that doesn't involve money. >> sunday at 10:00 a.m. eastern from the west point center for oral history, henry "hank" thomas, a combat medic during the vietnam war. >> my grandfather served in world war i. my father served in world war ii. always for a black man, whenever you served, it was your military service you hope would confirm your bona fides as a first class, red-blooded american citizen entitled to. >> at 4:00 p.m., on "reel america" we look back to 1988 when president reagan spoke at a cpac dinner. >> the american people know what limited government, tax cuts, deregulation, and the move toward privatization have meant.

it's meant the largest peacetime expansion in our history, and i can guarantee you they won't want to throw that away for a return to budgets beholden to the liberal special interests. >> watch american history tv every weekend on c-span3. it was the president of the united states who sent out a tweet about this event yesterday. here's the tweet, saying that my prayers and condolences to the families of the victims of the terrible florida shooting. no child, teacher or anyone should ever feel unsafe at an american school. florida senators also weighing in. republican senator marco rubio. it is clear attack was designed and executed to maximize loss of life, and he also went on to say, in days ahead, it will be increasingly evident that killer in today's florida shooting gave plenty of indications of what was to come. also, bill nelson from florida, giving his thoughts off twitter

saying, sandy hook, pulse nightclub, ft. lauderdale airport, las vegas, and now parkland, florida. when is this going to stop? it's not going to stop until the american people say enough is enough. what is it going to take for enough to be enough? that's from bill nelson off the twitter feed. if you go to the pages of the naples "daily news" off of florida, a story about governor rick scott and his reaction, saying that he met with the families of the victims at the school shooting on wednesday night at broward health north in pompano beach. it was at a press conference outside the hospital late wednesday where he said his heart goes out to the affected families. here's a lbit of that press conference from yesterday. >> as soon as you hear something like this is happening, the first thing you start thinking about the families. you know, you think about your own family. as a grandparent and a parent, the first thing you think about is, you know, god i hope this never happens to my family.

then you always -- you think about -- you're furious. how could this ever happen in this country? how could this happen in this state? this is a state that is focused on keeping all of our children safe. you come to the conclusion this is just absolutely pure evil. this state does not tolerate violence. we have law enforcement that will always show up to defend our safety. as soon as this happened, i started having updates from sheriff israel. i've talked to president trump, the secretary of homeland security, kristen nielsen, superintendent runsy, the commissioner of law enforcement, florida department of law enforcement, rick swearingen, and i know everybody has worked tirelessly to make sure we do everything to keep everybody safe and to have a thorough investigation. my prayers are with everybody impacted. i can't imagine what the

families that are sitting there wondering if they've lost a family member, they don't know yet. those that do know they've lost a family member, i just -- i mean, i just can't imagine how their lives have been changed. like all of us, we'll be praying for each of those. everybody in the hospital, i pray for their full recovery. all the individuals that, unfortunately, had to go through this experience, i know that there's going to be grief counselors and i'm sure it's going to be very, very difficult as they think through what happened, and replay in their mind what happened. i just can't imagine going through that. >> again, you can give your thoughts about the shooting itself, the issue of school safety, issue about gun issues in this first hour 202-748-0801 for educators. for law enforcement, 202-748-8002. all others, 202-748-8003. also a line for those of you out there who are parents to call in as well. again, you can also post your thoughts on twitter and facebook.

let's start with joe this morning. in pennsylvania, a parent. joe, good morning. you're our first call. joe from pennsylvania, hello. go ahead. >> yeah. yeah, i got a comment on this. you know, the clinton administration put a stop to the sale, the purchase or the sale of assault weapons, and that was in force up until the bush administration. and george bush, he did away with that. and opened it back up. and it went crazy. and it's where it's at today. and now they don't want to do anything with it. especially the republicans. we got the thing with the bump stock, an attachment that goes on a semiautomatic rifle to make it full automatic. and they haven't done nothing with that since what happened in las vegas. they haven't -- they're not even talking about it. it's never the time to talk about it. the same with magazines. they got magazines, banana magazines they put in these guns

and it's amazing the number of rounds they put in them. they can't even limit that. they don't want to do nothing. they're all bought and paid for from the nra. i used to be an nra member. i recruited so many members, i had awards for it. i dropped out of the nra back in the late '80s. i saw what it was. they almost went bankrupt. they were so corrupt, they almost lost their national headquarters. they had to hire charlton heston, they had to hire god to bring them back from the death. they're bought and paid for, the republican party. >> let's go to kat in baltimore, maryland, an educator. >> yeah, i teach elementary school out of d.c. and i feel like at this point, there have been so many school shootings that we've just come completely desensitized. to be honest, my immediate reaction is just, like, another one, you know, here we go again. i remember when columbine happened, i was in high school, and we had a big assembly and we talked about it and we were kind

