Still chattingto Senator Rand Paul,

talking about drugs,the economy,

war in the Middle East,and the finest Kentucky bourbon.

I got all of them for youbecause I didn't want you

to show any favoritismin your state.

I got news for you. We'reputting 'em all in our swag bag

and we're taking 'em with us.

(laughter)

I love that you know whata swag bag is. I didn't...

No, I just didn't think I'd everhear Rand Paul say "swag bag."

See, they can't...they can't give you any money.

I can't take any money,but if it's made in Kentucky

and it's consumable, I can takeas much as you can give.

-Are you serious?-I'm...

-I'm not making that up. -Whatif I make money in Kentucky?

Hmm. And I can consumethat money.

I'm not... I'm not encouragingthis. I'm not enc...

All right, let's talk about...let's talk about drugs.

Now, um, Rand Paulthe deregulator says,

uh, people shouldn't be toldby the government

what they can smoke,uh, eat, or drink.

So here's a few examples.If Rand Paul was president,

would it be illegalto smoke weed?

Not federally.

And I think stateswould make up their minds.

So, for example, right now,Colorado has decided

that it's not illegal.

I think that iscompletely Colorado's purview.

So there shouldn't be federallaws against most things.

In fact,when we started the country,

we had lawsagainst counterfeiting,

-against treason, and piracy.-Yeah.

And I'm still for lawsagainst piracy.

You talking about, like,Somali pirates or, like...

-Somali pirates. Any kindof thing. -Were they, like,

-copying CDs back then?-But the bottom line is

thing-things like crime,even murder,

was not a federal statute.It was always a state statute.

That doesn't... Here's thething. Forgive my simple mind,

but when I hear that, I go,"Isn't that the whole point

of being the United Statesof America? Isn't that..."

Like, if you have that, whatstops one state from saying,

"We don't want to restrict,uh,

any people from cominginto any establishment."

And another state goes,"We're not particularly fond

-"of dark-skinned folks,-I think...

and they shouldn't be allowedto come in here."

When does the governmentstep in though?

I think there are rightsthat supersede state's rights.

-Okay. -And so the14th Amendment obviously would.

The 14th Amendment says thateveryone has equal protection

and states can't. And so I ama believer that there is a role

for the federal government tosay, "You have a natural right

-that cannot be agroba...abrogated by the state." -Yeah.

And so I think there is a rolefor the state government.

For the most part though,whether or not Colorado decides

to legalize marijuanareally is their business,

and there's no real reasonto have a federal rule on that.

And, in fact, then certainstates will develop certain,

uh, different, uh, experimentsor proclivities.

Colorado might have it, but, uh,

maybe Alabama'snot going to have it.

The good thing about it isis it allows us to have

a little bit differentcultural norms

in different partsof the country.

-But-but what is...-And then maybe the country goes

-in one direction or goesin another direction. -What is

a cultural norm?So if someone...

if a baker in one stateor bakers in certain states say,

"We do not wantto serve gay people,"

should that not be somethingthat is federal?

Or would you say that's upto the state to d... to decide?

Well, I thinkthere are certain rights

that the 14th Amendment talksabout with equal protection

that do supersede andthat the federal government

-has a role in.-So that would apply to...

That has a role in.Yeah, there are certain rights

that the 14th Amendment wouldsay that you do have a role in

and that you do have.Becomes more complicated though

-because everything isn'tso simple as... like, uh, -Yes.

with expression. People aresaying, "Do people have a right

"to express themselves?Do people have a right

to have religious freedom andhave differences of opinions?"

I think we're better off if, uh,we try to persuade each other

rather than try to beat eachother over the head with...

particularly with the evolutionof culture,

of what is acceptableand not acceptable.

The government shouldn't punishyou or make things illegal,

but the government shouldn't,same time, maybe be

in the business of saying,"It's obviously a good thing"

or putting an imprimaturon things.

I'm kind of more for thegovernment kind of staying out

of things andkind of letting things evolve

and change over time.

And I think we're more likelyto-to change in a peaceful way

that way, rather thansort of beating each other up.

-I'm against violence, I think.-You sound, uh...

-You can drink to that, if youwant. -You can drink to that,

my friend.You can drink to that.

Mmm. You can drink to that.

I've got one more bottleover here.

This is an interesting one.

Very complicated.

Takes a lot of time.

Uh, I was even suggestedagainst bringing this

into the conversation.

But a fine... the finest,gun control.

American gun control.

Oh.

Are you gonna need help?

Don't tell me what to do,government.

(cheering and applause)

Gun control.

First of all,let's start at the top.

What does it mean to you?

When you hear that phrase,what does that mean to you?

I worry about it, becausethe-the language, "gun control,"

to me, sounds like you're goingto try to tell me what to do,

whether I can buy a gunor own a gun.

And I think the ownershipof guns, you know,

with the Second Amendment,is a guarantee.

It's just as important as any ofthe rest of the Bill of Rights.

Let me interrupt you then,ask an honest question

that I think many peoplewould even be afraid to ask.

It is a guarantee,according to the Constitution--

I understand this completely--

but is that a guarantee that youwould ever consider changing?

Would people...I mean, does the Constitution...

