And by the corporation for public broadcasting. Major support for frontline is provided by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information is available at macfound. Org. Additional support is provided by the Park Foundation dedicated to heightening Public Awareness of critical issues. The ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. At fordfoundation. Org. The wyncote foundation. And by the frontline journalism fund, with major support from jon and Jo Ann Hagler and Additional Support from millicent bell, through the millicent and eugene bell foundation. In tucson it was a beautiful, crisp, Clear Blue Sky with a few puffy white clouds. It was a perfect january morning. Narrator 40year old arizona congresswoman Gabby Giffords was about to meet constituents at an outdoor shopping center. I went to thank her for her being kind of a bluedog democrat and really working for the people and not for the lobbyists. Her first person she met with was a young man that was in the army reserve. She took some pictures with him. And that was the last picture taken of her before she was. Before she was shot. He shot gabby from about three feet away, right in the middle of the left side of her forehead. He had a 9 millimeter glock in his hand and a 33round magazine in it. There was a bang and then a slight pause and then a continuous bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. succession of gunshots emptied the magazine in 15 seconds. There were 33 wounds from 33 bullets, so it looks like every bullet hit a person. 911, what is your emergency . I could see him advancing quickly im thinking, i wonder what its going to feel like how bad its going to hurt if he shoots me. Narrator the killer tried to reload, he dropped the high capacity magazine, was tackled and dropped the gun. Im not able to get the gun because its too far away, but i am able to get the magazine that he is pulling out of his pocket. Customers have tackled the suspect. They are holding him down at the safeway. We need a lot more units here and i believe Gabrielle Giffords is here. Narrator there were 19 victims gunned down. 13 were rushed to area hospitals, six were dead. Congresswoman giffords was in critical condition. When i got to the hospital, she was just recovering from surgery. At one point that evening i remember one tear coming down her eye. It was just one bloody red tear. I think that kind of said it all. The tragic shootings in arizona are bringing the National Debate over gun control. Saturdays attack is now putting gun laws under a magnifying glass. Narrator then, once again, a familiar response a public call for the federal government to just do something something about guns. Guns, those damn things. So what happened here how did this slip through the cracks . Here you have one of the democrats own in congress being struck down a shooting which showed the effect of weak gun laws. As we wait for the latest medical update, president obama is working on the speech that he will. At the white house, initially there was sort of a waitandsee. And i think a lot of it rested on, to what extent was the president going to be willing to take this up . Breaking news, weve just learned that president obama will be going to tucson on wednesday. This just in president obama just said that he will. Narrator in the wake of the shooting, the president was facing a political crisis on an issue most politicians try to avoid. President obama will deliver what some have called one of the most important speeches of his presidency. President obama on a mission to comfort and rally the. Please welcome the president of the United States, barack obama. cheers and applause if this tragedy prompts reflection and debate as it should lets make sure its worthy of those we have lost. Narrator people who wanted to do something about guns listened carefully. The president was enormously compassionate. He was enormously eloquent, but he did everything in his power to avoid using the word gun in the wake of that shooting. We may not be able to stop all evil in the world, but i know that how we treat one another, thats entirely up to us. The silence was deafening. His gun control ardent supporters were irate. The degree of fury over this really cant be captured in words, but he was never going to do it. Narrator washington insiders say his advisors told him the political cost was too great to take on the nations most powerful lobby the National Rifle association. It was an extraordinary moment and an extraordinary commentary on the advantage that the nra enjoys. And the tilt toward the side of the debate that says there is simply nothing more to be done about regulating the civilian ownership of guns. We just. The issue is off the table. Narrator without lifting a finger, the National Rifle association had demonstrated its power. They are the best equipped, most feared special Interest Group on capitol hill. They are sort of the Gold Standard in how to do lobbying work in washington. Two wellarmed robbers outgunned cops. This time the madness struck in california. Narrator this is the story of the rise to power of the nra. Firing a semiautomatic rifle at least 50 times. It was lunch time, but it looked like war time. Narrator how, over the years, in the face of violence and tragedy. The gunman fired between 50 and 100 rounds. Narrator . Public outrage came up against political reality. It was rage unleashed. A massacre on a commuter train. The kind of violence that Many Americans fear most. After firing off 30 bullets the nightmare ended. Narrator its a story that took a dramatic turn in the aftermath of one particular shooting. We begin tonight with a deadly shooting at an american high school. Narrator . In a colorado high school. This time the boy was 15, it was in the School Cafeteria that he went after his fellow students. 