This Week with George Stephanopoulos – December 16, 2012

Guests:

Brian Ross

Pierre Thomas

Gov. Mike Malloy (D-CT)

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT)
Rep. Chris Murphy (D-CT)

Mayor Pedro Segarra (Hartford)

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Stephanopoulos: good morning I'm 

broadcasting live the Connecticut 

middle school wherethe children would 

have gone had they not been gunned 

down in their classrooms by a maniac

Ross: he had two pistols and a

semi-automatic machine gun which he took

from his mother who was just like your mother

who collects beanie babies except she

collected machines used to kill people

Stephanopoulos: that's a lot of firepower

Ross: it was enough

Stephanopoulos: why did he shoot up a school?

Ross: we don't know but his survivalist

mother took him out of public shools

and homeschooled him

Stephanopoulos: that seems to

have worked out well

Ross: police are still trying to figure

out his motive

Stephanopoulos: beyond being

fucking batshit crazy?

Ross: right

Stephanopoulos: what else

Ross: his friends say the shooter was a

bright but socially awkward teenager

Stephanopoulos: that narrows it down

Stephanopoulos: welcome Governor

Malloy: it's staggering

Stephanopoulos: there are amazing

stories of bravery

Malloy: indeed

Stephanopoulos: what do you do now?

Malloy: grieve and channel our rage

Stephanopoulos: the whole thing is

so tragic and incredible

Malloy: he shot his way into this

locked elementary schoool

Stephanopoulos: unbelievable

Malloy: he also killed his mother

Stephanopoulos: what can we do about young

men who are about to snap and kill people?

Malloy: hey this was a rich family

Stephanopoulos: what does the community

need to hear from President Obama?

Malloy: they want to know that the

President feels their pain and that

something will change in America

Stephanopoulos: although probably nothing will

Malloy: right

[ break ]

Stephanopoulos: welcome politicians

Blumenthal: the community is coming

together in amazing ways

Murphy: this is an awesome small New England

town with a great labor day parade

Stephanopoulos: when do the schools re-open?

Murphy: that may take awhile George

Stephanopoulos: so what's the deal with

all this violence in the United States?

Blumenthal: who can say -

the investigation is continuing

Stephanopoulos: yeah but this is a

horrible national problem

Blumenthal: I intend to address violence

in America in the Senate after we approve 
the defense appropriations bill

Murphy: we have a culture of violence in America

Stephanopoulos: is it too soon after this

tragedy to talk about preventing another

tragedy which it will also be soon to

talk about after it happens?

Murphy: no - the time for that

kind of idiotic rhetoric is over

Stephanopoulos: so Pierre it happened again

Thomas: America is drowning in guns

Stephanopoulos: this one was

in his mommy's house

Thomas: her home protection

machine gun held 100 rounds

Stephanopoulos: that will hold

off a lot of burglars

Thomas: there are 200 millions guns in

America and they are not going anywhere

Segarra: maybe but we had a gun buy-back

program and it worked really well

Stephanopoulos: nice

Segarra: this is a wake up call –

we have to many guns!

Stephanopoulos: what would you

like to see happen?

Segarra: the Mayors of America need to

become a powerful voice to take away

the damn assault weapons

Stephanopoulos: do you know about this issue?

Segarra: my father and friends were shot and killed

Stephanopoulos: ok

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