Hi, everyone. Im tamron hall. Developing news this hour. President obama bringing his call to action on gun control to chicago where hundreds of people have been killed by gun violence in the past year. The president is expected to arrive in his hometown any minute. Chicagos gun crime rate has been on the rise, 42 deaths in january, the most reported for that month in a decade. 506 People Killed last year, up from 435 people the year before. The white house says the economy will be number one on the president s agenda, but the president is also expected to push for stricter gun laws. It will be the first time hes taken up the issue during his threeday poststate of the union tour. Before leaving for chicago, the president got limb emotional at the president ial citizens medal ceremony at the white house. He handed out posthumous awards to the families of six administrators killed protecting the children of those at the sandy hook massacre. They gave all to the most innocent among us, thats what we honor today, the courageous heart, the selfless pete leslel Inspiring Actions of extraordinary americans. Last night the president called for a ban on weapons. People are going to be able to buy all kinds of guns and use them legally for protection, for sport, for hunting. There may be a small category of weapons that can drastically increase the incidence of gun violence. Thank you so much congress janikowski for your time. In chicago, the crime rate, ive watched it tick up for years. The mayor talked about the lax gun laws. Gun trafficking is something we have not talked a lot about. What do you think the president needs to say today . Well, hes going to acknowledge the fact that in chicago there are the strongest very strong gun la laws, but people can go to city boreds other to indiana, right across the state borders and buy without a background check all the groups that they want. That is exactly why we need national regulations, why we need universal background checks. The accessibility of guns is just too much. Its interesting, i was talking with a republican conservative from louisiana yesterday and hes watched this debate from both sides. We were discussing universal background checks and during our conversation, it really hit home to him the notion that someone can go to a private owner or a gun show and buy a gun, a weapon, without any i. D. , without any background check i should say. 92 of americans, including nra members support this. Why do you believe the nra is still defiant, at least on universal background checks where people cannot just walk to a gun show or walk to a private home and walk away with a weapon . The answer is really simple, tamron. The leadership of the nra, the top executives of the nra, their business is helping the ma manufacturers, their organizational supporters, to sell more guns. So theyre interested in more purchases, however theyre done. As you said, 74 of nra members themselves are for universal background checks and a vast majority of the gun owners themselves. Normal people understand that everyone ought to be selected so that theyre not a criminal, they dont have a history of Mental Illness thats been reported. Those people shouldnt have guns and everyone in america practically agrees. Let me transition to whats happening with chuck hagel and the senate. I want your perspective in that our first team says that this is a reminder for all that future legislative fights and nominations battles will perhaps be reflected in what were seeing with chuck hagel and the filibuster and that, in their words, lets stop pretending this will change any time soon. There are tea leaves to be read in the chuck hagel nomination in hold and what we might see with immigration, gun control and other legislation the democrats and the president would like to see move ahead . Well, ill tell you, it really says to me that i wish that the senate had done something more about the filibuster and not allowing the republicans to abuse and overuse it as they have. But wasnt it harry reid and the democrats who didnt want to do more about the filibuster for fear when the table turned they didnt have the option . Weve seen from republicans when the tables turn theyll do anything they want it do and do it quickly in order to press their own agenda. So it is disappointing. But having said that, the republicans are now saying, oh, no, this isnt a filibuster, this is just slowing the process down. Were going to do it on our own timetable but we are going to do it. Chuck hagel will be the secretary of defense. So its just an immature, i think, silly power play on their part. Theyre going to approve him but they want to drag it out. And i think it may be it may be a prelude to whats going to come. Speaking of this evenings dr out, the sequester, the republicans have put a plan in 110 billion in cuts. An article says Speaker Boehner really is a point where he has a youfirst attitude towards democrats and republicans. He wants to see what the democrats and president will put forth because of the hardfought battles hes faced with his own caucus. Well, the senate has now put together a plan, the house, our Ranking Member on the Budget Committee has put out a bill to do it. Heres the problem, tamron, the problem is the republicans dont want one penny more from people and corporations that can afford to pay more. They dont want one cent in new revenue. We simply cant accept that. The middle class and poor people have tightened their belt so much already. And thats why were at a standstill right now. Its another manufactured crisis by the republicans to hold up actually moving our country forward. The impact of sequestration is devastating, even for a short while. Congresswoman schakowsky, its a great pleasure talking with you again. Joining me, lynn, the president in his hometown. We know pendleton was killed just a few miles from the president s home, her family seated with the first lady. The most emotional part of the state of the union, that rallying cry the president had at the end there. What do you expect