CBS "Face the Nation" - Transcript - Gun Legislation

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Bob Schieffer: The calm presence of Governor Deval Patrick became so familiar to millions of us during this crisis, and he joins us this morning from Richmond, Massachusetts. Governor, thank you so much for joining us. I understand that you want to leave the details of the investigation to the investigators, but let me just ask you this, how close is Boston to being back to normal this morning?

Deval Patrick: Well I don't know that we'll ever be quite the same we'll be, you know, people are moving out and moving back into their regular routines but vigilance is still the order of the day and of course we're still trying to heal from a shocking tragedy less than a week away.

Bob Schieffer: Let me just ask you about some of the actions that you took. You asked millions of people, it was unprecedented. We've seen in this country lockdowns of schools, lockdowns of neighborhoods but you basically asked millions of people to stay in their homes and not go out, don't go to work, don't travel until this crisis had passed or at least some developments had happened. Did you have any fear of political backlash when you asked people to do these things?

Deval Patrick: I think people understood that we were making decisions in the face of a rapidly developing investigation and that we were making them in the best interests of people's public safety, or the public's safety. So, the main focus that the outset was in Watertown and the neighborhood of the gunfight on Thursday night, and then we had reasons to expand that to Boston proper based on leads that the investigators were following. But I can tell you in the aftermath when the suspect was taken into custody and yesterday morning as people were coming out the sense of relief and gratitude for law enforcement, whose lead I was following, was palpable. So I think there won't be political backlash and frankly I'm not thinking about that anyhow.

Bob Schieffer: Was there ever any point when you thought that people wouldn't follow your orders or your requests as it were

Deval Patrick: Well, Bob, having been in this job for six years I'm fully aware that there are knuckleheads out there and people moved around. The point was to be very careful, particularly in the area where we believed the suspect was still at large and to be vigilant as I said and I thank the public for following those instructions and for their patients. They were a part of this investigation in many, many respects and their having responded to requests to submit photographs and videotapes and so on. All of that helped in narrowing down who we were looking for and ultimately finding him

Bob Schieffer: Governor, are you satisfied that this threat has passed, that it's over?

Deval Patrick: I am. I think you know there's still an ongoing investigation. There are lots of questions about how and why and so forth and many, many leads still to be tracked down. But the immediate threat, I think all of law enforcement feels, is over based on the information we have and that is a good thing and you can feel the relief at home here.

Bob Schieffer: Do you have any clearer idea, Governor, of what the motive of these two young men was?

Deval Patrick: Not yet, Bob, and it's hard for me and for many of us to imagine what could motivate people to harm innocent men, women and children in the way that these two fellows did.

Bob Schieffer: Governor, I know that you're proud of your city and the people of Massachusetts and we're proud of you too. Thank you so much

Deval Patrick: Thank you, thank you so much

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