Real News': The Eric Holder Factor in Gun Control Negotiations

Despite a series of run-ins with Republicans in the House and his involvement in the Operation Fast & Furious scandal, it was announced Wednesday that United States Attorney General Eric Holder would stay on for President Obama's second term.The news comes as the long-time NRA foe has been taking a prominent role with Vice President Joe Biden in the White House task force on gun control.

The NRA petitioned for the firing of Eric Holder from the Attorney General post during the Fast & Furious investigation, and was expected by some conservatives to have put up a strong fight against Holder's original nomination given his history hostility towards gun rights.

Holder signed a brief to the Supreme Court in 2007 arguing that "the Second Amendment does not protect firearms possession or use that is unrelated to participation in a well-regulated militia," and as the U.S. attorney for Washington D.C. in 1990s he implemented a series of strict gun-reform measures known as "Operation Cease-Fire." Recently uncovered video from 1995 shows Holder saying people should be ashamed to own guns, just the way cigarette smokers now "cower outside of buildings" to smoke. 

On 'Real News' Thursday the panel discussed what role Holder could have in the recently elevated national discusion on gun control: