mental Health issues, yes, the culture of violencviol make sure were incorporating all we need to do, but lets act. But are you suggesting, sir, that the president should take executive action in relation to assault weapons . Are you suggesting that he should take executive action to ban those weapons . I am suggesting that the president take whatever executive action he deems escapable of doing and that his Legal Advisers advise him on with respect to its constitutionality, with respect to the executive prerogatives that he has to protect the health, safety, and wellbeing of our citizens, especially our children. Congressman john larson, sir, thank you very much, indeed. I want to bring in msnbc contributor joy reid, who is the managing editor of thegrio. Com. Were hearing about the president weighing Something Like 19 steps that could be taken. But in addition we hear that larry pratt, the executive director of gun owners of america, says background checks are a complete waste of time. Weve also heard from a number of people who say, including harry reid, suggesting that an assault weapons ban wouldnt get through the house. You just heard a member of the house saying he believes the president should take any action. Whats your reaction . Absolutely. People like larry pratt and the nra also oppose things like making sure someone on the terrorist watch list cant get a gun. They dont believe in any restrictions whatsoever. Look, nothing in the Second Amendment says that you have the right to bear arms cheaply and without any convenience. The government has the right to regulate in any way to the limits of the law. They absolutely can do that and they have a compelling interest in doing that. There are things the executive could do without congress and the president should do them all. We havent had an atf, head of the atf for six years. They should vigorously go after gun trafficking. A lot of weapons are bought in the secondary market. 40 of gun sales have no background check whatsoever. Exactly. 40 . Exactly. All you would have to do to close that up would be to say, okay, fine, if you sell a gun to someone who otherwise couldnt pass a background check, then the liability for any crime committed with that weapon rebounds to you. That would create an incentive for people to do it on their own without any mandate from congress, that people would start doing background checks if they thought they could be liable. Many of our viewers have been watching new York Governor Andrew Cuomo who at this point the new York Assembly at this moment is voting through an assault weapons ban and the reduction of magazine clips to Something Like seven rounds. Weve also heard about Maryland GovernorMartin Omalley who is even considering fingerprinting as a possible in relation to ownership of firearms. What people dont understand is whatever those two do in their states has no bearing elsewhere. Thats why there needs to be federal action. Absolutely. Rahm emanuel has said they can do strict gun regulation in chicago and theyll have guns come in through indiana. Were going to a country which is essentially two nations, one sane, one insane. We have great regulation in new york and thats why new york city is the safest big city in the country. Cities like new orleans are killing fields. If people want to have uniformity in terms of being able to be safe as you travel from state to state, there has to be some federal overlay. We mentioned at the beginning that the president tomorrow when he announces the recommendations that the Vice President has presented to him through this task force will make an appearance with several children. Right. And conservative radio host chris plante called it shameless on fox news. Here he is. Lets take a listen. Its cynical. It is shameless. They will be stacked according to skin color and ethnicity to frame the president s face because its essentially part of the propaganda package as they present their bill of goods. When you heard congressman larson describe the president s reaction to that shooting and then you hear that individual describe whats proposed for tomorrow, whats your reaction . I think whats really shameless, the nra putting out in the midst of all of our continuing grief over the sandy hook shooting, essentially a violent video game where children as young as 4 can shoot at coffinshaped targets. Thats been some speculation about whether thats accurate, whether thats true, whether thats actually happening. Were not certain thats happening. Going back to that individual suggesting that the president tomorrow is doing nothing other than framing his own ethnic color face with other ethnic faces. The issue, look, is that children were the victims in the sandy hook shooting. We want to protect them. So the idea of the imagery of children, god forbid we should want them protected and they should be able to speak to an issue. By the way, theyll be in the capitol where youre not allowed to bring a gun in and thats why theyll be perfectly safe there. The irony of that shouldnt be lost on anyone. It isnt. Joy reid, thank you so much. Next, the president takes on congress again. Stay with us. When im over here at the congressional picnic and folks are coming up and taking pictures with their family, i promise you, michelle and i are very nice to them and we have a wonderful time. But it doesnt prevent them