Realized i could draw everything, and when i realized were finally getting the computers back, this is how i feel right now. I like the hair color. Well, i had to utilize the blue highlighter. Finally, after an hour and a half, the computer was finally fixed. But the question is would it work . See if it works. Ready . Go back to weather one. There it is we got it. Excellent. Thank you to everybody involved this morning. I like yours better. I got to say, i kind of like the hand drawn ones better myself. It kind of makes me want to set up a pictionary game between that guy and chad myers. Im just thankful ill never have to draw my own graphics because its always sunny here on the rediculist. Thats it for now. American hostages being held in algeria. Piers morgan starts right now. Tonight calls on guns. Americans of every background stand up and say enough. We have suffered too much pain and care too much about our children to allow this to continue, then change will come. A bunch of people on both sides of the gun debate and gun advocates who think im just plain wrong on the guns. Last time he schooled me on american weather. Its hurricane. Not in my country. Well, were not in your country now. I wasnt employed to be an american. Expecting a stormy time tonight. This is piers morgan tonight. Good evening. The latest breaking news on the american hostage situation overseas. We begin with the most important issue facing this country right now, the issue that president obama made his agenda today. A little over one month since the brutal shooting at sandy hook. The president changed the rules on gun with the stroke of his pen. Signing 23 executive actions he says will strengthen background checks and expand safety programs in schools. The president is also calling for action in increasingly gridlocked congress. The most important changes we can make depend on congressional action. Ask your member of congress if they support universal background checks to keep guns out of the wrong hands. Ask them if they support renewing a ban on militarystyle assault weapons and high capacity magazines. Ask them what is more important, doing whatever it takes to get a a grade from the gun lobby that funds their campaigns, or giving parents some peace of mind when they drop their child off for first grade . Joining me now is Richard Blumenthal of connecticut. He wants to target ammunition sales and require background checks on anyone who buys bullets. Your reaction as to president obamas very bold and ambitious plans today for new gun legislation. It is a sweeping set of proposals. And what is so encouraging about it is it relies on executive action. That is what the president can do on his own, as well as congressional action. The president s proposing, for example, preference for hiring new police with cops grants to work in schools. Also strengthening that National Database that is so important to criminal background checks. And im hopeful that congress will act to extend those background checks, not only to the firearms sales that now fit within the gun show loophole. About 40 of all firearm sales every year, but also to ammunition sales, which are really the black hole of gun violence prevention. There is a historic opportunity here for the congress to act on the president s proposals. And im very hopeful that we can act cooperatively. The nras come out with a Statement Today in which they say a number of things. But they also say that only honest law abiding gunowners will be affected if we, quote, if anyone is attacking firearms and ignoring children. Thats not the solution to the crisis we face. Of course their position has always been this. Clearly that is going to be a very tough battle for the president. And it will rely on Many Democrats who are in red states and who have felt the full force of the pulleying nra stand up and be counted. Are they going to do that . I think that the issue remains a very open one in the minds of many of my colleagues because they are hearing from their constituents that we really need to do something about gun violence. In fact, i heard that said to me personally again and again and again in the days that i was in newtown after this horrific tragedy, the days and the weeks that i spent huge amounts of time there. People in newtown, people in connecticut and across the country are saying we have to do something about gun violence. And lets remember, one of the president s proposals actually deals with criminals who try to buy weapons and use straw purchasers as theyre called, or in other words, people who falsely claim theyre buying the gun for themselves when in fact its for the criminal. And he wants stronger punishment for that kind of purchase by criminals. So its not simply the lawful gunowners, responsible gunowners, hunters and recreational people, but the criminals who are often a target of these set of proposals. And the proposal ive made, which requires, for example, that ammunition purchases be subject to background checks means that we would have tougher enforcement of an existing prohibition. That is when people go into storage to buy ammunition if they are fugitives, felons, drug addicts, people under court orders for Domestic Violence or people who are dangerously mentally ill, they are already forbidden to buy ammunition. But a background check would prevent them from breaking that law. Senator blumenthal, thank you very much for your time. I really appreciate you taking time out to talk to me. Thank you. The nra wasted no time today coming out against the president s gun proposals. But my next guest says, and i quote, that