House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers warned Sunday there's "mounting evidence" that the Syrian government has been using its chemical arsenal. 
 
 "I think when you look at the whole body of information over the last two years there is mounting evidence that it is probable that the Assad regime has used at least a small quantity of chemical weapons during the course of conflict," Rogers said on CBS's "Face the Nation." 
 
 Citing President Barack Obama's comments nearly a year ago that the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government a "red line" for U.S. intervention, the Republican congressman from Michigan said it's "abundantly clear that red line has been crossed." 
 
 "Now is the time. If we're going to have any hope for any diplomatic solution and stop that wholesale slaughter, some up to 70,000 and more in Syria which is now spilling up to the doorstep of Israel, it's causing huge problems in Jordan and Turkey," Rogers said. "This is a growing destabilizing event in the Middle East. The fact that they have I think put chemical weapons in position to use and I believe have intent and at some course during the last two years have used some quantity of chemical weapons this needs to be a game changer." 
 
 Speaking in Jerusalem last week, Obama said that if the Syrian military had used chemical weapons it would be a "game changer" with regard to American involvement in the civil war there. 
 
 "Once we establish the facts, I have made clear that the use of chemical weapons is a game changer," Obama said in Jerusalem at a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 
 
 "The president went to the Middle East and said 'This is a hard decision. If I go in it might be wrong, if I don't go in it might be wrong.' Indecision in this case is dangerous to the United States," Rogers said, noting Obama's reluctance to involve American forces in support of forces opposing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. 
 
 Rogers also warned that if the Assad regime is toppled, the region could dive into turmoil. "If Assad goes next week, this is mass chaos," he said. 
 
 Read more about: Israel, Mike Rogers, Syria, Bashar Al-Assad, Chemical Weapons ||||| National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre charged on Sunday that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's rhetoric on gun reform is "reckless" and "insane." 
 
 "He's going to find out that this is a country of the people, by the people and for the people and he can't spend enough of his [money] to try to impose his will on the American public. They don't want him in their restaurants, they don't want him in their homes, they don't want him telling them what food to eat - they sure don't want him telling them what self-defense firearms to own. And he can't buy America," LaPierre said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "He's so reckless in terms of his comments on this whole gun issue." 
 
 Host David Gregory asked about whether LaPierre was prepared for Bloomberg seemingly gearing up to become the left's alternative to the NRA by going after candidates in 2014 races who opposed gun reform legislation. 
 
 "We have people all over, millions of people, sending us 5, 10, 15, 20 dollar checks telling us to stand up to this guy that says that we can only have three bullets, which is what he said. Stand up to this guy that says ridiculous things like, 'The NRA wants firearms with nukes on them.' I mean it's insane the stuff he says," LaPierre said. 
 
 Read more about: Michael Bloomberg, NRA, Wayne LaPierre, Gun Control, Second Amendment ||||| Republican strategist Karl Rove said Sunday said Democrats need to "stop scaring people" with regards to gun policies and gun control reform. 
 
 "Let's be clear about this. This is prompted by the Sandy Hook murders. Those guns were legally purchased with a background check. Let's be very careful before trampling on the rights of people. Look, if you want to get something done -- then stop scaring people," Rove said on ABC's "This Week." 
 
 "If there's one thing that scares a lot of people who believe in the Second Amendment, it's the the federal government keeping a national registry of gun sales and gun purchases and gun owners." Rove said. 
 
 "There could be a lot of mutual agreement found on closing some of these so-called gun show loopholes," he added later. " We could probably get agreement on a widespread basis of people saying, 'You go to a gun show, you pass a check, you get your stub that allows you to purchase a weapon, and that's it.' But this goes far beyond that." 
 
 Read more about: Karl Rove, Guns, Gun Control, Second Amendment, Sandy Hook ||||| California Attorney General Kamala Harris said Sunday there's "no reasonable basis" for having assault weapons on city streets and that Republicans and Democrats in Washington need to get serious about finding common ground when it comes to gun laws. 
 