of in grief for weeks. after other school shootings, we'd have lockdown drills and kind of practice what would happen if there was an active shooter. and now, it's like you just carry on with your day. you don't even know how to react anymore. you know, there's been discussions about teachers having guns in the classrooms. and carrying, you know, kind of con sealed car concealed carry and i think that's an enormous responsibility for an educator. i would never want to have that responsibility on myself. >> as far as your school where you go, what kind of drills do you do on a regular basis to prepare for this kind of scenario? >> well, actually, we just had a systemwide lockdown drill the other day, you know, based on two announcements like lockdown drill, lock your doors, we cover our windows, we have the students gather, you know, in the furthest corner of the room away from the door, make sure our windows are closed, and i mean, other than that, we have our doors to the building are

locked and we have to buzz in, and your face is on -- you know, it's a video camera. but you know, other than that, it's just every day is scary. i have young kids i think about what it's going to be like when they go to school. they're 2 and 9 months. it's just terrifying, but if you let that fear take over your life, you would just be paralyzed. >> okay. that's kat, an educator in baltimore, maryland. let's hear from a viewer in greenville, south carolina. go ahead. >> good morning. thank you to c-span. to the previous caller, charlton heston was moses, george burns was god. but i like to relate a couple of stories that took place in south carolina. several years ago, there was an article. this couple took their 9-year-old little girl to a shooting range so that she could have the experience of firing a fully automatic machine gun. the instructor was a little

behind her and to her right when he told her it was okay to start shooting. she pulled the trigger. the recoil made the gun go upwards, and the barrel point toward the instructor and killed him accidentally. more recently, like within the last four months, there was an article in the local sunday sports section, a father had taken his little girl, and she had bagged a buck, and they showed a picture of her holding it by the antlers, and she was the cutest little 6-year-old you could see, clad in all camouflage. and i don't have an opinion either way as to how old children should be, but i would imagine a 6-year-old is very aware of gun safety, and if things go down the drain like some people predict, she may have to help the family get food. because they didn't kill for sport. they killed for food. >> okay. that's a viewer in greenville, south carolina. edward perkins says gun violence

is brought to us by legislators who are bought out by the nra. adds #donothingcongress. kevin denner says, or in an alternate universe, you could blame the shooter. you can go to our facebook page. in lanceing, north carolina, a parent. this is dean. >> we don't have no leaders to take care of our country on this here. they're all sold out in washington. they're sold out. and pass a law today where the parents had to learn them something to -- and spank their tails when that -- what they get into something and do something wrong instead of giving them all the money they get to the lawyers and all. >> and how does that all relate to the school shooting from yesterday, sir?

>> yes. >> how does that relate? >> the raising at home, they don't have no raising at home. i've raised six kids. all of them's out there working for a living now. they're not out here -- they grew up with guns around. they hunted. we hunted, me and the three boys. we hunted. and we still get together and we go hunting. and we shoot. and i have a grandson that's coming up here when the weather breaks so we can get out and shoot, and he'll get out and shoot with us. >> okay. that's dean in north carolina. a picture of the suspect, nicholas cruz, available on the website of the austin statesman out of texas. lower on, it says update of today, authorities have charged the suspect with 17 counts of premeditated murder. one of the people who commented

yesterday was the legislator that represents the parkland area of florida on msnbc yesterday talking about the incident. here's a bit of that interview. >> and i have devoted an enormous amount of my time here in congress trying to do something to stem the tide of gun violence, but let's make -- here's a suggestion, chuck. instead of letting this devolve into the typical political discussion with people tweeting at me, telling me now's not the time to have conversations about gun safety, and others saying, stop trying to interfere with the second amendment, my second amendment rights, and others saying it's about mental health issues, why aren't we talking about that. let's talk about all of it. and let's do it in a way that's not political. let's -- forget about commissions. >> do you think that's possible? do you think that's possible anymore to do anything that doesn't get politicized? >> look, i can't believe that congress hasn't done anything since sandy hook. i can't believe it.

but the fact is, for -- everyone has an excuse, but everyone also acknowledges that days like today are awful, and this is a terrible, terrible day. it is so grim, and the story -- the people that i talk to, the families that i have spoken with back in the district, the sheriff, the superintendent, the mayor, this is as bad as it gets. so, i agree. let's not politicize it. but let's sit down and have the conversation. if you think it's about mental health, then let's figure out how to address that. if you think that there are steps that we can take, common sense measures that won't interfere with anyone's second amendment rights, then let's talk about that. but by all means, let's just not let this go. >> the football program from margery stoneman douglas high school in florida sent out this tweet. it is with great sadness that our football family has learned about the death of aaron feis.

