MSNBC "All in with Chris Hayes" - Transcript: "McConnel refuses to bring gun bills."

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

VELSHI: Now, after Graham said that, Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut pointed to Graham`s words and tweeted, "A lot of pieces are in motion right now. Keep paying attention." I`m joined now by the other Democratic Senator from Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal. Senator, good to see you. Thank you for being here.

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): Thank you.

VELSHI: You just told me in the commercial break that you actually think -- you`re feeling better about this. You think we`re closer to something being done than we have been in a long time.

BLUMENTHAL: I am more hopeful than ever before. I think we`re closer than we have ever been. I`ve been working on this issue for --

VELSHI: I know.

BLUMENTHAL: -- 2-1/2 decades, and working with Lindsey Graham on an emergency risk protection order statute. He has been extremely diligent and serious, a wonderful partner in this effort. And we virtually have a bill that we have been negotiating with the White House on. And it`s part of a comprehensive plan including universal background check. The goal is to do both and they are really two sides of the same coin, both aim to save lives as many lives as quickly as possible. Both aim to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people. And so far as that risk protection order --

VELSHI: Yes.

BLUMENTHAL: We know it works. We know --

VELSHI: Is that like a red flag? Is that -- is that similar --

BLUMENTHAL: It is exactly the red flag statue emergency risk protection order. Connecticut was the first to have them. We know it works in Connecticut. Not only it prevents the mass shootings but also suicide.

VELSHI: Well, most shootings are not -- most gun deaths are not mass shootings, most or suicides.

BLUMENTHAL: 60 percent are suicides and a lot of them are also domestic violence cases. Women are five times as likely to die from domestic violence if it`s a gun matter.

VELSHI: The trick is that in many of these cases both domestic violence and suicides, someone might have had a clue. And this system these red flag laws I think are in place in 16 or 17 states now and they don`t compromise anybody`s Second Amendment rights to own a gun.

BLUMENTHAL: That is really an important point. There is due process. Police can seek a warrant much as they do now with an arrest warrant or a search warrant from a judicial officer, and then there is the opportunity for anybody who`s gun is taken away to seek a hearing and regain the gun if the facts warranted, but there is due process. And one of the points is really important. Keeping guns away from dangerous people involves police officers learning as they did in Parkland that someone is going to kill people whether it`s herself or himself or someone else in domestic violence or suicide.

VELSHI: Let me ask you about background checks. The president alternately says we need better background checks and we`ve got great background checks. He`s actually sort of right in both cases. We have systems in which background checks can be done thoroughly but people can get around them. If the FBI is backlogged or the background system is backlogged and they don`t get back to in a certain amount of time, you can get the gun. And as Lindsey Graham pointed out, you can get the gun offline, somewhere else from a private seller, or a gun show. One doesn`t have to be a lawyer to understand that`s a stupid loophole.

BLUMENTHAL: The current background check system is riddled with significant loopholes. The internet sales, the gun show sales, other kinds of loopholes like the Charleston loophole so-called because the shooter there and the church was able to get a gun simply because the time expired when he made the purchase. But here`s the point there. It`s simply a means to enforce prohibitions against already defined categories of people who are dangerous from buying those guns. And they already supported the law that defines those categories of people. So Lindsey Graham is absolutely right. It makes common sense. And here`s the other important point. You know, the American people are really saying enough is enough. There is a seismic movement that now is determining the 90 percent of people who want background checks and red flag or emergency or is protection orders and that political dynamic I think is driving business. And Mitch McConnell ought to put these bills on the floor. There`s no law --

VELSHI: But he says he can`t until he knows what the president is going to sign. That strikes me as odd considering you`re a co-equal branch of government. Why should the Senate be waiting for the President to decide what he`ll sign before introducing legislation?

BLUMENTHAL: There is nothing in the Constitution that says the United States Congress should pass laws only that the president says he`s going to sign. In fact, on the contrary, the Congress has an independent obligation. And we have a historic opportunity, so does the president. It really is a presidential moment here where we should seize this opportunity and save lives which is really what the purpose is here of both background checks and the extremist`s protection order statutes as well as ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. The groups have made such a difference here.

VELSHI: Yes, they really are.

BLUMENTHAL: The Moms Demand Action, Every Town for Gun Safety, Students Demand Action --

VELSHI: The March -- yes.

BLUMENTHAL: March for Our Lives, Giffords, Brady, they have created a political movement here.

VELSHI: Yes, they really have. Senator, good to see you. Thank you for being with us.

BLUMENTHAL: Thank you.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source