0 lot of schools, in fact principals and others have taken measures to reduce the probability of an event like this. of course the state of connecticut, the state of new jersey tightened up their gun safety regulations but representing as i do my people at the federal level an awful lot more we can do at the federal level starting with very basic common sensethings like background checks to make sure people who have a history of violence or mental problems don't buy weaponry. >> is there an appetite for gun reform on the national level. >> despite 90% support amongst the american public, the idea of universal background check died in the united states senate. this is a senate that got things like comprehensive immigration reform done with 78 votes, they got an employer nondiscrimination bill done. it's a senate that can get things done. it's a demonstration of how hard it is to move forward at the federal level with gun safety civil liberties, that everybody is entitled to and wants to have, and where we step in and say we're essentially taking your rights away, because he was over 18. and i think what's difficult is the only person who probably knew at some level how bad things were getting was the mother. and the problem is when you have a parent with a child in this very, very connected relationship and it goes on -- or i should say it devolves over time, sometimes it's hard for that parent to see how bad things have gotten and to say, you know, this is -- in other words, she kept making the house more and more, let's say, suitable for him as opposed to saying, you know, this is -- something is terribly wrong and i'm not able to get him to go for treatment, so i have to -- let's say i have to call the police and say i'm concerned. you know, my son has access to guns, he's playing these sorts of games. i don't think he has capacity. i think we need to bring him in. >> but the weird conflict of that is the access to guns that this woman was providing him. i don't want to victimize the victim here because nancy lanza lost her life because of this, a parent being at a loss and dealing with a difficult problem of raising a child who has severe mental issues. so the only thing that can be, i guess, gleaned from this is trying to help other parents out there that may not recognize what's going on with their children. >> i think she probably loved him the best she could and this is the challenge for a parent with a child who has severe mental illness. but let me say that i think we have to really raise awareness, even if you don't want to talk about gun control, we have to raise awareness of having guns available to somebody who could have mental illness and also violent video games. access to, because that was part of the report. i mean it's amazing to me, to be honest, that there is a violent video game that basically where you shoot children in a school. that's incredible. but let's say if you have a child who has issues, you need to know if they're playing these kinds of games. you need to restrict their access to this. and we need to deglorify the violence that is around people who have mental illness, because to some degree it may feel like their only recourse to making an impact, let's say, in the world and that is where it becomes very dangerous. >> we have to have honest conversations about mental illness and lift the stigma from it, that it's okay to get help. >> okay to get help and we have to also remove violent material from people who do. >> dr. gail saltz, great to have you here, we appreciate your time. we move on now to our other big story of the day, this developing story. a killer storm making its way across the country threatening holiday travel plans for millions of americans who are about to hit the road or take to the skies. >> the roads here are very, very bad. i just about got in a car accident riot here because it's -- you can't stop. >> the best part about flying is we're not driving. >> i think leaving early just takes a little bit of the pressure off. >> so this powerful system that's already wreaked havoc out west plans to dump heavy rain, sleet and snow over much of the eastern seaboard. and the worst of it could come tomorrow, the busiest travel day of the year. nbc's gabe gutierrez is live from the nation's busiest airport, hartsfield jackson international located in atlanta. gabe joins us with more on this deadly weather. gabe, i understand it is cold and raining already. >> reporter: that's right, thomas, it is very cold and raining, but the good news so far, at least it hasn't been as big of a problem as it has been the last couple of days for drivers in other parts of the country. as you can see by my breath it is chilly, about 36 degrees, but there's really no ice to speak of. it's just a lot of cold rain at this point. this is the world's busiest airport. about 63 million passengers come by here every year, so it's very critical to watch. so far we are not experiencing any major delays at this point, no cancellations to speak of. but if you take a look at flightaware.com, a misery match, this is a handy, interactive tool, take a look at you plan your holiday travel. atlanta hartsfield has a little red. we're also monitoring airports in charlotte and the airports in washington, new york and boston as this storm system moves east into the northeast, it's expected to bring more snow. so as you said, thomas, over the next day or so, that could impact holiday travel. yesterday there were about 1,000 or so cancellations at dfw. no such cancellations to speak of. the weather is not expected to affect the dallas area today. but again, back here in atlanta, we are closely monitoring the departure board to see if these delays rack up. right now just minor delays here, no minor cancellations. things are going smoothly, but that could change as the storm system moves into the northeast, thomas. >> good to know because the ripple effect, it doesn't take too much to send a severe kink into the system across the country. gabe gutierrez in atlanta for us. nice to see you, thank you, sir. i want to go to maria la rosa at the weather channel tracking this storm system for us. maria, explain what we can expect in terms of how this storm is going to vary state to state. >> it's amazing, thomas. it's more like what can't we expect. it has everything and we're talking about the severe side as well, including a tornado reported earlier today in florida. we have another tornado warning just to quickly touch on that out for another few minutes, but the ingredients are there to see those rotating thunderstorms. right now it's also ice that we're concerned about at the higher elevations of the appalachians, including roanoke. those that have yet to see the roughest weather, parts of the northeast. it is on its way. the ingredients as i mentioned there, this is a big storm, lots of moisture associated with it. you have the cold air coming in for tomorrow. that's actually going to be producing a lot of snow for the interior and northeast and that's another facet to this amazing storm. but for today, yeah, absolutely travel from atlanta to charlotte, 95, 85, 75, all those major interstates, 81 as well. you get in through tomorrow, we could see in some of these areas, western p.a., western new york as much as a foot and a half of snowfall. new york state throughway, i-80, all of those interstates impacted for travel so this is a big heads up for folks who may be heading westbound out of the east coast. i-95 is going to be all rain but we are expecting winds here on wednesday to be anywhere from 40 to 50, maybe as high as 60 miles per hour, so there too you have a weather-related delays possible in the northeast. >> all right, maria, thanks so much. you talk about winds right there and i want to pass this along. from macy's pr concerning winds here in new york city for the thanksgiving day parade, they're saying that whether or not the giant balloons will join the lineup will be actually made in realtime weather data, not the forecast. so they are closely monitoring the weather. based on the city's guidelines, no giant character balloons will be operated when there are sustained wind conditions exceeding 25 miles per hour and wind gusts competing 35 miles per hour. it is too early at this point in time to make a determination about the giant balloons but will make a decision thanksgiving morning. keep your fingers crossed that the winds won't be too high on thanksgiving morning. so four adults, including a school superintendent and two coaches now indicted by a grand jury in ohio. how authorities say these adults failed to act on behalf of a teen victim of rape. also ahead this hour, this story. >> i need your help. there are thousands of people -- >> that's exactly what we're talking about. >> every single day. mr. president, ploease -- >> president obama heckled but this protester wanted to know why the president doesn't use executive power to make immigration reform happen. this topic also leads to our big question, do you think that immigration reform will happen in president obama's second term, even if it's in a piecemeal way? weigh in, send us your thoughts via twitter or facebook.