In a contentious exchange with House Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday’s CBS This Morning, co-hosts Charlie Rose and Gayle King repeatedly pressed the Republican leader to take up gun control legislation in the wake of the San Bernardino shooting. Rose began: “But why don't you...call the President and say, ‘I'm going to come down Pennsylvania Avenue, let's you and I start off and do something about this right now’?”
In a follow-up, Rose touted talking points from President Obama: “He said, ‘We have a no-fly list where people can't get on planes, but these same people...whom we do not allow to fly, could get into a store right now in the United States and buy a firearm. And there’s nothing we can do to stop them.”
Ryan pointed out:
Well, on this particular issue, we do have a Constitution. Citizens have due process rights. And anyone can just be arbitrarily placed upon the no-fly list. In fact, that's happened quite a bit. People have been placed on the no-fly list mistakenly, innocently. So we need to respect due process.
King pleaded:
Surely there can be something that can stop people from getting an AK-47. In this particular case in San Bernardino, it's being reported that two of the weapons recovered were bought legally in this country. What is it gonna take to move the needle in Congress, I guess, is the frustration people have.
Rose implored: “Mr. Speaker, how urgent is it and what does it require to make sure that people will not be saying a month from now we are facing the same situation?” Ryan noted: “Well, we’re receiving some resistance from our mental health bill right now as we speak, candidly.” Rose argued: “Well, you talk to the President about the mental health bill and the President will talk to you about his own concerns about who is allowed to get what kind of guns.”
Near the end of the interview, Rose wondered: “Where do you put this as a priority for you and the Congress?” He then urged Ryan again to talk to Obama: “So when will you talk to the President?”
Here are excerpts of the December 3 exchange:
8:30 AM ET
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CHARLIE ROSE: Congress is under new pressure to act to prevent mass shootings.
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ROSE: Well, the community is grieving, as you know, and a nation is asking questions about why and how do we stop this? And we want to hear from out that. But why don't you, after you make your speech today, call the President and say, “I'm going to come down Pennsylvania Avenue, let's you and I start off and do something about this right now”? “I'm Speaker of the House, you're President, you're in your fourth quarter and I'm in the beginning of my job as Speaker.”
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ROSE: But here’s what the President said and the reason I suggested there might be a conversation between you and the President. He said, “We have a no-fly list where people can't get on planes, but these same people, whom we do not like to – whom we do not allow to fly, could get into a store right now in the United States and buy a firearm. And there’s nothing we can do to stop them.”
REP. PAUL RYAN [HOUSE SPEAKER]: Well, on this particular issue, we do have a Constitution. Citizens have due process rights. And anyone can just be arbitrarily placed upon the no-fly list. In fact, that's happened quite a bit. People have been placed on the no-fly list mistakenly, innocently. So we need to respect due process. So when we rush to act on these things, let's make sure that we act accordingly. Let’s make sure that we act according to citizens’ rights, the Constitution. Oh, and let's make sure that what we do actually solves these problems. So that is why I think we need to take a pause and see what’s happening. This is why we’re working on mental health already.
So with respect to the no-fly list, I think it's very important to remember people have due process rights in this country and we can't have some government official just arbitrarily put them on a list. And by the way, if someone is suspected of terrorism, if someone in this country is planning a terrorist attack or we think they’re planning a terrorist attack, we should arrest them. So this is something that should be dealt with by law enforcement in a more pronounced position than maybe, you know, banning due process lights on a no-fly list. If we think someone’s gonna commit a terrorist attack, we should go pick them up.
GAYLE KING: I know, I hear you, Mr. Speaker. We all hear you. But I’ve heard many people who have stopped me and said this, “Gayle, we know how this story’s gonna go. We’re gonna hear the stories of the heroes who survived, we’re gonna hear the stories about the victims, we’re gonna hear the stories about the shooters. But ultimately –
RYAN: Right, and then nothing gets done, right.
KING: But ultimately, that's right, nothing changes. Surely there can be something that can stop people from getting an AK-47. In this particular case in San Bernardino, it's being reported that two of the weapons recovered were bought legally in this country. What is it gonna take to move the needle in Congress, I guess, is the frustration people have.
RYAN: Gayle, that’s what I’m just trying to say, Gayle. What we are trying to do is find out the facts and make sure that what our response is actually addresses the problems without – without infringing upon the rights of law-abiding citizens. That’s the key here, Gayle. Is we don’t want to –
KING: But it keeps happening. It keeps happening.
RYAN: It keeps happening, but we also have citizens who have rights to be protected.
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KING: But can I just say this to you? A mass shooting is described as four or more victims. According to ShootingTracker.com – just the fact that we have a ShootingTracker.com I think speaks volumes – since January, there have been at least 354 mass shootings in this country. You must be frustrated as well.
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ROSE: Okay, Mr. Speaker – Mr. Speaker, how urgent is it and what does it require to make sure that people will not be saying a month from now we are facing the same situation?
RYAN: Well, we’re receiving some resistance from our mental health bill right now as we speak, candidly.
ROSE: Well, you talk to the President about the mental health bill and the President will talk to you about his own concerns about who is allowed to get what kind of guns.
RYAN: Right. And by the way, that’s part of the mental health bill. That’s part of the discussion surrounding the mental health bill, which is, who gets guns and who should get guns? But we have to make sure that in our rush to do something, we don't violate a person's individual rights in this country.
KING: We all agree.
RYAN: That’s why this no-fly issue is all about due process rights, we’ve got to make sure –
ROSE: But don’t you think that all member of Congress and all members of the executive division of the government are equally concerned about violating people's rights?
RYAN: Absolutely – well, some proposals here do violate people's rights. The no-fly list is a perfect example. So we’re going to – we’re gonna violate a person's rights without giving them any due process? You have to think these things through before we just have knee-jerk reactions, that’s my point.
KING: And what about the people that aren't mentally ill that are committing these crimes?
RYAN: Well, the question is, are they people who are criminals who got guns illegally, are they people who were barred from the law from getting a gun but they got it any way? Therefore we have a gap enforcing our laws. But then again, is it a law-abiding citizen who are exercising their rights, who all of a sudden snapped or something like that? You're never going to have, in a free society, the ability to prevent anything, to prevent everything you want to prevent.
ROSE: And the President said that.
RYAN: In a free society – in a free society you're going to have problems. The question is, in a free society, while protecting our individual rights, are there gaps in laws, are there gaps in enforcement of laws that need to be filled? That’s what we are looking at right now.
ROSE: You're going to speak to the Congress today, this afternoon around 12:30 or 1:00. Where do you put this as a priority for you and the Congress?
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ROSE: So when will you talk to the President?
RYAN: I talk to the President fairly regularly, actually. I don't know. I call him sometimes and he calls me sometimes, so I don't have something marked on my calendar.
ROSE: Thank you, Speaker Ryan.
RYAN: We talk fairly often.
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