 "The folks in D.C. have to reject a false choice that suggests that you're either in favor of the second amendment or that you're in favor of reasonable and common sense gun laws. You can be both, and I think that's what we need right now," Harris said CNN's "State of the Union." "I as a career prosecutor have personally seen cases of both police officers and innocent babies being killed by assault weapons. There is no reasonable basis for having those on our streets." 
 
 CNN contributor Ana Navarro also argued for politicians to chart a similar path. 
 
 "Republicans are going to have to accept that it can't just be about mental health and Democrats are going to have to accept that it can't just be about gun control," Navarro said. "They must find that sweet spot and thread that needle if they want to be pragmatic and get something accomplished in the Senate and then through the much tougher House." 
 
 Read more about: Guns, Gun Control, Kamala Harris, Ana Navarro ||||| Sen. Rand Paul said Sunday that his "libertarian Republican approach" to politics could help win over young voters as well as moderates and independent voters. 
 
 "The Republican Party needs to figure out how to be bigger and I think I do bring some ideas to that. And so I talked with the Republican National Committee, the Republican National Committee chairman [Reince Priebus] about things I think we need to do to be competitive on the West Coast, to be competitive in New England and Illinois," the Republican senator from Kentucky said on "Fox News Sunday." 
 
 "Some of those ideas are more [of a] libertarian Republican approach to things and I think that a lot of young people are attracted to that and our party could grow if we accepted something more than the cookie cutter conservatives in the past." 
 
 The left-right political spectrum "doesn't always work for people," Paul said. 
 
 "We have a confusing spectrum," he added. "This left-right spectrum doesn't always work for people. But I think because of that confusion, it shows that someone like myself I think could appeal to young people, independents and moderates, because many of them do think it's a mistake to put people in jail for marijuana use and throw away the key." 
 
 "So I think there are people who would like a less aggressive foreign policy," he said. "There are all kinds of issues that don't neatly left in the left-right paradigm that I think would help because we're not doing very well in a lot of these states, these purple and blue states. So we need a candidate that would appeal across the left-right paradigm." 
 
 As for 2016, Paul said he doesn't know if he'll run for president. 
 
 "The country is suffering, 12 million people out of work< he said. "So I want to be part of the answers to it. Whether or not that actually is me specifically running for president, I don't know that yet." 
 
 Read more about: GOP, Rand Paul, Reince Priebus, Libertarian ||||| National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre said Sunday that he'd support gun reform legislation that would "beef up the penalties" on straw purchases of firearms and illegal gun trafficking, as well as getting records of mentally ill into the national background checks system. 
 
 "We are working on a bill right now that will, hopefully, at least get the records of those adjudicated, the mentally incompetent and dangerous into the check system that applies on dealers," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press." 
 
 "Most of the states still do not even do that. We need to see if we can get that done. We're looking to get better enforcement at the federal gun laws. We're looking at laws that beef up the penalties on straw purchases and illegal trafficking, which we want prosecuted." 
 
 "I hope we end up signing something that updates the system and gets those mentally incompetent and adjudicated into the system. We force the administration somehow to enforce the federal gun laws," LaPierre said. "I know they don't want to do it but they ought to do it. It's their responsibility." 
 
 "That would make people safe," he said. "If you're a drug dealer, a gang member, a [felon] -- and you touch a gun, it's a 100 percent certainty that you're going to be prosecuted and taken off the street. That ought to start tomorrow morning it they won't do it unless the national media gets on the administration and calls them out for their incredible lack of enforcement on these laws." 
 
 Read more about: NRA, Wayne LaPierre, Guns, Gun Control ||||| New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Sunday that gun-reform supporters "are going to win" in the fight for an assault weapons ban. 
 
 "While I think we are going to win this, celebrating in advance isn't the right thing to do," the mayor said on NBC's "Meet the Press." We've got to go out, we've got a lot of work ahead of us. But I don't think we should give up on the assault weapons ban. But clearly, it is a more difficult issue for a lot of people," 
 
 "I don't know that that reflects the NRA's power," he added. "It may be just that people have different views about assault weapons than they do about background checks. Ninety percent of the people want background checks, period." 
 
