this is "hln:news and views" i'm holly firfer in for natasha curry. >>> president obama addressed the large est gay rights group last night. he specifically pointed out the need to end the don't ask, don't tell policy and called for discrimination law for the workplace. >> we know there's far more work to do. we're pushing hard to pass an inclusive employee nondiscrimination bill. for the first time ever an administration official testified in congress in favor of this law. nobody in america should be fired because they're gay, despite doing a great job and meeting their responsibilities. it's not fair. it's not right. we're going to put a stop to it. >> despite his well-received speech, some in the gay community remain skeptical of president obama's agenda. yesterday, dozens of gay rights activists gathered at the washington monument and spoke out about what they say is the president's foot dragging on gay rights issues. >> i don't think president obama has done enough. we need action. we need real action and we need it now. so, we are setting up to demand our equal, basic human righ

i'm holly firfer. an undercover operation has revealed just how easy it is to buy a gun at a gun show. no questions asked. it's a loophole in the law that basically side steps background checks. randi kaye looks at how it works and who's riled up about it. >> reporter: what you're looking at is a federal crime. this is a gun show. and that man is selling a gun. no questions asked, no background check. >> reporter: this is undercover video from sharonville, ohio, part of a nationwide investigation to expose what's wrong with what's known as the gun show loophole. unlike licensed dealers, the so-called gun show loophole allows unlicensed private sellers to sell guns without doing background checks on buyers. they're viewed as collectors who are occasional sellers so they fly under the radar. but, this is key -- while they're exempt from background checks, it is illegal for private sellers to sell guns to anyone they know or have reason to believe would not pass a background check, which is exactly what s

i'm holly firfer in for natasha curry. >>> president obama addressed the largest gay rights group in the country last night. during a rousing speech, he once again promised to pursue an agenda that would bring an end to discrimination against gays, he specifically pointed out the need to end the don't ask, don't tell military policy. and he called for anti-discrimination law for the workplace. >> we know there's far more work to do. we're pushing hard to pass an inclusive employee nondiscrimination bill. [ cheers and applause ] for the first time ever, an administration official testified in congress in favor of this law. nobody in america should be fired because they're gay, despite doing a great job and meeting their responsibilities. it's not fair. it's not right. we're going to put a stop to it. >> despite his well-received speech, some in the gay community remain skeptical of president obama's agenda. yesterday, dozens of gay rights advocates gathered at the washington monument. they spoke out about what they say is the president's foot dragging on gay issues. >> i don't think t

i'm holly firfer. >>> president obama is in the process of deciding whether or not to send more troops to afghanistan, but there's more to winning the war than strategy. christiane amanpour tells us about one man's efforts to educate pakistani children. >> reporter: greg mortenson's career has been all about war and peace. how are you? we met him surrounded by guns and guards. he's been kidnapped by the taliban and frequently receives death threats. yet despite the danger, greg mortenson remains undaunted. he's committed to giving an education to children in both afghanistan and pakistan, to give them an alternative to violence and extremism. >> we don't need guns. we don't need bombs, but what we need is education. >> reporter: his mission began 15 years ago, when he tempted to scale the world's second highest peak, pakistan's treacherous k2. mortenson failed and he nearly died. he was nursed back to health in a remote pakistani village. >> just saw 84 children sitting in the dirt doing school lessons. they asked for help to build a school. >> reporter: and did you? >> i built a schoo

i'm holly firfer in for natasha curry. >>> president obama met with top military leaders yesterday. the military made its case for sending up to 40,000 more u.s. troops to afghanistan. the white house spokesman says a decision about that is probably weeks ago. a senior administration official says the white house seems to be fog can using on al qaeda, and putting taliban on the back burner. >> what people think on the ground is the critical issue. the level of coalition forces i think is so important. unless you have enough troops on the ground to make people feel safe and to have enough leverage to get the afghan government to do the right thing, then it doesn't matter what else you're doing, you're not going to gain control of the environment. >> but we're also hearing obama's meeting wasn't just about troops. senior white house adviser david axelrod spoke in lincoln, nebraska, last night and he president obama also spoke about fraud in the afghan presidential vote. he said the ultimate goal is to disrupt al qaeda, so it

i'm holly firfer. when you call a news conference, you're expected to make news.hat's not what happened in colorado this morning. richard heene contacted the media to say he had an important announcement. he came out on time, approached the microphones, and then asked the media to write down their questions and drop them into a box at his front door. he then walked back into his house, but before he left he did repeat something he'd said before about the balloon incident. >> okay. i have got people e-mailing me, calling me. they've got a lot of questions and i don't know how to quite frankly answer any of them other than i've got a box, and so later on tonight, 7:30, i want to meet you guys again. i can look these questions over and then i can answer them, okay? so i'm going to place the box up front. please write your questions down because i've got stuff -- friends are telling me they're saying this and that. i have no idea what the news is saying. i don't have cable. okay. >> can we just ask you our questions now? >> not at all. >> no questions? >> would you ju