he was our assistant football coach and security guard. he selflessly shielded students from the shooter and died when he was shot. he died a hero and will forever be in our thoughts and memories. it includes a photo of mr. feis. we'll go to robert in pennsylvania, an educator. >> pedro, i'm so sorry to speak with you at such tragedy. i do teach high school civics in the lower marion district, and i could go on and on. but let me just say that there are no -- i hate to use this word, a culture divide, okay? now, people throw out every reason. i have students -- this is a school district, an affluent school district. it's not about that. it's not about where, okay?

guns -- people look at the constitution, people cling to their guns. my students -- it's a gifted civics class. we talk a lot about current affairs, pedro, and i don't believe any of them have guns. we don't have -- we're fortunate we do not have metal detectors. however -- and i'm concerned about mr. trump. you know, we're surrounded in this environment, in this country, with the political elite, and it's not about, you know, look at -- the nra's a very important lobby group, of course. it's not about one group versus another. that being said, you know, the resistance is just -- people will die. >> okay, robert, we got your point. thera in alabama, a parent. hi.

>> hi, how you doing? >> fine, thank you. >> pedro, yesterday on squawk box, 32, you know, they tell you about the economy, you know, going up and going down, but the -- y'all put out that the rifle -- they're going through bankruptcy. and then turn around, they sold these guns that were fired by themselves. you know, if you just pick it up, it will go off. you can be out there hunting or whatever you want to do. it will go off. that was yesterday. they put it on "squawk box" that said this -- how come the -- what you call it -- the stock market is going, you know, for the guns. the owners, if it goes through bankruptcy, the owners of the gun would not get their money back. >> okay.

from wisconsin, line for a student, brandon. hello from milwaukee. >> hi, pedro. i think what we need to do is we need to arm our last line defenders, and we did something very similar when 9/11 happened. we gave pilots the option to carry guns. and we haven't had any incidents from that. so i think we really need to arm our last line defenders and give them the opportunity to react when something bad does happen, and it will happen again. >> so you're talking about -- so brandon, you're talking about teachers then? >> yeah, absolutely. certain teachers, if they are willing and if they are qualified, they should be able to carry. >> and as far as milwaukee, does milwaukee or wisconsin do anything along that line? >> not currently, not in our city. not with the public school. i'm not sure what the situation with the private school. but within the public school, we do not, and fortunately, we haven't had an incident like

that. but i don't know why we would want to wait before we actually implement something like that. >> so brandon, along this last line of defense you talk about, how would you sell this idea to a parent or several parents who might be concerned about just having that kind of gun presence in a school each and every day? aside from the fact that it could provide safety in this kind of situation. >> well, that's where we have to use facts. i mean, every one of these incidents, it's never a responsible gun owner that ends up committing mass murder. it's always somebody with some preexisting issue or with some problem with society that ends up doing this. i think if we focus on the facts and look at what is actually -- who are these people that are doing this, it will give peace of mind for parents that it would not be a bad idea to arm teachers and people that are responsible. >> that's brandon. milwaukee. making the case for the arming of teachers. as you heard him talk about, you can agree with him, disagree with him, add other things to

the conversation. again, give us a call on the lines. you can post on twitter and facebook too. "the washington times" this morning, victor morton picks up the fact that the suspect, nikolas cruz, was expelled from school last year, saying that he was described as gun obsessed and, quote, a troubled kid who had manic spells. the broward county sheriff's department permanently identified him as the former student and sheriff scott israel, speaking at a press conference, said mr. cruz got expelled from disciplinary reasons from douglas high. the president sending out a tweet, when it comes to the larger issues concerned with this shooting, he said, so many signs that the florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school. neighbors and classmates knew he was a big problem. must always report such incidents to the authorities again and again. on our line for all others, judy in washington, go ahead. you're next. >> hi. thanks for taking my call. i just wanted to say -- i don't

even know how to -- it is political. you had a caller earlier who said don't politicize this. it is political in my view because the reason we have all these assault rifles available to people who are really unbalanced is because congress is basically -- not all of the congressional representatives -- but most of them are owned by the nra and if you look at how much the campaign donations come in, you can figure out who's voting for what. at this point, i don't even think congress allows gun violence laws to be -- i mean, gun violence to be studied with government dollars. that's insane. and that's really all i have to say. >> an educator in pittsburgh. eric is next. hello. >> it's simple. why don't we copy japan. no guns allowed in the public. who needs to survive to hunt? >> so, would that mean that guns -- what about those that

would acquire guns illegally and those who use guns in these instances? how would you impact that? >> then they get fined and jailed. >> okay. >> copy japan. that's what they're doing. no guns allowed in public. >> sun city, california, another educator. this is mike. go ahead. >> yeah. the problem here is -- i'm a retired social studies teacher. i think it all stems from the culture war against judeo-christian values that is lodged on america from the left. especially the elite liberal social media and when they break down one taboo after another, which what they do -- they do every day -- >> how does that directly associate to a school shooting, then? >> well, when you remove -- when you have the aclu sue to take god out of public schools, you remove a lot of the discipline. you undermine judeo-christian values and you really -- it's a step toward chaos.