 Last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) made clear that an assault weapons ban put forth by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) would not be included in Senate Democrats' gun reform proposal, though it could be added as an amendment. 
 
 "We've been fighting since 2007 to get a vote. We are going to have a vote for sure on assault weapons and we're going to have a vote on background checks. And if we were to get background checks only, it wouldn't be as good as if we got both, but -- we demanded a plan and then we demanded a vote." Bloomberg said. "We've got the plan, we're going to get the vote." 
 
 Read more about: Harry Reid, Dianne Feinstein, Michael Bloomberg, NRA, Guns, Gun Control, Assault Weapons Ban ||||| New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Sunday praised President Barack Obama's trip to the Middle East, saying "he got Palestinians and the Israelis thinking" about ways to resolve their differences. 
 
 "I think this is going to go down in history as one of the few trips that an American president has made to Israel where there really were deliverables. He got Israel and Turkey talking to each other and restoring diplomatic relations. And I think that's crucial for the security of that whole area," Bloomberg said on NBC's "Meet the Press." 
 
 "He's got the Palestinians and the Israelis thinking long and hard about, they're going to have to find some ways to resolve their differences, no matter how difficult they are," Bloomberg said. "You know, when you get people talking, only good things can come out." 
 
 Read more about: Barack Obama, Israel, Michael Bloomberg, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict ||||| The mayor’s advertising blitz, which will saturate television screens in states including Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Arizona, represents by far the biggest escalation of Mr. Bloomberg’s attempts to become a one-man counterweight to the National Rifle Association in the political clash over guns. 
 
 “The N.R.A. has just had this field to itself,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “It’s the only one that’s been speaking out. It’s time for another voice.” 
 
 After months of wrangling, the current package of Senate legislation would expand background checks for gun buyers, increase penalties for people who buy firearms for those barred from owning them and would give law enforcement new tools to combat illegal gun trafficking, a longtime goal of Mr. Bloomberg’s. 
 
 Given the mayor’s role in contributing to the ouster of an N.R.A.-backed candidate in an Illinois Congressional race a few weeks ago, his push carries an unmistakable threat to those who vote against the bills. 
 
 The ads are directed at Democratic and Republican senators in both swing states and partisan precincts. Among Mr. Bloomberg’s targets are some of the Senate’s most vulnerable Democrats, including Kay R. Hagan of North Carolina, Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana and Mark L. Pryor of Arkansas, for whom the gun issue is particularly problematic because they will need Republican votes to win re-election. 
 
 Some of the senators, such as Dean Heller of Nevada, Rob Portman of Ohio and Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania, all Republicans, represent swing states where voters are divided over guns. Other Republicans would seem to be out of reach for Mr. Bloomberg: Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson of Georgia, Daniel Coats of Indiana and Jeff Flake of Arizona. 
 
 In each case, the commercials urge support for the measure requiring background checks for nearly all firearms purchases, not just those in gun stores, the most debated element of the legislation and a coveted goal of gun control advocates. 
 
 Photo 
 
 Mr. Bloomberg has singled out Mr. Flake, who already voted against the expansion of background checks in the Senate Judiciary Committee, by producing a special, scolding commercial aimed at Arizona. “Flake’s vote,” the ad declares, equals “no background checks for dangerous criminals.” 
 
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 The mayor, who has spent tens of millions of dollars to support his favored candidates, intends to wield his “super PAC” to influence the midterm Congressional elections next year and beyond. He said he would prefer “candidates who will stop people from getting killed.” 
 
 “There is an easy measure of how you decide who those are,” he said, noting that gun rights groups rate lawmakers. “The N.R.A. keeps score of it for you. They are public information.” 
 
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 To those who might fear his financial might, he added: “If they pass sensible gun legislation, there is not an issue and I don’t have to spend a dime.” 
 
