Realizing that earth has no sorrow. That heaven cannot heal. From the prayers to the tears to the amazing grace. Youll hear from Family Friends and strangers about todays service of healing. Also today, a new search area for two prison escapees who vanished two weeks ago. Hear what police have found. Plus the new nbc poll who shows whos pulling ahead of the crowded field of gop candidates. Hello, everyone welcome. Its high noon here in the east 9 00 a. M. Out in the west. This is weekends with alex witt. The sound of those church bells as charlestons emanmanuel a. M. A. M. Church opening just four days after a gunman shot its pastor and eight parishioners. Hundreds filled the church under new security procedures. And praying for the victims and their families. We are reminded this morning about the freshness of death, comes like a thief in the night. But i declare that jesus said it a long time ago, said i am the resurrection and the light. Worshippers also looked ahead to unity and forgiveness. Hundreds more stood outside in the summer heat. Many coming from across this country to remember the victims. They stood and listened as the service continued through the morning. Joining me now is msnbcs tremaine lee who was inside the church for the service. Tremaine, good day to you. Talk about the mood there. It is remarkable for us to witness. Reporter you used the words that were so appropriate in your intro about grace. And this community under such duress has shown great grace. In the tradition of black churches, death isnt necessarily a punishment life is not necessarily a reward and that every single day they embrace their faith. The preacher inside said while evil was visited upon this church and tried to force its doors closed that today was a show, and putting the evil on notice that this church will not close. And that if anyone expected this community and this church to respond in any other way than grace, then they certainly dont know this community or this church. So while the mood was certainly somber, just the floor below the sanctuary, nine people were gunned down in cold blood, the people within the sanctuary rose together in their voices responding to the preacher for his calls of not turning away from god, but turning toward god in this great moment of tragedy. And so the mood was somber but they were celebrating not just in their faith because of the folks who lost their lives in the church behind us. I know people had to go through security procedures to get there. Is there a belief that that will be a permanent state, or was it because of the recent incident and that wont have to stay that way . Reporter at this point, its unclear. But if you talk to folks involved in this church and other churches around they dont want to throw caution to the wind at all. One odd moment is one of the ministers talked about, when we speak, lets speak in love. The juxtaposition between the love and the police surrounding the church in the upper tier guarding the congregants and attendees, it was striking. Its unclear what the plan is moving forward, but today there is high security. Officers everywhere. I think someone saying for the greater good. Tremaine lee, thank you very much for your insights. We appreciate that. The reverend Daniel Simmons was retired and part of the ministerial staff. He was a victim of wednesdays shooting at the church. Doctors at charlestons medical University Hospital worked to revive him but the reverend passed away early thursday morning. We are joined now by members of reverend Simmons Family his son daniel jr. And a welcome to you, family. Were so glad you can talk to us. Were so very sorry for your loss. Thank you. I want to have you tell me about the reverend. He was the patriarch of your remarkable family. My granddaddy he was a great man. He was hard working, selfmade, heavily involved in the community. He was really a giver. And he was very, very strong. Very strong. Were very proud of him. Its clear that hes strong. I should let people know i spoke with you before this broadcast began, and im absolutely impressed at your remarkable strength and composure to be here today to talk to me. Daniel jr. , your father as your daughter was saying very strong man, a war veteran as well serving in vietnam. In fact, awarded a purple heart after being wounded there. What led him to join the ministry . What led him was his love and his passion, his desire to serve others. And to be a part to impact someone elses life that did not have the opportunities to live or to have life. And without faith, you know the great thing about it is is jesus. Its love. He enjoyed giving. And he would be proud of you for sure. I know that your church reopened today. How important is that step to you, to your family the Church Family . And we should note it has a history of never closing its doors, and its able to hold sunday services today. Alana, what does that mean . Its just a true testament of how true our word is. The Church Opening its doors, even after suffering the tragedy that it suffered is just like a sign to the community and to the world that no matter what we face we cannot be broken. You know daniel the reverend spent 30 years as a pastor. You talked about his calling. But as a father what were the most important lessons that he passed on to you . The most important ones is caring and serving. Being a servant. As i said earlier, you know serving others. One of the great things i would like to commend the city of charleston for how everyone has come together how they have worked and how all of the different agencies have worked so hard to get the church back open today, to allow service to continue and to show the world that this is about love. This is about just being a part of a unified effort. It is a unified family that we are all seeing here. You, daniel also your wife and then your daughters there. Thank you so much. We are most impressed with you, and your faith, and the way youre able to speak with us today about someone you very much loved and obviously very much miss. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Msnbcs adam reese is outside the emmanuel a. M. E. Church. Adam, you heard the family reflecting so much love and grace and compassion. What was it like inside the service for you . Reporter it was more of the same. Not only inside alex but outside. Really a city coming together looking for answers, trying to get through a difficult time trying to make sense of a senseless tragedy. I spoke with the mayor a little while ago. He sat in the front row. Heres what he had to say. Broke our hearts in charleston. But its broken hearts in america. Ive talked with people from across the country. And this is an unspeakable tragedy. Most horrific act. Reporter now its a really powerful sermon. He said that they thought we would riot. They just dont know us. But you can be sure we will seek justice for the emmanuel nine. I want to point out, they will have Bible Service here on monday. Alex . Yes as they do every wednesday. Again, this church well known and respected for never closing its doors. Adam, can you talk about the group that gathered . Yesterday it was a group of young, old, every single race and seeming socioeconomic community that was represented there. Still the same today . Reporter it was. And it was even large crowd. Black and white. But the crowd out here was mostly white. Inside it was a mixed crowd. In the front row we had the mayor, and governor haley, senator tim scott. In the 15th row, interestingly enough, you had a president ial candidate, rick santorum. There was lots of music and liturgy and prayer. It was a moving moving service. We are all one today, that is for sure. Theres no distinction between any of us. Adam thank you for that. Later this hour well hear from a reverend of the Second Presbyterian Church. He will tell us how important it is for the community that they opened their door for services today. Thats coming at the bottom of the hour. The fbi is investigating a hatefilled website showing dylann roof holding a gun, and burning an American Flag and standing in front of confederate history library. It includes chilling writings that lay out the motives for murder. Weve not confirmed if he or someone else posted the contend. Federal investigators are working under the assumption that roof is responsible. The site is registered under roofs name and his mothers home address. Hillary clinton spoke passionately this weekend about the need for stricter Gun Legislation in the wake of what happened in charleston. Whose fault is it if nothing changes. The challenges of keeping everyone working together can quickly become the only thing you think about. Thats where at t can help. With the tools and the network you need to make working as one easier than ever. Virtually anywhere. Leaving you free to focus on what matters most. Mamas, dont let your babies grow up to be cowboys dont letem pick guitars and drive them old trucks boys . Mamas, dont let your babies. Stop less. Go more. The passat tdi clean diesel with up to 814 hwy miles per tank. Hurry in and you can get 0 apr plus a onethousand dollar volkswagen credit bonus on 2015 passat tdi clean diesel models. Hp instant ink can save you up to 50 on ink delivered to your door so print all you want and never run out. Plans start at 2. 99 a month. Right now, buy an eligible printer and get three months of free ink with hp instant ink. Available at participating retailers. The most affordable way to print. Hp instant ink. Whats in a name . Apparently not as much as jeb bush and Hillary Clinton may have worried. A poll out today finds that only 4 of voters say their top concern for the 2016 field is candidates from president ial dynasties. Joining me now to run through the numbers, nbc News White House correspondent kristen welker. What are the big takeaways from the poll . Reporter good afternoon, alex. One of the big takeaways is jeb bush is standing among republican primary voters has increased. According to primary voters 75 say they could support jeb bush for president. That is up from 70 in april. So welcome news from the bush campaign. In second place, marco rubio close behind with 74 . Mike huckabee drops a little bit at 65 . Then you have scott walker and rick perry. Another takeaway here alex the person who gets the worst numbers, donald trump, 66 say they cant envision supporting him for president. He Just Announced his presidency, or his candidacy earlier this week. A couple of other numbers for you, alex on the issue of wealth. 12 of voters say that wealthy candidates is a top concern. And then i just want to circle back to the number that you pointed out, only 4 of voters say candidates from president ial dynasties is a top concern. This is going to be very welcome news to Jeb Bush Hillary clinton, a lot of analysts thought their last names were going to be one of their biggest vulnerabilities. Turns out that might not be the case. Interesting. Can i pick up on the donald trump thing . He has yet to file his statement and papers of candidacy with the federal election commission. He made the announcement, but officially it has to go through that before hes an official candidate. Reporter very important point. He says hes going to do it. But we are waiting for that to happen. Really important point, alex. I understand the president is heading back to the white house today after a very busy few days in california. He was able to sneak in a pretty unusual interview, though. Reporter he did. He did an interview with mark marron, who is a comedian who has a popular podcast. A range of issues came up. One very serious, the issue of the gun debate. President obama has revived the debate in the wake of the shooting in South Carolina. Of course president obama pushed for stiffer gun laws including extended background checks in the wake of the sandy hook shooting. That never passed congress. President obama again saying its time for change. He also acknowledged the political reality in this interview with mark marron. Take a listen. Unfortunately, the grip of the nra on congress is extremely strong. I dont foresee any legislative action being taken in this congress. And i dont foresee any real action being taken until the American Public feels a sufficient sense of urgency and say to themselves this is thought normal. This is something we can change and were going to change it. And if you dont have that kind of public and voter