these kids don't have a strong foundation because the left wants political correctness to be their bible. and that's the problem. so, this all goes back to the assault on judeo-christian values by the left in terms of this culture war, and that's exactly what the problem is. >> that's mike in sun city off twitter, this is claire saying, there's nothing radical about common sense gun legislation in spite of what the nra would have you believe. if your elected officials are taking money from them, voting them out of office needs to be our first priority. j.d. reading saying that one option that could be applied in this situation, more civilian personnel protection, body armor options. again, twitter's available to you if you want to post there. we'll continue on with these calls, taking a look at the shooting yesterday. again, 17 killed, 15 hospitalized. we've heard some of the reaction from members of congress. we are hearing reaction from

you. again, the phone lines are available to you if you want to call and pick the line that best represents you. we'll show you some other stories that are making news during the course of this hour. don't want to take away from what happened yesterday. but just to keep you informed on other things, particularly what's happening on capitol hill concerning immigration. ed o'keefe and others reporting for the "washington post" this morning that when it comes to the senate's work on passing an immigration bill this week, that one bill, piece of legislation, has emerged saying the self-dubbed common sense caucus of senators late wednesday circulated legislation that would fulfill the president's call to grant legal status to 1.8 million young immigrants. it would appropriate $2.5 billion for southern border security construction projects over the next decade, not immediately, as the president wants, and the bill would also curb family-based immigration programs but not to the extent trump is seeking and it would not end a diversity visa lottery program that he wants eliminated. that's in "the washington post" this morning.

if you go to "usa today," when it comes to the u.s. immigration issue on the house side, some legislators saying this is a test for the house speaker, paul ryan. that was mark meadows, the chairman of the house freedom caucus saying that immigration, quote, is the defining moment. if he gets it wrong, it will have consequences for him, but it will also have consequences for the rest of the republican party. that warning shot from meadows who helped pushed ryan's predecessor into retirement highlights how skploexplosive t looming house debate will be for republicans. meadows and other conservatives made it clear they will accept nothing short of the hard line house immigration bill introduced by representative bob goodlatt, republican of virginia, chairman of the house judiciary committee. by the way, bob goodlatte, our guest on our news makers program, which tapes, and you'll be able to see right after this

program, later on in the evening, if you want to find out more about that taping and that interview, once it airs, go to our website at c-span.org. marilyn in brook park, ohio, to the topic again of that shooting yesterday. parent, marilyn, go ahead. >> yes. i think the key issue that is really being looked at here is if a lot of people, you know, particularly parents, are raising their children and they're sending them to school, the first and foremost thing they have to look at is, are there guns in the homes of these parents when they're enrolling them in school? if they are, what is it being addressed here? these parents aren't being fingerprinted and monitored that there's guns in the homes because what they are doing is they are sending their kids a message, saying, well, if you don't like something, it's okay to kill a person or maim a person if they aren't happy with the decisions that are being made. and what happens is a lot of these children that go through all the stresses in schools can't get these problems solved

through counselors, and look what happens. the counselors expel these kids. they can't deal with them. they throw it back to the parent, and not all bad cases, these parents can't control their children. they even -- even if they have gun safes, these kids are getting so smart, they just thil, well, the parents have guns, it's no big deal if i go out and get a gun and go to school with it and think i can just hurt or injure people at someone else's expense. so these parents should definitely be held accountable, and in this case, this child, the mother was deceased, i was told. so unfortunately, his was very isolated. but there's plenty of kids who still have parents out there and living in homes with guns and gun safes and that definitely needs to change in the law books. they have to have them registered in the schools. >> okay. okay. we'll go to roland from maryland, an educator. hi. roland from maryland, hello. we'll go to suzanne. suzanne is in texas on our line

for others. suzanne, good morning. >> hi there. i was just -- the whole thing broke my heart and made me cry, and all i advocate for is common sense background checks, gun control, and if 20 did kindergartners didn't do it for you the first time, then you should have something -- i mean, come on, people. common sense gun control. >> why do you think that legislators can't get together on those issues that you described? >> the nra. and i know hunters. i mean, i'm a hunting advocate, because if you can't cull the herd, it's going to kill itself. i know hunters. so hunting is fine. but it's like, there's -- ar-15s are meant for hunting people. they're not meant for hunting deer or rabbits or whatever. those are people-hunting guns. you shouldn't be able to get those. >> a parent in maryland, this is joe. joe, good morning.