does nothing but offend the reasonable people that make up the bulk of the country and the bulk of their own membership. Mark glaze is director of mayors against illegal guns. He joins me now. Mr. Glaze, pretty predictable response from the nra, really. They never have countenanced any kind of gun control. Theyre not going to start now. Where does that leave the president . Well, the nra never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity. I mean, the reality is that 74 of nra members think everybody should have to get a background check. They all take background checks and pass them. So should everybody else. It leaves the president with a significant advantage because he is sort of where the country. Everybody thinks that a lot of this stuff is what we think i still call nobrainers if thats not too bad a cliche. People ought to get serious penalty penalties if they buy a gun that they intend to pass on to a criminal. People ought to be able to pass a background check which takes about 90 seconds out of their lives. He is in the big middle of this country where 800 mayors are, where about 80 of the country is. And the nra is increasingly marginalizing itself. I cant quite figure out why. You see, my issue this, with the Political Part of this is i can understand certain republican congressmen and women who are in red states and who genuinely believe that actually these proposals are wrong. But there are a number of republicans i think who actually would be persuaded on some of these arguments, but who wont even think about going there because of fear of retribution from the nra. And as for the democrats who apparently are threatening to stand up to the president on this, i just dont believe them. I think theyre only doing that for political expediency. Well, in the weird thing about this is if you actually look closely at the nras electoral strength, its far less than they crack it up to be. I mean, we had a piece of Research Done by a guy named paul waltman, who is a researcher at the american spectator, on the think progress website where he analyzed the nras endorsements, the nras pac contributions and the nras independent expenditures and found in fact youre pretty hardpressed to find more than a handful of races where the nras involvement made a difference. And they had a really bad year in november. They endorsed only seven Senate Candidates where they spent more than 100,000 in those races. Six of those candidates lost. They spent more money i think on defeating barack obama because he was going to erase the Second Amendment from the constitution than theyve ever spent to defeat anybody before, yet there he was today at the white house behind the podium talking about reasonable common sense gun laws. I thought the nras advertisement lambasting the president for the security around his children was particularly offensive and a new low even by the leadership of that Organization Standards today. You know, we talked to nra members and we talked to gun deal. And we poll them. The truth is the average nra member has not been very happy with the performance that theyve been seeing out of the nras washington lobbyists lately. Nra members are people who hunt, who want to defend themselves and who want to be left alone, like much of the country. The nras washington leadership lives and breathes for an entirely different purpose these days. Theyre selling guns and theyre raising money and theyre trying to elect republicans to congress that is the bottom line. And when you go after peoples kids, i think you start to annoy people like john mccain, who had been there back in the Political Races of his day and who understand that there are some things that are off limits, especially kids who im guessing would really rather dur puberty not have secret Service Agents following them around to the prom. Mark glaze, thank you very much for joining me. Thanks for having me. Turning to the other side of the gun debate, dana loesch and Scottie Hughes is news director for Tea Party News network. Her young brother was a victim of gun violence. Welcome to you both. Sco sco scottie, what was your reaction today . What did you agree with him about . Nothing. It was propaganda. From the second he opened his mouth, i thought the Golden Globes were done a couple of days ago. The second he opened his mouth, went over and highfived the kids, exploited the kids. You dont agree with universal background checks . In french, back to the bill of rights. Infringe on my rights. I think there is a certain thing to be said. But lets point this out here. Hang on, hang on. How can it possibly infringe anybodys rights to have a background check for a potentially lethal firearm given that gunowners, the people sorry, Gun Store Owners have to have them. What possible infringement of your rights it is as a member of the American Society if you want to buy a gun without a background check . Here is the deal. Im a legal gunowner. Im going to have it. Im not going to object. You might find a stole an oreo cookie in my background in kindergarten. I got cleared. The criminals, though, are not going to do it. Thats the key to this. If you think the criminals are going to say hallelujah and have a complete come to jesus meeting and go get a background check, thats completely false. But that is about people planning to break the law. Thats down to Law Enforcement people to enforce the law. Its a different issue. Well, the key is, though, once again, youre doing a federal mandate. You dont agree with this. I dont. The situation. Never mind exploitation skills, would you cap ammunition rounds to a