In February, David and Francine Wheeler, the parents of a child killed in the Sandy Hook tragedy, joined notable musicians including Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary and the folksinger Dar Williams to perform a concert for the community. The Wheelers and Yarrow joined Bill on Moyers & Company to discuss the path forward for gun control advocates and the power of music to bring about both healing and social change.

Yarrow said the concert was about “restoring the heart and soul of a caring community.” Watch two of the songs they performed.

The Wheelers, Peter Yarrow and others sing “Blowing in the Wind“:

[Via BillMoyers.com]

Despite recent progress in some states, millions of mental-health records are missing from the national database that gun dealers use to run background checks on potential buyers, reports the WSJ.

This news comes amid reports that gun stores across the country can't keep up with the increased demand for weapons in the wake of the Newton shootings.

States were first required to submit these records to the database in the 1990's, but in 1997, the Supreme Court ruled that adding cases to the information bank was optional. Mayors Against Illegal Guns, an advocacy group headed by Michael Bloomberg, said that 19 states had fewer than 100 records filed.

The NYT reports:

Rainier Arms, a gun dealer in Auburn, Wash., receives great Yelp reviews for its responsiveness. But a call to the dealer on Friday led to a full voice mail box, and an e-mail to its sales team drew this automatic response: “Thank you for contacting Rainier Arms for your AR-15 needs. Due to an overwhelming response to the latest political climate, we are experiencing longer-than-normal response times.”

At Bud’s Gun Shop in Maryland, a message on the Web site said that customer service was “completely overwhelmed” and it discouraged customers from calling or e-mailing.

And on GunBroker.com, an Oracle .223 that normally retails for around $650 had been bid up to $1,175 with three days left in the auction.

And Walmart, the largest retailer of guns and ammunition in the United States, indicated that several semiautomatic guns were out of stock at locations across the country, and some stores had low inventory.

Worth noting:

"Cerberus Capital Management put the company that makes the Bushmaster, a gun used in the shootings, up for sale on Tuesday, saying, “The Sandy Hook tragedy was a watershed event that has raised the national debate on gun control to an unprecedented level.”

"Dick’s Sporting Goods temporarily ceased selling all guns in its location closest to Newtown, and has also put a hold on sales of so-called modern sporting rifles, which include semiautomatic guns, nationwide."

And Deseret Digital Media, which owns KSL.com, a Web site that has been criticized by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg for allowing unregulated gun sales, said it was suspending classified advertisements for guns.

Corporations with some sense of business ethics, who knew?

WFSB 3 Connecticut

The ATF raided a gun store in East Windsor, Connecticut on Thursday evening after 26-year-old Jordan Marsh, who you can see in the video above stealing a rifle, was found to have an AR-15 with a scope in his possession at the Hartford Hilton on Saturday. Marsh did not pay for the gun, he simply took it off the rack and walked out of the store without anyone realizing it. Marsh reportedly has a history of mental illnesses and police believe he was planning to carry out an attack "similar" to that of Adam Lanza.

The gun store, Riverview Gun Sales, is also the same store where at least one of the guns used by Adam Lanza at the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings was purchased by his mother, Nancy Lanza.

The AR-15 was banned under the now expired Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994.

WFSB 3:

Police said Riverview Gun Sales had no idea the AR-15 Marsh stole was missing. Management at the store didn't know about 11 guns that Marsh had allegedly stolen last year until they were notified by detectives.

Inventory control issues at Riverview Gun Sales have occurred before. In 2007, state police raided a Somers home and found a bunch of stolen guns from the store.

"It was found that the same Riverview gun store was missing upwards of 30-plus guns," said East Windsor police Detective Matthew Carl.

[Emphasis mine.]

Hopefully, the ATF took the store's federal firearms license along with them when they left.