In tonight’s Rewrite, Lawrence brought you an exclusive investigative report from The TODAY Show‘s National Investigative Correspondent Jeff Rossen showing just how easy it is to buy guns in this country without a background check.
The video above is a longer version of Jeff’s report as it aired this morning on NBC’s TODAY Show.
A few extra details about the report – all the sales you see are perfectly legal, even without any background checks. Many Americans support private gun sales without background checks. Often those individuals will say it’s not about making money or profit, it’s about individual rights. As for the eight guns purchased by NBC News, they were turned over to the Phoenix police department and will be destroyed.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been leading a coalition of fellow mayors to try and decrease gun violence in some of the nation’s biggest urban areas (you may have seen the Super Bowl ad he did with Boston Mayor Tom Menino). According to the CDC, more than 12,000 Americans are killed every year by firearm homicides. The figures show that it’s the second leading cause of death for those aged 10-24, second only to traffic accidents.
Nick Ramsey
Nick Ramsey is a senior producer with MSNBC’s “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell.” Recommended