911, what is your emergency . Theres a shooting going on at Columbine High School. Ive got shots going off like crazy. Youve got multiple shots now in the cafeteria. Narrator the deadly assault on Columbine High School in littleton. Were going to continue to follow this horrific situation taking place in littleton, colorado. Fox has an alert on the horrific mass shooting. Narrator the School Surveillance video showed police some of the story. Terrorized students fled when they heard shooting in the hall 188 rounds. rapid gunfire then a bomb went off in the cafeteria as the two assailants, seen here, enter the room and hunt for student victims. They had killed 13 and wounded 23 more. You see some of the victims being taken out. We want to advise you we have no confirmation. I was in touch with my wife. And she was getting upset because she hadnt heard from daniel. She had gone to one of the places where they were taking students who had escaped, and his name was not on the board. She didnt see him. He didnt call. Narrator tom mausers son daniel was a sophomore, 15 years old, studious and quiet. By nightfall his parents went home to wait. We had to spend that night not knowing if he was dead or alive. You cry a lot. We tried to sleep. I couldnt. I went downstairs, two levels down from the bedroom. And i was crying out, and my wife heard me and came down. What can you do . Youre just. Youre just hopeless. Narrator fbi documents show the bodies they found in the school library. Daniel mauser was one of them. Hiding under a table, he had been shot point blank in the face. In the days that followed, the police gathered evidence including home videos of the attackers and their weapons. Yo what up dog . I heard you got some beef with me, niggah . Narrator they had assembled a small arsenal sawedoff shotguns, a 9mm carbine rifle, and a tec9 pistol with a 30 round magazine. The shooters got a friend to buy some of the weapons at a gun show without a background check. It would become known as the gun show loophole. Columbine is really the ultimate nightmare. Because columbine really brought to the surface the idea that a couple of disturbed teenagers, if they want to on any given weekend, can go to a gun show and assemble the weapons they need to go and take over the school and start shooting everybody. At the Colorado State capitol the anguish over the columbine massacre turned to protests. Narrator in the wake of the shootings, thousands of protestors marched in denver demanding that something anything be done. 8,000 strong, they targeted the National Rifle association. Narrator daniel mausers father joined them. I had a sign made at a sign shop with daniels picture on it, and words, my son died at columbine. He would expect me to be here today. Narrator the protestors had a familiar target the guns. Something is wrong in this country when a child can grab a gun so easily and shoot a bullet. Into the middle of a childs face as my son experienced. applause something is wrong. The National Rifle association, target of much anger in colorado. Narrator as it happened, just blocks away, the nra was gathering for its long planned annual convention. Gun enthusiasts insist there is no connection between the columbine tragedy and weapons. Narrator inside, top executives of the nra weighed how to respond. They issued a Public Statement of sympathy and then sent out their most famous member Charlton Heston. cheers and applause thank you, thank you, thank you. To this day, when i would look at Charlton Heston, i didnt see the president of the nra. I saw moses. You couldnt have picked a better caricature of who you wanted speaking with that stentorian voice of his. America must stop this predictable pattern of reaction. When an isolated, terrible event occurs, our phones ring, demanding that the nra explain the inexplicable. Why us . Because their story needs a villain. Narrator despite the shooting, the nra stayed focused on its core beliefs. The base of the National Rifle association believes so strongly its more a religion, or what a religion used to be. Theres a passion involved in it. The nra is the closest thing that a Membership Group can have to just pure patriotism. They love their country. As long as there is a Second Amendment, evil can never conquer us, tyranny in any form can never find footing within a society of lawabiding, armed, ethical people. Narrator heston tapped into a fundamental fear of nra members that the government would use columbine to restrict and then take away their guns. Purchases at gun stores start to go up astronomically as people who are thinking about buying a particular gun over the course of the next year or so worry that they may outlaw it. I better get it while i can. Narrator hundreds of thousands of new members signed up for the nra right after columbine. The gun is a symbol of freedom. The only thing that keeps bad government from taking over. It really has nothing to do with guns; it has to do with freedom. Do you give your freedom to the government or do you keep it within yourself, within your community, within your family . And thats the broad appeal. Narrator but for the nra the gun wasnt always a political issue; it had once represented something for hunters and sportsmen. This is an organization that back in the 60s was a very tame, not particularly political organization. The National Rifle association has made possible the training of thousands of instructors. The nra was a safety organization. They helped people teach their children and their friends and family how to use and store and keep firearms safely. Narrator then the assassinations of the 60s. There has been a shooting. I repeat, a