>> good morning, pedro. how are you? >> i'm well, thank you. go ahead. >> so, as most of the time these things devolve into the different camps and it's -- if everyone's paying attention, it comes to two popular terms. one, gun control, and two, discipline in the school. and i think we're going to be going back and forth on those two, not just the school but also at the home. i think we're going to go back and forth on those forever. but a couple things that do come up that might make sense. we're talking about arming teachers. maybe an idea that came up in the past was having a police officer in the schools and maybe at least -- even if there can't be one all the time, just to have one that's there. and then if you're going to do something with the teachers, i'd rather it be some sort of nonlethal sort of thing, like a taser or some other way to -- i just would be worried about having additional guns. as for the discipline side, you know, i've heard many stories,

as a parent, and i'm in a good county for schools, not a lot of violence, but you see kids with problems saying things, doing things, and it is true that you feel sort of -- almost trapped, like before, it's almost like a societal thing. before, you would talk to the other parents and say, hey, your son's doing this. and there is a lack of discipline. but maybe some sort of -- and it scares me to say this, but some sort of soft registry for kids that are in trouble and have issues that wouldn't be something that would follow them in their careers and things but where they could be monitored a little more closely. i think that might make sense. >> okay. that's joe in maryland. beverly in ohio. good morning. >> is it live? >> yes, beverly in ohio. go ahead. >> yes. now, the basic problem, we need

the supreme court of the united states to get involved with this, because this is a constitutional question. the second amendment says militia, and they leave that out. to form a militia. these people aren't forming a militia. that's when they should be allowed to have guns. if they're going to form a militia. but we have standing armies. we don't need a militia. the other thing, they should -- the guns they sell, they should not allow them to sell these military weapons. bump stock and the ak-15s, those are military weapons. they should put a law against that. that would cut a lot of this killing out, not only in the schools but everywhere in society. they should think about those two things and get the supreme court to make the decision. that's what they're for. thank you. >> jack in iowa. good morning. >> yes. i think we need a new symbol, because people need symbols.

and the symbols that i have to propose are cheap. it won't require any legislators to take any stands. student, pa outreach person can do it. and the symbol is scared, because people are scared, and dead because students are dead. and where you use this symbol is the next time people sing the national anthem, we can say that we now live in the land of the scared, no, the land of the dead and the home of the scared. the dead are the students. and the scared are the nra that need their machine guns. and they are the judges that won't take a stand. and they are the politicians that won't vote. >> one of the politicians speaking out about this issue was senator chris murphy of

connect la connecticut directly connected took to the senate floor to talk about the shooting and issues involved. here's what he had to say. >> as we speak there is a horrific scene playing out at a high school in south florida. turn on your television right now you'll see scenes of children running for their lives. what looks to be the 19th school shooting in this country. and we have not even hit march. i'm coming to the floor to talk about something else, but let me just note once again for my colleagues that this happens no where else other than the united states of america. this epidemic of mass slaughter. this scourge of school shooting after school shooting. it only happens here not because

of coincidence, not because of bad luck, but as a consequence of our inaction. we are responsible for a level of mass atrocity that happens in this country with zero peril anywhere else. as a parent it squarcares me to death that this body doesn't take seriously the safety of my children. we pray for the families and victims. we hope for the best. >> let's go to frank. frank in ft. lauderdale, he's an

educator. >> good morning. this comes to mind something that saint mother teresa said regarding the value of human life. she says when a nation involves a mother to kill her own child, how can you tell people not to kill each other. in other words, both examples of what happened yesterday here in broward county and what mother teresa is referring to about the unborn, it's a gross disrespect for human life. it sets a horrible example. abortion sets a bad example for all society. people think, oh, human life hasn't gotten much value, especially the unborn. and another factor, too, i recently was talking to a woman who was hispanic. and they told me they have been

subject to prejudice in the workplace, particularly. and this individual told me how he hates certain groups of people. he mentioned how he hates the military because they are so disciplined and strict. and how he hates white people because they were the ones who showed prejudice to him at his job. >> okay. let's go to alexander in maryland. >> hi. good morning. thank you for having me. i have a few points. first, there was a lady a few callers back who said all parents should register with the school if they have guns in their home. that is extremely intrusive. and that should only be investigated if the child starts having problems in school, like them being expelled or showing aggression, things like that.

second point, why were these parents not investigated first? why did we miss these signs? why was he allowed back in school? there is a lot we are missing before we can make a judgment on exactly what happened. and, three, i understand, you know, i have an ar-15, i shoot, i'm also in the military. you know how easy it was for me to get a gun in the state of maryland? i had to show my id and it was like a five minute check and then they gave it to me. i think that is entirely stupid. everyone should have to go through some sort of background check and a mental health check. absolutely they should. >> alexander, can i ask you about the gun that you own. what goes through your mind when people describe it as an assault weapon? >> oh, absolutely it is. but, but you have to know that the person who is buying the weapon, this is why we need reform, you need to know the person buying the weapon is

