Targeting Gun Violence; Biden Preps Gun Recommendations; Chuck Hagel Faces Tough Questions; Oprah Interviews Lance Armstrong Today; Flu Outbreak Hits Businesses Hard; Maryland Governor Targets Gun Violence
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Stories we're watching right now in the NEWSROOM. Taking aim at the gun industry and a sweetheart deal you may not have heard about after it was passed, but one month to the day of the Sandy Hook massacre. And outrage lawmakers say it's time to erase that law from the books. At a young age, he made his mark on the Internet. Aaron Schwartz didn't stop until he took his own life. The Internet pioneer apparently found the online world too full of legal pitfalls. He's known for tackling controversial topics on the big screen, but now a different kind of controversy could be brewing for director, Quinton Tarantino. We'll tell you why. Plus this --</s>JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm John Zarrella. Hundreds of hunters have descended on Florida's everglades and they're looking for pythons. That's coming up. CNN NEWSROOM starts now.</s>COSTELLO: Good morning to you. Thank you so much for being with us. I'm Carol Costello. This morning late news from the White House, President Obama will hold a news conference in just a little more than an hour from now. The White House is informally calling it the last news conference of his first term and it will cover a whole range of issues. One topic sure to come up is a debate over gun violence and how to prevent the horror of more bloodshed. Today, Vice President Joe Biden is wrapping up the work of his task force. He presents those recommendations to the president tomorrow. And in the next hour, we'll hear from the local grass roots group, "Sandy Hook Promise." It's unveiling a new initiative and asking the families of shooting victims to attend the news conference in a show of solidarity. That attack one month ago today. And this morning, California Congressman Adam Schiff unveils legislation that challenges the power of the gun industry. His target, a 2005 law that grants wide legal immunity to gun makers and dealers.</s>REPRESENTATIVE ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA: The effect has been that when gun sellers or gun manufacturers act negligently, they're immune from any kind of liability so you can have gun dealers turning a blind eye to the sale of hundreds of weapons to purchasers. And when those guns are resold or they are conveyed to people, criminals that used them to kill people then they can't be held liable and that makes no sense. It's a protection not needed by the good actors and not deserved by the bad actors.</s>COSTELLO: Deborah Feyerick is here now to continue our national conversation on guns. Good morning, Deb.</s>DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning there, Carol. Yes, there's so much going on and as we speak, some at John Hopkins University were a number of policy experts who have gotten together and they're really going over all of many issues related to gun violence. You see Michael -- Mayor Bloomberg speaking there now. He is head of a broad coalition of mayors trying to stem gun violence and he made a very interesting point. He said that perhaps they cannot prevent another Sandy Hook, but perhaps they can. And that's what all of this momentum is all about right now. The NRA has been instrumental in cutting funding for any sort of scientific research, research that would have ordinarily been done by the CDC and the HHS, the Health and Human Services Department. So right now they're taking a very close look at it as is Joe Biden who is expected to come out with some recommendations in the next 24 hours.</s>FEYERICK (voice-over): Over 30,000 gun deaths in the U.S. every year, the challenge, gun control.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I lost my husband right before Christmas.</s>FEYERICK: If anyone knows the pain of losing someone to gun violence, it is New York Congresswoman Carol Mccarthy. Her husband was killed in 1993 by a deranged gunman in a mass shooting on the Long Island railroad. After years of trying to pass tighter gun laws on Capitol Hill, she said it took the tragedy at Sandy Hook to unite public anger and political will.</s>REP. CAROL MCCARTHY (D), NEW YORK: You know, the time is different because there is so much anger, why are we allowing this to continue to happen?</s>FEYERICK: On day one of the new Congress, McCarthy and other lawmakers introduced or reintroduced eight bills to ban or control the sale of guns or ammunition. Several Senate bills are on the way, but all are far from a done deal. In his first term, President Obama passed limiting gun use then Sandy Hook happened a day Mr. Obama called the worse of his presidency. Even before he's sworn in again, he's expected to review proposals from his new gun task force.</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is a team that has a very specific task to pull together real reforms right now.</s>FEYERICK: The White House is focused on a white ranging plan involving more than just firearms and ammunition. On the table, reinstate the expired ban on assault weapons and limit magazines that have more than ten rounds, close the so-called gun show loophole to mandate background checks for all gun buyers. Ensure better access to mental health care, improve school security and review the cultural impact of violent movies and video games. Vice President Joe Biden says it's possible the president could also act unilaterally on his own.</s>JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The president is going to act or executive orders, executive action that can be taken.</s>FEYERICK: Even the most vocal gun advocates have come to the table. Last week, the NRA met with the gun task force. Wal-Mart the nation's largest firearms seller reversed itself joining other gun retailers in a similar meeting, but tighter gun law also not come without a fight. After Sandy Hook, the NRA said the answer was more guns not less.</s>WAYNE LAPIERRE, CEO, NRA: I call on Congress today to act immediately to appropriate whatever is necessary to put armed police officers in every single school in this nation.</s>FEYERICK: Meaningful gun control will take time for those who have been fighting for decades. They feel the time is finally right.