NRA Robo Calls Newtown Residents, Tells Bloomberg to Butt Out
MALVEAUX: The gun debate is heating up after some residents in Newtown, Connecticut, report getting automated phone calls from the NRA. Tom Foreman, he's following all of this. This is the fight over gun control. Tom, first of all, you know, you can imagine people very sensitive about this issue. The shooting occurs and then there's a debate over guns. And people are getting calls. They didn't ask for these calls, just getting calls. What is it about?</s>TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's about normal political procedure, I'm afraid, Suzanne. That's what many of these groups do out there. The NRA said they were targeting only people who shown an interest to the NRA or contact to them. That doesn't seem to be the case. Some of these parents of kids who went to Sandy Hook school say they've also received these calls and they're offended and upset. The bigger offense and upset for many gun control proponents is that all this talk that has occurred since the Sandy Hook shooting and since the Colorado shooting that everybody thought was going to lead to some kind of big change in gun law in this country seems to be losing a lot of steam right now, Suzanne. And it does not look like there's going to be any kind of groundbreaking legislation at this point.</s>MALVEAUX: And we know, Tom, that there's a battle, of course, that's taking place. You have New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg who's using a lot of money essentially to promote gun control. And the NRA is pushing back at this. Where does that stand in terms of the showdown between the mayor and this lobbying group?</s>FOREMAN: As I was saying a minute ago, I think what you're really seeing right now is, I won't say panic, but there's certainly an urgency on the part of people like Bloomberg saying something must be done now. Because even though the public opinion polls favor some kind of control, that's been eroding a little bit. And we know whenever you have one of these big events and there is a surge in support, the more you get removed from it, the more time passes, the less that support is there. And the simple truth is even though the president used his radio address this weekend to say Congress needs to vote on the gun control measures, that is really what he said, they need to vote on it. He didn't really go out there and say you must pass this, this must be passed now, even though he's in favor of it. That is a reflection of the political reality right now, Suzanne, which is very difficult for many gun control proponents who feel very strongly about this issue. The political reality is there are a lot of lawmakers who live in purple states who rode into their seats in the senate basically when Barack Obama rose to power. And they're not sure that if they come out strongly in favor of a strong gun control measure that they can keep their seats in the next election. That's the political reality here. And those purple states are having a very strong voice in this process right now -- Suzanne?</s>MALVEAUX: That is the political reality. Tom, thank you. Appreciate it. This story, Amanda Knox, once convicted in the murder of her roommate overseas, well, that conviction was overturned. But now prosecutors in Italy, they are going after her again.