The Republican struggle with universal background checks

>> want to quickly talk about guns in this respect. the president, a picture of him skeet shooting . we know that there had been a kerfuffle, this idea was he really -- the president said yes, he had fired a gun. i do have to ask you, have you seen him skeet shoot ?

>> i have not. but camp david for him is a private retreat that he spends most of the time with his family. i don't think it's whether or not the president shoots a gun regularly or even if he shoots it well.

>> let's participawhy participate then by feeding the beast.

>> let's not -- the big political development this week in the debate on guns was that the nra came out in favor of criminals having access to any weapon they'd like to in our society, walking back the same congressional testimony that they gave after columbine that having a universal background check to make sure that a criminal doesn't have access to a semi- automatic weapon . i mean, that's the real --

>> i want to show a little bit of this ad. michael bloomberg putting up a super bowl ad , ralph reed and ana, basically supporting the background check bill, showing testimony of wayne lapierre supporting a background check . here is a little bit of that ad.

>> the nra once supported background checks .

>> we think it's reasonable to provide mandatory instant criminal background checks for every sale at every gun show . no loopholes anywhere for anyone.

>> all right. i'll admit i need quick answers here. can a southern republican vote for the background check bill and get re-elected?

>> a licensed dealer at a gun show already does a background check . that's already going on. what we're talking about is antique and special collectors and private sales. i think that's very difficult to legislate properly without killing gun show .

>> there is a rural split almost more than anything else. urban politics are more supportive of this idea.

>> yes. but i think both the southern republican and the urban republican should all be voting for universal background checks . look, connecticut was a game changer. we need to understand that. the gun issue is here. it's not going away. every other day, we are hearing about a tragedy on the news. and people keep asking, what are we doing about it? republicans and the nra should be part of the solution, should be part of the conversation, not just say no. and universal background checks is something that there could be consensus on.

>> guys, i have to leave it there. sorry, robert. i'll get you again. you used to be able to cut me off. now i get to cut you off.