, the u.s. institute of peace representative will talk about countering islam it extremism. you ♪ good morning. it is tuesday, january 5, 2016. the senate is not in session today, but the house will return for its first vote of the new year. focus today will be on the opposite end of the pennsylvania avenue where president obama is set to deliver remarks in the white house on his new executive order of an ministration officials previewed a laundry list of new actions the president will take with the centerpiece being a renewed effort into closing the gun show loophole. morning, we are opening our

phones to get your reaction to the president's latest gun-control effort. give us a call this morning. democrats, 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001. .ndependents, 202-748-8002 we have a special line this morning for those who have bought a sold or gun. we want to hear about your experience doing so. .02-748-8003 you can also catch up with us on social media, twitter, facebook, e-mail us. a very good tuesday morning to you. we begin this morning talking about the president's actions under control. some headlines from the major papers this morning. from "the washington times." the inside page of "the new york times."

the front page of "the washington post." the story noting the obama administration today will unveil a series of new executive actions aimed at reducing gun violence and making political headway on one of the most frustrating policy areas of president obama's tenure. among the other executive actions that are included in this effort, new rules to improve reporting on lost or stolen weapons, new efforts to track legal gun sales online, new efforts to add more than 230 fbi agents devoted to processing background checks. the president also looking at 200 atf officers devoted to the

enforcement of gun laws and devoting $500 million to increase access to mental health care. some of the provisions outlined yesterday. president obama also took some time to talk a bit about his upcoming actions yesterday afternoon at the white house. onlyese are not recommendations that are well in themy legal authority executive branch, but also ones that the overwhelming majority of the american people, including gun owners, support and believe. over the next several days, we will be rolling out these initiatives. we will be making sure that people have a very clear understanding of what can make a difference and what we can do. although we have be very clear that this is not going to solve every violent crime in this country, it will not prevent

every mass shooting, it will not keep every gun out of the hands of a criminal. it will potentially save lives in this country. host: as part of that rollout the president refer to, he is delivering remarks today on his executive order at the white house from the east room. that is expected around 11:40 this morning. the president also expected to hold a town hall meeting on gun violence on thursday night at george mason university in fairfax, virginia. that event will take place in primetime. republicans not waiting until then to react to the information that is come out about the president's executive action. speaker paul ryan released a statement yesterday saying what we do not know the details of the plan, the president is at a minimum subverting the it legislative branch.

that statement from speaker paul ryan yesterday. we want to hear your thoughts this morning to the president's executive actions that he will be talking about today. democrats, 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001. independents, 202-748-8002. if you have bought or sold a gun, 202-748-8003. frank is up first in troy, new york, line for independents. good morning. are you with us? caller: i'm right here. [indiscernible] this is the land of the free.

that is what we are for. we are not for anything else but that. a lot of times, all these actions of these people that ,rab guns and shoot everybody if everybody was packing, what would happen is they would look , they will go somewhere else. they don't want to be shot at. that's how it usually is. show them you cannot do this. , this isn that supposed to be the land of the free. host: john is up next in liverpool, new york. line for democrats. your thoughts on the president's executive actions. caller: love it. go even further. by the voices that

call in, these are stuitepid wh guys -- host: let's not make comments and generalize about colors. .- callers caller: it doesn't go far enough. look at the pictures of these gun shows, predominately male -- women support all this stuff. -- governments are run by white males, they make the rules, they are the only segment of society that supports this. as long as they run the government, it will be a problem. if you want to get anything through government, it is not going to happen because governments are run by white guys. host: nick is up next in annapolis, maryland. also on our line for republicans. caller: good morning. agree that president obama is doing exactly what the american people want him to do.

he is trying to take the guns off the streets of america. the assault rifles have no business being on the streets. -- the gunw lobby show loop has to be closed. that is what the american people want. the nra is controlling the republican party. as long as they control the republican party, these republicans are not going to -- they don't care about numeric and people. they don't care if people get killed. -- they don't care about the american people. the u.s. constitution has no place for assault rifles, they were muskets for the militia. came fromsault rifles come i have no idea, but they have no business being in this country. president obama took the right steps. host: the gun show loophole

issue you bring up, several papers looking at the president's proposed executive actions noting these policies will not necessarily close the gun show loophole, more likely limit it. the hill newspaper noting that the policy the president will announce expands the definition of a licensed gun dealer. the government would consider a number of factors come including whether the seller represents itself and the frequency of sales. an effort to narrow the gun show loophole. it is not where you are doing it but what you are doing that determines whether you're in the business of selling firearms, according to loretta lynch. the new rules will close a legal

loophole that allows firearm buyers to skip background checks by applying to purchase them through trusts and corporations. reaction aset your these executive actions and start coming out. a media blitz expected throughout the rest of the week. on our facebook page, peter foster writes in, it is time for america to act. william woodburn says my thoughts is the executive order will be tested in court. if i were a judge, i would strike them down as overbroad. this morning, we have a special line for those who have bought or sold a gun.

we want to hear about your experience in doing so. how you think these actions will impact you and your experience is going forward. a bill is on that line from patriot, ohio. independent. good morning, bill. i have bought and sold firearms over the years. i'm retired military. them income i have sold most cases to dealers. licensed dealers. go through a background check. they've already got their license. i have sold weapons to friends and relatives, one or two over the course of a year. -- i usually know the people i'm selling to. host: what makes you feel comfortable in a sale? you don't go through the official background check process when you do this because it is a private sale, correct? caller: that is correct. host: what is your list you go

through in deciding whether to sell a gun? caller: in my case come i usually know very well the person i'm dealing with. a lifelong friend or a close relative. i have never sold a firearm to a stranger, myself. i have sold to licensed dealers. a licensed dealer is already qualified to handle firearms and so forth. i don't really see this executive action doing anything to hurt crime. ,he government's own statistics they say they have stopped 2 million illegal sales. of those 2 million, 14 people were prosecuted. that is the federal government's own figures. i don't really see the value in what the president is proposing

to do. as far as curbing crime. the poll is bogus in my opinion. when they asked the question, they self identified nra members -- the nra conducted its own numbers. 92% are opposed. i don't trust the polls anyway. , if you stop a sale from a dealer to an unqualified person, it is not going to prevent him from getting a gun. he will get it from his local crack dealer or some other nefarious avenue to obtain a weapon. it only affects the law-abiding citizen. number of background checks that happened in 2015, a record number in 2015.

one every 44 minutes in this country. total ofy conducted a 23 million checks last year, he could sing the previous record of 21 million checks in 2013. -- eclipsing the previous record. some numbers on background checks in this country. it will stay on that one for those who have bought and sold a gun. we want to hear you are experience for a minute. sans j is up next in harrisburg, kentucky. -- sonia. christmas, i got a

handgun and a punch up for my husband for christmas. awn shop.on my father has collected guns. he has given me guns through the years. thought that new ofulations would prevent any these terrible, terrible things that have happened with the school shootings, the terrorist support thoseuld restrictions howev. however, they don't. none of these things would have kept these things from happening.

i have written to all of my democrat representatives. this won't work. this is like a knee-jerk reaction, but it will not stop these things. host: is there anything you think could stop these incidents? what would be effective? caller: i think scrutinizing of -- ie who are terrorists don't think that has anything to do -- or mental illness. say?is the phrase they if you see something, let people know. if you know somebody is unstable , you need to report them, you need to keep your guns away from them. host: one of the executive

actions as part of this package of efforts that was previewed to devote looking $500 million of new money to increase access to mental health care. along with these other efforts we talked about this morning. react.cans quick to we showed a statement from paul ryan. yesterday, the candidates speaking about this. this from the washington post story this morning. speaking at a christian bookstore on monday, ted cruz called the idea illegal and unconstitutional. chris christie appeared on fox news sunday. here is a bit of what he had to

say. [video clip] >> this president is a petulant child. whenever he can get what he wants because the market people have rejected his agenda by turning the house and senate and to the republicans going from 21 governors when he came into office to 31 republican governors now, now this president wants to act as if you were a dictator. if you wants to make changes, go to congress and convince congress to unnecessary. -- these laws are necessary. these actions will be rejected by the courts. chris christie on fox news sunday. we want to hear your thoughts this morning as you are learning about president obama's much talked about executive actions. the president talking about them from the white house today. a media blitz planned for the rest of the week by the administration.

larry in fort worth, texas on the line for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning. i just want to talk about this open carry law in texas. host: the one that went into effect at the beginning of this year? caller: yes. this is for white privilege only. if a black man was walking downtown, i would be a shooting target. everyone white would be calling 911 on me. it is a white privilege law only. host: pat has been waiting in plano, texas. line for independents. caller: i'm an independent who voted for president obama and i vehemently oppose this. for two reasons. we have the most people incarcerated of any country in the world. they violated a law.

the other part is why doesn't president obama try to work with congress? that is the way our constitutional republic is set up. we do not have kings. he cannot just do what he wants to do and declare it. he needs to work with speaker ryan and figure out a way to solve this violence problem. law, it will not go away. host: if he does work with speaker paul ryan, where is the middle ground here? is there anything that can happen legislatively? caller: i really believe so. why we can't work on the amount of ammunition one can get, why do you need thousands of rounds, why do we need these semi-automatic assault rifles? i personally think there ought -- i cannot

disbelieve the congress and finddent can't work to some way to tamp down on this. somehow, we have to take the realities into play. i would like to see are two branches of government work together a set of this petulant, ishld is going on -- childless ness going on. caller: as a registered republican, i'm one of those white guys down south, i really don't have an issue with registering my weapons. i drive a vehicle. i have to get a drivers license.

i really don't care who knows that i own a gun. so, i really don't understand what the visceral response is. host: thank you for the call. special line for those weblog and sold again. joe is calling in from minnesota. -- for those who bought and sold a gun. isler: this executive action not going to do anything at all to curb the gun violence. law -- atf form 4473 which is required any time .ou transfer ownership if you violate this, 10 years in prison or a $10,000 fine. we've already got laws on the books that are not being

enforced. atore you throw $500 million a problem you think is going to , why don't you throw it at enforcement of these existing ?look at already have the san bernardino case. where's the prosecution? where's the prosecution for this individual or his alleged crimes? you write down an executive for a law that is already there. host: you mentioned the $500 million for increased access to mental health care.

that is one aspect. that one likely having to go through congress if it involves spending the money. congress controlling the purse string. devotedn 230 fbi agents to processing background checks. adding more than 200 atf officers devoted to enforcing gun laws. and new rules to improve reporting of lost and stolen weapons. you have the executive actions the present is expected to talk about today. members and former members of congress reacting to what was released yesterday. here's gabbing effort -- gabbing s --ford -

there's congressman david --om rhode island jason chaffetz says -- georgia --n from texas --in in several members of congress tweeting their reactions. the president also taking his efforts to twitter to try to sell these executive actions. we want to hear your thoughts as

you are learning about these, how you think they might impact you. at specialos line. nick is on that line, an independent in jonesboro, arkansas. i just wanted to say, i think it is completely unconstitutional. i don't think it will do anything. i don't think you will do anything to curb violence. people can make a bomb. you can build a bomb in your house. it was done in oklahoma. the constitution should be the final straw. it is completely against the constitution. host: what is your experience in buying or selling a gun? have you ever had to go through a background check? caller: i have, actually.