from going onto the floor of the house and blasting me for being a big spending socialist. You know my heart burns for you. Im up next, but now im singing the heartburn blues. Hold on, prilosec isnt for fast relief. Cue up alkaseltzer. It stops heartburn fast. Oh what a relief it is and his new boss told him two things cook what you love, and save your money. Joe doesnt know it yet, but hell work his way up from busser to waiter to chef before opening a restaurant specializing in fish and game from the great northwest. Hell start investing early, hell find some good people to help guide him, and hell set money aside from his first day of work to his last, which isnt rocket science. Its just common sense. From td ameritrade. When the doctor told me that i could smoke for the first week. Im like. Yeah, ok. Little did i know that one week later i wasnt smoking. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix is proven to help people quit smoking. It reduces the urge to smoke. Some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. If you notice any of these stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. Tell your doctor about any history of depression or other Mental Health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix. 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In the end its a threat they cant sustain. No one is going to defall. No one is going to allow the United States to not pay its bills. Joining us now from washington is david corn, d. C. Bureau chief for mother jones magazine and Jared Bernstein is a senior fellow at the center on budget and policy priorities. Good afternoon to both of you. Jared, if president obama were the one holding the debt ceiling hostage, right as the housing, auto, and retail sectors seem to be rebounding, wouldnt the House Republicans be calling the president s tactics those of a socialist who wanted to bring down the American Economy . I think they would, and i appreciate your bringing the economy into it. The president did that yesterday. The more we talk about the debt ceiling after obsessing over the fiscal cliff, the more i look at the whole thing as a massive dangling the key or, you know, dont look over here at the real economy, which is where people would really like policymakers to be dealing, but look at this socalled fiscal crisis which doesnt even exist. The president very clearly, and i thought helpfully, spelled out the numbers yesterday and actually to get from where we are, given the spending cuts and tax increases that weve implemented so far, to where we need to be to stabilize the debt, is not that heavy a lift if we had a functional politics that was actually paying attention to what needs to be done instead of creating these ridiculous selfinflicted skirmishes and wounds. As you have correctly pointed out, you have even got conservatives spokespeople saying, look, this isnt going to happen, youre not going to do this. Were going to have one of these last Minute Solutions again. If that is truly the case and if history is precedent, it will be, we really have to ask ourselves about our priorities. And yet, david, the problem is the Fitch Ratings agency has already threatened a ratings downgrade. And it even has a retort who think debt ceiling hostage taking can be a weapon against spending calling it an infective and potentially dangerous mechanism for enforcing fiscal discipline. So what is this obsession they have of falling on their sword and taking the country with them. There you go again, martin, sticking to the factses. I apologize. Were talking about the House Republicans. Sorry. At least half of them. I do think we see an emerging standard being set amongst our republican friends. That is the difference between an adult republican and a toddler republican. Adult republicans, i have to say Newt Gingrich is often straddled this line he has. Now believe it is wrong to play politics with default. But there are still toddler republicans out there who want to either have a default, if not a default, a government shutdown. If not a government shutdown, they want to have a tantrum on the steps of the white house. You know, at a certain point in time. So this is really somewhat of an identity crisis here is the problem, david. The analogy sounds funny. The problem is the toddlers could topple the economy. Exactly. Well, thats the whole issue here, to what degree are they able to bring the economy down. Will john boehner at the end of the day have to do what he did with the tax bill, which is basically cede control of the house more or less to the democrats and have most of his party vote against something but allow a vote to come up that will let democrats and nancy pelosi yet again rescue the day. Okay, jared. I want to play you something the president said on monday. You referenced it yourself. Take a listen. They will not collect or ransom an exchange for not crashing the American Economy. The Financial Wellbeing of the American People is not leverage to be used. Jared, i put it to you, do they not realize this fight isnt just hurting the economy. Its also helping this president look like the only grownup in washington. I dont think theyre calculus on this stuff is as rational as your question suggests, of course. But, again, if you actually get out of this beltway, and i try to do it as much as possible, and talk to people, the que