"Face the Nation" transcripts, July 22, 2012: Aurora mayor and police chief, mayor Bloomberg, PM Netanyahu

And the bottom line is, weapons that are sold, advertised as high-capacity and very powerful aren't weapons that are to be used in hunting and they certainly aren't weapons to be used to defend yourself. You know, the Supreme Court said, excuse me, that, yes, we have the Second Amendment, you have a right to bear guns. But reasonable restrictions are constitutional. And I think the Congress passed reasonable restrictions. But to not enforce them is just ridiculous and you've got to ask the candidates why they are unwilling to do so. Leadership is-- is leading from the front, not doing a survey, finding out what the people want and then doing it. What do they stand for and why aren't they standing up?

BOB SCHIEFFER: Well, let me just point out as surveys go, clearly, the public mood on this has changed. In 1990 polls suggested that eight people in ten wanted stricter gun laws. But a majority wanted now, in 2010, a majority favored no change in the law or-- or laws that were less strict. And it's still today, even after the Gabby Giffords' shooting, the country seems pretty much now just evenly split about whether there's a connection to stricter gun laws and-- and-- but, clearly, people seem to have changed their mind. They don't seem to see the connection now.

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG: Well, number one, I think it's our job, me as a mayor, you as one of the great presenters in this country of the news, to explain to people the connection between gun laws and the safety of themselves and their children and the safety of the police officers around this country who put themselves, their lives on the line for us. But I think, also, a little bit of this is how you phrase the question. The bottom line is most people do understand, and when we-- the polls that my organization has done, we have an organization of over seven hundred mayors, Republicans and Democrats and independents; rural areas, urban areas; north, south, east, west; and they understand the reason mayors are in this organization is we're the ones that get the call in the middle of the night that a police officer has been shot. We're the ones that have to go to the hospital. I can tell you, I've been in office now ten and a half years, and the only thing that I do that is really, really tough is to look somebody in the eye, a mother, a father, a sister, a brother, a husband, a wife, and, say, or a child, and say, "Your loved one's not coming home. I'm sorry".

BOB SCHIEFFER: You know--

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG: And I think if people had to do that, if-- if-- if the Congress had to do that rather than just look at the numbers and pander to the television, they might view this a little bit differently.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Mister Mayor, it's always a pleasure to talk to you. Thank you so much.

MICHAEL BLOOMBER: Bob, thank you. This really is an enormous problem for the country; and it's up to these two presidential candidates. They want to lead this country and they've said things before that they are in favor of banning things like assault weapons. Where are they now and why don't they stand up and if they want our votes, they better.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Thank you, Sir.

We'll be back in one minute with Ed Perl-- Perlmutter, the Congressman who represents Aurora, Colorado.

(ANNOUNCEMENTS)

BOB SCHIEFFER: Congressman Ed Perlmutter represents Colorado's seventh district which includes Aurora. He is there this morning. Congressman, thank you for joining us.

You've been talking to your constituents almost nonstop since this happened. What do they want you to do? What do they think ought to be done now?

REPRESENTATIVE ED PERLMUTTER (D-Colorado): Well, I'll tell you a story of a young lady in pizza restaurant, in the mall right behind us, and I said, "If I had to share something on TV tomorrow, what would it be?" And she said to tell people to think about the folks who have been hurt in all of this and our community that's been hurt in all of this, and to get their sympathy and their prayers and thoughts because this is a great community. I'm not kidding about that. It hurts now. And young lady there knew two people who were shot in this thing. So it touches all of us.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Well, I hope you will pass--

REPRESENTATIVE ED PERLMUTTER: So that's what she wanted to say.

BOB SCHIEFFER: I hope you will pass on that-- they-- you certainly have the sympathy of all of us here and I think it's fair to say people across the country. What about the gun laws? Are people out there saying--

REPRESENTATIVE ED PERLMUTTER: Okay.

BOB SCHIEFFER: --it's time to tighten them up now or leave them like they are? What-- what's the sense now?