the loophole they talk about at gun shows, if you are a dealer, you already have to go through background checks. is only thing they can do keep private citizens from being able to trade and sell guns amongst themselves. that would be the only loophole there is. that would be a way to keep a registry. which they are not supposed to do, but that would be a way to do that. host: you can join in the .onversation on twitter carol writes in -- greg writes in --

there is james this morning -- bill king writes -- if you want to follow along, @ c-spanwj. caller: i would just like to correct the previous caller who said only muskets were around at the time of the second amendment signing. , a 46was a 22 shot rifle caliber that fire 22 shots in 60 seconds. that is all i would like to say. host: any thoughts on these executive orders? obama will do what obama

wants to do. i cannot wait until he is out of office. host: sally in delray beach, ford appeared line for republicans. -- delray beach, florida. i am very much for gun control and i agree with president obama. host: what has been your experience with this? caller: all the experiences i've gotten over tv. with connecticut, -- manyation with situations. host: what impacted you the most, sally? caller: all those situations. -- i am forfavor

gun control. host: ted is from bentley, west virginia. line for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you very much for this opportunity. there's two types of people who have been calling on this conversation. vee type of people who ha been listening to what's going on and recognize that obama is just like everybody else. stoplieves you want to some individuals who have just come into enough money to go out and buy a gun and shoot somebody who just doesn't have the mental acuity but can walk into a gun show, spend their $140 or something and walk out to a disaster. the nra and fox news have been lying their butts off.

they've been saying that obama wants to stop people from having guns. that is ridiculous. it has always been ridiculous. , as ihas always known have known all the years of my life that people need guns to defend their homes and their families and their businesses. if you want to listen to the nra, you are listening to lies. i don't even know if i was a life member when i was in my teens, but i would not join it now because they are lying to the american public. charge -- who are in i used to own a number of guns. my father handed down a shotgun to me. i don't keep any guns.

host: is there any reason you got rid of them? caller: i'm one of those people that this law is kind of supposed to be about. , i situation is, in my life have schizophrenia or something like that. there's times when i should not be allowed to go out and get a gun. there should be some type of restriction to access to firearms so that somebody in a who iswhacked out state just enough on the ball to have the money and get to a gun show doesn't have a disaster that day. obama is completely for the defense of people keeping their guns for their families and

their defense of their businesses and their lives. one part of the president's executive actions to push more money to access for mental health care. have you ever had trouble getting access to mental health care? caller: not so much. i was one of the very lucky ones. my anger illness was turned inward. i take out my frustration on myself. i'm a nonviolent individual. there are people out there whose mental illness is not quite so flowery. it gets ugly at times and those people who have been around this people recognize -- those people recognize that if those people don't have the medication, things get ugly pretty quick.

you have one individual like that who has $140 or whatever it takes to go into a gun show, i don't think we should be selling them guns. that is all obama is saying. we will get back to more of your calls in just a second. if you news stories i wanted to point out this morning. -- a few news stories i wanted to point out this morning. jim mcdermott will retire at the end of this session. he has been a liberal leader in the house for the past 26 years. a picture of congressman jim mcdermott on the front page of 's website. a series of raids across the country to target undocumented immigrants come including

children who recently arrived from central america. if you want to read more on that, that is the lead story in usa today. back to your phone calls on the president's executive actions he will be talking about today. in iowa city,next iowa on our line for independents. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i am mixed on the dem control. -- gun control. they are controlling the guns for violence. to take out the rights of the citizen is unconstitutional.

everybody is saying what else can be done. more focus needs to be on why so many american citizens are angry. they want to isolate or just to , people ontal ill record who have a mental illness. we have a lot of citizens out here walking around that are registered gun owners that are mentally ill. out, we will not know this. control his own constitution -- is unconstitutional -- host: what do you mean by that? people are angry about the issue? caller: all issues.

people are angry in the united states over so many issues. like the stand up we have now in organ -- stand off we have now in oregon. bet the majority of them are registered gun owners. why do they feel they need guns to address that issue? that is a problem. i would challenge sanders, hillary or even trump to go join and stand with those people in organ oregon. that is what he believes in -- it's not only about the property. it's about the rights of americans. black lives matter, they need to be over there.

every citizen in the united states -- i am a black american. i would join them over there. that's the problem. people are angry, they are tired of rights -- in slavery. the citizens in georgia need to come out and voice that they are tired of that law. destiny talking about that oregon standoff. he was the story in usa today about it. -- here is the story in usa today about it. the standoff is happening as the group's strength restore and -- as the constitution

the group is trying to restore and defend the constitution. we want to focus on the executive actions on guns. with the president is trying to do to limit that gun show loophole and his other efforts. a few more calls and we will revisit this topic at the end of today's show. california.poli tell us about your experience. caller: thank you for having me on this morning. i've been going to the gun shows for years. what i've always noticed, the gun dealers have some guns you have to register for. they also have a stash of guns they will sell unregistered. most people who go to those gun shows know it. i'm a gun owner. close to 20 guns and i know guys who own 40 or 50. host: how do you go from one

cell to the other kind of sale? -- one sale to the other kind of sale? caller: cash and carry. there are brand-new guns that never get registered. they are sold readily between individuals, people who know each other, some people who don't know each other. one thing you can get easily in america is a gun. be it rifle or handgun or assault rifle. they are sold every day. not -- the they are ignorance is going on. difference't make a -- the policy does not set a specific number of sales. the government would consider a number of factors in doing this

in expanding the definition of a licensed gun seller, including whether a seller represents themselves as an official dealer . caller: not at all. the president is just trying to bring attention to it. he is trying to keep it a hot button item. we are not giving up our guns. i'm not giving up mine. andar my neighbors go out they sound like they are shooting cannons. i will go out and shoot, too. just let them know i have a gun. i'm more afraid of my neighbors than i am of the militants from overseas. the militants live here. host: bill in north carolina. tom is up next in columbus, ohio. line for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning. i'm a liberal progressive who totally supports the executive

action. about is theused hypocrisy the right-wing anti-gun-control people have been pushing for years on this. this executive action does not create any new legislature and also addresses mental health access. it probably will not fix either one of those but is a good start. i'm unsure as to what the problem is with this. talk about your thought on this as it becomes a campaign issue. this is happening in the midst of 2016, and executive action meeting the next president could pull back this executive action. caller: absolutely. unfortunately, it is a politically shallow move. i'm not blaming the president for that.

it is a great first step. he's only reacting on the talking points the gun control -- anti-gun-control lobby has put up. he has not addressed and pushed the envelope in either way. i'm not sure he can with the way congress is now. i am concerned that this issue wel be a hot button up until have a new president and then there will be change in the congress as far as who is elected and who leaves. they will have the same problem. theill be tough to push envelope any further than we have now. host: coming up next, we will talk about the 2016 race, we will focus on the fundraising ways the016 and the money is being spent.

some commercials have started coming out about the 2016 race. we will start talking about that. we will revisit this issue at the end of today's program. ray has been waiting in new hampshire on the line for republicans. caller: i was hoping somebody on your staff could bring up the form you fill out when you do buy a gun. at the top, it talks about , it is out the form punishable up to 10 years in prison if you make a mistake -- , you're up for penalties. resell,urchase guns to that makes you a dealer.

before coming up with new executive actions, how about enforcing -- you hear about how many people have been turned only 14have been -- prosecutions. this has been around since president clinton. if president clinton had done his job where president bush -- or if president bush would go if you aree -- rejected, it is because of somebody you like to on this form. -- you lied to on this form. it will be more of the same. it feels great, we have this new donebut nothing is being that actually goes after the people who fill out this form and try to legally buy a gun from a dealer.

it sounds good on paper and in a speech, but unless you will actually go after these people, it doesn't do any good. host: bruce has been waiting in wilmington, north carolina. a democrat on the line for those who have bought and sold a gun. do you think anything you've heard so far this morning will change that? are you with us? morning.ood i think the action is mostly symbolic. i tend to agree with the last caller. also, therns me number of guns that are manufactured in this country. and that are sold to the rest of the world. this truly is a violent society we live in. it is an angry society and was built on violence.

is thecan deal with that real issue. seealways encouraged when i cities taking guns off the streets, doing buybacks and those kinds of things. i did purchase a gun, went and , i purchased it at a gun dealer in north carolina. i never fired it. i eventually went and sold it at a punch up. shop.wn i felt i did not need this gun. thank you, c-span, for your discussion and allowing people to call in. i listen to these conversations to see what we are thinking across the country on different issues. i do wish you would do something guns, whoufacturer of

they are, how they are sold and the sale of guns across the world from the nine states. -- the united states. we are very hypocritical in many ways. host: always appreciate the advice for upcoming segment ideas. thisis our last caller in segment. we will revisit this topic and that you call back in on this topic at the end of today's program. bynext, we will be joined fredreka schouten, who specializes in campaign finance reporting for usa today. she will join us to discuss the latest on presidential fundraising and how the campaigns are spending their cash. about the roots of islamic extremism and the role muslims play encountering

it. bill clinton came off the sidelines of the presidential campaign on monday. asautious, controlled style he stopped to aid hillary first solohis appearance yesterday in new hampshire. ,e chose his words carefully refusing to take the bait from donald trump. here's a bit from him yesterday. [video clip] >> there is no country better positioned for the future. but, you have to have somebody who makes yo these things happen. we can navigate this very uncertain and often perilous blowing up or blowing our values up, but you have to have somebody who knows how to stop at things from happening and make good things happen. in my adult lifetime, there has

never been anyone better prepared for the job that awaits the next president then hillary -- than hillary. [applause] clinton: she is pretty much the same girl i fell in love with in law school. she really is. reallywhy she is still close friends with her best friend from grade school. and why all these people she went to high school with our coming to new hampshire or ohio -- theree she is on are candidates and then there are candidates. there are records and then there

are records. in my family, here is how we keep score. our people better off when you quit than when you started? to the children have a brighter future and our things coming together? if that will be your scorekeeping, you only have one choice. [applause] if you want to watch that entire event or any of the campaign 2016 coverage, go to www.c-span.org. now joining us in studio is fredreka schouten, a campaign finance reporter with usa today. we will discuss the latest on the fundraising numbers released by the 2016 presidential candidates. the fundraising quarter ended december 31. walk us through the announcements that have happened. what do we know about what campaigns raised in the last three months? guest: only for candidates have told us their numbers.

