Got a lot of free time, that guy. You always say that when people do funny things. People do a lot of crazy things. Not stupid, it was funny. Thats it for us. Thanks for joining us. Erin Burnett Outfront starts right thousand. Ooutfront next, another school shooting. Officials say a 16yearold student entered a classroom with a shotgun and opened fire. Plus, is estrogen the answer for obama or are more women more problems. And there is a flu epidemic in america, so why are hospitals overwhelmed, turning people away and not prepared. Lets go outfront. Good evening, everyone. Im erin burnett. Outfront tonight, a school shooting. Officials say a 16yearold Student Armed with a shotgun entered a High School Classroom in Rural California today and opened fire. They say one student he shot is in Critical Condition tonight. He shot at a second student, but missed. The 16yearold shooter is in Police Custody at this hour. Our kyung lah is outside Taft High School in taft, california. Its about 120 miles northwest of los angeles, as you see there. And kyung, what more can you tell us about the shooter and the possible motive . Reporter well, what we know is that first, police say he absolutely targeted those two boys, the first one who he struck, the second one, who he missed. And what we are also learning, from multiple parents and students weve talked to here on the grounds of the high school, is that this was a very troubled boy, a boy who had a list of names, according to these parents and students, that he dubbed a hit list. People who he wanted to target, to kill. Thats why the school kicked him out of school last year. But he was let back to school this year. Heres what some parents and students told us. He had a hit list of who he wanted to kill and i guess, lake, last year, he didnt he wasnt in school. He got kicked out, because of it, i think. And people kept on trying to find out, and then he got back this year, and then i guess this happened. I dont know what the circumstances are to let him back in. You know, the criteria to let him back in, but my own opinion, i think, is a very serious case that, you know, i dont know what you do with a kid like that. I dont know where you put them, what whyou do with him, but the look on all these parents faces, are shocked, 75 of them didnt know he was back in this school. Reporter we asked the School Superintendent about this hit list. At this point, they said its too early in the investigation, erin, to tell us anything more about it. So, kyung, what can you tell us about the gun that was used, the weapon, and whether it was legally purchased . Reporter we asked that specific question to police. They also say the same thing, this is too early in the investigation. They dont know anything about the gun at this point. Did the school have any armed guards . Reporter they normally do, and thats whats really interesting here, erin, is that normally, there is a taft Police Officer who is on the grounds of the school every single day. But today, i mean, you can see, its quite dark here, its been raining, snowing, that officer was snowed in. He didnt make it here. And so there wasnt that armed guard presence here at the school. But it didnt really make a difference today, because what police are crediting for saving those other students in that classroom is the teacher. The teacher and the campus counselor, who was able to tell the student to put the gun down, and he listened to them. Thats amazing to hear about yet another hero in these horrible situations. Thanks to kyung lah for reporting on the ground. And this shooting comes nearly a month after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, immediately became political today. Dianne feinstein, a democrat, who plans to introduce a bill banning assault weapons released a statement after the shooting today asking, how many more shootings must there be in america before we come to the realization that guns and grievances do not belong together . That came as Vice President joe biden met with his Gun Violence Task force today and members of the nra. And he talked about a key idea he thinks should pass. There is a surprising, so far, a surprising recurrence suggestions that we have universal background checks. Not just close the gun show loophole, but total, universal background checks, including private sales. John avalon is outfront. John, lets just start off with these background checks. Obviously, look, for whether a potential purchaser has a criminal record or history of Mental Illness. Obviously, theres issues with both of those things and how theyre defined. But on the background check concept overall, how could we not have that already . Erin, we do have background checks. Weve had them for 19 years. But what Vice President biden said is key with regard to private sales. Theres whats known as a private sales loophole in the current background check law, that accounts for around 40 of gun sales each year. That means licensed dealers can t for 60 of gun sales. People who purchase a weapon have to go through the background check. If they have a criminal record, history of severe Mental Illness, outstanding warrants, theyll catch them. But if 40 of those sales go through private dealers, and those private sales are not subject to background checks, and that is what would be closed by what joe bidens describing as a possibility of proposing a uniform background check. I know that they tried to close some of those loopholes, or it was after the Gabby Giffords shooting, which at the time was, no one could imagine there could be anything worse. Now theres newtown. People say, no one can imagine there will be anything worse. But if Gabby Giffords wasnt enough to change this, why would newtown be . Well, thats the key question. And its one to follow through. After Gabby Giffords shooting two years ago, there was