but, there were over 1300 people -- [indiscernible] >> we also met with daniel webster. most important piece of the bill in my mind is the handgun license department we have an maryland. arehe gun laws of maryland -- have closed a lot of loopholes of people in other states. it is difficult to transfer guns in maryland without the state looking at it. it is very important. some states have laws where you betweenly transfer guns individuals without any checks. maryland does a pretty good job of restricting that and making sure that commonsense measures are put in place to keep them out of the hands of people that should not have them. out what the 2013 firearm safety act is. experts -- this is their response. >> unfortunately, at the national level, some of these states have less gun laws. i do not think it is much of a movement. >> the need to keep guns out of the hands of people should not have them weathered be due to mental in-laws or ties to -- mental illness or ties to criminal activity. >> the quote military style row -- rifle, it is a name. it does not really addre

drawing around him so they can hear what he's saying, it's totally different from, you know, like daniel webster standing up in front of people and being blown away by the powerful oratory. but it was the quietness and the element of being magnetically pulled towards the depths of what he was saying, that conviction, the fact that he knew what he was talking about, that i think explains why people were so drawn to him. i do not think that history has given the right credit to james madison. i wrote the book basically about statesmanship. you see it in the way they talk about the federal judiciary, about the united states senate and talks about regular citizens. theres supposed to be challenging of public opinion. there's supposed to be research and knowledge, supposed to be alliances and compromises and debate and deliberation, all of which go toward pushing to a higher plain and not just to the lowest common enominator. we would not be here except for his statesmanship at any number of crucial junctures that we had. whether it was freedom of religious or getting the constitution passed. we need

here in this room daniel webster, he moved about the chamber from time to time. daniel webster oor rated, henry clay forged compromises, john c. calhoun stood on principle. hentry foot of -- henry foot of mississippi pulled a pistol. senator bennet ripped over his coat and said, let the assassin fire and stand out of my way. here the ee -- here john randolph brought his hunting dogs into the chamber and sam houston said, over here to my right, he whittled wooden hearts for the ladies in the gallery. massachusetts senator charles sumner was beaten over the head with a cane by a senator who objected to his speeches. the senate first met here in 1810, but because our british cousins chose to set fire to the capitol during the war of 1812, congress was forced to move into the patent office building in downtown washington. and later into a building known as the brick capitol located on the present side of the according to building. hence, it was december 1819 before senators were able to return to this restored and elegant chamber. they met here for 40 years, and it w

another object we have, this is a revolver, a gun and holster that belonged to daniel webster roberts, a well-known texas ranger. he was a captain in the texas rangers. it even says on his holster, company d. this is a cold 1849 pocket revolver. the texas ranger star in there. i think most of the american public does not realize how important law enforcement is. law enforcement is something you don't think about until you have an emergency or if you are one of those people who think about law enforcement only in connection with getting a traffic ticket. law enforcement is something that's always present. it's always there to provide a secure, safe space and you know it's working best when you are not aware of it. but it is an important part of who we are as a democracy. i think it is essential for people to realize the importance enforcement, the establishment of the rule of law and how that protects us in our democracy and his part in our society. law enforcement officers also have a wonderful story to tell. these are people who devote their lives to a very difficult job and it is on

adulthood -- neil: abraham lincoln's transcendental generation in mid-life and henry clay and daniel webster's compromiser generation. brian: do you worry at all about -- there's just a lot of things in this book and a lot of language, a lot of terms, and all that. did you worry that there might be too much? neil: no, we didn't. this book is not a light read. it has aspects of it that are challenging, but what people have told us is this book repays the effort they put into it. many people have told us this is a book they go back to again and again, and that it's also fun to read. i think that the way we tell each generation as a life story -- we start with their childhood and we go to their old age, and we try to show the continuities in personality and the way their minds develop and the way their attitudes toward the world change. this is something that historians simply have not done. brian: i want to go back to homer, which i have not gotten through, by the way, since i've bought it. this book's enough right here. the only reason i went out is that you kept mentioning it. i went back and

we remember them today as the lions of the senate, daniel webster, dan calhoun, henry clay. and this body owes its status to them and their leadership because they began to define the senate in a way that no one had before. over time, this place became one that valued bipartisanship, deliberation, and compromise. it has become a chamber that balances the right to debate with the demands for action. and some of the toughest moments in our history, the members of the senate have used this body to lead, particularly when the president has faltered. take president nixon. the watergate scandal had weakened the presidency in ways that do-nothing presidents never had. l but the senate, led by a member of the president's own party, didn't stand by and watch the void unmoved. they filled the vacuum for the good of the country. it is this kind of history that has shaped the shape senate into -- -- that has shaped the senate into what it is today, a body that examines, considers, protectprotects. senator bayh said, the senate is a source of wisdom and judgment, both on the actions of t

met with the rifle association and we met with several of the gun groups but we also met with daniel webster. the most important piece of the bill in my mind is the handgun license requirement that we have in maryland. >> the gun laws in maryland are -- have closed what people call loopholes in a lot of states. it's difficult to transfer guns in maryland without the state looking at it which is very important. a number of states have places where you can transfer guns between individuals without any checks and maryland does a pretty good job of restricting at and making sure that commonsense measures are put into place to keep them out of the hands of people who shouldn't have them. >> oh, now we found out what the 2013 firearm safety act is and what it does. but not all states have gun control like ours. we asked experts again if similar strict laws should be nationwide. these are their responses. >> unfortunately, until there is some movement at the national level, some of the states would have less gun laws. i don't think we will have much movement. >> the need to keep guns out of the han