they have until january 31, the day before the iowa caucus to release their year-end fundraising numbers. at this point, hillary clinton is ahead. she has raised $37 million. bernie sanders is not that far behind. he has raised $33 million. he has turned out to be very competitive with someone who is considered the long-standing democratic front runner. host: republicans a bit slower to put their numbers out. athave ben carson's numbers $23 million and ted cruz at $20 million. is there some strategy here about announcing your numbers yourself versus waiting until the day before the caucuses? guest: there is strategy. if you have good news to tell, you want to share it and run out and blasted to the world. some candidates whose fundraising numbers may happen disappointing, why make that

part of the narrative in the last four weeks before the caucuses? why not release of the day before you have to? i'm not saying everybody has bad news. we will see. host: we have the numbers for the candidates, the two leading candidates in the democratic field. what do you look at before that topline number -- below that topline number? guest: cash on hand is critical. that is one of the things we got from the democratic numbers. hillary had far more cash on hand to start the year. $38 million cash on hand. year. into the 2016 has that much in available and $28 million.out they are each of starting to

spend. she has been spending heavily. not only in the early states, but beyond. she is looking ahead to the general election. host: is our viewers want to call in, we welcome you to do so. -- if our viewers want to call in. democrats, 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001. independents, 202-748-8002. want to ask about big donations versus small donations. why does that matter? guest: it matters a lot. for someone who can raise money in small amounts, $200 or $100 anytime, that person can go back to that donor repeatedly before the donor hits the $2700 limit for the primary. it makes fundraising far more efficient because you already have your information, you can send out an e-mail or contact

them via social media. bernie sanders has relied heavily on small donors. 88% of the money he has received through september came in amounts of $200 or less. compared to only 20% of the money that went to secretary clinton. she has been very good at fundraising. millionraised $112 during the course of 2015. that is no small change. bernie sanders, his total was $73 million. races $33ie sanders million in the fourth quarter of 2015. you can read the story or give us a call and we can go to the numbers here. ,homas is up first in wichita

kansas. line for democrats. fredreka schouten, ier: have a question. dollarse millions of that are being spent on this -- i've already made up my mind. period.ng for hillary, host: what was your question about the money? caller: what are all these millions and millions of dollars being spent on a campaign? like the independents or undecideds? how can you be undecided between hillary and donald trump? know, there are

people who are undecided in these races. it is still early. secretary clinton has to secure the democratic nomination. the first votes have not been cast. they are spending money on staff , making sure people turn up to the iowa caucuses. organization is very important. in 2008, she did not win. she placed third. about 100ders, he has paid staff on the ground in iowa. he will be a formidable competitor. that is the thing about presidential politics. -- don't want any less host: how big of a budget item is commercials and ads? guest: it is still a big ticket item. what has been interesting this time around, ad spending is up

45%. looking at what we've seen during the course of 2015. host: donald trump on the republican side making news yesterday with his first ad running in iowa and new hampshire. [video clip] >> i'm donald trump and i approved this message. trump calls it radical islamic terrorism. that is why he is calling for a temporary shutdown of muslims entering the united states until we can figure out what is going on. isisll cut the head off and stop illegal immigration by building a wall on our southern border that mexico will pay for. >> we will make america great again. trump's first ad of the campaign.

who are the candidates weapon running a lot of ads -- who had been running a lot of ads? guest: that is donald trump is very first ad. polls been leading the without spending a cent until yesterday. other folks, it is interesting because it is not necessarily the candidates running ads. or other super pacs outside groups. hasn'th's super pac spent more than $30 million on advertising. -- has spent more than $30 million on advertising. three languished behind and four and five other candidates in most polls. he is leading the way. ted cruz has not been advertising that much. he is just starting to do more advertising.

both from ted cruz and the super pac supporting him. host: we will get more into the super pacs. this is outside money. the outside money that has been raised to jeb bush is over $100 million in october. inut 25 million dollars hillary clinton, about $2 million raised by outside groups. she raised about $77 million. over $100e has raised million. and so on down the line if you want to view the other candidates, go to open secrets. usa today," tulsa, oklahoma, line for democrats, good morning. caller: good morning, i was

retract onyou could the cash on hand it when you talk about debt, the current debt, does the cash on hand reflect that or is that number put to the side? like when you do an asset liability. guest: we generally tend to talk debt for a number of reasons. the campaigns have a long time to pay off their debts if they have any. long aftery them off the election is over. we are interested in what's left on the balance sheets that they view as money they can spend it at this point, we don't have the actual reports from the campaigns. we don't how much debt they are currently carrying. we know that clinton has told us she has $38 million in available cash and sanders has told us he

has about 28 $.4 million in available cash. belmar, virginia, the line for republicans, you are on. caller: i have a question. maybe some of the candidates have an unfair advantage in that they are given the opportunity to get lots of time on tv for free and don't have to spend on campaigning. if you are someone wanting to look at which candidates there are and you are not able to go dependr debates, people on being on tv as to what they are doing. there are only a few candidates being put on tv. when they have debates, there's thata couple of candidates their debates are put on

television. you don't see the other candidates. i never see a debate with chris christie or the town hall meetings the other candidates are having. it seems to be about ben carson or donald trump or jeb bush. host: earned media versus the media? guest: that's an interesting discussion because donald trump has gotten a lot of coverage. would argue deservedly so because of his status as part runner and the newsworthy things he says. i think it has been a serious part of the conversation and other candidates have complained about that. i would encourage folks to go to the candidates websites. if you're interested in what they have to say and the issues, take a look there. i know c-span provides lots of coverage of all sorts of town hall meetings. the information is out there. been more there have people who have committed more attention than others.

that is also the way it has been in campaigns. there were 17 republicans running at one point. they are not likely to get the same level of coverage. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] caller:,n host: delaware is up next. caller:good morning and happy new year. my question is, african-americans are a big part of the democratic constituency. with advertising spending in other any figures on how much of that money is being spent with african-american pollsters or advertising and the like? [video clip] guest: i do not know the answer to that question and it's difficult to get at. you cannot necessarily tell looking at reports the rates of the vendor who are doing this. it's an interesting question.

target moregns african-americans for certain messages. guest: absolutely, that is happening and we have done analyses in the past and looked at zip codes and populations of zip codes. heavily african-american zip codes are giving more to one candidate versus another. onthis point, it's focused iowa and new hampshire right now it that's where a lot of the spending is going. those are places where you don't see large african-american populations. it's about getting the early voters out at this stage. host: one viewer from iowa writes in -- englewood, ohio is up next on the line for republicans. campaignlking about

finance advertising spending. what are your thoughts? caller: i think there is way too much money being spent and money being raised by the candidates. i think we need a campaign-finance reform to wear only individuals, not super packs, unions and other companies and organizations donate to campaigns. i'd like to get your thoughts on that. guest: i think there are a number of americans agree with you. race wheree a billions will flow through it are many people frustrated by that. they are frustrated with the length of the campaign and some of them are tired of politics. host: can you define what a super pack is? guest: it is a political action andittee that can raise

spend unlimited amounts of money from virtually any source. one condition is that they cannot coordinate their advertising spending directly with the candidates. we are now seeing people donating millions of dollars to super packs that are supporting individual presidential candidates. that spending has grown dramatically in this election. host: chances for campaign-finance reform? guest: virtually no. it's an election year. there is no appetite now in the republican-controlled congress to pass campaign-finance reform. mitch mcconnell has been one of the biggest public proponents of campaign restrictions and in the spending bill that passed congress late last year, there were some provisions that clamped down on new efforts to have more disclosure of money flowing into politics.

host: even less disclosure for this cycle? guest: it's the same level of disclosure. no new disclosure. want to show viewers are a few recent super pack as that of come out and -- adds that came out. this is the right to riot pac. >> days after the paris attacks, senators came together for a top-secret briefing on the terrorist threat. marco rubio is missing. fundraising in california instead or two weeks later, para struck again in san bernardino marco rubio? fundraising again in new orleans but over the last three years, he has missed important national security hearings of missed more total votes than any other senator. politics first is the ruby away. host: what do we know about super pack fundraising at the end of last year?

when did the groups have to let us know how much they raised? guest: they have to let us know on january 31, the same day -- it covers a six month period. we have not seen fundraising reports for super packs since the end of june. it will be very interesting. host: a $140 million we saw for jeb bush was just her the end of june, not through october? guest: exactly, the first six months of the year pivot host: let's go to ohio on our line for democrats. caller: hi, i want hillary in so bad. i have always wanted her and we need a lady president but a smart one and she is. what makes me so mad about yould trump -- every time watch the tv, you keep seeing him making fun of handicapped people. i used to have braces on my feet and i have a handicapped child.

he says he does not want to look at him and makes fun of handicapped people. that has turned a lot of republicans to the democratic side. democrats are for all people whether you are rich or black or white or handicapped, so is hillary. san antonio, texas is up next on our line for independents. caller: good morning, c-span. an off-the-wall question, what happens to campaign funds to folks that drop out? i will just throw out the name of lindsey graham. say he raise $3 million or whatever and then he drops out of the race, guest: there are a number of options.

refunds of theo contributions and contribute is can ask for their money back. he can also transfer that money into his senate reelection campaign. he can also have it set on the books. there are no rules that say you have to shut down your campaign. he can sort of keep that campaign going. we still see reports from the mitt romney campaign. camp can treasuries live on long after the election. run: is this in case they for another office? have: yes, sometimes they that's. they still have bills to pay so they may oh a vendor some money. they might be taking in money to pay off those vendors. you don't have to close the books immediately. host: about 15 or 20 minutes left on campaign-finance reform.

patrick is up early in anchorage, alaska, line for republicans. caller: good morning and thank you for c-span. thoughts andle of i would like european. -- your hope in. if donald trump was not as high profile as he has been and was not in billionaire, he he may have needed to put some money into his campaign before now. - i'me on super pacs did notg if super pacs would the possibility of running for president be out of the question for anybody that was not a billionaire?

the honor thing when he badmouth isn't it pacs - possible the candidate has communicated with the folks that want this person to become the president of the united states? could it be that they are on the same page with the philosophy and the take on how this country should be run? it should be before they accept the money or use the super pac money. it seems like donald trump constantly hammers other people's honor. onlyot sure he's the honorable guy in the race, thank you. on donald trump and whether you need to be a billionaire to run for president, what's been interesting is that donald trump

in about $1.9 million of his own money through the end of september. that's the information we have. he has been drawing a number of small contributions even though he says he is not soliciting. people are coming in and they are coming in and small amounts because his campaign has caught the attention of many americans. the question about whether you need to be independently wealthy to run a presidential campaign, history tells us not really. look at ross perot. when heot successful had a third-party bid back in the early 90's. it's hard to disentangle the role of super pacs. in 2010e into existence after a couple of federal court decisions including the citizens united decision went before the

u.s. supreme court. it's still a big experiment. people are maturing and using them in different ways. wethere were no super pacs, might have a campaign we had before there were super pacs and candidates raised money and they either spent and well or did not and managed to persuade voters that they were the right for the job. host: another recent story on "usa today" -- is this an argument that tv ads don't matter anymore? guest: it's too soon to say

that. they have not mattered as much in this election. you are dealing with donald trump who is a celebrity in his own right that he has been on television for years and has gotten a lot of attention. this is a race like no other we have seen before. when donald trump announced the ad, he said i don't know if i need of what he said i don't want to take chances. he thought maybe this help out. he is spending most of the money and the first week, $1.1 million in iowa. he was ahead in the polls in iowa and is followed behind. he is hoping the television advertising gives me boost. host: the difference between bio the early ads and then the attack as that come later in the campaign. let's show our viewers an example of a bio ad. ♪