tenround limit . No. Why . Because it doesnt say so in the constitution. Where does it say you can have a assault weapon that can fire 100 bullets . Where does it say i cannot. Well, where is the limit . Well, there is not. It doesnt say it. There are more than 50 gun control limits already. I dent agree with those. You want a tank . You know what . When is the last time you saw a terrorist attack . Do you want the right to have a tank . Do you believe the Second Amendment gives you, Scottie Hughes the right to have a tank . Honestly, i dont see bullet points in the constitution, sure. I dont want one. I think my mayor would be upset. Dana loesch, do you feel scottie is right . Do you feel you have a right to have a tank . Thats an interesting question, piers. I want to explain something briefly. How can this be a sensible conversation . Dana, you represent. Listen. Who believe what you say and trust you. I want to answer your question. How can you say you i havent even said anything yet. Youve just presupposed what my answer is going to be. Well, tell me you dont want the right to a tank. The interesting thing about the writing of our institution cougs is that, piers, our Founding Fathers were very specific on what was and what was not mentioned in terms of the Second Amendment. Musket is not mentioned in the Second Amendment. Firearms is what is mentioned. Arms, period is what is mentioned in the Second Amendment. And there are two reasons why we were successful in the revolutionary war. Number one, guerrilla tactics. Number two, we had the same weapons capability as those against whom we were fighting. And i think that if you cant glean my answer from that, i think its pretty definitive. Your country, america, has 5,000 nuclear warheads. Id say youre pretty covered on the threat of an overseas tyrannical regime. This question, though, scottie wants the right to have a tank. She says there are no limits in terms of the firearms that she can have. By your answer just now, the logical assumption from that is that you also believe there should be no limitation of firearms if a potential enemy has the same thing. So let me ask you again, dana. Do you think you should have the right to have a tank under the Second Amendment . I think the constitution is clear and it says we have a right to bear arms under the definition of arms. We have the right to firearms. Does that include a tank . If that is how arms is defined, im going to let you draw your conclusions on that. Our Founding Fathers are clear. On your twitter feed so have you start stopped using the term Assault Rifle . Dana, ill come to that in a minute. But you have been espousing very strongly your interpretation of the Second Amendment. Ive been quoting the Second Amendment. Not a time to be shy. Do you believe oh, im not. The Second Amendment, as scottie believes, the right to have a tank . I believe that the Second Amendment gives us all the right to bear arms. Thats how i does that include a tank . If it falls under the definition of firearms. Do you think it does . If it falls under the definition. Do you think it does . If i say so, youre going to fire back and accuse me about my interpretation. Youve been interpreting it all week. Ive been reading your twitter feed. Ive been quoting the constitution. What i think is more of interest is your use of the term Assault Rifle. Does your personal dana, answer my question. I have twice. Does your personal interpretation of the Second Amendment include your right to have a tank . My personal interpretation of the Second Amendment isnt a personal interpretation. It is what it is, and it states what it states. We have the right to own firearms. We have the right to bear arms. Now all of that which falls under the definition of firearms, that is what is guaranteed to us. If it falls under the definition of firearms. When is the last time you heard somebody want a tank and buy a tank . Scottie, with respect, you already said you think it is. Dana wont answer the question. I have answered the question. You just dont like my answer. Well, my question, is your personal interpretation that you want [ laughter ] thats not funny. Its ludicrous. This question is ludicrous. Piers, with all due respect, i find it so interesting that youre trying to nail down this definition when you cant even accurately talk about what is or is not an Assault Rifle. Ill come that. Here is why its such an important question. Its precisely the definition and interpretation of the Second Amendment that has got america into this horrific mess, as i see it in terms of we disagree on that. The right to bear arms and what arms are. We disagree on that. I know. But i have no problem with americans who defend themselves in their homes with a handgun or a pistol or shotgun. I have a major problem, as you know, with the more militarystyle assault weapons. Now, you say the weapon used in aurora and the weapon used at sandy hook was not an assault weapon. I ask you what is an assault weapon, if its not a weapon that can kill 20 children in a few seconds or unload 100 bullets in a movie heat earth in 90 seconds. What do you term that kind of weapon if its not an assault weapon . The reason i put it to you is the last time there was a assault weapon ban, that particular weapon was included in the ban. And people got rounded by modifying it. But it was included. So its defined in 1994 as an assault weapon. Actually, it also discussed the cosmetics that you could add on to such a weapon. First of all, let me address your initial question there is no such thing as an assault weapon such as there is no such thing