a bill put forward. It had 95 democratic cosponsors and only one republican, and it effectively died on the vine. Now the question is, wheres the followthrough . Will there be urgency . Will there be bipartisan movement behind it. A poll put out by frank luntz found that 74 of nra members support a universal background check. So there may be some opportunities for Common Ground here. A lot of licensed gun dealers would like that loophole to be closed. But every compromise on this contentious issue is tough, erin. A quick follow, here, john, before we go. The Vice President said that, yesterday, that president obama could use executive order to get some of these things done. Does he need that to have universal background checks or to do Something Else that Vice President biden said today they wanted to do, which was to ban those highcapacity magazines . Reporter thats whats fascinating. Very much an aboutface, erin. These two proposals that the Vice President mentioned today could not be done through executive order, they have to be done through congress. Somewhat of a different message coming out of the Vice President today. These specific proposals would need to go through congress. Thanks very much to john avalon. Former White House Deputy press secretary bill burton and cofonder of priorities usa, a proobama super pac, joins me along with tim carney. Bill, the Vice President came out yesterday and said, were going to use executive order if we need to. That really riled a lot of people up. Executive order, you guys arent going to get it done, were going to do it. We just heard john avalon say, look, those ideas are plaur, a lot of republicans agree with them, you cant do it by executive order. I think hes just talking about the possibility that there are some things that maybe you can do through executive order and its part of the, you know, big menu of options that are out there. But the truth is, if theres going to be real reform, if theres going to be real restrictions, you have to do it through congress. Otherwise, you know, what you do could end up getting gummed up in the courts, and it could have no effect at all. Thats got to be frustrating, though, that every time they try, theres always loopholes put in. I guess loopholes arent everything from the tax code on, but you pass these gun laws after horrific attacks, and yet, 40 of guns are still its amazing. Theres no doubt, kids are getting massacred o out there and there needs to be some new restrictions. And i think what were going to see is, you know, i think everybody does agree on the background checks. Even when you poll nra members, they are for these universal background checks. But hopefully therell be more besides that, banning assault weapons, banning these highmagazine rounds. But that talks about how a lot of times these loopholes are not loopholes that are stuck in there, but it has to do with the problem in the project that a lot of democrats are trying to do. They think there are two different kinds of guns. Guns that good lawabiding citizens use, and guns that are used in shootings. But a vast majority of guns that kill people in the United States are handguns. The same kind of gun that the regular american uses to protect his house. So you try to make a law that doesnt disarm lawabiding citizens, but does disarm criminals, thats an impossible task. There are not two different groups of guns. Yesterday, the department of justice said that 80 of the inmates who use guns in the crimes that put them in jail got them illegally legally. So were not enforcing a lot of the laws. But, tim, let me ask you about what the nra said today. They released a statement after the meeting with joe biden saying, we were disappointed with how little this meeting had to do with keeping our children safe and how much it had to do with an agenda to attack the second amendment. That doesnt sound like a very conciliatory, tryingtoworktogether comment. And i dont think there is going to be a lot of Common Ground there. I happen to disagree with a lot of what the nra said when it came to putting armed guards or when it came to, you know, blaming hollywood, and that sort of thing. But on the idea of trying to stop bad gun laws, i think that what biden is talking about is more reasonable than what, say, dianne feinstein, is talking about, or bill mentioning an assault weapons ban. Those laws didnt work. They were cracking down on things. I think there is middle ground, but if obama is staking out an extreme position of, i might do executive orders, the nra is staking out its extreme position of, we have no Common Ground yet, and perhaps there can be something in the middle that theyre going to reach in terms of compromise. Bill, let me ask you about something that i find confusing. The background checks here, and the background checks, i mean, 97 of republicans support background checks, right . Lets just assume, most people out there support it. The truth is, though, they wouldnt have stopped the shooting in newtown. And the background checks, even though they check for mental health, you have to be institutionized, the standards are very high. But the problem is, every time these shootings happen, it often seems, all the things we have in place and all the proposed things we have in place would not have stop them. I think what you have to look at is, youre right, that the background checks wouldnt have stopped what we saw happening in the last couple of shootings. But we have to do everything that we can. And while the background checks arent the one and only answer, there are other things that you can do. Thats why the president has taken a comprehensive view here, saying, what can we do about Mental Illness . What can we do about guns . What can we do about the background checks. And what is the broader, comprehensive way that we can approach this, so