♪ ♪ i am ted cruz and i've this message. host: it contrasts the tone of that with this ad from rick santorum going after ted cruz. >> i like green eggs and ham. cruz is wonderful at reading children's fairytales on the senate floor. >> sam i am. >> rick santorum spent his time in the senate a little differently. eight years in the senate armed services committee helping to modernize today's army to better be prepared for today's threats.

wrote intel flaws in car sanctions on iran and for more than a decade, rick santorum has been a leader taking on radical islam. jihadists muslims are but the reality is, all jihadists are muslims. want someone to read a bedtime story, ted cruz is your guide. if you want tech to america and the ices, rick santorum is your president because serious times need serious people. >> i am rick and i approved this message. host: will we see more of the latter type ads in the weeks and months to come? guest: yes, i think people are trying to attack and say i am different than this guy. the rick sent from ad is about talking to folks in iowa. he won the iowa caucuses four years ago but ted cruz is ahead

in the polls. his first ad is trying to establish himself, his credentials with evangelicals who might not know his history as solicitor general in texas and his work to do things like defend the 10 commandments monument on the grounds of the texas state capitol. rick sent from is way behind and is trying to say i'm the real conservative. i think we will see more of those. we are seeing them in iowa and new hampshire as establishment candidates jostle for position, as people are trying to appeal to conservative evangelicals. host: we are talking about ted cruz so let's see what texas thinks, john honor line for independents. caller: good morning, how are you all this morning? host: go ahead. the big money that is

donated by individual people to individual candidates is donated for one reason. it is not for their lifestyle or anything like that, their daily routine. it's because they think they will get something back if that person gets elected. it has been that way for years. the guy asked where the money went after the election. you never find out where the money goes to you never know or all of it goes. another thing, i want to make a comment about donald trump. he is a businessman. the business of our country, our entire country, the business has been neglected and is in the

toilet. i think mr. trump can do something to try to help bring it out. a politician. he has never been a politician in my mind. country are so sick and tired of politicians that we are paying so much money for and all they do is get up there and tell stories and bump heads. i watch c-span all the time in a talk about a football player and prays that kind of bull and when it comes down to getting they stand there and the republicans talk about the democrats do this and that. democrats get up and say the same thing about the republicans

and it never goes anywhere. host: anything you want to cup from that? reflecting what focus groups have shown about the appeal of donald trump. people are drawn to his straight talk. host: let's go to fort lauderdale, florida, line for republicans. caller: good morning, there is two things i left about when the subject comes up. many companies dance around the money coming into media companies for this ad spending. they don't talk about the corruption because they need this at money. the presidential campaigns every four years is christmas for media companies. they are never going to fully investigate corruption or anything like that with hillary clinton and her different donors and organizations.

the other thing that makes me laugh is barack obama railing against fact. nobody put up the fact that john mccain said let's only use government money in presidential campaigns. thatthe republican party is usually criticized by pouring money into campaigns. the one presidential campaign we have ever had that i can that said let's do it even stephen was john mccain. are you ever going to hear the media bring that out and talk about that? let's start calling a spade a spade. host: let's talk about that. last: john mccain was the presidential nominee to use the public financing system. host: how does that work?

guest: that means in your tax return, you might have a three dollar check you can contribute to public funds to the presidential campaign system. you get a certain amount of money if you are a candidate. agree to spending limits. your caller is right. president obama was the first nominee to say i am walking away for the public finance system. so successful in fund raising that he did not want to be constrained by those limits. that marked the beginning of the end of the public financing system as we know. knew it. in this election so far, only martin o'malley has applied for and has had his work accepted to accept the public funds. nearow he has not raised as much money as the other presidential candidates.

host: let's go to berlin, wisconsin, good morning. caller: good morning, how are you? your guest is an economic report as best i can figure. as there ever been a study far as how much of an economic like iowa andties new hampshire, how much of an economic driver is the action ?ampaign money how would this question mark how much good as that done in local areas? investigated?been everything is a chain. money is a chain and campaign financing is a chain. it does not just stop and people keep the money. has there ever been a study done that she knows of of how much an economic driver these campaigns

are for certain areas? guest: that's an interesting question but i don't know of a particular study. in iowa and new hampshire, you will local restaurant is doing better business. there are certain kinds of vendors. host: maybe television stations. guest: it is a huge boon to television stations in the super pac area because candidates require under federal law so they get a good discount. do not.acs i was looking at numbers at a tv station in des moines. jeb bush was spending for a 32nd 4:00 p.m.,al news at $75. host: $75 for what? guest: for one spot, a 32nd spot. pac was a spending $225, same timeslot.

this gives you a sense of how much money comes into television stations. it remains a big boon. host: where are the highest rates in the country for that same spot? in new hampshire, it will be expensive because you are covering the boston television market. that is more expensive. south carolina is not as expensive. market.s the las vegas some of the biggest markets will be like florida. it will be very expensive because it's a big state and you have to cover miami and tampa and tallahassee. same you are spending the spot in five different markets. guest: the most expensive ones in the general election, we know where they are. host: new york is one of the most expensive. less ads but now it's

about the early states. you aboutnted to ask covering peg money donors. big money donors. other some still on the fence in this election? who are they in who are you watching? guest: there are some folks who have not declared any friends in the primary. them is sheldon adelson, the casino magnet from las vegas. he's been very heavily in the last presidential campaign. his family spend more than $90 million initially on newt gingrich and the primary and thence up the eventual republican nominee. he has not yet said who he likes. there have been rumors that he likes marco rubio. he seems to still be on the fence. players, the

billionaire industrialist charles koch and david coke. i had a conversation with charles koch late last year. he indicated he did not like what he was seeing in the primaries. he was perhaps going to sit this out. there will be here is my general election matter what. host: georgia, line for republicans, good morning. i started paying taxes in 1972 as he young boy working in a grocery store. andmember doing my taxes giving one dollar to the presidential election fund and was excited to be able to help our country with my one dollar. i did that for 35 years. as i started finding out that people give millions of dollars to get their candidates to do what they want, i quit giving my

money. i thought the public fund was a great way to go because when i i wasy dollar, disappointed in my country because they allow a great amount of money to go to these people and it does not seem to be regulated. at the end, it disappears and there should be a restructuring of that to make it more fair. i am voting for donald trump this year. politicianis not a and i believe when the politicians are running for office and i make these promises especially one that's been there for a while and they make that they could have done their last term, it really hurts me that they will say we will do this and do that but yet they did not do anything while they were in there.

hillary clinton is one that when i listen to her, i kept thinking push for things while she could have. i thank you for taking my call. god bless america, thank you. host: anything you want to pick up on there? guest: there are some people who really would like to see the public financing system reformed and strengthened. host: from twitter -- boston, massachusetts, line for independents. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. i'm really excited as a 25-year-old. i don't know many that are this excited to get on c-span so thank you. i think it's pretty apparent

that our campaign finances is inherently corrupt. maybe someone writes about campaign finance might not say that openly. i want to get your take on how much influence you would say those large donations from organizations like the nra have on what legislation comes up in congress and what's past and what isn't? guest: obviously, there are powerful groups out there who are forced to be reckoned with on capitol hill whether you can say it is directly the result of a campaign donation or the fact that the nra has so many members who call and write but they are obviously folks to be reckoned with. lawmakers listen to them and they listen -- in my experience covering congress, lawmakers, if they feel there are many constituents behind an issue, they tend to listen. you cannot just look at campaign

contributions. many of these organizations have the ability to generate a lot of calls and e-mails to capitol hill. they might say they want or do not want something. campaign finance reporter with "usa today" and you can follow her on twitter. thank you for your time this morning. guest: thanks for having me. joinedp next, we will be from the u.s. institute for peace to talk about the roots of islamic extremism. later, we will revisit the discussion from earlier today about president obama's impending gun-control executive actions. we will be right back.

>> we need to know how many are reading us. we need to know how they are coming to us. if they are not coming directly to our website and they come to us facebook or google or or snap chat or any of these other venues, we should note that >> sunday night, washington post executive editor marty baron talks about the changes there since he took over into 213 and discusses the depiction of his work as editor-in-chief of "the boston globe" in the movie "spotlight >> i think it's faithful to how the investigation unfolded and it's important it's not a documentary. you had to compress within two hours seven months including things that happened afterwards and introduce a lot of characters and introduce the impact and themes that emerged over the course of that investigation. >> that's sunday night at 8:00

eastern. c-span takes you on the road to the white house and into the classroom. this year, or student cam documentary contest asks students to tells what issues they want to hear from the presidential candidates. follow the c-span road to the white house coverage and get all the details about our student cam contest at www.c-span.org. "> "washington journal continues. omar joins us in a discussion on islamic extremism. she is with the u.s. institute of peace. from your perspective as a muslim american, do you think the parents and the san bernadino attack changed the way americans often think about islam and's country? absolutely, there was

speculation before and people were suspicious of the american muslim community. they were waiting for confirmation. what happened with these attacks is people felt validated. after theen said that paris attacks, it felt worse in washington, d.c. then after 9/11 because of that confirmation, the assumption this is a confirmed fact. host: what you mean by that? guest: i have been hitting cold stares in the streets and someone yelled at me. i did not think about it in the beginning. i had a friend behind me. this has happened to be in the past for you know this is animosity. not ridden the metro since paris because i don't want to take chances. an image from that islam as in the united states? how can the muslims fix that? guest: it's an image problem but

i don't the goods for the muslims to fix. there are 1.5 billion muslims worldwide. are we look at the people talking to violent extremism, it is a small percentage of the muslim community. it's more the responsibility of the collective. it includes the media doing responsible reporting. san bernadino showed us there is a huge gap in our media. it is up to legislators to understand collective punishment thing all group of people and terms of a percentage of action and american muslims have a role to play. think it's every american's responsibility to fight any form of extremism like it's every american's responsibility to fight any form of discrimination. we've got a special line from muslim americans. otherwise, our lines are as usual --

president obama after the san bernadino attacks talked about the role of muslim americans have to play in this effort. this is part of his speech. [video clip] inif we are to succeed defeating terrorism, we must analyst muslim communities of some of our strongest allies rather than push them away suspicion and hate. that does not mean denying the an extremist ideology has spread within some muslim communities. this is a real problem that muslims must confront without excuse. muslim leaders here and around the globe have to continue working with us to decisively and unequivocally reject the hateful ideology that groups like isl and al qaeda promote,

to speak out against acts of violence and the interpretations of islam that are incompatible with the values of religious tolerance, mutual respect, and human dignity. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] what was your reaction to that host: speech? guest: it's important to hear that president obama identified us as allies and partners. the idea we are seeing from some of the rhetoric, i collect trump americanism where there was only one classification of americans and that is dangerous. i would like to continue to emphasize its everyone's responsibility. the entireput responsibility of fighting extremism in the hands of one community. it's not a strategic move. you need to enlist all americans. among them are american muslims. to assume its american muslims are muslims in general, strategically, it's a bad assumption. the number one people being

killed by violent extremist groups within the islamic extremism are other muslims. some might see us as the prime target. they don't want moderate muslims. i don't know what that term means. they don't want people who have different interpretations were living in the west. the president says that allies with me to be and listed. it's not just us, it's a larger group. about facing these realities without excuse? guest: there is a challenge because we have been put on the defensive. it's difficult when every single conversation is targeting your religion. her first reaction is to stand up and defend the religion without excuses. that is the challenge facing. i haven't put in the situation where people attack islam. i have to step back and

understand that people are in a place of fear. because of that, there is a challenge of being alienated. that's the president was probably sensing and other people have sensed in the past. there is no hesitation from the american muslim community about violence. it's defense in the religion was i which in as is a beautiful religion. it's frustrating people cannot see that side of it. host: we will start working in phone calls, democrats -- also republicans have a number. also a special line for muslim americans -- our line for democrats first in midland, georgia. caller: good morning, don't cut me off. you cut democrats off of the line. say to the lady