as an assault unicorn. If it exists, i would love to capture it. You like to use the term military Assault Rifle. Im not sure what cutes to you military style, but i will tell you this. As a let me explain, let me explain, let me make it easy for you. My brother is a british army colonel. Okay. And he says that from his so youre an expert . Well, my brother is, yes. He has fought alongside american troops in afghanistan and iraq. Okay. He says he has only belonged as does general mcchrystal and general colin powell on a military field because they perform in a militarystyle capability. When a young deranged man [ laughter ] why so funny . Youre laughing in this conversation. These are fundamental im telling you that in my view i know what the answer is. Any rifle that can unload 90 bullets or 100 bullets in 90 seconds has to be an assault weapon. Well, again, when i dont use the term military style Assault Rifle, you do realize youre trying to conflate the terms, and youre giving the impression that adam lanza and these other individuals actually owned military standard rifles. An Assault Rifle, if you want to use this term for the sake of argument, youre talking about either a weapon or a firearm that is capable of select fire, which im sure you know what that means. I do, yeah. Being that youre discussing it. Or its semiautomatic, automatic, or its capable of select fire. Im actually not, though. Im not. Let me tell you, as a firearm owner, as a member of the nra. Dana. As someone who has shot fully automatic weapons and who owns semiautomatic weapons, let me tell you that a citizen cannot go out and purchase a fully automatic weapon. Right. They are regulated to ban. So when you use this terminology, it is from this Knowledge Base that you were using to cast aspersions on to our Second Amendment rights. You dont dispute that the ar15 was banned under the last assault weapons ban . Excuse me, scottie, wait a minute. Right. And columbine happened, and columbine happened after that. That wasnt the question, dana. Do you dispute that it was banned . And columbine happened. Dana, youre having trouble tonight answering any of my questions. No, im not. Im answering all of your question, you not liking my answers does not cute me not answering. You say the ar15 assault weapon. Why was it banned under the 1994 assault weapons ban. Because people dont like scarylooking guns. Do you realize you can get a pellet gun that looks like a military style gun . Its because joe biden was at the lead of it. Joe biden was the one. Lets take a break. Well come back. Ill try some more questions. Why dont we see if we can get some answers. Oh progressoh [ female announcer ] with 40 delicious progresso soups at 100 calories or less, there are plenty of reasons people are saying progressoh share your progressoh story on facebook. People are saying see lioutdoors, or in. Ight. Transitions® lenses automatically filter just the right amount of light. So you see everything the way its meant to be seen. Maybe even a little better. Visit your eyecare professional today to ask about our newest lenses, transitions vantage and transitions xtractive lenses. Experience life well lit. Ask which transitions adaptive lens is best for you. Obama uses kids as human shields. The Democrats Use kids as human shields. He brings these kids supposedly who wrote letters to the white house after newtown, bring them up there to present a picture of support among the children. Rush limbaugh today. Scottie hughes, why shouldnt president obama bring these children to the white house to illustrate a point that he is making these proposals now in direct relation to the slaughter of children . Why sit here and say to bring these children up on stage and give them highfives and sit there and claims that the nra add exploits his own children . Across the board, he is exploiting children. He sat there and is complaining double standard completely. He brought his children on every chance he could during the campaign. And now his white house is coming and saying the new nra ad is actually attacking his children . Hands off my kids. The same thing he did today with those four. To be honest, people own tanks. People own cannons. People own jet fighters. When is the last time you heard a crime done by one of those people . Okay, dana loesch, lets ask you that question which is about the magazine clips. Do you think there is any reason why any civilian needs a magazine drums at it is now, over tenround limit or more . I think that there exist reasons exactly why we should have more than. I know new york bans seven. I can think of a story just a headline that just hit the papers today in new york. There was a man who was attacked by a gang of men with bats and tire irons. There were i believe more than seven of those individuals that attacked him. What is the point of that anecdote . And also, piers but dana, why do you tell that story . Because its to highlight if someone has a firearm and theyre able to defend themselves. Have you seen the video . Have you seen the video . Actually, ive seen screen shots of it. Ive hang on, hang on. You cant just say these things. I took the trouble to watch that whole video. Yes, do ahead. An unfortunate man involved in a pizza argument at 5 00 a. M. In the street gets attacked by a group of people who were clutching a bar of some sort. A tire iron. But he is a live. He didnt get killed. He wasnt shot. Is your solution to that fight in a street i made a suggestion. I didnt say it was a slugs. If you suggestion that somebody pull a gun out and shot somebody. If you have to defend yourself