from him today . I do expect him to make a personal acknowledgement because the high school that hes speaking at, tamron, as you know from having lived in chicago, the Hyde Park Academy is close to his home, close to the park where he was murdered. I would expect he would Say Something to that. But the kinds of laws that obama is pushing i would expect him to relate it to the chicago situation because those are specific things that could help as congresswoman schakowsky said is to try and stop the flow of guns into chicago. I would expect obama to touch on all those things and to pay yet another tribute to this 15yearold girl who died in a way and a place and time that made it so personal to mr. And mrs. Obama, who was at her funeral in chicago last saturday. Chris, to lynns point, theres been a lot of talks of background checks as far as Mental Health, high capacity magazines, military assaulttile weapons. With chicago you have the sort of circumstances that you draw your eye to gun trafficking and people being able to purchase at gun shows, the gun show loopholes pip want to play what Wayne Lapierre said yesterday to the president s state of the union pip wa union. I want to get your rear action on the other side. Its not about keeping kids safe at school. That wasnt even mentioned in the president s speech. They only care about their decadeslong, decadesold gun control agenda. The president has taken the art of public deception and manipulation to a whole new level. If people agree with Wayne Lapierre and given what the president has said and others who are actual gun owners but who are in favor of, for example, universal background checks, what if anything can be said, in your opinion, at this point to persuade people who believe the president and some others are just waiting to take away their guns . May i go . This is why Wayne Lapierre is just wrong. Senator durbin had a hearing on the Second Amendment this week and he made or one of his witnesses made the point when you talk about cracking down on purchasers, thats a document issue. This is not about the Second Amendment, not taking away anyones guns. Its just if you sign a document saying im the purchaser of the gun, its just like any document you sign for a loan. If you are offense or straw purchaser, if you lie or a criminal, youre going to face a penalty. Hes wrong. Its not always about Second Amendment. Theres nothing obama has said that would make you think youre going to lose a gun. In that room there are people nodding their head yes. What can be said at this point to persuade those folks this is not a secret agenda or what Wayne Lapierre referred to as deception or manipulation . To be honest, im not sure blah can be said. The premise of his argument is false. If theres been a decadelong war perpetrated against the Second Amendment, i must have been sleeping the last decade. It hasnt existed. And i work for an senator with senator joe mansion. Will it solve it completely . No. When youre talking about folks like Wayne Lapierre, they have a conspiratorial vision. Democrats cannot say it any clearer. We do not want to take peoples gun rights away. How do we keep guns out of the hands of criminals and those who shouldnt have them . When you have enormous loopholes that allow individuals through private transactions to evade or ignore some kind of background check, thats an enormous problem. Closing the loop hoholeloophole solve the entire gun issue, no . But its a specific forward. But those who lead the nra are never going to agree to that. Since you brought up joe manchion, why hasnt he come out and admonished that oped from Wayne Lapierre yesterday and specifically said the wording of the president s deception and manipulation, why not come out and say this is wrong, hes an nra member, a rating to your point, and perhaps those who believe even a sliver of that would be convinced when they hear someone like joe manchion step up . I dont work for joe anymore. I think we have an own us of responsibility to make it clear to nra members were not going to destroy the Second Amendment, we respect it but at the same time to push back very hard against the leaders in the nra when they use rhetoric that is absolutely false, that is based on i would say lies. There is no basis whatsoever for them to suggest that there has been this decadeslong agenda by democrats, let alone this president to go after the Second Amendment. Its not true. I want to take you to the situation with chuck hagel. This is what the president said during this google plus chat regarding this Unprecedented Movement that weve seen from the republicans regarding hagels nomination. Lets play it. Theres nothing in the constitution that says that somebody should get 60 votes. There are only a handful of instances in which theres been any kind of filibuster of anybody for a cabinet position in our history. And what seems to be happening, and this has been growing over time, is the republican minority in the senate seemed to think that the rule now is that you have to have 60 votes for everything. Well, thats not the rule. 60 votes for everything not the rule. Lets go past chuck hagel, lynn and chris, and look at other legislation. How do you assess what the president said and looking ahead to some big things that need to be done . Lynn . Well, the whole theme of the obama state of the union when he said guns measure deserves a vote. Thats not how congress works. Obama is asking for the exception, not the rules. They have a bunch of rules that try to prevent votes. In the senate the obama team probably should have seen that republicans could have used the 60 votes against hagel, as they have. Therefore, the big task for obama is to try to get a pledge from boehner, it will be very, very, very hard to do, zwrous get his measures that hes favors in his agenda to the floor of the house. That is very hard since boehner controls everything. Chris, the exception, not the rule . But it seems that the rule these days is exactly what we are seeing. When it comes to i think big pieces of legislation