For Second Day in a Row, Mitchell Pitches for Gun Control: 'Somebody's Got to Listen in Washington'

February 3rd, 2011 2:12 PM

Andrea Mitchell, for a second day in a row, pushed for more gun control on her MSNBC show as she encouraged Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, "You and Mike Bloomberg...have all been yelling and screaming," about more restrictive anti-gun measures, "Somebody's got to listen in Washington." Initially invited on Thursday's Andrea Mitchell Reports to discuss the Obama administration's push for more green jobs, Nutter wasn't allowed to finish the segment without Mitchell pressing him: "As a big city mayor, what are you saying to the White House about waiting for this gun control speech we keep hearing about?"

On yesterday's show Mitchell expressed disappointment, to the aformentioned New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, that Barack Obama had "absolutely nothing, not one word....not even a sentence" in his State of the Union speech about gun control.

(video, audio and transcript after the jump)


(MP3 audio)

The following exchange was aired on the February 3 edition of MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports:

ANDREA MITCHELL: A quick final question. I wanted to ask you about gun control. The lack of any initiative of gun control, any mention at all of these magazines, these clips that were used in Tucson. As a big city mayor, what are you saying to the White House about waiting for this gun control speech we keep hearing about?

MAYOR MICHAEL NUTTER: Well, I certainly do look forward to it. In my capacity, Andrea, as second vice president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, I pushed forward a resolution by the conference to support HR-308, the bill that came out almost immediately after the tragedy in Tucson. There's no need, there's no reason for these large magazines to be available to anyone other than law enforcement or the military. They are solely designed to shoot as many bullets and kill or hurt as many people as quickly as possible. So I do look forward to it. I mean, you know, there are a lot of issues out there, there are a lot of things the President could be talking about, but I think, again, the number one focus in the country is about jobs. And certainly, I'm concerned about public safety here in Philadelphia and all across the United States of America. And I think the President will come through on that issue as well.

MITCHELL: Well it's gonna to take national leadership. You and Mike Bloomberg, the other mayors, have all been yelling and screaming about it, but somebody's got to listen in Washington.

NUTTER: Yes. Well, they need to.

—Geoffrey Dickens is the Senior News Analyst at the Media Research Center. You can follow him on Twitter here