against more than one attacker, then absolutely. Piers, have you ever fired a weapon . That young man should have shot those people . Im not saying that. Im saying if someone has. What are you saying . There are instances where there is more than one person, people coming at you. There are individuals where you have individuals coming at you. But piers, here is the thing. If the Founding Fathers wanted this limited, they would have enumerated that. You dont believe in limitations. Thats fine. So everyone can have a tank. Why would anybody need an ar15. Have you ever fired one . I havent. I want to answer this. Piers, this will help so much. Let me answer. Let me ask the question. Okay, go ahead. Why would anybody need an ar15 that has a magazine with 100 bullets in it, as with the shooter at aurora . Why would anybody need that . First and foremost, if you have never fired an ar15, as a woman who also has selfdefense, uses guns for selfdefense and likes to know that i have that security theyre a lot easier to fire than other rifles with the recoil. You think all women should be armed with ar15s . My goodness, are you going to go off on a tangent every time i say one thing . Come on, now, piers. Stay with me. Stay here with me. Im trying to find out what you believe. Im trying to explain it to you, but you keep putting words in my mouth every time try. So stop, let me finish and well get somewhere with this. An ar15, honestly, its just like any other rifle. I dont understand why some individuals can become so scared of this, because they think its a scarylooking weapon. Its not. This is not the military Assault Rifle that fully automatic or capable of select fire. It shot 17 americans in a movie heater in 90 seconds. It murdered a group of new york state firemen. There are pistols made by armor light. This particular weapon has been used in the last four Mass Shootings. How are law abiding americans responsible for that, piers . How are law abiding citizens like me responsible for that . I follow the law. And ill admit it. I own an ar15. I follow the law. James holmes was a law abiding, dana, james holmes. Why should i be punished . James holmes was a law abiding citizens citizen. He bought his guns legally. He bought the ammunition over the internet. And he went in and shot 17 americans in a movie theater. When the nra says taking our guns, attacking our guns today wait. The nra said today attacking our guns will only hurt law abiding gunowners. I want to focus on something for a second, piers. I want to focus on that. Let me finish, dana. He was on medication and he was seeing a psychiatrist. I dont dispute that. Im telling you, though, that he was a legal gunowner. A point needs to be made. No, here is the thing. His mother was a gunowner. But adam lanzas mother did not shoot people up, piers. You have to realize that. And piers, you need to realize too that this is where the people who are supposed to be el telling see, look. Im going to use the case of Jared Loughner as an example. Do you realize he could have been reported in terms of being mentally unfit, reported ed tn. He would have been unable to purchase a firearm. The same thing with holmes. But you have these laws in place. Piers, what good are laws if no one wants to follow them. Do you realize there are laws in states recording these people. Scottie said early she doesnt agree with a single thing that president obama said today. What is your view. There anything there you agreed with . You know, im really because i think he was moved by what happened at newtown, which i think anybody would have been. Was there anything you agreed with in the president s proposals . No. Okay. And instead of having the four children, i would have liked to have the mother from georgia that sat there. The pair of you would like to have the right to have a tank. A single one of president obamas proposals. Because all youre doing it makes me sick when i hear people say that kind of thing. Piers when did they say that, piers . It makes me sick sweeping proposal. So. Howd it go . Well, dad, i spent my childhood living with monks learning the art of dealmaking. Youve mastered monkeystyle kung fu . No. Priceline is different now. You dont even have to bid. Master hahn taught you all that . Oh, and he says to say translated from cantonese you still owe him five bucks. Your accent needs a little work. Ive always had to keep my eye on her. But, i didnt always watch out for myself. With so much noise about health care. I tuned it all out. With unitedhealthcare, i get information that matters. My individual health profile. Not random statistics. They even reward me for addressing my health risks. So im doing fine. But shes still going to give me a heart attack. Were more than 78,000 people looking out for more than 70 million americans. Thats health in numbers. Unitedhealthcare. Up high ok. Dont you have any usefull apps on that thing . Who do you think i am, quicken loans . At quicken loans, our amazingly useful mortgage calculator app allows you to quickly calculate your mortgage payment based on todays incredibly low interest rates. Right from your iphone or android smartphone. One more way quicken loans is engineered to amaze. As you heard in my rather heated discussion moments ago, gun advocates are slamming the president s plan, saying its all wrong, its unconstitutional. Nick, i find it almost impossible to stay calm and rational when im confronted with an argument from two people there who are quite wellknown in the conservative community in their own rights, neither of whom could see a single thing in the president s very