100%. ice of to you.m aleichem muslims represent who i am. you are not the only group of people that donald trump is targeted. he has targeted african-americans, everybody, mexican -- but we have to come muslim, as a group, blacks, indians, and the rest, to defeat a four like that on election day. he wants to send not only you out of the country, he wants to send everybody out. i just spent $5,000 on the hillary clinton campaign. she will in this election because there is no other choice. into charleston and kill nine like people that we know did that. it's the donald trump's of the

world and we will put it out. about thist to talk election and the rhetoric in this election. how do you think the muslim american community, .9% of the u.s. population, what role they will play in this election? when we look at the issues in terms of islam phobia, it's a good to look at our history. i don't think this is just a muslim issue. it's unresolved issues in america and now we are the latest target. i think the american muslims in terms of the election fighting in role if they can join coalitions. a major affect. i am not a believer that american muslims should vote in a block. we are not a monolithic voice and have incredible diversity. i would not advocate for muslims to vote within a particular block.

it's important we are active in joining other column -- coalitions. we are part of the american fabric and money to demonstrate that. host: clermont, florida, is up next, go ahead. caller: thank you. say that youto have devout muslims, devout christians --out i will not go into all the but the muslims will kill infidels and jews according to the quran. if a person tells me they are says, and i don't quaran then what is happening is this lady here is probably not a devout muslim. is that what theq'ran says?

does not absolutely say that. i'm a devout muslim and follow to the letter. my religion has given me strength. i question interpretations every day and i believe is the role of muslims. first verse given to muslims was read. it was not pray or fast. says is nowhere where it you need to do killing could it's simply understand ations have been manipulated. manipulate toward violence and it's importantly understand the role of religion in the public square. it's not just an islamic problem.

look at burma, the central african republic, south sudan. there are all kinds of religious extremists that exist everywhere. at the front and center is the islamic extremism. that's something we're facing and something i is a devout muslim an expert in conflict resolution is dedicated to address the rest of my life. host: what is the u.s. institute of peace? guest: it's a federal institute we have created from congress to help fight me types of conflicts violence we are a believer that sometimes conflict can be positive. there is never a excuse to turn to violence. host: some of those on twitter -- you are a palestinian who grew up in south carolina? guest: yes, my parents arrived in lubbock, texas. my father was a university professor. we moved to northern virginia when i was in junior high school can i have traveled overseas and lived in england for a few years and lived in iraq and jordan.i

have worked in afghanistan and all over. i have worked in over 30 countries. host: mostly with the u.s. institute of these? at least the past eight years. to invest in communities, you have to invest in women so i work for women's international. i worked for the world bank and the u.n.. host: let's go to day and wisconsin on or line for democrats. caller: good morning and thank you. side ifinitely on your think this whole country should unite once again. six --as a time -- i was i am 68 years old and i've never seen such division. when you look at what's going on in the state of florida, it's working, whatever they are doing. the hate and splitting up they are doing of our country and the religions in our country and everything is working.

the president and you are right it i think most deep down in their hearts don't want this to happen to our country. what's happening is we're turning into a little middle east can i truly believe that. keep doing what you are doing. i speak up but there is so much out there and so much hate and division. it's very sickening. hank you for what you do. guest: thank you. i am reassured to hear you say that and i appreciate it. i am an optimist and people make fun of me for that. i would like to think this is the last burst of hate and discrimination as the majority of people have been moving toward more peaceful -- it's not shown in the media but it's overwhelming. there is a lot of positive we don't see i try to emphasize that is much as possible.

from the mass shootings, we see this last burst of an attempt to that hasld system structural violence built in i think that will not last. the majority of people are good and will push for good of me to make sure our voices are louder. the voice of hate and discrimination right now is much louder. i wrote an article living in england called " i felt more welcome on the bible belt." ofever felt that kind prejudice in south carolina but nothing is hateful is now i would like to think the majority of people are good and this is the last attempt to keep an old system that is archaic and needs to disappear. host: we have a special line for muslim americans and we have karen on that line. good morning. caller: good morning. i'm a convert but my husband is from the middle east and he was born in the muslim religion.

we see this donald trump issue differently. strategic wayng a to to the american public something horribly that we all need to think about which is why do they hate us? according to new research in 2011, in no muslim countries to even 30% of the population believe that arrows did 9/11. arabs did 9/11. people believe that the wars have been wars and muslims. the american people don't talk about that. strategically, you have to find a way to bring that into the american conversation. the mainstream media will not bring that in. donald trump is very clever and very strategic. that's what he is doing.

i hope it is. guest: i have heard some people highlight that that donald trump is much more strategic in terms of raising issues that have not been discussed publicly. i'm a fan of the difficult conversation but what donald trump is doing is inciting violence. he has blood on his hands. it's irresponsible, that type of rhetoric he is doing. i cannot think of any strategy that would validate that type of hate speech. he is dividing out americans between trump americanism and we know that looks like an everyone else. i think you're bringing up a good. atould encourage you to look a foreign-policy debate between iali.andjon hirshi i said we need to look at the social and political circumstances that led to extremism.

we cannot solve conflict and what does a must go to the root cause which is social, political, and economic. look at that debate and i look forward to hearing your feedback. host: it's also stood on the u.s. peace website. there was the taxicab driver that was beat up in new york for the family that had shootings that were drive-bys. community had the first killing in california. no one is safe and what you saw with roderick -- with rhetoric against muslims after 9/11, you don't see what you see now. republican rhetoric as validated that kind of action against muslims and given them an excuse to turn the negative rhetoric to violent action. host: indiana, on our line for republicans is next. go ahead.

just want to remind everyone that we are a democracy in the united states. we have freedom of religion and freedom of speech. as taken aald trump lot of bashing for how insecure this country really is. he did not say he was going to ban muslims forever. coming overones here, he wanted to double check what is going on. i think that would make the country feel safer. i went to home depot, i am a contractor and i live in indiana. depot and ie home don't know if he was a muslim or not but different skin.

i don't walk around judging people in their religion but if i feel like my government is overseeing everybody whether jin or you believe in the devil or whatever your religion is, when i see someone else of color or someone else of a different ethnic background, i won't be as scared. i feel like i am protected because my government has taken action to make sure no one slips through the cracks. i appreciate your honesty and i think it's an and. i agree and i don't think donald trump is intentionally trying to create hate it's what he's doing with his words. i think it's irresponsible. i would invite you to consider looking at the statistics. the mass shootings are overwhelmingly not people with

different skin color. when you look at what we see in terms of its in the u.s., it's on grown terrorism that is not linked as much to overseas. the mass shootings still continue to be our major issue to there is a real double standard and how things are when i i am astounded see how oregon is being covered. there is that stand up out there and it amazes me. at one point, it was called it to the test. whoperformed militia of the have taken over a federal building and you look at the 12-year-old boy who shot for carrying eight begun. it baffles me. i am all for safety and security. i live in some of the most dangerous parts of the world and i look over my shoulder. i have received death threats are all over the world could what scares me the most of the country i'm trying to defend, the country work for is where i feel the most unsafe because of

this rhetoric turning toward violence. host: for people who have not had your expense and her try to understand islam, what you say to those who see violence and majority muslim countries? they conclude that violence is a product of these governments of islam. guest: i emphasize it is not a product of islam. it's being used as one of the many different from having a voice. the only form of understanding strength is violence. butle are turning that way when i walk around group which are radicalized, i continue to have the size of there is never an excuse for violence and it does not work. what we have seen as nonviolent resistance that has the most sustainable results. violent revolutions, 80% go back into violence afterwards.

you can look at the arabs spring and you see that dramatically. the ones were peaceful like tunisia have the best chance. fragile and has challenges but it is a beacon of hope in the region and it was a nonviolent religion -- resistance. when you look at syria and libya, you look at where they are today and statistically be on the middle east, nonviolent resistance has more sustainable results. you can be angry. you look at the dictatorships and you look at the authoritarian economics and you're not attention. it's a bumper sticker but it's true . with the u.s. institute of peace, we introduce other means and goals where you can have your voice heard and hold people accountable and do transformation without having to cup arms. vice presidenthe at the u.s. institute of peace. you can check out their website. us for the next

25 minutes and we are take your calls and questions including john from baltimore, maryland on her line for democrats. caller: good morning and thank you for your time. i will make it quick. i work in academics and health care of i am beyond shocked at the behaviors and attitudes of folks who are highly educated that still don't get that being muslim is an ideology. i am christian and my family has been. i am just looking at this thinking the muslims out there really need to speak out and the americans out here really need to free their history. those of us who don't understand what led to world war ii and world war i and what we would do if invaders came into our area,

the lack of understanding and education blows my mind even among those who feel they are educated. i wonder what your thoughts are relative to how we educate people. --you look at the bible again, my family and i are very christian. so many times in history, the bible has been used in christianity has been used for terrible version. yet we don't judge it that way. how do we change this and get it to be being about people and not ideologies? i would like to hear your thoughts. guest: thank you. story, the dominant narrative that muslims are new and are immigrants. i'm a proud immigrant but that's not an accurate story. muslims have been here since the duration of this country. africans brought over for slavery, the majority were muslims.

we have a rich history of muslims who fought in the civil war to they have been part of the social fabric of the american committee from the very beginning. the idea that we are only emigrants, only different colored skin, is just false. i have very rarely spoken about religion. i think religion is a very private thing. in the last few years, i have tried to counter the narrative. i know many american muslims are doing the same. they are speaking out. they are not getting the attention they deserve. a lot of time the narrative of the american muslim is what is shown on tv, and we do not show the black american muslim community to we are sticking to this narrative of new immigrants who are struggling to integrate into this community. i see america as my prayer mary

