Will new gun legislation pass - or make a difference?

>>> my 9-year-old daughter was murdered in the tucson shooting. i have one question for the political leaders . when will you find the courage to stand up to the gun lobby ? whose child has to die next?

>> second anniversary of the tucson shooting, the mother of its younger victim is featured in the new ad demanding a plan for gun control . the power of the gun lobby is in displace after newtown . the director denied that guns are the problem. he said all we need is more guns. oh. until now, he's been fighting a weak enemy because there's no money or force of the nra . one of the group's vice president's task force will meet with this week and now rising to fight the nra and led by gabby giffords and husband mark kelly who sat down with diane sawyer .

>> i have a gun. we're both gun owners . we are strong supporters of the 2nd amendment but we have to do something to keep the guns from getting in to the wrong hands.

>> when it can happen to children in the classroom, it's time to say --

>> enough.

>> giffords is a former legislat legislator, makes her perfectly poised to lead a new pac and new legislation from the president to sport and including background checks for every gun, banning -- every gun buyer and magazines and making gun trafficking laws national. but will any of that pass and make a difference? let's spin. i welcome gabby giffords in to the fight because they're so decimated. there's billions of dollars to be made in gun rights and nothing to be made in gun control . i like the white house 's first step and this may get watered down as we go forward but background checks and federalizing gun trafficking laws harder for criminals to acquire weapons but, you know, it is not that we want to restrict people's rights to have guns. we don't want to take people's guns away but make reasonable, responsible changes to gun ownership . look, we have a 1st amendment . you can't yell fire in a crowded theater. that's all we're talking about. talking about making people responsible for their guns. if anything happens to your gun, we license you to buy a gun, to own a gun and if anything happens with your gun, i didn't know, you're responsible for that and maybe you have that sort of responsibility in perpetuity of the gun and then if you're nancy lanza, i have to lock this thing up so my son never gets close to it. it could make a difference in this culture.

>> yeah. they could. i have to say, i mean, i don't think that there's anyone in the country better positioned to have an impact on the conversation than gabby giffords and her husband mark kelly not only because of what she's been through and also you can tell by the way they're poxing this. they're gun owners . she gets the rural gun culture , a supporter of the 2nd amendment and doesn't have that feel of to take the guns. we don't believe in the 2nd amendment so i think that framing is really important. look, in terms of political calculus, there's zero political benefit to democrats to support any sort of gun control legislation. zero. so between this group and mayor bloomberg 's group, hopefully there will start to be a counter balance on the other side and the nra probably the most powerful interest group in the country and, you know, over the short term, am i particularly optimistic that with the republican congress with democrats like including new senator heitkamp optimistic? no. over the long term a group like this shifts the political calculus and will have change over time .

>> yeah. i mean, is anything going to happen in next few months? almost certainly no. because you have a republican house. if something does happen legislateively, it's so watered down it will not have any meaningful impact. i think we can say that with republicans running the house but what i thought of with that clip of giffords and kelly is jim and sarah brady and the story of 1981 . the press secretary and shot in the assassination attempt on reagan and transformed them in to gun control advocates and they were successful in that the legislation that ultimately took his name, the brady bill was the brady law but took 12 years. shooting in 1981 . president clinton , there you can see signing the bill. that's 1993 when that happened. that was eight years of reagan, four years of bush senior and then in 1993 a democratic president and house and senate and the bill which had been locked up because of republican control of at least one of those -- one level of government for all of those years and then finally democrats to move it through and i just think that the reality is as long as republicans are the gun party and control either the house or the senate or the white house you won't get anything substantial through and it's when you have single-party government again and get the brady bill and except something that giffords begins to pushing for now.

>> well, the problem with all quick response gun legislation that happens after some kind of event is that it has to accomplish two things simultaneously. it has to solve a problem and it has to uphold and maintain the rights of law-abiding gun owners . it rarely does one of those let alone both of those. generally, gun control legislation that is quick response always impinges on the rights of law-abiding gun owners and rarely solves the problem. and i hate to break it to you but none of the proposals coming out of the task force so far prevent another newtown and that is tragic and even if you don't care or you want to prioritize the rights of law-abiding gun owners second, you still have to come to this problem from a position of wanting to solve it. and i don't know that any of this actually will. that's the hard part. that's the part that it's really tough to grapple with because you want to be solving the problem, making a contribution and feel like, check, i solved it. it's not that easy.

>> nothing sort of taking away the guns in america, all the civilian guns in america ensure another newtown and auroraurora. it will guarantee we will, doing nothing. can't do nothing.

>> but that's a false choice . there's a false choice .

>> no, but i mean, you're saying legislation, the legislation we're talking about won't help. fair enough.

>> these proposals that have been floated.

>> we need further -- then propose something --

>> promise you.

>> don't say the legislation won't help and just stay in the status quo ?

>> i didn't say stay in the status quo . there are conversations to have about mental health but this is tilting at windmills.

>> let's shift the frame a little bit because i don't think and i've said this before. you can't focus on one particular tragedy and say what is the law that would have prevented this? we don't know.

>> right.

>> what you can look at is, is this policy overall looking at gun crime and cry leviolence going to impact the impact? we need to have that looking that the because people need to have the sense going through a nasty fight with congress, that it is going to have an impact on the problem but i wouldn't frame it as this particular tragedy. i think we have the look at when's going to have an impact overall. that's all you can really do.

>> what do you want to hear from congresswoman giffords continuing the recover afights to curb gun violence ? gabby and her husband are perfect advocates for this. i know they'll help bring sanity and change. amen. don't forget to check out the facebook page and tell us what you're thinking. we'll be right back.