Mitchell: Maybe Obama Will Push Gun Control After N. Illinois Shootings

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Andrea Mitchell stopped just short of donning an impromptu Obama campaign-advisor hat. But the NBC correspondent has left little doubt she personally feels the time is ripe for Barack Obama to promote gun control as a campaign issue.

Guest co-anchoring today's Morning Joe, Mitchell was discussing yesterday's shootings at Northern Illinois University with Willie Geist.

ANDREA MITCHELL: You know, it does bring to mind all the debates we've had over the years about gun control. I remember covering it on the Hill in the '80s. Of course I know the Bradys and all the efforts they made, and it eventually persuaded Ronald Reagan to switch his position on gun control and depart from what was traditional consersative Republican ideology. And gun control is not yet a big issue in this campaign, but you wonder: Barack Obama is a senator from Illinois. Maybe this will become propelled to the front of the --

WILLIE GEIST: Yes.

My reading of the subtext: bien pensant people in the DC set like me of course favor gun control. Even conservative ideologues like Ronald Reagan are redeemable. Surely the time has come for Barack Obama to step up to the plate.

I wonder what specific law, in addition to the hundreds already on the books, Mitchell believes would have averted these murders?