lengthy proposals, 26, 27 proposals about what to do about gun violence. They couldnt find a sinal thing they agreed with. And they believed the right to bear arms includes the right to own a tank. I wonder if it includes a right to control small Tactical Nuclear weapons. There is no limit in their eyes. Thats why the argument is important to have with them, to understand the mentality which is basically there are no limits. Right. And i think its very important to make the point, as i think you did that the question isnt do we draw lines. Of course we draw lines, whether its between a semiautomatic and an automatic or between tanks or nuclear weapons. The question isnt whether we regulate arms, its where we draw that line. Yeah. In terms of the president s proposals today, very detailed, i thought very bold. One of his to me, and i have an agenda on this, which i made very clear. But one of his best days as a president. I thought it was a day he became a real leader. But he does it knowing that trying to get half of this stuff through the senate, never mind the congress, is going to be almost impossible. Yes. Some people tell me how can he do it . Well, he has this stuff. He chose because he doesnt have to send it through the senate or the house. A lot of things are we can authorize new research into weapons. One of the craziest things about this is we dont even really understand what the damage that guns cause. I saw today that there have been i think 57 studies by National Institutes of health on diptheria. There have been three on guns, which are a leading cause of death in the u. S. There are some things he can do already. I think hes got a pretty good shot at getting universal background checks which would be the single thing to save the most number of lives here. Its very popular, even among nra numbers. The heavy lifting is going to be on the assault weapons ban. But should he just keep heavy lifting . Is this one of the moments when the president of the United States has to look at the fact that 100,000 americans are hit by gunfire every year. But on the question of assault weapons, the last four Mass Shootings have all involved the very similar ar15 style, military style rifle. And americans are getting slaughtered with these things. No one has given me a reason why a civilian needs them, let alone adding 100 bullet magazine. Well, i mean i agree with you that there should be an assault weapons ban. But i do think in the 1990s, those who were in favor of gun control made a tactical mistake, that they put all their eggs in that basket in favor of an assault weapons ban that for a number of reasons didnt accomplish much. It had hoot of loopholes. It had a lot of loopholes. At the end of the day, we have 150 assault weapons murders each year. Meanwhile, you have more than 11,000 with guns as a whole. If we just focus on assault weapons, then weve lost. I agree. I think the other measures he brought in very much in particular dealing with the handgun problem that criminals get handguns. With gun trafficking. I totally agree with all those things. But i just think if youre going to be doing this as a reaction to sandy hook, the least you owe the families of those poor children is to look at the weapon that was used and ask yourself a humane question. What role do these weapons play in a Civilized Society . There is no role. They are killing machines. Yeah. They fire 90 to 100 bullets in a minute. And yet i still get being told theyre not assault weapons. Well, what the bloody hell are they . I grew up on a farm in the rural surrounded by guns. You have a deer rifle, which may be a. 3006. You dont take an ar15 out deer hunting. If you cant hit a target with ten rounds, then, you know, better go back to the target practice. Its not hunting. Its not sport. What are you left with . Well, its fun. Frankly, it truly is. Is fun a good enough excuse . I think the cost is so enormous. Its also fun to drive at 110 Miles Per Hour down the road. But for a lot of good reasons, we dont allow that. I think for the same reason, we need to restrict assault weapons. Lets turn briefly if we could to the situation in algeria, the terrorist situation as panetta has called it tonight. What do we know about this . We know that three americans may be among the hostages, i think . We know very little about this. There are a lot of very confusing reports coming from algeria, coming from foreign capitals, from mauritania. Its a little bit mysterious because there is a natural business line of al qaeda affiliates there to kidnap foreigners, especially europeans. And its very profitable. One element of that is terrorism. Another is that this is like somali piracy. You can get real ransoms. In this case, theyre in this southern algeria and gas facility. They havent been able to take those hostages away. At the end of the day, i think theyre going to end up getting killed. Unfortunately, some of those hostages may as well. But i cant help wondering if this wasnt a failed attempt to kidnap hostages and ransom them. Well find out i guess over the next few days. Nick, as always, great to talk to you. Thank you for coming in. Good to be here, first. Nick kristof. Ill be right back with al roker. I gave birth to my daughter on may 18th, five days later, i had a massive heart attack. 