trained to use the weapon correctly so that there is no negligent discharges and things like that. and that they have the mental capacity to have a gun. that's why legislation needs to maybe pass a mandatory thing where before you go buy a gun you need to go through a mandatory safety check and course. i don't know why republicans think that is threat to second amendment rights. it's not stopping you from getting a gun per se. because if you know that you are mentally sound and you go through the training, because everyone should know how to use their gun, clean their gun, absolutely know what clips are allowed, you know, everything sundayi surrounding those circumstances. >> i'll ask you this, you probably heard time and again why do you need that type of weapon anyway? >> so i use it recreationally

because i enjoy it. i also take it to a government regulated range. so i don't use it on my back 40. or i don't use it anywhere in a residential area anywhere. you know, i take it to an approved range and that's what i do. and i use it to keep my skills sharp because i'm in the military. you have to keep that skill sharp. >> that's alexander in maryland talking about her experience. we'll continue on with these calls about the shooting that took place yesterday. again, wanting to show you other information throughout the morning. this about the secretary of the veterans affairs coming up under scrutiny at a skating report released wednesday found, skoet, serious derelictions in $122,000 business ship veteran affairs took to europe airfare for wife

and extensive sight seeing. went on besides paying for the $4,000 airfare to wife, indicated drl shulkin and his wife had been invited to honory dinner in denmark and they were not. accepted tennis tickets to wo. n he was the first cabinet secretary to post details of his travel online for all to see. that said, accountability and transparency are important values at the va under president trump. and dr. shulkin personally pushing back against the findings say the report is not accurate and not objective he said in interview on wednesday. i was horrified when i saw the way the investigator conducted himself leaving the witness to his own interpretation and bias.

this resulted in a couple of tweets. this from leo shane out in military time says he did an interview with him himself. he says he will comply with all the inspector general recommendations. already wrote a check to the u.s. treasury to reinburst for wife's bill and wimbledon tickets. he says shulkin must resign now. president trump ran on accountability. according to "the washington post," shulkin set to appear before the veterans panel today to talk about the budget but ultimately will be asked about these questions. you can see that at 8:00 this morning. watch it on c-span3. look for it at c-span.org and

radio app. from michigan, a parent. we'll hear from don. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> i'm thinking controlling the guns isn't going to do it. we need to go about it some other way. sick people will always find a weapon or be able to get one. so i don't know what other way to go about it, but gun control isn't going to do it, in my opinion. >> so what are the other ways then if gun control isn't the way? >> well, we have people that are much smarter than i am. we have to get together in these think tanks and obviously go about it another way. like i said, they are always going to be able to get these weapons. people can't get them legally on the streets get them all the time. you have mass shootings every where, as well in the big cities, bausz these are all illegal weapons.

>> let's go to another person from michigan. this is robert. an educator there. hello. >> hello. >> you are on. go ahead. >> yeah. well, i'll tell you what i'm seeing. number one, no prayer in the school anymore. no prayer in the school. they have kicked prayer out of the school. nobody talks about jesus. and, also, it starts at home. if the people don't educate their people in the bible, a certain amount, and try to teach them about what's right and what's wrong, it's never going to get any better. so as far as guns, like the gentleman said early, they are going to get guns one way or the other. so the people running this country, they need to be a

leader, not just a talker. you can talk all day and it don't get no where. i listened to this a little bit. and a lot of talk on this station and nothing seems to change. the same old, same old. call this number, you tell me what you think, and we'll see, and nothing happens. and this is going on in america. like one gentleman said, or you said, it doesn't happen that much in other countries because they enforce the laws they have on the books. they don't set their write laws, make more laws, they can't even force the ones they got. >> okay. let's go to mall con, st. petersburg, florida. >> hi, good morning, pedro. first off, i want to say this is just absolutely terrible. terrible thing that happened. and my condolences to all the families. i can't imagine how terrible they must be feeling today. i wanted to respond to a couple

other callers that mentioned arming our educators. i wanted to agree with that. i think we should. you know, i think vigilanteism is it a great responsibility. we should entrust and enforce our he heducators to do this in schools. infarction, i think we should take it a step further, maybe arm our kids. maybe start since first grade, have a class teaching them how to shoot, and maybe with their books, their math books, science books, they can add a 9 million millimeter glock to their book bags and by it in every day. >> are you being serious? >> absolutely not. but it's crazy that you would think that it would be a great

thing to arm instructors who have, you know, a lot of them have no desire to want to go out and, you know, shoot or play hero, and you know, try and shoot somebody. they are trying to protect themselves and their students as well. so i think that's a completely stupid idea. >> that's malcolm in florida. couple of things to show you the chicago tribune this morning, president trump for the first time since the story broke about rob porter, zeke miller reporting he broke the silence to denounce domestic violence in the wake of allegations white house aide had abused two ex-wives. chief kelly under fire stayed largely out of sight. the chaos surrounding the departure of rob porter put pressure on john kelly who was

brought in last summer. questions persisted about what and when kelly knew about the abuse allegations against porter who resigned as staff secretary last week after the accusations became public. again, the president speaking about that during press conference or event at the white house. here is a bit from the president yesterday. >> why have you not spoken out against violence? >> oversight committee wants to look into the rob porter matter. >> i'm opposed to domestic violence. and everybody here knows that. i'm totally opposed to domestic violence violence of any kind. everybody knows that. and it almost doesn't have to be said. so now you hear it but you all know it. thank you very much. >> let's go to tim in ohio. educator. hello. >> hello.