we can do every single thing we can to stop these mas kesacremassacre. Would you ever, and i know this is a controversial question, but bob wright, who is a very big proponent of trying to fight for autism and Autism Awareness in this country, thinks that he doesnt think that autistic children shouldnt have guns, a lot of children shouldnt are guns. Would you go so far as saying if anyone has a diagnosis of any sort of a range of things, shouldnt have a gun . Im not a doctor and i cant speak to that, but there are certainly people who shouldnt have gun. And if theres a way we can figure out, how can we identify a group of folks who shouldnt have guns based on a mental illne illness or some severe reason, yes, thats something that should definitely be looked at. But this is a question that should be decided by medical professionals and someone who knows something about how the human mind works. Ted . It makes me very uneasy. I agree that there could be situations where we should say, this person should not be allowed to have a gun, but it makes me uneasy of putting politicians or bureaucrats in the position of not having guns. In france, theyre saying if youre too religious, that makes you mentally ill. So you dont want the government being able to choose who can have a gun. You try to protect civil rights, and in this country, this comes with some level of horrific events. Still to come, a bombshell revelation could affect the game of football forever. And Oscar Nominations announced today. Did hollywood directors leave the director of zero dark thirty out in the cold. . [ male announcer ] this is karen and jeremiah. They dont know it yet, but theyre gonna fall in love, get married, have a couple of kids, [ children laughing ] move to the country, and live a long, happy life together where they almost never fight about money. [ dog barks ] because right after they get married, theyll find some retirement people who are paid on salary, not commission. Theyll get straightforward guidance and be able to focus on other things, like each other, which isnt rocket science. Its just common sense. From td ameritrade. Its just common sense. [ female announcer ] some people like to pretend a flood could never happen to them. And that their Homeowners Insurance protects them. [ thunder crashes ] it doesnt. Stop pretending. Only Flood Insurance covers floods. Visit floodsmart. Gov pretend to learn your risk. Sven gets great rewards for his Small Business how does this thing work . Oh, i like it [ garth ] svens Small Business earns 2 cash back on every purchase, every day woohoo so thats ten security gators, right . Put them on my spark card why settle for less . Testing hot tar. Great businesses deserve great rewards [ male announcer ] the spark Business Card from capital one. Choose unlimited rewards with 2 cash back or double miles on every purchase, every day whats in your wallet . Heres your invoice. Our second story outfront, football to blame. The National Institutes of health says former nfl linebacker junior seau had a degenerative brain disease linked to multiple head traumas when he committed suicide last spring. Seau is the latest professional Football Player to be linked to a disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or cte. The findings could mean more trouble for the nfl, which is facing lawsuits involving some 2,000 players, claiming the nfl deliberately hid the dangers of head trauma. Cnn has now confirmed the death of nfl superstar junior seau. Reporter on the second day of may last year, junior seau texted his exwife and children, i love you, pointed a gun at his chest, and pulled the trigger. Friends and family were left devastated, searching for answers. I dont understand who would do this to my son, but i pray to god, please, take me take me. Leave my son but its too late reporter when they learned the 20year nfl football veteran took his own life, the primary question became, why . Close friend marcus wiley spoke to espn shortly after his death. We were there for you, man. Like, we knew you was a superstar. We knew you were a super person. But come out and tell us that you needed us. Reporter seaus family say they never expected he was suffering from head trauma before his death, but as speculations surfaced about his history of concussions, the seaus decided to have researchers study his brain. They recently spoke out about it on abc. For us, we just wanted the truth. Reporter over his career, he made 12 pro bowls and was named to the nfl 1990s alldecade team. But as an nfl linebacker, every devastating and celebrated hit he delivered was apparently taking a toll. The National Institutes of health now says seaus brain shows he had a degenerative brain disease called chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which has been widely connected to athletes who have taken multiple blows to the head. For the seaus, it raises the question, is the game of football worth it . I think its a gamble. Just be extremely aware of what could potentially happen to your life. Theres a big risk. Theres a huge risk. Its not worth it, for me to not have a dad. In a statement we just received, the seau family says, while the nihs findings have provided a measure of comfort, we remain heartbroken that junior is no longer with us and are deeply saddened to receive confirmation that he suffered from such a debilitating condition. Junior was a loving father, teammate, and committed member of his community. That is how we will always remember him. Outfront tonight, coy wilder. You have suffered multiple concussions, and several times you were seeing stars and went back out on the field. What was your reaction today when you heard that junior seau suffered from cte, which he got from football . I think a lot of former players were expecting that, erin. Its sad. And i think the main thing is tha