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[ male announcer ] yes, you could business pro. Yes, you could. Go national. Go like a pro. Al roker may be the busiest day on tv. He is cohost of the today show. On the weather channel. He is a bestselling author. His new book, never going back . Winning the weight loss battle for good. Welcome. How are you . Im feeling great. Other than wasting away. Well come to your decrepit physical condition. Barely holding on. I saw a recent thing you did in which you went to a range and fired some of these assault weapons and so on. What is your take on what was a very momentous day today for president obama and his administration, and i think for america . Well, look. I think this is a really polarizing issue. There are people who, you know i think most americans are pretty reasonable out there about this, whether youre in the nra or not, that there is some sort of limit. Can you have a tank . I mean, id like to have a tank. I think that would be kind of fun. We would all love to have a tank. Id like to have a locomotive too, but i dont have one. Do you believe the constitution gives you the right to have a tank . Well, i think the constitution when the Founding Fathers wrote the constitution, i dont think they envisioned, you know, rapidfire weapons or anything like that. Much like, you know, when they wrote certain things in the bible. They didnt know anything else. So it was of the time. So i think this is something that is open to interpretation. How do you get through the debate when i have two conservatives on there who basically didnt agree with a single one of the president s proposals today, not one. They couldnt find any Common Ground in anything . But those are just two people. I think, you know, there are people, whether they are conservative or republican or liberal or democrat that i think there is a lot of Common Ground. I think most americans are pretty reasonable and believe that, you know, that there is nothing wrong with a background check. I think poll after poll shows that. Look, most nra members believe that. So, you know, i think, you know, look, you can find fringes on either extremes on either end of the spectrum. Ban everything, or ban nothing. But there is a Common Ground that i think most americans believe exists. I hope youre right. I hope we get to that. I think something has to be done. Turning another story, Lance Armstrong, you met him once. Yeah. Did you get to know him . He basically, you know, asked me what the weather was going to be, and then kept moving. Did you say for you, mate, pretty stormy. Who knew . This was before all that stuff was happening. What do you think of it . Well, look youre a sports fan. Hey, look, not really. But the thing is, this guy is really he suffered a lot. He has also let down a lot of people. But he has done a lot of good. Its a really difficult issue, you know. See, my problem is i think sport for people, particularly in america, and britain is the same. People feel such great passion for it. Sure. Its escapism, and its about having heroes. Yep. And its about having people who excel in what they do. You would all love to be a professional sports star because it sounds so impossibly glamorous. Yet it is intense. And when theyre exposed as cheats, every single time something inside me dies. I watched ben johnson win that 100 meters that time. I loved that for a day. And then it was all crushed. My favorite sport is cricket. I found a huge game turned out to be rigged, and it killed me. And then i heard about Lance Armstrong, and i thought not him as well. So he was guilty. He did cheat the whole time. Nothing is right about that. Right. And look, a lot of people say everybody in that sport is doing that. I dont know. I dont bike. Im not going to ever run the tour de france. But you feel badly that there is so much pressure that everybody feels if the other guy is doing it, i have to do it. I hate it for my children. Have i three teenaged boys. All play sport, love sport, very competitive. I dont want them thinking the way to win is cheating. But you know what . I dont think they see that. I dont think our kids do. I think they see what we want, what we put out. If as a parent you espouse fair play and honesty, in not just sport, but your life, i think thats what they see. You know, look, i think Lance Armstrong and all those, any big sports person, sure they like to look at, they like to go see. But i think at the end of the day, they care more about what you think and what you do than what a Lance Armstrong or a barry bonds does. That may be true. And talking of evil blood sports and big competition, lets turn to your war with gma. Theyve been kicking your butt for a while. Youre fighting back at the moment. Joking apart, im a great fan of matts. I saw you launch a spiritedlaue. He is taking a pummelling. Brutal morning battles. What sells more papers or more clicks online than the negative . Thats they have to look, there is a lot of shiedenfreud. Good on gma. Good for them. The fact of the matter is ive known matt lauer since 1990. Ive worked with him in local news. And he is a terrific human being. He is a great person. He had nothing to do with anything that happened on our show. Was it a great thing that anne left . No. We were all heartbroken about it. But the fact of the matter is she is still at nbc news, contrary to what people are reading about her coming over here. She is still at nbc news. She has a unit, a whole unit to do the stories that she does best. So, you know, at the end of the day, its not the worst thing to get a kick in the slats. Ask you that. Youve been there a long time. Do you feel its got you all energized again . Look, we were always energized. But we feel like this is what we do. Were not changing what we do. Were just going to work at it that much harder. And, you know, look. The good news is the numbers are coming back. And look, its great its great fun when you have competition. And now weve got a good competitor in gma. Well continue to have a good competition. Were glad that Robin Roberts is feeling better, is doing great, is healthy, because, you know, its always its always good to compete against the best. Well, i enjoyed both of your shows which is a diplomatic way of looking at it. And i thoroughly feel the competition. I do feel for matt. He is worthy of a lot better. He is a terrific guy. He is a loyal friend. And he does people dont realize what he does and what anne and savannah and everybody before that, its not easy to do that job because you have to be part tom brokaw, part regis philbin, part jay leno, part martha stewart. And you get no sleep, and you have to wake up to al roker. Its a pretty rough gig. Its bad lets take a break and come back and talk about how you managed to lose 106 pounds. Its the ever disappearing al roker. Thats right. Im going to vanish right here. 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[ male announcer ] protect yourself with the fastalarm response of adt with 24 7 monitoring against burglary, fire, and high levels of Carbon Monoxide starting at just over 1 a day. And now get installation starting at just 49 a savings of 250. But hurry. These savings end soon. Im glad we had adt. [ male announcer ] adt. Always there. Back now with al. Im going to switch to your favorite catch phrase. Whats happening to the woods in the back of your neck . A very labored segue. Your neck is disappearing like the rest of you. 350 pounds down to fighting wait now . 205. Do you feel better . It is work. No question about it. 11 years ago, i had a gastric bypass. Moo i dad was dying of lung cancer. He said, listen, we both know im not going to be here for my grandchildren. You have to get healthy. You need to swear to me you are going to lose weight and i did. I had a bypass about four months after he died, lost the weight, kept it off for eight years. Then my mom got sick. People think if you have a gastric bypass you have cheated and you are done. You can eat through a bypass. People have done it. Carney wilson. I gained 40 pounds of that weight back. Is lo the my mom, my dad. I had no control over that. I am not going to lose this battle as well. I changed the way i ate. I changed the way i worked out. For almost five years, ive been between 200 and 205. What are the key simple things that anybody that is overweight can do . What was most effective . A, in this country, we need to cut back on portions. I held on to my moms house. I have a couple of nieces and nephews living there. I was looking at some dishes down in the basement and the plates were smaller then. We have huge plates and huge portions. We are eating too much. The exercise is one of the keys. Food is important. You have got to exercise. We tend to until i really made a commitment. The first thing i would cancel in my day was my workout. Any excuse to cancel the workout. You have to do it. There is no magic bullet. Less food, more exercise. Its a crazy idea. What it is above all else is mental discipline. It is about having the discipline to do it when there are so many ways you can do something else. I hate it. I started training and started running. I ended up running the new york city marathon. In the nine months i trained, never once did i get the runners high. There is no runners high. Have you ever seen a happy runner. Let me tell you about this work york. I had a workout this week with barbaran trainer called park. He thought i needed a beasting. He beasted me for about an hour. I had to sit down in the middle of the freezing cold pavement and be fed emergency gator aid to revive me. They have emergency gator aid. He went and got one. As i lay there sweating and nearly vomiting. I thought, what the hell am i doing . I am 47 years old. This is about as good as it is ever going to get. I am lying in the middle of a new york city street. Thats a regular saturday night for your executive producer. Can he mention the elephant in the room. The white house incident. What would be the most revolting story on National Television . I am sure there is worse but here is the deal. I can give you five. We dont have time. There is the white house. The fact of the matter is, i was in the press room. The fact is, a gastric bypass is a serious surgery. I wont recommend it to people. 1 in 200 people die. For the rest of your life, you have to take multivitamins. I was a mopt out of having the surgery in 2002. If you eat the wrong things, you are going to have gastric problems. That was the point of it. As i say, look, the title of the book is, never going back. I have been back to the white house and never had a problem again. I saw you there. If i would have known, i would have given you a very wide berth. Can we have you read the tease to the break, please . It is here but my camera is there. Well be right back. Here is whats happening in your neck of the woods. Listen to the back of my neck. [ male announcer ] coughequence™ 8. Waking the baby. [ coughs ] [ baby crying ] [ male announcer ] robitussin® liquid formula soothes your throat on contact and the active ingredient relieves your cough. Robitussin®. Dont suffer the coughequences™. Diarrhea, gas, bloating . Yes one Phillips Colon Health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. Live the regular life. Phillips. Looks like youre in a pickle. Yeah. Can you get me out of it . Just so happens i know a chap. Book any flight and hotel together and get access to our free personal concierge service. Any need, any question, were on call 24 7