i'm kind of calling for my dad who died in '95 he was a school teacher for 30 years. and he said that the worst day in school history was the day that they took the paddle out of the teacher's hands. i have a karate school. hello. >> you are on. go ahead. >> yeah. basically the guys that came to the karate school, they weren't very confident in themselves. and they lacked a lot of self-confidence. so as i taught them martial arts, you could see the self-confidence grow in them. i think the parents should blame themselves for allowing the schools not to have a paddle, not to have control. my father saw it coming years ago when they took the paddle out of the teacher's hands. >> let's go to harold in north carolina. a parent.

harold you are on the air. go ahead. >> i think we made it get out of control. they can't get control of the magazines. too many guns out there. and trump even campaigned on the second amendment rights. he said maybe somebody will use this second amendment rights against hillary. i took it like a threat that he was saying maybe somebody ought to shoot hillary. nobody said anything. they let him get away with that. and they talked about security clearance in the white house. i don't even think he deserves security clearance. you have allegations of him messing with prostitutes. he admitted he tried to buy some women some furniture, a married women. >> okay, we'll leave it there only because we want to keep it to the topic of the shootings. you did bring up the security clearances that's a result of a couple of stories this morning. carol lee reporting about lack of officials with permanent security clearances.

saying more than 130 political appointees working did not have security clearance as of november last year, including the president's daughter and son-in-law. those working with the interim security clearances, 47 of them were in positions that report directly to president trump. about quarter are working with some form of interim security clearance. you'll find that story nbc this morning. if you go to the washington times this morning. comparative story taking a look back at previous administrations. saying a backlog insecurity clearances for sensitive white house jobs is not new. just ask the clinton administration. more than a year into bill clinton first year, nearly 100 had no security clearance at all according to press reports in '94.

scandal wrote to then cia director james woolsey in march of 1994, what specific steps have you taken to ensure information classified to protect intelligence sources has not been made available to individuals on the white house staff who do not have appropriate clearances. nearly one-third of all staff lacked permanent grounds and building passes. next in illinois. >> okay. i'll try to keep to the subject. when i was in school, we had rtc. we had home ed. how to cook food. how to raise your baby. all that stuff. right. i think we should have that here. you are blaming parents and teachers. and the truth is it's the schools itself. what has to be done, somehow

maybe the force maybe has to teach kids in school, maybe the military has to teach kids in school, maybe the first responders have to teach kids in school starting from kindergarten, artists and musics and compare our stats to japan. this is what's going on in america only. i live out of chicago and it's a war zone and nobody doing nothing about it. puerto rico is disaster. debt is insane. >> that's tony. we'll go to san diego, california. a parent. this is jason. hello. >> good morning. my condolences to all the kid that were killed. but i just want to mention that, you know, when barack obama passed executive order, he passed executive order that people who are mentally challenged, who are not dealing with a deal deck, cannot walk into any receiving government assistance sdi, whatever, those folks cannot walk into a gun

store and buy half a dozen guns. body armor and 1,000 rounds and walk out the door. he said, no, executive order says you need help. you can't do it. so what trump does, he comes in and says, yes, i want to make america safe again. and know what i'm going to do, i'm going to delete this executive order. it doesn't matter if you have mentally challenged. you can buy all the aks you want. and that's what he did. talking about making america safe. this man is crazy. thank you. >> jeff, cbs news, via tweet, jim lewis, he says the family was aware nicolas cruz had a rifle. he said the family was not aware of troubling social media postings from nicolas cruz.

that subject of the reporting this morning. also you should know that former presidential candidate mitt romney was expected to make announcement for run for senate for utah. he has postponed that announcement from today saying that via tweet saying that as a father and grandfather, my heartaches for the victims of today's tragic events. my prayers go out all the families and loved ones out of sense less. out of the respect for families, i'll not be making announcement of the senate race. in fact, if you go to the tribune, taking a look at decision, but also some of the reaction from the utah republican party about his planned run for the senate seat. again you can see that at salt lake tribune website this morning. gil, north carolina, an

educator, go ahead. >> yes. good morning, not only educator, i'm a father and grandfather. and i propose that the flag, flags and the united states fly at half mask until there is some action taken against this national tragedy. let's talk about statistics and facts for a moment. 30 deaths a day from gun violence. 22 vets killing this em receives a day. we have 60 days due to opioids. and donald trump's recent budget it eliminates millions from background checks. article 8 in the bill of rights states that guns are forma lish shah. there is no reason to have these weapons of war on our street. these ar-15s. and so there is a lot of guilt that can be assessed. guilt for congress. guilt for parents. the gun manufacturers. gun stores. everyone is out to make money

