[Camerota:] Twenty-four-year-old Alison Parker and her cameraman Adam Ward were gunned down in 2015 on live television. And since then her father, Andy Parker, has become an national advocate for what he calls common sense gun safety legislation. He chronicles the aftermath of her death and his battle over preventing more gun violence in his new book "For Alison," which is on bookshelves now. Andy Parker joins us now. Andy, great to see you, as always.
[Andy Parker, Author, "for Alison":] It's good to see you.
[Camerota:] Why did you feel the need to write this book?
[Parker:] Well, Alisyn, this is a book that I wish I never had a reason to write, but I did. And just as I had come out swinging that day and decided to make gun safety a part of my advocacy, I felt like that this was a way to honor Alison through action.
[Camerota:] I'll read a portion of the book for everybody. You say, I want this book to hurt you. I want you to understand my hurt. If we hurt together, then maybe you can help me save others from ever feeling that pain. This is not a grief memoir, this is an anger memoir. You have stuck to that, I mean, for these years, that that's what has propelled you.
[Parker:] It is. You know, at first I was in shock and then I had just unimaginable grief. But then I became angry that this could happen over and over again in this country. So that's what fuels it.
[Camerota:] I mean we've talked to you many times and it's always been we're always struck by how pretty quickly you swung into action. You know, you were grief-stricken, but you swung into action and you decided to try to change things in the country and not you were trying to have any other family prevented from feeling this way. And I'm just wondering, over the course of these three and a half years, had there been more victories or setbacks?
[Parker:] I think there have been more victories now. And I feel like I moved the needle when I came out swinging and I started advocating. And I think that things really picked up steam ironically with the elections in Virginia, the statewide elections in Virginia, where the Democrats picked up 15 seats.
[Camerota:] And then what happened?
[Parker:] And the gun the gun issue was like the number two issue in that race, followed by, you know, the Parklands shootings. And those kids put the really I think that was the the Virginia elections was the were the tipping point. What happened in Parkland put the issue on steroids. And then you saw what happened in the midterms. So I think that the victories are there. Last week the House passed gun legislation that that they haven't taken up in two decades.
[Camerota:] But that there-in lies the rub because that was a victory, a huge victory. So people said it couldn't be done. The House passed they made universal background checks.
[Parker:] Right.
[Camerota:] They closed the Charleston loophole. Congratulations. It goes nowhere in the Senate. A setback.
[Parker:] Well, and we know that was coming. But the statement is being made. And I think that, again, what we will see coming, you know, in Virginia in November and then in 2020, if you can't change their minds, which, unfortunately, most Republicans, 99 percent of them, are still, you know, walking in lockstep with the NRA, if you can't change their minds, then you change their seats. And that's what happened. And I think that's what's going to happen in 2020.
[Camerota:] Did it take you a while to come around to that point? For a while after Alison's murder, were you trying to change people's minds?
[Parker:] I was, Alisyn. I was trying to I really tried to do that. And I realized not too far along that you can't do it. And I thought initially that, you know, these guys are just taking the NRA money. That's they really are agnostic about it. But then I discovered that a lot of them are true believers. I mean you look at Steve Scalise. I mean here's a guy that gets shot. You would think he would have some kind of come to Jesus and say, you know, maybe I'm doing something wrong. But his answer you know, his it's his response is, we need more guns on the on we need more guns to save people. I mean we've got more guns in this country than we do people.
[Camerota:] So your battle has morphed into a political one to change to get the people who are of that kind of thinking out of their seats?
[Parker:] Yes. I mean that's the only way it's going to change.
[Camerota:] I want to read another portion of the book. You say, there's no getting over it. There's no getting past it. There's only getting through it. Each day a constant struggle not to be overwhelmed by all of the little things that remind me of her, of what I've lost, of what she's lost. It's really heartbreaking, Andy, I mean that this is obviously a daily struggle for you. And how have you coped over these three and a half years?
[Parker:] Well, writing the book was certainly a cathartic experience and it helped me get through it. But I look at, you know, the efforts going forward as using this book as a as a tool to continue the fight. You know, it's I'm diabetic. And I and I liken it it's an analogy to being diabetic you have good days and you have bad. And you just have to manage it and keep going forward and focus on the things that you can hopefully change.
[Camerota:] Well, that is what you have done. And we've watched you do it. And we've cheered you on every time that we talk to you. And now yet another step forward. The book again is "For Alison." Andy Parker, thank you so much. Back to you, John.
[Berman:] All right. Such a great discussion there. Michael Cohen is due on Capitol Hill any moment. A new day of testimony. That's next.