-- as my primary home. i am proud to work for the government. i think there is a limit to how many times we can repeat that. articles was,rite i am a muslim but not an and cyclopedia on islam. every muslim having to defend this religion is unrealistic. it is exhausting having to repeat it and prove it every time. builta country that was on innocent until proven guilty here, and we consistently have caveats to that. line forhave a special muslim americans. we have a call on that line from new york, new york. caller: good morning. host: go ahead. you are on with manal omar. , i have oneomar question for you. that muslims are the victim of -- since 1000 years , you go and take over

palestine. you tell me that 200 years, these crusaders destroying muslim middle east. tell me one muslim country from afghanistan to yemen which has not been victim of aggression by the europeans. then the americans came onstage. we thought it would be a new chapter in the history of will defendamerica the religious rights of the muslims. now in this country, think about that muslims are the most thisted entity since tragedy. how many muslims have to die? my main question to you is, why

have muslims become apologizers? tell theey not americans, do not destroy the muslim word? you have killed the babies in the arms of their mothers leaving their country. thing, it was said that the germans are winning. we should help the russians. and russians are winning, we should help the germans. each otherhould help so there is not a single drop of blood left there. so as a community leader, do not become and apologizer. do not tell what the muslims should do. also tell what the americans should do. do not destroy the muslim word. thank you.

i think that is a really important point. first of all, i do not represent the muslim community. i am a conflict resolution prison, and mediator. i am part of the muslim community, but i am not a leader. an impact and other muslim organizations, and i do not want to take their place. my specialty is conflict resolution and middle eastern africa. but as a member of the muslim community, i think every individual has a voice. i shared the agreement and terms of we are not apologists. that said, i have his eyes word of no excuses. part of it is taking responsibility. killed aspeople being of this islamic extremism, by the islamic state and boko haram and others. we have to react because we are the primary targets, the primary victims.

just as i hear you in terms of not being an apologist, i would like to invite you about thinking about not being a victim. muslims are not victims it we have had occupation and colonization. i do not know of any country that has not. i do not like the term victim are the term victims of aggression. i think muslims are providers and active citizens of the communities they live. there is a history. i would not classify us as a victims. we have a voice and a stand and always find a way to step up it we have to stay true to our religion. we are born and raised in the thisl fact -- fabric of country. host: mainstream islam, who are the leaders of that, and how have they responded to isis, boko haram, who say they represent the true form of islam? some of the organizations

were listed on the council of -- some of the organizations i listed, including care, have the largest gatherings globally for muslims in the world. institutions are trying to step forward and counter the voices. have across the country denounced isis and violent extremism. i will travel in two weeks to morocco for a conference on how to protect minorities in muslim majority countries. so you are seeing those who what i would consider to be muslim leaders and people representing the community very eloquently and very proactively talking against violent extremism within the community. i think that is their role. as an individual, i am part of the american muslim community, but my primary role is within conflict resolution. years, more the past 20 doing development and peace building. i am always hesitant to say that

i represent the whole community. i was not elected or appointed and i never applied for a job to represent the muslim community. i am just part of it. host: we have a call on our line for republicans. caller: i have a question. first, i want to say, wow, she is really well-schools. she has an answer for everything. but i have never seen so many muslims in this country. are they here legally? how did they get here? paying their way? who is building these mosques? where is all this money coming from? i did not know they were such wealthy people. another thing, a statement i want to make, she viciously attacked donald trump. donald trump is the only candidate that i have heard say that he loves america. muslims not hear the

say they love america. they just want to live here, and they want to tell us how to live. this is our country. we are americans. we have a voice also. host: manal omar? guest: i mean, i do not think he is the only person to say he loves america. i think the actions of all the candidates say they love america. i am coming off as viciously attacking tromp. i am simply stating the effect he has on the community. i stand by that. i think his speeches are hateful. he has mobilized for violence. i say everywhere in the world that they go to that i do not think there is ever an excuse for hateful speech and incitement of violence. no circumstances should allow that to happen. i not an expert in terms of the history of how many numbers and how we came and what the per capita of the muslim community is, but i will say that it is

known that most muslims in america are highly educated and high professionals. my father came from a small village where most of them work illiterate. he learned how to read right in the village he came from and palestine. he did software in the 1970's and was offered a phd scholarship to the u.s. that is how we came here. that was through hard work. to me, that is the american dream. someone from a small village who started playing with computers before they were even being developed and was able to be a value added to the u.s. was brought to this country, so he gave a lot. maurice is waiting in south carolina on our line for independents. caller: good morning. ,es, i wanted to ask manal omar , you have a lot of hate being directed towards muslims these days. she is a representative pretty

much for the u.s. how many people do you represent within the organization, and are there enough of you guys to really be proactive and kind of tackle the balance of some of this hate and rhetoric that has been put out here around the united states and the world? the second question, going back to donald trump and the rhetoric he has been putting out across america, what are you guys doing about that in terms of channeling a lot of moves that he is making? this is his political base right now, and i do not see anything coming to a close with him using that rhetoric to push himself into the white house. guest: thank you. i think it is a really good opportunity to emphasize that the u.s. institute of peace, all our work is overseas. we do not do domestic worker it

we are not part of any elections, and we do not side with any candidates. in terms of what is happening in the u.s., there is a tie with what is happening in the middle east. we are realizing that there are oldorders or states in the sense of them. there is this ideology spreading in terms of violent extremism. it is not limited to islam. we see it with the emergence of christian militias. in burma, there is conflict with the buddhists. violent extremists are emerging globally. in terms of my own personal activities, i am consistently looking for coalitions. i am a huge believer in what the american muslims are facing and what we are looking at with the upcoming election, it will be our chance to really address the structural violence of that is built into our institutions. muslims, particularly immigrant muslims, are the latest victims of that structural violence.

again, i do not believe in victims spirit i believe in survivors. so they are taking this opportunity to build coalitions with lack lives matter and with communities across the board. that is my dream, that we're able to address that so it is andlast of the old system we are able to introduce new systems. i do not believe people are bad. i do not believe individuals are born to hate. i believe it goes into the way we run our institutions, which is pitting individuals against policeher, pitting against communities, pitting muslims against christianity. those systems are arcadia -- archaic. we have to be more united and peaceful. i think this is the beginning of that movement. gone tont middle has marginalized communities, and there is a recognition that they need to step forward, just like moderate muslims need to step forward. the more moderate and united people need to step forward.

i think it has to get this bad for this to happen. host: on our special line for muslim americans, from omaha, nebraska. caller: what i see a lot in america is they get the word muslim and arab mixed up. arabs, andlims are not all arabs or muslims. my family are sicilians, but they are arab sicilians. that being said, when america has asked hears the word muslim, they think of arab mediterranean's, arab north africans, arab middle eastern spirit they do not put into their mind that there are plenty of white muslims are cries -- across america. there are plenty of muslims in the oriental countries, malaysia, india. i want to remind people, the last time we went to the extreme on race when we were talking

like this, we ended up throwing all the japanese into internment camps during world war ii. but when america hears the word muslim, i do not find them putting an association with -- there are white muslims across the world. i am finished. host: manal omar? guest: thank you. that is a good point and one i tried to emphasize when i talked about the broad links in terms of muslims in america. i emphasize that it is really important that when we are making that description, there is not an attempt to say, by having white muslims, do not be afraid of us, because we are feeding the racial divide in america, that somehow white makes everyone else ok. and we have a problem of white privilege. we have a problem tilt into our institution. so many people he telling me to take off the scarf, and that saddens me.

i pass for white. what is it that makes me safe by taking off the scarf? i think that is a little bit of a fearful statement. not that he was saying that. host: when did you hear that statement? .uest: recently even from my own family, they have said to take off the scarf because we are worried for you. i will not lie, when i travel, i will wear a hat and try to blend in. but it is a scary statement that simply by taking it off, ipass and am no longer in danger. host: florida, line for democrats. .aller: good morning i was calling because you're speech,about trump's which is inflammatory. and you can do this. you can come on u.s. tv, and you can criticize donald trump, and

there will be no repercussions. you cannot do this in arabia, ',ere they have the madras where they teach little children to hate america, where you have little children strapping bombs on them and blowing people up. you cannot talk about this in yemen or in kuwait. where is your speech for them? you know, we will deal with donald trump. i agree with you about coalitions, but the problem does not come from here. the problem comes from the middle east, and the middle east people come here -- i have personally sat in on some palestinians that were raising money for warfare. and the people that i was with were muslim. they were translating, and they

stopped translating at a certain point. after we left, they told me what was said. this hate comes from the middle east, not from americans. very -- ians, this is don't want people to come here and tell us not to have open speech. guest: absolutely. i am with you on the open speech part. you packed a lot of things into that statement it one thing, i am american. as american, i am not saudi, kuwaiti, syrian. it is difficult for me too, as a citizen, criticize another nation. as a conflict resolution specialist, a specialist in the middle east, you can see my writing, and i'm very critical. i'm also very proud. i often say that as an american

muslim woman, i would not want to live in any other country than america. i was raised in south carolina, and i stand by that statement. until this very moment -- if donald trump is elected, i do not know what i will be saying, but until this very moment, i cannot imagine being anywhere else. i love the constitution, even though it took a long time to implement some of the ideals in it, it is there. freedom of speech, freedom of religion. a generalist asked me why i do not take off the scarf, and i said it is not about religion, but it is to protect american values of freedom of religion. i put my life in danger every day for this country. that is who i am representing, the u.s. government. that is who i hold accountable. it is important we hold our political leaders accountable. that said, i have been in terms of meetings in jerusalem, kabul, baghdad, and benghazi that have been 100% useful, and there was

frustration on the international community only inviting armed people to the table and not inviting the peaceful activist for negotiations. the international community -- liggett syria and libya. who are we inviting to the table? it is militia arms people. we are not talking to the peace activists in the israeli civil society, and there are many. we're talking to extremists and separatists. i will choose to talk about where i am, which is emphasizing global coalition for her about muslims and arabs, and there is a false look at the middle east. we have all the religious spirit we have ancient religion spirit we have the his cds. we haven't such diverse religions and diverse ethnic groups -- we have the hazidis. armenians.