pressure then its not going to change from the inside. Reporter the new york times, the first to report on that interview, alex. The gun debate has been revived as well on the campaign trail. Hillary clinton yesterday echoing president obama, saying that we need to have stiffer gun laws in this country, including expanded background checks. She invoked president obamas name, said hes absolutely right. A very different story for republicans, who say now is not a time for politics. Of course republican primary voters dont have a real appetite to hear about this issue, but when it gets to the general election this topic is a lot more complicated. This is something that democrats care about, and a lot of independent voters care about as well. So this could be an issue that bubbles up that becomes a hotbutton issue on the campaign trail in the coming months. Kristen welker at the white house, thank you so much. Well today in charleston the people held a mourning service. What comes next is a search for solutions. Republican the gun laws that were broken did not stop this monster, this killer from carrying out his acts. What i do know is that the gun laws that prevented him from bringing a gun into the church did not work. So looking for the right legislative solution to make sure that it doesnt happen again, i think when theres that much evil in the heart, it is hard to think of the right legislative solution for that problem. Joining me now is dnc chairman howard dean and assistant to george w. Bush. Guys, good to see you both. You just heard senator scott. Advocates for gun ownership have the effective tag line. It goes as this. Guns dont kill people, people kill people. Yesterday i spoke to mark from the urban league and he said people with guns kill people. Isnt that more accurate . Well good afternoon, alex. I think that is accurate. But i think at a time when we havent even had the opportunity to mourn for those who lost their lives, to mourn for the Family Members who are grieving the thing we shouldnt be doing is talking politics and talking about gun control laws. I hear you, ron. But this is one of those issues i try to stay neutral on this broadcast and let you, democrats and republicans alike, but im so angry about this i cant see straight. Alex im with you. Im so angry that people have it be mourning the loss of life. Theres got to be something we can do. I respect the fact that we have to all be allowing time for mourning and respect and love and remembrances right now. But after that period then what . Well i dont think a gun control law like the president s proposed is a solution alex. Youre talking about an assault weapon, which this wasnt it was a pistol. Youre talking about a high capacity magazine. This was a pistol so you didnt have that. And of course the background check. The father in this case dylanns father improperly gave him a firearm. He shouldnt have had that gun because i dont think he gave him the firearm. I believe he went out and bought it himself. I think it was misinformation that he was given this gun for his birthday. I think he bought it himself. But look at the president s proposal, would he have been caught in a background check. We need to find a way to keep these mentally ill people off the streets to do horrible things. And guns out of their hands. And guns out of the hands of those criminals, no question. Governor president obama said in this podcast, that gun reforms just arent going to get through congress. They didnt get through after 20 children were killed in newtown. Theyre not going to get through after nine people were killed at a bible study inside a church. Where is the disconnect when you have 90 of the American Population saying they want to see something done . Gun control, something, anything. Whats happening . First of all, let me strongly disagree with rons arguments. Weve had two years to mourn for the 20 kids who were killed in newtown. So to say we shouldnt do politics at this time because were in mourning is nonsense. A lot of people have been mourned in the last few years, aurora, colorado et cetera et cetera. The president is doing exactly the right thing. We need background checks and need to stop the loophole of gun shows. Look, with rons attitude and the others who are make this argument with him, wed have 25 more september 11ths. You know we did a lot of stuff in the background after september 11th, to stop it from happening again. So far, knock on wood it has not happened again. This is a national tragedy. Its a national disaster. Our policy is screwed up because politicians are afraid. I think maybe in the next congress heres whats going to happen. Whats going to happen is the Republican Party once again is going to be branded as far right and unreasonable and extremist because of things like this. And eventually we will get a congress that wants to do some reasonable things about it as bill clinton did when he was president. Isnt that somewhat damning for your party, ron, to be branded in the way that the governor suggests . Of course. I would say to my friend howard dean, and he and i cut up and get along quite well we do. We do. We need to have a long conversation on this. When i worked on capitol hill for now Ohio Governor john kasich he was in favor of an assault weapons ban. There was a bill that went down four months after the sandy hook massacre. Look alex bipartisan. I think that was a strong bipartisan piece of legislation that should have passed. It should have gone to the president s desk. I think there is a reasonable balance that you can have by making sure that you have a background check, by making sure that certain high capacity magazines arent in the hands of these folks. This is not for hunting bambi, this is for killing people. I think a lot of politicians need to own up to that fact. Howard last word to you. I appreciate rons move to the center on this. And as joe mentioned, and pat toomey showed you can get to the middle on this. Youve got to give congress the backbone, and whos responsible for that is the voters. You cant say, as the president did, as long as the nra has a grip on congress we cant pass it. Its our job to break the nras grip on congress. I was endorsed by the nra