</s>DAN GROSS, BRADY CAMPAIGN TO PREVENT GUN VIOLENCE: What we are heartened by is a genuine exploration of what are the things that we can do respectful of the second amendment and law abiding gun owners to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people.</s>FEYERICK: Carol, you know, it really is all about meaningful legislation and what can and cannot be done. Remember the National Rifle Association, still a very, very powerful source to be reckoned with -- Carol.</s>COSTELLO: You're absolutely right, Deborah Feyerick. That's why we are going to talk about it right now. Today, as you said, Joe Biden is hosting 12 congressmen and women. They make up the Democratic Task Force on Guns. They'll be joined by Attorney General Eric Holder, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Kathleen Sibelius from Health And Human Services. If you think the NRA is worried about sweeping new reforms though, think again.</s>DAVID KEENE, PRESIDENT, NRA: When a president takes all the power of his office, if he's willing to expend political capital, you don't want to bet your house on the outcome. But I would say that the likelihood is that they are not going to be able to get an assault weapons ban through.</s>COSTELLO: So let's head to Washington and the White House. Dan Lothian is there. So Dan, is the NRA right?</s>DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, I'm not going to make any predictions either about what Congress may or may not do. As we have learned over the last few years, things can appear to be going one direction and then make a u-turn. But what I can say is that this assault weapons ban does appear to be facing an uphill effort up on Capitol Hill and I think what's interesting is that the president, right after the mass shooting in Connecticut came out and talked about, you know, putting his support behind efforts to reinstate the assault weapons ban. And this had been, you know, the position of the White House since then, but what was interesting last week, at the end of the week, when the vice president was rolling out what he said were sort of the top tier recommendations that he had been getting after meeting with several groups he did not mention that at all. So there were questions about whether the White House itself may have felt that it was losing steam. There was not support for this on Capitol Hill. But shortly thereafter, a spokesman for the White House saying the president and the vice president are still committed to this effort to reinstating the ban on assault weapons. So if the White House is pushing for this, certainly they will be sort of the momentum for it, but unclear at this point whether or not it will actually get through Congress. I can tell you that, you know, the president will be having a press conference here later this morning. We can expect that these are some of the questions that will be asked of him.</s>COSTELLO: That's right. And just about an hour and 10 minutes, President Obama will speak. We'll bring his remarks to you live. Thank you, Dan Lothian. The uphill battle now under way for President Obama's nominee for Defense Secretary, former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska has not received a warm welcome since the president made the announcement last week. Hagel's comments on Israel, one issue, but a former colleague of Hagel now says he has another problem, his temperament.</s>SEN. BOB CORKER (R), TENNESSEE: I think there are a number of staffers who are coming forth now just talking about the way he has dealt with them. I have certainly questions about a lot of things.</s>COSTELLO: Hagel has been given a vote of approval from Colin Powell though, a former Secretary of State for President George W. Bush and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under the first President Bush. There are reports that disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong is considering confessing when he sits down with Oprah Winfrey today. This is Armstrong's first interview since he was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles. Winfrey will ask Armstrong to address the USADA report, which said there was overwhelming evidence Armstrong was involved in a sophisticated doping program. Oprah's interview with Lance Armstrong will air Thursday night on the Winfrey Network. The flu season means big business for pharmacies and doctors' offices, but it can be bad, bad business for your job and boss. Take a look at this map of the nation's current flu outbreak. Some say the flu is so widespread because so many sick people cannot afford to stay home from work. Alison Kosik is at the New York Stock Exchange. I can certainly understand that.</s>ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: We can all relate, right, Carol? Yes, you know, it works out to almost a third of the nation's workers. They're typically part-time workers who don't get those paid sick days. But you know, full-time workers too, about 20 percent of full-time workers, they don't get paid six days either. So either way that you slice it means that many people can't afford to stay home when they're sick. So they're going to work probably getting other people sick too. You know, what's kind of interesting. The U.S. doesn't have a law mandating paid sick leave like other countries do. But regardless flu season has a huge effect on the economy. The CDC says the total cost of flu season to the economy is more than $80 billion. A big chunk of it is direct medical costs. You have to be hospitalized, have tests, medications and also there are those indirect costs, lost productivity for the company, lost earnings for the worker, not to mention feeling lousy when you get the flu -- Carol.</s>COSTELLO: I'm with you, I'm sorry, I was taking a drink of water, but I was listening intently.</s>KOSIK: I'm sure you were.</s>COSTELLO: Thank you, Alison as always. Quinton Tarantino the outspoken director striking back at critics who say the language was in the n-word. Well, you know, people are saying he went too far, he's saying I don't think so.</s>QUENTIN TARANTINO, DIRECTOR: What they're actually saying is that I should soften it, they're saying I should lie, they're saying I should whitewash, they're saying I should massage. And I never do that when it comes to my characters.</s>COSTELLO: So there, but now Tarantino is finding himself of a hot seat for his own words. A live report from Los Angeles just ahead.