such diversity that arab and muslim is just one small part of the rich list of the middle east and north africa. host: back to the line for muslim americans. john has been waiting from abilene, texas. onler: yes, i want to touch basically white supremacy. you know, that donald trump can speak all this hate and cause all this confusion and all that and get all this media attention and run for the presidency. an honorable minister trying to uplift people that have been oppressed and still being open rest to this day. from welle it back browned to mike brown, and he is banned from the media. do you have anything on that? do not.nfortunately, i i do not know enough about that movement, so it is very hard for me to touch on that. on terms of what we are seeing,

people with access to wealth, they are louder and are dominating the news stories. it is sad to see that within the debates, we are not having enough of real issues being discussed. we have real issues we need to be tackling within the u.s., and it is much more sensational. those who have wealth and axes are dominating the conversations and dominating the national narrative. in terms of the next question, i do not know enough to give more on that. host: if you want to know more about the u.s. institute of peace, it is usip.org. you can follow manal omar on twitter. thank you for your time. next, we will revisit the question we began the show with about president obama's upcoming executive action on guns and gun control. he is set to talk about it today from the white house. we will be talking about it for

the last 40 minutes of the program to you can call the numbers on your screen. ♪ >> we need to know how many people are reading us. we need to know how they are coming to us. for example, if they are not coming directly to our website and are coming through facebook or google or twitter or snapchat or any of these other venues, we should know that. >> sunday night on q&a, washington post executive editor talks about the changes since he took over in 2013. he also discusses the depiction of his work as editor-in-chief of the boston globe and the movie spotlight. >> i think the movie is quite faithful to how the investigation unfolded. it is important to keep in mind that it is a movie, not a

documentary. so we had to compress within two hours a seven-month plus investigation, including things that happened afterwards. you had to introduce a lot of characters and the important themes that emerged over the investigation. >> sunday night at 8:00 eastern on q&a. announcer: "washington journal" continues. host: we will keep up the program talking about president obama put the new executive actions on gun control and actions to restrict gun sellers and require more background checks. we will get into what those executive actions are. the president is said to talk more about them today at the eventhouse and at an later this week or the white house previewing some pieces of the executive action yesterday, making headlines in many of today's papers. here is the gazette this morning from colorado springs -- obama pushes gun checks, six to require more gun dealers --

obama defends gun restrictions is the headline in another paper. obama plans to expand gun control checks, another headline. and from the times this morning, the president says the restrictions will fall within his legal authority. we are going through what those different issues are. we want to hear from you for our last 25, 30 minutes. the numbers are on the screen -- we have a special line this morning for those who have bought or sold guns. we want to hear about your experience. .hat number is 202-748-8003 to renters some of the things that have been included in the executive order, it will require more sellers to register as

federally licensed gun dealers. it will include new rules to improve reporting or lost or stolen weapons. new efforts to track illegal gun sales online. adding more than 230 fbi agents devoted to processing background checks. an effort in an upcoming fiscal years with more than 200 atf officers to enforce gun laws. and an effort to develop an additional $500 million to increase access to mental health care. just some parts of the president's executive order. the president speaking about this yesterday to preview the release. here is a bit from the president's white house oval office thoughts. [video clip] president obama: the good news is that these are not only recommendations that are well within my legal authority in the executive branch, but they are also ones that the overwhelming majority of the american people, supportg gun owners,

and believe in. so over the next several days, we will be rolling out these initiatives. we will be making sure that people have a very clear understanding of what can make a difference in what we can do. and although we have to be very clear that this is not going to solve every violent crime in this country and will not prevent every mass shooting -- it will not keep every gun out of the hands of a criminal, it will potentially save lives in this country. swiftand the reaction already from republicans on the campaign trail and on capitol hill. paul ryan putting out a speech yesterday afternoon here it we do not know the details, but the president is at a minimum subverting the legislative branch and potentially overturning its will. his proposals to restrict gun rights were debated by the u.s. senate, and they were rejected.

a statement from speaker paul ryan yesterday and we want to get your thoughts this morning. we will put the line spec on the screen good starting with the line for democrat, barbara in massachusetts. good morning. caller: yes, and i heard the announcement yesterday about improving the return of lost or stolen guns. one way to facilitate might be .o have a lottery i assume every gun has a serial number on it, and the numbers can be collected. and the people would pay one dollar a ticket to turn them in. when a line this summer that there were more guns in this country than people, it just blew my mind. so i am proposing lotteries to assist with by that. and one more thing -- i wanted to create a new organization called the new nra, and the r

would be for rational, so it would be the national rational association. and the r would be capitalized and the n and "a" would be p or thank you. host: that was on the issue of recovering lost and stolen guns here at measure will require federally licensed gun dealers to report lost or stolen guns to the national crime information center. and passed five years, according to the white house, an average recovered andere criminal investigations each year and traced back to a seller who claimed the weapon was missing but do not report it to authorities. that is one of the measures that will be talked about in this new executive action. pedro is up next from arizona, line for republicans -- actually, on the line for those who have bought or sold a gun to her pedro is a republican. what is your experience? caller: yeah, i was raised in europe, and i am a student of

language. in other words, the english language uses the same words with different meanings. bywhat people can do is plugging in different definitions, they can come up with any answer to any problem. so i wanted to study the meaning of the constitutions of the founding fathers in 1792 when they wrote the amendments to the constitution. so i got a hold of these very, very old set of dictionaries -- host: talk about today's debate over gun control. call is to bear arms.

in other words, what does it mean in the constitution to bear arms? clear in the old dictionary, and i am reading armsthe definition to bear , and i quote, it says, to bear minute.just a it is very fine print. it says -- host: i will let you get to that. we go to james, sera vista, arizona. caller: thank you. thank you, c-span for taking my call. opinion, it is just a democratic versus republican issue. i think it is another executive action. i don't know of any president who has done as many executive orders as he has done.

i think it is a power grab. thank you. host: kathy in silver springs, maryland. thank you for taking my call. my question is these republicans that say that no one has done these many executive orders, they need to do their research. secondly, the question is if what he is doing is attempting to stop somebody from getting killed, a movie theater, school, whatever, what is the republicans idea that is going to do that? not everybody is mentally ill that causes this mass destruction. that is the problem. nothing can be done. republicans are proposing nothing. want another person going to a movie theater to watch a movie dying over a gun. you don't need ak-47s to protect your home and/or go to the shooting range to hunt. those are weapons of mass destruction. if you want those, join the military, fight a war. when people are walking around in peaceful tranquility

throughout their day and they have to be fearful of these things, guns are the problem. stop saying it is the people with the guns. it is the guns. , republicanion people who want to hold onto the second amendment rights, find a solution for the problem instead of being part of it. that is my comments. i appreciate it. thank you. are more papers to show how these executive actions on gun restrictions are paying -- playing in newspapers around the country. from eastern iowa, obamas gun action tests limits of his power to the front page of the times this morning. obama gun actions to focus on unlicensed dealers. bangornt page of the daily news. it is well within his authority. the dayton daily news, gun measures spark debate. a debate we have already seen played out among members of congress and on the campaign trail, as well. i want to hear your thoughts as you are learning about these

executive actions on gun control that the president has long talked about. out this weekg several editorial boards of newspapers around the country taking on this subject this morning. here is the washington times. president obama pursues innocent gunowners and not criminals is the headline to that piece. there is one order the president could issue that would make common sense dealing with gun crimes. arresting criminals with a legal ones and sending them to joe is already possible under federal law. it's good all, tennessee, or travis is waiting.

caller: like the stuff that happened in san bernardino, california has some of the strictest gun laws in our nation. guns.ere able to get this executive order is just going to make it harder for law-abiding citizens to get guns. it isn't going to stop a people who want to hurt people from getting guns. they are going to find ways. i think all of this is just trying to make yourself look better. if he really cared about the country, the border would be open. is about the it gun thing. i think he is just doing this for political points or whatever. travis in crossville, tennessee. the new york times editorial taking on this topic today. they are writing in their piece, in the hope of combating america's intolerable levels of

gun violence with congress refusing to pass popular gun safety measures, president obama is issuing a modest, limited set of executive actions on guns. none of this will make a big dent in the gun violence epidemic, but that is because esther obama can do only so much on their own. could pass more expensive and effective legislation such as universal back on checks which have been associated with large declines and gun deaths in the 18 states that have been vomited them. the editorial board of the dark times this morning. a special line for those who bought a gun or so the gun. rochester, new york. fred, tell us about that experience. has anything you heard this morning make you think it would change how you go about buying or selling a gun? caller: i don't think so.

i live in new york. new york, like california, has very strict laws. to stopto go about this making new laws and start enforcing the laws that we do the criminals that use the guns should pay for it. a law in new york state. if you are caught with a nudist -- with an illegal gun, you have a one-year jail sentence. it is never used. laws on the books, use the laws on the books. as far as the constitution goes, the second amendment is there to protect the first amendment so that everyone has the right to say something. protect the to people from the government host: . fred in new york. quentin is up next from louisiana. means, louisiana, line for republicans to go ahead. caller: hello? host: that money, you're on the

washington journal. -- good morning. caller: i have a question into the investigation into the ats. under eric holder's fast and furious in mexico at the time. i live in chicago and have seen and heard of hundreds of youth, young people have been murdering each other to oblivion in new orleans. anytime i hear about a mass shooting, all of it is horrible, it gets politicized. hundreds of people who are already getting each other with whether you call it nine millimeter glock's, ar-15's, whatever. gettingse young people these guns in their hands, living in object property. get these guns. i am just speculating. if the ats can be sending guns to cartels with the excuse that they want to track runs and

these guns have killed innocent people in mexico and we have a prison system that steals our money, how is this not being investigated by the atf can be undercover putting guns in the hands of these youth in the cities? nobody talks about that. if anyone was worth their salt as an investigator or journalist, they were not go after what was being read off of a prompter, they would ask legal question. this government is running amok on both sides. is sticking it to the government the way they deserve they it if you believe care for the lives of everyday poor people, this government is tasked with murdering people around the world living in third world countries. the lady called in earlier said if you want to fight with ar-15's and ak-47s, for what, to kill more innocent people? in new orleans,

louisiana. mark is up next for florida, line for democrats. go ahead. you are on the washington journal. caller: thanks a lot. i'm a foreigner city mining policeman and a former united states marine. theuld just share with listeners a few interesting facts that they may appreciate. if you are 26 years old in the united states or younger, you are as likely to be killed in a car accident as you are by a weapon today. to show you how dangerous it is, considering we average anywhere from 25-35 thousand people killed a year in auto accidents, guns need to be regulated and another interesting fact is for having actually been a policeman, when i realized is policeman don't stop crime. what stops crime our jobs. jobs that pay a wage so that a father and mother can provide to their family. those are easy solutions. i would agree with the president's move today to close what is called the gun show

loophole. for listeners that don't understand it, a gun show loophole means you can go to one of these gun shows and be able to buy a weapon and not be required to show the appropriate identification. once the president does that, there are various states across the country that have their own laws that make the shows more difficult to do and easier and other states. we can trace almost all criminal activity, weapons back to the fact that those gun show loophole's provide that. matter of fact, even a shooting in san bernardino, some of the weapons were but legitimate. one of them was traced back to miami. as to whether that was a legitimate -- i think it may have been. the point is we don't keep track of that. you're not able to determine who is supposed to have a weapon. that is all the president is try to do. no one is coming for your guns. i would just ask america to realize that guns don't solve crime. they actually end up being taken from a lot of people that consider themselves legitimate gun owners. i think with a gun there is a

liability with it or it as well as an asset. host: following up on your comment about closing begun show loophole, several news organizations pointing out in their coverage of the new executive actions coming out, the president's executive order when necessary close that loophole, simply restricted and try to shrink the loophole. we are talking about the policy that expands the definition of a licensed gun dealer being the one that would impact the gun show loophole. noting in the coverage of the actions that the policy does not set a specific number of gun sales that would force the seller to register with the federal government. instead, they would consider a number of factors including whether the seller considers himself a dealer. they will issue new guidance to sellers on who must register as a licensed healer in an effort to narrow the gun show loophole. it is not where you are doing it but what you are doing that

