Tragedy and what he says now about this controversial halftime comments about guns. There is a gun culture in the National Football league. Number three, can president obama get his way in washington . Everybody says we agree with it. Lets get it done. Number four, a Daring Rescue sees one navy s. E. A. L. Dead. Number five, the dede deejay royal prank. Were so sorry that this has happened to them. Ill talk about all of that and more with my guests in new york, washington, and around the country. This is piers morgan tonight. Good evening. A big story tonight. Another nfl tragedy, another grieving family. Teammates and fans left asking one question, why . A week after the Kansas City ChiefsJovan Belcher killed the mother of his baby and killed himself, a fiery car Crash Leaves One player dead and another accused of driving drunk orb. He was released one day after the mursercedes he was driving flipped over and his teammate was killed. Police officers on the scene said they thought alcohol was a contributing factor. The cowboys played the bengals on saturday afternoon and won. This is the head coach Jason R Garrett on espn after the game. Josh and jerry were really close. They were best friends. They spent an immense amount of time together, and they were close. Joining me now is jerry browns mother and his grandmother. Welcome both to you. First, let me offer you my deepest condolences on this devastating loss to you and your family. Its every mothers nightmare, stacey. How are you bearing up with it . My faith. Knowing that jerrys in good hands now with god and the strong faith that i have, knowing that ill see him again one day. How did you hear the news . The Police Officer was trying to locate me for four hours, and finally got my telephone number from someone and called me while i was at work, which he didnt know i was at work. I just wanted him to tell me what was wrong. And he told me that my son was killed this morning, saturday morning, at 2 00 something in dallas, texas, in a car crash. When you heard that alcohol may have played a contributing factor, were you angry . You obviously know the man who is accused as well. Hes been a friend of your late son for a very long time. How did you feel . Well, i was upset, but i realized, you know, our youth today are young and stupid, and we were all once that age, and have done things were not proud of. So i realize everyone thinks theyre invincible and thinks its not going to happen to me. So because i know josh brent and hes been part of our family since jerry went to the university of illinois, thats all i can do is pray for him and his family because i know hes hurting just as well as we are, because him and jerry were like brothers. Theresa, jerry was the oldest of 20 grandchildren. Very much, i understand, a role model for the family wrfrb devastating for you, too. Describe to me your reaction to what happened. Well, stacey called me saturday morning after she had received the call from the police stating that jerry was in a bad car accident and that he had passed away. So i told her everything is okay because hes in gods hands. Dont worry about him because hes all right. Then i hung up and called the rest of my family. Members let them know that gera was in a very bad car accident and he had passed away. And yes, my feelings, my heart, every part of me aches because i knew the legacy he was leaving for the rest of his cousins, because they were so proud of him that all of them are playing football. Not only did he work hard to become a football player, that was his dream since he was a little boy. That meant more to him than anything in the world. Thats why i praise god and thank him that he let my baby, which was a beautiful person, loving and caring, anybody who meets jerry would be glad to have him in their lives and a part of their lives. And that young man, josh, i pray for him, too, because he has feelings, and he loved jerry. They were the best of friends. I have no ill feelings toward him. I pray that everything will be well with him and his family. And to let him know that god will take care of him. He will bring him through. Because he was a beautiful friend. They were really friends. He released a statement, theresa, which im going to read. Im devastated, filled with grief, filled with grief for the loss of my close friend and teammate jerry brown. Im also griefstricken for his family, friends, and all who are blessed enough to have known him. I will live with this horrific and tragic loss every day for the roast of my life. My prayers with his family, our teammates, and his friends at this time. The last facebook posting jerry left was on november 29th. And he wrote the following, that he was expecting a child and he said how the fast life isnt as fun as it used to be after living it for so long. When you look at the problems that so many footballers are having these days, it seems, do you believe that there is a cultural issue there that needs to be dealt with . That the behavior of the players off the pitch, perhaps, needs more concern . We can say yeah and then also i think i think its the individual. Because yeah, football life is a fast life. Because theyre all right in the media. Theyre always out in the limelight. Theyre always around people, clubs, getting in free, doing this and doing that. So i think its the media i think its with everybody in general and then also i think its within the person, the individual. Finally, stacey, how would you like your son to be remembered . He obviously was a shining star. A young footballer who has been killed at potentially heading toward his prime as a player. How would you like him as his mother to be remembered . Well, i would like jerry to be remembered as his faith in god and being the best of friends and just an allout scholar. Just a good person. If you need a shoulder to lean on, he was always there. Unfortunately, his daughter, his soontobe daughter who will be born in february, wont get a chance to know her father, but shell learn about him through us. I just want them to remember him and to keep his daughters in their prayers, and just pray for her family and them. Stacey and theresa, again, my very sincere condolences and thank you for joining me on a very difficult day for you and for your family. Thank you very much for having us. You have heard of the talk of all this with bob costas. Hes the man who sparked controversy last week with his comments about guns. And hes here to talk about this latest tragedy and more. Welcome. What was your reaction to jerry browns family . Another case involving bad behavior. Bad behavior, but not directly linked or even tuf to t tan gently linking it to the case of Javon Belcher,. Usa today reported 624 arrests have been made on nfl players since the year 2000. I think they reported that as at least. You can infer from that that some of that bad behavior went on in cases where the player was lucky enough not to have been arrested. Its actually more than 600. Theyre saying 28 involved alcoholrelated crime, alleged crime, whatever the outcome of the cases were. In this case, youre right. Theyre not linked necessarily, guns and alcohol. What they are linked to possibly is the culture of the modern nfl football player. Do you believe, and the reason its quite relevant here, covering time magazine, Roger Goodell facing all kinds of issues about the league. The league is at a cross roads. A crisis, would you say . I dont know it approaches crisis, but a crossroads because theres a funt mendamenta aal n the game. It takes a toll on so many who play it. Not just body, but as were now learn, mind and emotions. Its a legitimate question to ask whether for some the toll the game takes, brain trauma, medications to may take to enhance performance or deal with pain, all those things, the culture of the league increases the likelihood of abhorrent behavior. Its possible 17 of more footballers carry guns. Clearly, most of them have a lot of money. They drive fast cars. They go to nightclubs. They party and all the rest of it. Again, i guess it comes back to an overriding sense that the culture of the game is south of control. At least statistics suggest that. What can you really do about it . Im not sure what can be done about it exactly. The nfl prohibits the carrying of firearms at any facility, practice facility, any event thats connections to the team. They made a Public Relations appearance in the stadium. I dont know how closely they enforce that. They do prohibit that, and they do tell their players in their stated policy that while it is legal to possess a gun, we actually urge you not to. We urge you if you do possess a gun that you use it strictly for protection of home and family or possibly if youre a hunter. That is an infinitely more likely that something bad will happen if youre armed than something good will happen. Even as we sat down, a man was shot in broad daylight, literally downstairs here at the cnn headquarters in manhattan. Shot in the head, point blank range, in front of christmas crowds. Huge crowds. Just bringing it right home to where we are, this endemic, as many see it, of guns in america. Thats what i was trying to get at last sunday night. Do i believe that without impinging on what i take to be the spirit of the Second Amendment and the legitimate right to own a gun of law abiding citizens to protect themselves and their family without impinging on that, we could easily tighten up the existing laws or expand the existing laws. 40 of all the firearms purchased in this country are purchased without a background check. There is no federal ban on assault weapons like ak47s or high capacity ammunition magazines or a 50caliber sniper rifle which can literally pierce an airplane fuselage. Theres no purpose for anyone outside the police force and military to have weapons like that. And while there are tight gun controls in some areas, its ridiculously easy for someone to purchase a gun online or multiple guns or at a gun show and then those guns wind up in the hands of people in washington, d. C. Or new york which may have stricter gun controls but its so easy to get around the gup controls. You could literally be a felon, walk out of jail, and it would be easy for you to purchase a weapon without any kind of a background check. You could be on a terrorist list, a nofly lest, and stim acquire a gun in this country. George zimmerman had an arrest record and a restraining order for Domestic Violence taken out for him in his past. That restraining order had expired. Im not responding on the whys and where fors that will play out between him and trayvon martin, but what does common sense tell you about the likelihood of that confrontation taking place in the first place if George Zimmerman wasnt carrying a gun . I couldnt agree more. Lets take a break. I want to get into why that imminently sensible analysis is deemed so controversial in america and whether thats part of the problem. [ female announcer ] what if the next big thing, isnt a thing at all . Its lots of things. All waking up. Becoming part of the global phenomenon we call the internet of everything. 