conservative "new york times" columnist bret stevens is in agreement.s never understood the "conservative fetish" for the second amendment. he wrote "americans who claim to be outraged by gun crime should want to do more than tinker at the margins of a legal regime that most of the developed world considers nuts." okay, jesse. what say you? repeal and replace? >> lisa: not on this issue. >> jesse: that guy is a conservative's. "the york times" conservative. i want to make sure everyone. >> marie: the times got a lot of criticism when they hired him because he's a conservative. what do you think? >> jesse: hundreds of thousands of americans die each year because of heart disease and diabetes. are you going to ban fast food? a million people die from alcohol. very going to ban booze? once a month get stabbed, do you blame the knife. when someone hit someone with her car, do blame that car or the person. why when you shoot someone to blame the gun. i researched the segments. got some great stats. two-thirds of gun deaths in the united states are suicides.

david frum and bret stevens has two interesting articles in the past few days, one in the atlantic and another an op-ed in "new york times." bret stephens conservative argues there's only one way to protect americans and that is to repeal the second amendment. he cites a number of statistics talking about people who die from handguns every year, who die from accidents with handguns every year and that includes a number of children. so if you have a conservative like bret stevens arguing that and then you have david fruhm, also a republican, arguing that gun safety begins not with the technical fixes but with the spreading of truthful information, people who bring guns into their homes are endangering themselves and their loved ones. if you see that sort of movement from two, you know, republican thought leaders, essentially, do you think that there is at some point going to be a willingness for people in this country to talk about, you know, the taboo, to talk about what you're not allowed to talk about, repealing the second amendment or taking away guns? >> well, you know, it's import

lauren: bret stevens is a conservative columnist. this is going to play out in the election particularly there's a gubernatorial race in virginia. most of the state favor it is second amendment, how do you see it playing out in politics, particularly the coming elections, robin? >> big, i swear if anybody -- i worked with across the aisle, i spoke to gun brokers and some of my very -- as a veteran ranger i spoke to again enthusiast friends, they support ban ghost guns, they don't have a cereal numbers. you can buy the frames and buy all the parts and effectively have a gun that you don't need any background check for it and has no cereal number. there are loopholes that they support and we are good. lauren: there's always a loophole, patice, i will give you the last word, you can make a semiautomatic weapon by using a belt buckle. >> that's the challenge trying to legislate what is in someone's heart. in cases like this with this tragedy, we are dealing with an evil person. we may never understand the full motivation but a law can't

congressman of tennessee harold ford jr., and "new york times" op-ed columnist and msnbc contributor bret stevens. robert costa, let me start with you. you've been reporting all weekend about both the corker side of this debate and the white house side of the debate. bring us up to speed on the latest. >> the latest is this is a revealing episode about the tensions between senate republicans, republicans in general on capitol hill and president trump. it's been going on for months ever since august when senator corker first pinged the president and questioned his leadership. you've seen this simmering frustration on both sides. now it's erupted into the public view. >> carrie, i talked to a national security official who served democratic and republican presidents who said that his view has changed about the national security leaders in this administration. that he long viewed them the way they'd like to be viewed by outsiders, as people who were there protecting the country and the world from donald trump's tweets and his spats with members of both parties. but that he now views them as enablers

bret stevens, i should say, in "the new york times" does a piece that says what is the spanish over then against a tyrannical government. when you look at how many governments have killed the last hundred years it is insane. look at the holocaust and the situation, disarm the populace and then those with guns are the government in the soldiers and that is why it doesn't happen here. that is why we have the second amendment. for us, i don't like to listen to people on saturday night live lecture me and tell me that i can only have this one done with six bullets and you don't need this. it is my second amendment right. ed: on an entertainment show i want to see jokes about other topics, not tragedies and i want to see bringing people together and after jason outing did. abby: he was on that stage when the shooting happened and it's something he will never forget and he has been out speaking about the power of the country coming together and he did that last night opening the show up s&l in talking about this unbreakable bond. it wasn't. >> you can be sure that we hurt for you and we hurt

bret: okay, good news. treasury secretary steven mnuchin government plane travel was all aboveboard, according to the department's inspector general. the report came out and found that the office could've done a better job justifying why he needed to use them more expensive modes of transportation. his office says they will do a better job explaining their needs. virginia voters may be the first make their voices heard on gun control. that issue takes on new urgency following sunday shooting in las vegas. next month, residents of the commonwealth will vote for new governor. right now, real clear politics puts ralph northam five points ahead of republican challenger ed glass. doug mckelway reports on whether a state full of firm believers in the second amendment could change the state of the race. >> the las vegas massacre may add a red-hot issue to a bellwether election. the governor's race between ed gillespie. >> i am a believer and strong defender of our strong secondmt rights. >> democrat ralph northam. >> there is no excuse for having assault weapons on our streets. >> in 2017, a student shot and killed stud

bret: john roberts, thanks. let's go deeper into the issue of the budget and tax reform. treasury secretary steven mnuchin joined me now. mr. secretary, thanks for being here. they budget this week. you have a vote coming up. are you confident you have the votes to get the budget first before tax reform? >> i think we are comfortable with where we are with the budget and looking forward to the senate passing it tomorrow. >> bret: do you think senator paul can get there? >> them president has had multiple conversations i hope you both a favor. this isn't just about tax reform. it's about jobs and creating economic growth and that's what we are focused on. >> bret: a lot of people are focused on also though timeline. when you thought august was, and then health care took a long time. last time we talked, you thought the fallen possibly before the winter. house speaker ryan has had christmas. is it realistic. >> it took ronald reagan over two years on a bipartisan basis to get tax reform done. if we get it done this year, it will be extraordinary. our objective is to get it on the president's desk by

conservative "new york times" writer bret stephens who is also a contributor over at that conspiracy so-called news network, msnbc. "repeal the second amendment." stevensoes on to write, "repealing the amendment may seem like political mission impossible today but in the era of same-sex marriage, it's worth recalling that most great causes began as improbable ones. gun ownership should never be outlawed. just as it isn't outlawed in britain and australia but it doesn't need a blanket constitutional protection either." good luck in those countries getting a gun. as i showed you in great detail last night, banning guns does not prevent crime. just the opposite. more guns prevent crime. more guns save lives and by the way, it appears these people on the left don't care about the constitution.t all banning guns will do is prevent good people from having the ability to protect themselves and their families from those that do us harm. i like a lot of the celebrities and politicians, they do not have armed guards. they don't have big houses with expensive security systems and people out there protecting them among bodyguards everywhere they go. if people like