or big issues, it is the rule. If youre talking about sequestration, a good example, its going to require 60 votes for a deal to get through the senate, which basically means the proposal the democrats came up with just a few days ago is more or less dead in the water. Right. Immigration may be a little bit difference, i think there will be more republicans willing to kind of come along. But in terms of addressing the big problems in the country, were a prisoner to the process of the rules in the senate and thats unfortunately not going to change for good and bad and right now its bad because we have big problems in this country were facing and it doesnt seem like we can get anything done unless it basically is what the republicans want. Chris, lynn, thank you very much. Have a good weekend. You, too. Coming up, john mccains admission on why some republicans blocked chuck hagels vote. Theres a lot of ill will towards senator hagel because when he was a republican, he attacked president bush mercilessly. So is it payback . Well have much more on what mccain had to say and when a vote might take place. Plus, the latest on the near live 1,000 people injured today from a meteorite that exploded over russia and nasa is at this minute tracking an asteroid that is set to fly by earth in about five minutes. The closest to earth. About five minutes from now. Join our conversation on twitter. You can find out tamronhall and my team is at newsnation. Stop stop stop come back here humans we are beautifully imperfect creatures living in an imperfect world. Thats why Liberty Mutual insurance has your back with great ideas like our optional better car replacement. If your car is totaled, we give you the money to buy one a model year newer. Call. And ask one of our Insurance Experts about it today. Hello . we believe our customers do their best out there in the world, and we do everything we can to be there for them when they need us. [car alarm blaring] call now and also ask about our 24 7 support and service. Call. And lock in your rate for 12 months today. Liberty mutual insurance. Responsibility. Whats your policy . I just served my motherinlaw your chicken noodle soup but she loved it so much. I told her it was homemade. Everyone tells a little white lie now and then. But now she wants my recipe [ clears his throat ] [ softly ] shes right behind me isnt she . [ male announcer ] progresso. You gotta taste this soup. Or settling for wannabes . Stop compromising new Vidal Sassoon pro series. Care and styling from the original salon genius, created to let you have it all at an affordable price. New Vidal Sassoon lets you say no to compromise and yes to very shiny. Very silky. Very sexy. Very you. Its salon genius in a bottle now in your store. New Vidal Sassoon pro series. Salon genius. Brilliantly priced. More now on the republican filibuster of chuck hagels nomination of secretary of defense. After republicans delayed the nomination for at least ten days citing concerns about benghazi and his personal finances, senator john mccain admitted the reason for the filibuster for some ultimately may be personal. Theres a lot of ill will towards senator hagel because when he was a republican, he attacked president bush mercilessly, was very antihis own party and people. People dont forget that. The president is standing firmly behind hagel. Politico says he has, quote, gone all in on the nomination. Gentlemen, thank you so much for joining us. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. This is john mccain the maverick. He got the nickname the maverick not after top gun but because he stood up against his party. Now hes saying when you go against the party, you may suffer ultimately years later as in the case of chuck hagel. Look, a lot of republicans, including mccain myself dont really consider hagel a republican anymore. It has a lot to do with the way he went after the iraq war back when iraq was the dominant issue in washington. Remember, mccain was the chief proponent in the senate for the iraq war surge in 2007 and hagel was its biggest critic. But manu, how do they not consider him a republican anymore when it was john mccain who was nearly booed off stage when he brought up um grags refor immigration reform. And thus he abandoned the notion of a comprehensive reform there. Does he identify with chuck hagel . Both have seen the bitter pill theyve had to swallow from their own party. Look, relationships matter a lot in the senate. This is a situation where a republican has really frayed relations with many members in his own party because of the stances he took in iraq and on other issues. Remember, tamron, a lot of these republican senators who voted against him didnt serve with chuck hagel. Its a very new, younger republican conference. They really only know him from the antiiraq positions that he took, as well as some of the other thing hes did, such as endorsing deb fishers opponent. To that point, roger, the senator was on msnbc earlier today. Here whats he said. It has nothing to do with the personal issues laid out by senator mccain. Let me play it. This doesnt have anything to do with a grudge. This has something to do with picking the best person to be the leader of the largest Defense Organization in the world. Hes not the right guy for dod. Hes well to the left of the policies of the obama administration. So, michael, the president says hes all in. Earlier this week chuck hagels brother indicated he does not plan to withdraw his name. So where do you believe this will go . You know, its a great question. I think everything youve been airing is actually valid. I this its true that republicans are angry with hagel partly because they feel like he sort of betrayed the party. It happens on both sides. When Joe Lieberman said some things the democrats didnt like, he wasnt exactly welcomed into his own party. Its not a way to make friends in washington. Theres a certain amount of healthiness in people being willing to challenge their own party but it does tend to cost them. My guess if senator hagel con