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When you see these issues, do you want to walk away or step up . With a degree in the field of counseling or psychology from capella university, youll have the knowledge to make a difference in the lives of others. Lets get started at capella. Edu in the last seven days, at least seven players around the league have gone to their Team Security officers to turn in the fi firearms they possessed from their homes. Im also told that one of these players had multiple firearms as Javon Belcher did, he had eight. One of the players who had multiple firearms told his security officer, i dont trust myself with these guns in the house. Please take them away. Peter king on football night in america last night discussing guns and the impact last weekends shooting is having on players. Im interviewing bob costas. A Fast Development there, seeing players taking responsibility for their own possible lack of responsibility. It wasnt my intent to become a spokesperson in any way for this issue. But if no matter how imperfectly i may have done it a week ago sunday, if this has sparked a conversation and in some small way influenced peoples behavior, so much the better. Front page of the paper, not the sports section, but the front page of usa today is about guns in the National Football league. There is a gun culture in the National Football league. Javon belcher had eight guns. For those who say what if cassandkasandra perkins had a g. There are guns at the house. She would have had to have it holstered to have it ready when javon came bursting through the door. Nevertheless, Terrell Suggs had to turn in his guns because of a legal action. Nine guns including shotguns and handguns and what not. Tank johnson, his were illegal, but he had a virtual munitions plant in his house in chicago. Lets use common sense. When tony dungy says when he asked 80 players at training camp, former coach of the colts, how many of you have a gun, and about 65 of them raise their hands, lets use common sense. Even if those guns were legally obtained, what do you think over time would be the ratio between unintended and tragic consequences, including accidents, but also including times when people snapped and impulse got in the way, anger got in the way . The ratio of that as versus the times the gun would be used for a good outcome for legitimate self defense. Its common sense to see where thats going to line up. The argument that was thrown at me, and hands up, i come from a country with strict gun control. Very few gun owners there, we dont have a Second Amendment. We dont have a right to bare arms. And its not my country in that sense, therefore i have absolute respect for the constitution. What i find difficult is the way the progun lobby, and i use the phrase quite deliberately. A certain type of progun lobbyist twists this debate in a very unhealthy way. They always say its never the gun, its always the person, with a clear indication that the people are evil and they perpetrate evil with these stories. Three stories, december 5th, a 4yearold boy accidentally shot and killed his younger brother in minneapolis with his fathers hand hand handgun. December 6th, a 7yearold finds his grandfathers gun and shoots his center. December 9th, a boy is shot when a gun go offs in a parking lot. These arent evil people. These are kids. And they just happened to stumble across firearms. And in fairness, there are legitimate instances of selfdefense, either a justifiable homicide or where the presence of a gun deterred someone up to no good. You have to consider in the larger context how many bad things happen because of an attitude toward guns in this country. Thats what i was trying to get at on that sunday night. My mistake was and i acknowledge that, normally, we have about two and a half minutes. Here we had 90 seconds. I thought it was selfevident this was a Domestic Violence issue. What else would it be. I alluded to a culture, but those who think im reluctant to hold the nfl account are not familiar with my work. I have made many points to the culture of the nfl, asked many questions of Roger Goodell and officials and plan to do so in the future. Are drugs involved, alcohol involved . Yes, all of those things. But guns are among them. It seems that some people want it to be about everything and anything but guns. I dont think its only about guns, but i think that guns even if legally obtained, peoples attitudes toward guns are definitely a part of this problem. Could Javon Belcher, as people have noted, this is obvious, could he have stabbed her . Yeah, i knew o. J. Simpson. Could he have strangled her or thrown her out the window . Yeah, but the presence of a gun makes it much more likely that Something Like this will occur. Much more likely. What iulse find disturbing is a lots of it is driven by fear. Youll see the moment the Aurora Shooting happened. One single shooting in american history. Youll see immediately out come inthe progun lobbyists saying if everyone in the theater had been armed, he wouldnt have done what he did. To me, its such a facile argument. It would be comical if it werent so tragic. Youre in a darkened theater. People start shooting willynilly. Think of the empire state incident a few month ago where some guy goes in to take vengeance on former co workers. The police show up. These are highly trained people with firearms. They eventually shoot and kill this guy, but nine innocent bystanders are hit in the cross fire. This stuff doesnt always play itself out like a movie. In that case, in the following month, the 44 spike in gun sales in colorado because people bought in mentally to this. This saying, if you had been armed, you would be okay. You can csee how someone fees a sense of comfort and peace if they have a firearm. They can protect themselves at least theoretically. No one is saying, at least im not saying and most people i know, arent saying you shouldnt be able if youre a lawabiding sitven, if you pass a background check, if you take a safety course, and in fairness to the nra, theyre big on that. If you take a safety course, if you meet all those requirements, you ought to have a gun in your home for protection. Perhaps under certain circumstances, you ought to be able to carry a gun, all those things are fine, but theres