out of greed and fear. and they have cut money for mental illness. so i echo the things that people have said regarding gun control. this is a terrible national tragedy. and to the person that said gun control doesn't work. look at australia. look at japan. look at the u.k. try and buy a gun in australia. you have to go through so many hoops. you can't buy a gun for three or four years. try and buy a gun in u.k. or industrialized countries. and we are said to be a first industrialized nation. this is a sickening tragedy and it needs to stop. gun control. ban the ar-15s now. >> that's gil in north carolina. scho

. school supervised sent out a tweet from yesterday, as we rise this morning, let us pray for the victims that has fallen on this community. let us find the courage to transcend greed, hatred and collaborate to create a new level of consciousness to find new solutions that have gun control for this nation and mental health. let's go to beverly in south carolina. good morning. >> good morning. >> i called to say a little. i'm retired educator. if it's okay to have these guns, you know, you don't want gun control, gun control doesn't matter to america anymore, we have controls to protect americans. so if we don't want gun control, then let's not even control the amount of opioids out there. america has turned sick. and it's all about the almighty

dollar. this is a different world we are in. we have a president who became president before he even announced he could call someone on fifth avenue and it wouldn't matter. so here we are. you have a good day. >> attorney general of florida pam bondy, this is from fox news reporting this morning that it will be her office that will pay for the funerals of those murdered students. let's go to ann in georgia. hello. >> good morning. how are you? >> i'm well, thank you. go ahead. >> first, thank you for taking our calls. i have two points i'd like to make. the first one is most of -- many of our congressman receive large amounts of dollars from the nra. basically bought and paid for. and they do support gun ownership. and it is really i think a shame that we have so much money in politics because that controls it.

the other point i'd like to make is about one of the callers who called in to talk about paddling. i have witnessed paddling. i have seen the results of it. and i know that it really doesn't change behavior. and, therefore, is not a valid punishment. i have seen kids come back to my classroom as a teacher after they've just received a paddling. this one particular student would get one every friday when all his pad lindlings were due he would come back to the classroom and giggling about what happened. he loved the attention. so actually getting rewarded for misbehavior. that's really is used in schools when paddling is used. >> okay. that's ann calling in. washington times reports internal revenue service is asking the federal government

for extra $4 million to help incorporate aspects of the tax cut law that was passed. the acting irs commissioner saying this funding is needed immediately to ensure the irs can start critical activities on time. he says the agency has to do some systems and create 450 tax forms all while trying to provide public with assistance and outreach. this will be the last call on the topic. terry in north carolina member of law enforcement. >> good morning, c-span. >> good morning. >> i don't see nothing ever really changing until we can get something done in the country itself. you have one side of the country that consistently says the other side of the country is bigots, racist, muslim foebs, hate the poor, hate plaqblack people.

i mean, when you have the drumming of hate from one side. take nancy pelosi tells you to go out and hate your neighbor because they haven't decided that. >> that's terry. last call on the topic. >> here on c-span3 we take you live now to the white house where we are expecting to hear shortly from president trump on the school shooting in florida. miami herald reporting this morning that nicolas cruz expelled student charged with the 17 killings at his former school in parkland has undergone mental health treatment and may have been reported to the fbi for allegedly posting online comment saying he wanted to, quote, be a professional school shooter. we'll have live coverage. we'll stay here live on c-span3. also to let you know that the senate today debating immigration, but we'll take a pause here shortly afternoon for a moment of silence on the

senate floor. you can follow our senate coverage over on c-span 2.

>> live at the white house waiting to hear from president trump momentarily. we'll have it live for you here on c-span 3 when it starts. until then part of today's washington journal. >> our first guest of the morning delegate stacy gasket, and member of the oversight and government reform committee here to talk about issues of the reform committee and other topics. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> before we start though, your thoughts on the shooting from yesterday. we have been through this before. >> right. >> what do you think the reaction from congress will be this time around? >> i think what we are going to see is members are going to have a moment of silence. they are going to say this is a

tragedy. and unfortunately i believe the majority is just going to move on from there and continue to talk about the things we've been talking about. you know, this raises so many issues not just about shooting and gun control, but also about mental health, support systems within our schools. all are things that congress, members of congress we should be having hearings, discussions, and even bills that are out there bringing to the floor for regular order. >> why do you think that on those issues there can't be a coming together? >> we have seen so many tragedies occur in this country, whether it be in schools, places of worship, night clubs, every venue we have had mass shootings and nothing has been done to date. and i'm so very sorry for the families that have had loss of life. >> my fellow americs,