 The N.R.A. plans to roll out its own lobbying campaign, using print and broadcast advertising to reach lawmakers during the recess. But its leaders said that their investment was unlikely to rival the intensity of Mr. Bloomberg’s spending, to be carried out through Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a group he co-founded. 
 
 “Can we match Mayor Bloomberg dollar for dollar?” asked Chris W. Cox, the group’s chief lobbyist. “No one can. We don’t have to.” 
 
 He predicted that voters and senators would resist a message from an out-of-state magnate who is associated with government limits on soda and salt. 
 
 “What he is going to find out is that Americans don’t want to be told by some elitist billionaire what they can eat, drink and they damn well don’t want to be told how, when and where they can protect their families,” Mr. Cox said. 
 
 Thomas E. Mann, a Congressional scholar at the Brookings Institution, agreed that Mr. Bloomberg “is not popular in many of the states he is going into right now.” 
 
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 He said that $12 million in advertising was unlikely to influence the outcome of the legislation unless lawmakers were convinced that Mr. Bloomberg would open his wallet again after the vote — both to reward those who supported the bill and to punish those who did not. “That is absolutely key,” Mr. Mann said. 
 
 Mr. Flake, for example, was just elected and will not face voters again until 2018. 
 
 For those like Mr. Bloomberg, who believed the shooting in Newtown, Conn., was a turning point in the gun debate, it is a somewhat humbling moment. President Obama has called for bold action, and former Representative Gabrielle Giffords has lent her personal story to the cause. 
 
 Still, what they are now fighting for is, by the admission of gun control advocates, a diminished version of what they wanted — and even that is proving a tough sell. 
 
 “These ideas shouldn’t be controversial,” the president said in his radio address on Saturday. 
 
 Mr. Bloomberg lamented that “sausage and the law aren’t pretty the way they are made.” 
 
 But he is eager to seize what he can. “I think you’ve got as good a chance as we’ve ever had,” the mayor said.
– Michael Bloomberg was today busily putting his mouth where his money will be tomorrow, Politico reports, when he kicks off a $12 million ad blitz targeting 13 senators considered vulnerable on gun control. Appearing on Meet the Press, the New York City mayor said "we are going to win" measures supporting heightened background checks, and dismissed Harry Reid's abandonment of an assault weapons ban, saying, "I don't think we should give up on" it. He did, however, concede that "people have different views about assault weapons than they do about background checks." Bloomberg's rhetoric, meanwhile, has the NRA's Wayne LaPierre seeing red, calling his comments "reckless," "ridiculous," and "insane." Americans "don't want him in their restaurants, (and) they sure don't want him telling them what self-defense firearms to own. And he can't buy America," LaPierre fumed. Elsewhere on the Sunday dial, as per Politico: More LaPierre: "We're looking to get better enforcement [of] the federal gun laws. We're looking at laws that beef up the penalties on straw purchases and illegal trafficking, which we want prosecuted." Karl Rove: "Let's be clear about this. This is prompted by the Sandy Hook murders. Those guns were legally purchased with a background check. Let's be very careful before trampling on the rights of people. If you want to get something done, then stop scaring people." California AG Kamala Harris: "The folks in DC have to reject a false choice that suggests that you're either in favor of the Second Amendment or that you're in favor of reasonable and common sense gun laws. You can be both. I as a career prosecutor have personally seen cases of both police officers and innocent babies being killed by assault weapons. There is no reasonable basis for having those on our streets." Mike Rogers on Syria's chemical weapons: It's "abundantly clear that red line has been crossed. Now is the time." Yet, "if Assad goes next week, this is mass chaos." Bloomberg on President Obama's Israel trip: "I think this is going to go down in history as one of the few trips that an American president has made to Israel where there really were deliverables. He got Israel and Turkey talking to each other and restoring diplomatic relations. And I think that's crucial for the security of that whole area." Rand Paul on 2016: "The country is suffering, 12 million people out of work. So I want to be part of the answers to it. Whether or not that actually is me specifically running for president, I don't know that yet."