ANY QUOTES USED MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO MURNAGHAN, SKY NEWS

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Now the American President, Barack Obama, will fly to Denver today to meet victims of the Batman cinema shooting and their families. 71 people in total were shot and 12 were killed outright in the massacre on Friday and I’m joined now by the American Ambassador to the UK, Louis Susman, a very good morning to you Ambassador and our first thoughts of course with the families and the victims of that shooting.

LOUIS SUSMAN: Yes, all of our most sincere condolences, prayers, are going out to them. The President has ordered all American flags that are on American government buildings including my Embassy will be flown at half-mast and the real issue now is the victims and their families, how to deal with that and make their life as tolerable after this terrible tragedy.

DM: It inevitably though raises, once again, as always after these massacres, the question of gun laws, of gun controls, that the perpetrator we believe had this enormous arsenal, legally held in America. There is an election coming up but seemingly this is not going to be an issue.

LS: I’m not sure it will be an issue in this election but depending upon who is the winner of this election, it may rise to a higher priority. I think that the issue that he was able to acquire four guns legally and ammunition on the internet has to give everyone some concern but at the same token, this is a deranged person and I’ve got to be honest with you, if he wanted these guns, if they weren’t legally held he’d have found a way to get them and I think we have to deal with the fact that we have a deranged person, we had a deranged person in Norway and we have to deal with these things when they happen.

DM: On deranged people, as you say, you mentioned Norway and all societies have them but if they have the ability to get their hands on weaponry like this they can wreak enormous human damage. This country of course has had its unfair share of events like this but particularly after 1996, the events in Dunblane, we brought in some stringent gun controls and it is virtually impossible now to buy a legally held handgun. Do you feel that is something that America should at least discuss, the genie is out of the bottle in terms of …

LS: No, I would suggest to you that we have the Second Amendment which gives people the right to bear arms. We have a lot of sportsmen, we have a lot of hunters in America that bear arms. I am of the belief personally that I don't think that anybody needs a machine gun but I am also a hunter and I have shotguns. I think that the issue here is can you create a situation in America where people are not allowed to buy guns for purposes, through checks, that we have concerns about? It’s a tough thing to do but I don’t see the banning of guns in America is going to happen too quick.

DH: We’ve talked about the elections and there is a lot of electioneering, American electioneering to be done in this country. I know the First Lady is coming over for the Olympics, we have got the Republican nominee Mitt Romney coming over here as well, there are a lot of votes to play for in the UK aren’t there?

LS: Well I think this isn’t about politics, this isn’t about security, this is about the athletes and the Olympic spirit and that’s why Mrs Obama is here, to lead our delegation and I’m sure that Governor Romney is here to cheer on the athletes as a former head of the US Olympic Committee and I believe his wife has a horse in the equestrian games so this is about the Olympics and the Olympic spirit and I don't think that politics is going to play a role over here.

DH: Are there any lingering or perhaps still existing American concerns about security here? You will have no doubt, and indeed your security services will have been monitoring very closely the discussions that have been taking place here about G4S and bringing in extra troops. There was talk a few months back, last year, about the Americans coming with some of their own security.

LS: I’m glad you asked that question because I want to make it very clear, America is totally pleased with the security arrangements that have been put in place. The co-operation that have been put in place between the various intelligence and police here in the UK with our similar operations has been superb and I am totally convinced, and I get a briefing on this practically every day, that everything that is possibly been done, has been done to make these Games safe and to make them a happy sporting event has been done and so we’re pleased.

DM: And during that dialogue have some suggestions come from the American side, after all Atlanta wasn’t that long ago?

LS: I don’t think the British needed suggestions, I just think they needed our input on various aspects that we have experienced and it has just been, I’ve seen a lot of it in three years here and this has been a seamless operation between the Americans and the British authorities here and everything, I can’t think of one thing that hasn’t been done. I just had a briefing by Chris Allison who is head of the operations for the Met Police and I get a briefing on the military involvement which is working hand in hand with G4S and the Met Police so I think we are probably worried about what athletes will get the most gold medals, I don't think we’re going to worry about that aspect of it.

DM: Okay and we’ll focus on that for the summer but then you of course focus on the November presidential elections and crucial of course as President Obama seeks a second term and it seems he is being outspent or out fund raised by his opponent at the moment.

LS: Well I think that’s true in the totality of the funds that are available. In America you can either give $2500 to a candidate or you can give approximately $35,000 to a political party. On that set of criteria the President has outraised Governor Romney but the difference has been that the Supreme Court made a ruling on a case called Citizens versus United which allowed these super pacts to be formed with unlimited amounts of money from anybody without donor recognition which has funnelled an enormous amount of money into what we might call Republican pacts and whilst they can’t co-ordinate with the candidate, obviously they’re for the candidate and there is where you see the disparity in money.

DM: And can I just finally ask you, Ambassador, about your own future as Ambassador to the Court of St. James? You said you might move on in a while, any idea where you might go and who might succeed you?

LS: That’s a question that will just have to wait for time, Dermot.

DM: Well Anna Wintour, the journalist, has been mentioned as a potential …

LS: I am not familiar with any potential successors and my time here still hasn’t been decided.

DM: Okay, Louis Susman, thank you very much and enjoy, as we all will, enjoy the Olympics. The American Ambassador to the United Kingdom there.

LS: Thank you.