shooting on the motorcade in the downtown area. Narrator john f. Kennedy Martin Luther king. My thanks to all of you, and now its on to chicago, and lets win this. Narrator and robert f. Kennedy. Many American Cities erupted into armed conflict. In response, Congress Passed the First Comprehensive gun control law in decades. Effective crime control remains, in my judgment, effective gun control. Narrator those were fighting words for some in the nra. The 1968 gun control bill banned mail order sales and restricted some purchases. Nra people said, wait a minute, weve got other things to worry about than teaching guys how to shoot or how to hunt and so forth, or collect guns. And thats when, that was the transformative period. Narrator it formally happened in 1977 at the Nra Convention in cincinnati. As they got down to business there was a showdown hunters and sportsmen versus gun rights activists. The National RifleAssociation Convention in cincinnati went into overtime last night, a stormy allnight session. When it was over, some dissident members had taken control of the 400,000member organization. What it means is even stricter support for the right to bear arms and against gun control. The core of nras Political Support comes from a very conservative Republican Group of people. Theyre the ones who give the money, theyre the ones that pay the freight for all the political battles. And theyre very conservative. Narrator just a few years later, another dramatic shooting. This is an nbc news special report. See the president coming out now. gunshots narrator president reagan, shot in the lung. people shouting . And his press secretary james brady, in the head. They said six shots in two seconds. Narrator in the aftermath, once again, a call to do something. These incidents seem to keep happening, and that is a tragic puzzle. Narrator although reagan stayed out of it during his presidency, over the years jim brady became a powerful symbol. A Gun Control Group formed around him. And by the time bill clinton was elected, the movement had found a president willing to take up their cause. Clinton cracked down on guns. The anticrime initiative, banning the import of assault style handguns, the assault weapons ban, and the brady bill, requiring background checks at gun stores. It seemed like victory for the antigun forces, but thats not how the nra saw it. I think nra benefited tremendously through the clinton years, because of the extreme radicalism of the antigun. Call them left wingers, i call them regressives, not progressives, but the antigun people. Its in combat that the nra thrives. Its with enemies that the nra is best able to communicate its point of view. And, above all, raise money. The president of the United States. applause narrator so, near the end of his administration, in the wake of columbine, the president would once again take on the nra. You have a unique chance a chance to make sure that the children of columbine are never forgotten. Well, columbine was one of those visceral events where people reacted as parents and as people, not as politicians. And thats how clinton reacted. I mean, all he could think about was, that could have been my kid. Narrator behind closed doors clinton told top advisor bruce reed to push more gun restrictions. The attack in columbine was such a shock to the body politic that we felt the country needed to do something. Narrator a bill to close that gun show loophole was quickly rushed to a vote in the senate. Mr. Ashcroft, mr. Baucus, mr. Enzi. Narrator as the roll was called, the vote became closer and closer. Mr. Hatch, mr. Helms. Vice president gore called to the capitol to break a deadlock. New law to govern gun sales were deeply. Narrator gore needed to break the tie. On this vote the yeas are 50, the nays are 50. The senate being equally divided, the Vice President votes in the affirmative, and the amendment is agreed to. It was a setback today for the gun lobby and its allies in congress. Narrator one month after columbine the nra had lost. The first round. The president praised the senate today for what he called the common sense of their vote. Narrator the bill then headed to the republican controlled house of representatives, and that was where the National Rifle association would make its stand. 49yearold Wayne Lapierre led the nra. Wayne lapierre is the nra. He built the nra into what it is today. Narrator in the 1970s, he started as a lobbyist. If youre a political junkie like wayne or like myself, it was a wonderful job. Youre working with all these people and having these fights. And youre cutting your teeth. Narrator but lapierre was no ones idea of a gladhanding lobbyist. He was a very quiet man. I was amazed he was a lobbyist because he did not have the hailfellowwellmet attitude or personality that i associated with politicians or with lobbyists. Narrator and surprisingly for the nra, he was not a gun enthusiast, more comfortable on k street than in a duck blind. The safest place you could be with wayne and a gun back then was in a different state because he really did not know anything about guns. Politics, yes; guns, no. Narrator and inside the fractious politics of the nra, lapierre was skillful navigating between the sportsmen and the gun rights activists. Wayne could put a finger to the wind and see which way it was blowing, and he would position himself so that neither side would be offended and might even think that he were in fact on that side. In an organization that is so beset by factionalism, his being unmoored to any particular point of view is actually very helpful for him in terms of being able to ride the torrents that have occasionally swept through the nra and emerge always on top. Narrator during the early battles with the Clinton Ad