determines whether you are in the business of selling firearms loretta lynch told reporters yesterday. the new role will close a legal loopholes that allow firearms buyers to skirt back rent checks by applying -- purchase them through trust and corporations. we are getting your thoughts this morning. for the next 20 minutes or so before the end of today's program. dave is in houston, arizona, line for those who bought or -- bought a weapon. tell us about your parents -- your experience? dave is not with us. buie, maryland, line for republicans. good morning. caller: very interesting. the president is completely clueless about what he is talking about. on the idea -- host: i think we lost him. mt.o to kobe waiting in airy, maryland, line for democrats. good morning. my comment is about the

republican politicians and the peoples comments about these executive actions and how they don't like them. i don't know what there is in to like about, if not closing the gun show loopholes, shrinking at? onreasing atf people working this for lost and stolen guns. $500 million for mental health. i would just like to hear republicans, either callers or politicians talk about this plan and what they don't like about it. host: other actions included in this plan along with the ones oft you mentioned, upwards 200 new atf officers devoted to the enforcement of gun laws. 230 fbi agents added would be for processing background checks to make that process something that happens 24 hours a day, seven days a week. numeral's to improve the reporting -- new rules to record -- improve the reporting of stolen weapons. the president will talk about

this later today and is inspected to address a town hall meeting later this week. one of the callers brought up the politicians. here is what some politicians have said about the president's plan, what we have learned about it so far. former congresswoman getty gifford, herself a victim of gun violence. thank you, mr. president, for standing appeared the gun lobby won't ensure that guns fall into the wrong hands. david sicilian of rhode island, a democrat, i am pleased that the president is planning to use his executive authority to address gun violence. utah, i apologize, the reform chairman in the house calls president obama the guns and ammunition salesman of the decade. georgia, republican, says the executive actions from the president on gun control will be a slippery slope for eroding the second amendment. republican,exas,

obama's executive gun owners -- gun orders must be rejected. -- rejected. he cannot bypass congress. those are some of the comments that have come out since the white house for started talking about what these actions would be. one other 12.2 from the salt ofe tribune, the president the seven -- orrin hatch says this discussion about our fundamental freedoms are best saluted -- suited for the legislative process. obama would rather play politics and take time to consider america's cherished rights and keep a safe. that is according to a statement that orrin hatch put our yesterday evening. phones, don is in new mexico, line for independents. don, good money. -- good morning. caller: i would like to add a new category to those that you already have on the screen. that category is people who have

been shot at. i have been shot at three times. once in a summer camp in north carolina. by local yokels. another time, i was on a bicycle trip in north carolina and someone shot at us because they thought it was fun. the third time, i was in st. louis, missouri, and we had a stalled car. we set off an alarm and the guy came out of the house shooting. three occasions, on each occasion, these are people who had the right to have a gun. they didn't have a brain. for anyone who says you need a gun to protect yourself, when i lived in grand rapids, michigan, i lived in a poor neighborhood. we had 20 breaking and entries. of those 20 breaking and entries, i would never own a gun because it was more likely that those kids who broke into our house would use the gun on us.

the next thing i would like to say is i worked in a hospital much of my life. at that hospital, i care for patients. one of the patient's eye care for is someone who attempted suicide and blew off half his face. i think everyone out there who has this pollyanna idea of the second amendment should have this be subjected to this type of behavior. anything we can do to restrict guns i think is in our favor. my attitude is if you have a gun, you have a mental health problem. thank you ray much. -- thank you very much. host: speaker paul ryan, leader of republicans in the house, putting out a statement last night. when the administration first started talking about these new executive actions, he said we don't yet know the details of the plan, the president is, at a minimum, subverting the legislative branch. has been rejected.

no president should be able to reverse legislative failure by executive fiat, not even incremented. just a flavor of some of the statements that have come out today. sure to be plenty more in the days to come as the president start outlining his new executive action. back to the phones, carol, fairmont, west virginia, line for democrats, good morning. thank you for taking my call. thank you for c-span. first of all, i agree with closing the gun show loopholes. on the other hand, i also feel that our gun rights, our gun rights, are second amendment right is what keeps our constitution in play against tierney or anything that would hurt america. think, canillness, i be used later to go after our military personnel that have

retired or are in this country, to take their assault weapons so they can fight back. i do agree with our president on the fact that we do need those loopholes closed. i thank you for taking my call. you have a great day. host: thank you, carol. line for those who have bought or sold a weapon, independent, paul, what is your experience? caller: i have bought weapons at gun shows. i have also bought a weapon online. at gun shows, i had to wait a while so they could do a background check. i didn't just go in there and buy a weapon and walk out without any paperwork or anything done. online,id a mail order i took and filled out the paperwork online and sent it to the shop i was buying the gun four. they ship the gun that i bought to my local gun shop.

i had to go to the local gun shop and fill out the background checks. for me, it takes a little bit longer to get a background check done because i have a concealed weapons permit. i am sure that people selling guns out in the parking lot and and flea markets. that is not the problem. the problem is we have laws on the books that they don't enforce. says andident obama others say they can't enforce the laws of people falsifying documents because it is hard, there isn't anything hard about it. you fill out the document and at the bottom, you have to sign that you swear that what you gave is the truth. you know if you are lying or telling the truth. it is that simple. people that go against the second amendment, for us with

firearms, is not just protect , shoot targets, or cans, it is to protect ourselves against the government out of control. host: the centerpiece of the president's executive action comedy effort to narrow the gun show loophole as it is called, is unnecessary? are there other parts that you disagree with? more rules under -- improving the reporting of lost and stolen weapons? caller: how was i going to be enforced? it is up to the individual who owns the weapon to report it. if the person who comes home finds his house burglarized, the person who had his house mucharized, it is there is ability to call police and tell them i have x number of weapons, here is a list of serial numbers that have been stolen. law, i don't see how

that is going to help. that is an individual thing. host: 230 fbi agents devoted to processing back run checks. is that helpful? host: no. the government is already too big. we are over $18 trillion in debt. over $100 trillion in liability. we have people in the government now that are doing anything. have time to don't do this, but they have time for , pourconventions, parties in, games on the internet. they can do their job. -- can't do the job. jobs beinge the done, then they can do it. we can't afford to keep spending money on making the government bigger and bigger. one last thing. ,ccording to the constitution the second amendment is to protect you from a to radical government. whatever laws are passed, the police departments and secret

service need to go buy it. obey those laws, which means if -- if you havep a seven round clip, the police and secret service need the same thing. they are not military. we need to get that straight. you're talking about military weapons being in the military, a war zone, ok, i agree. , andt service, police civilians, and retired military like me. all should not have them. host: paul in danville, virginia this money. if you were headlines from papers around the country on how this issue is playing out. . couple from south carolina fierce gunfight shaping up in south carolina is the headline on the story from the post and courier this morning. the front page of the state newspaper. south carolina residents praise obama's plan on guns. the texas papers for you this obama, they save lives,

the front page of the san antonio express -- news. gun provision offers plan to trim violence. as we said, this is the lead story in many of the papers around the country. we have a few minutes left in today's show to continue to get your thoughts on these executive actions. chris in kentucky, line for republicans. go ahead. host: good morning, sir. my family, my grandparents fought in world war ii, the korean war great i fought in iraq. i truly believe our constitutional rights are being stripped away from us on a daily basis. feel gun control does not work. if you look in chicago, california, new york, some of the strictest gun laws in this country. i cannot carry a weapon in these states and the cities, yet some of the highest gun crime is committed in these cities.

how is trying to create another lot going to help this country at all? ourake away the rights of common, everyday, law-abiding citizens. that is the one thing i'm upset about, concerned about. i don't understand why people feel that another lot is going to help anything. but to take our constitutional rights away from us. host: number one, most gun crimes in america are caused by illegal, unregistered guns. i think we should treat guns like we treat automobiles. number one, register all guns. number two, register all gun users. 30 yearhree, mandatory prison for those people who are

keeping and bearing unregistered guns. i don't think anything is wrong with that. it is just following the same protocol that we deal with automobiles and trucks. host: speaking of automobiles and trucks, stories in the paper this morning about the united states suing falls wagon for cheating on emissions tests. i want to show you that story. the justice department sued the german automaker in court yesterday saying the company installed a legal devices and nearly 600,000 diesel engine systems to impair admissions controls, including harmful air pollution. filed on suit was monday. they admitted that they were planning to cheat on emissions tests and 11 million of its vehicles around the world, setting off one of the largest corporate scandals in the auto injury history. also, of course, on the business pages of many of today's

newspapers, this story about a downturned -- a downturn in the chinese stock market that has impacted the world. world stocks down over fresh fears of the economy. a renewed chinese stock market rippled through the international markets on the new year's first trading day. story from the financial times noting that last year's stock market darlings, amazon, facebook, google, were among the biggest losers in the u.s. equity market yesterday. stockeople watching the market today to see what the reaction will be with that news. time for a few more cars on -- calls on president obama's executive orders on gun control. what we are expecting to hear in a townced today hall style meeting later this week on thursday evening at george mason university in fairfax, virginia. i want to get your thoughts now. oklahoma city, oklahoma, line for independence, get mine. caller: good morning.

it is hard for me to say anything new that hasn't already been said. would like to point out something the last caller said about treating guns like we treat cars. i can't figure out which constitutional amendment guarantees americans the right to drive cars, but there certainly is one that guarantees americans the right to bear arms . the purpose of that amendment was not so that we could defend ourselves from burglars, give us the ability to hunt, it was to protect us from government gone out of control like the other caller said. this issue makes me wonder what is obama's real motive for trying to control the legal ownership of firearms? ultimately, if i'm a criminal and i want a gun, i'm going to get a gun. things his policies are going to do is restrict the rights of law-abiding citizens to defend themselves from the tyranny that may or may not be coming. spokane,ra is up next,

washington. good morning, you're on the washington journal. caller: the reason why i called is that my concern is that we don't -- we are not actually addressing the problems. criminal actions that use guns. we put them in jail, they are released, they are released, they released, they go back out, kill more people, robin more people, do more things. nothing happens to them except that they get released back onto our streets. why is there not more concern with not letting those people get away with their crimes and come back onto our street and get guns and yet, our second amendment is targeted by this a ministration? that is what i feel like him anyway. host: spokane, washington. our last caller of the day from what you washington journal we now take a call from the

washington press club hosting its first newsmakers conference of 2016 looking at issues of sports injuries sustained by high school and middle school students and young adults happening right now. we will see you tomorrow morning writer on the washington journal. adopt federal compliance mandates. every state in the union has a concussion related law on the books. and a sports injury program regulation on the books. enforcement is the issue and compliance is the issue. that is what the doctors this the sports data person will be talking to us about. my name is mike smith and i serve on the national press club newsmaker community. -- committee. us get it started today. i am a columnist for campaigns and elections magazine and a blog writer for huffington post. i also own my own public affairs