I know it was last amended,I-I was told, in 1992.

So would that not be somethingthat you'd look at changing

if you think it would makethe situation better?

You can, uh, change it.And it's-it's difficult to do.

-You got to get two-thirdsof Congress -Yeah.

or three-fourthsof the legislatures of the state

to change the Constitution. Butthe reason we made it difficult

is is that the Bill of Rights,

people thought werevery important rights,

some of the most importantrights, so we enshrined them

in the Bill of Rights,and we didn't really want

the Constitutionto be changed easily.

I will say that one ofthe biggest fundamental problems

I have is the premisethat people are...

that are going to commit crimescare about fines

or will obey the law. I thinklaw-abiding people do tend

to obey gun laws that we have--

background checks,things like that.

The problem,like in California recently,

-is that if you're goingto commit a suicide act, -Yes.

you're not really too concernedif they give you a ticket.

Yeah, but-but now here'smy question.

If you're going to imposesome sort of regulation on it,

isn't it betterthan no regulations?

So-so you're saying there arebad guys with guns, right?

If-if there are bad guyswith guns, I mean,

even as a good guy with a gun,you have to understand

that you have to try and limitthe bad guy's access to the gun.

Or is that not somethingyou can...

I think, for the most part,if you look at crime,

quite a bit of it,it's bought already illegally

-through the marketplace.-But the guns have come

from somewhere.I mean... I mean, it's-it's...

You can buy guns onlinein America.

That's-that's insane to me.Just...

you can go on the Internetand there's no checks.

Well, the interesting thingabout it, if you do buy

-a gun online,when you go pick it up, -Yeah.

you have to pick it upat a dealer

and you get a background check.So we have background checks

on all online purchases.We have background checks

on about 90% of the gunspurchased in our country.

We don't have background checksif I have two shotguns

and you want to come overand you say, "Oh, I like

that shotgun" and you want togive me $200 for it. We don't.

What's impractical aboutwhat the president's saying

is he wants meto get a federal license

to sell one shotgun to you.It's very, very expensive

and really just wouldn't work.

The other problem is,in California,

they have everything Democrats.

It's sort of likea Democrat dreamland out there.

They have everything theDemocrats want on gun control.

-It's illegal to doprivate sales, -Yeah.

and yet the San Bernardinokiller went to his buddy

and bought two guns. Because hedidn't care that it was illegal.

-He was gonna die in the act.-So-so let's-let's take

the conversationto the uncomfortable next step

for many and that is why doAmericans need so many guns.

I mean, many countriesin the world,

especially first worlddeveloped nations, say,

"We have a group of peoplethat are trained to handle guns,

and we call them when the gunsare needed."

Why do Americans still needthe guns?

Why do you need a gun?

If I tell you,you won't tell anyone?

It's just us. It's one-on-one.

You know, people have gunsfor, uh, various reasons.

I know many people are hunters.I have a good friend

-in Kentucky. -Okay. So we takethe hunters out of it.

Well, let's at least...let's at least talk about 'em

-before we take 'em out. There'sa lot of people who hunt. -Yeah.

-There are a lot of people...-But that's a specific type

-of gun. -There are a lotof people who target-shoot.

You know, I think I've shotmy gun, like, two times.

-I have a shotgun. I almostnever shoot it... -But people...

Do you target... do youtarget-shoot with an M16 though?

-I mean, like, just, like, a...-Um, you can shoot... you can

target-shoot anything.I've-I've target,

uh, a 50-caliber, uh,gun before.

But the thing is is that, um,

even though I don't use my gunvery often,

the fact that I own itactually protects you

if you don't own it.Because it's a deterrent.

So about 50% of Americans havea gun.

So if they go intoa neighborhood

and the burglar doesn't know whohas and who doesn't have a gun,

the fact that 50% of us do is adeterrent that helps all of us.

I don't think burglarsare doing statistics

before they comeinto your house.

-I-I... -I feel like...-(cheering and applause)

I feel like... I totallyunderstand what you're saying,

and I understand that gunsare part of...

-But it baffles me.Let me ask you this. -Right.

It's funny, becauseDonald Trump mentioned it

with-with immigrants.He said, "Let's...

"Why don't we send them all out

and then slowly letthe good ones back in?"

-And I went... Would you everconsider... -Now, we... if we...

We're gonna have to drink,we'll talk about it, yeah.

-Then we got to drink.-That makes sense.

If you're gonna talkabout really stupid things,

we're gonna have to...Okay. Do... Look.

-No, no. Here. -That's thedumbest idea I've ever heard of.

He's gonna send everybody homeand then he's gonna bring 'em

-all back? That's his program.-But here's my question.

Could you not maybe applya dumb idea in a smart...

What-what if you did thatwith guns? What if you said,

"We're gonna go all guns outand then slowly bring them..."

Start with the hunters, startwith certain types of guns.

-Is there not somethingyou could do there? -Yeah.

No, I think... I think...I guess the... It's a...

it's a difference of opinion,because I think

it's not really the gunsthat are the problem.

I think it's the people that usethe guns are the problem.

But a man without a gunis a lot less of a problem.

-Like, if you came in hereand you didn't have a gun -Yeah.

and you started punchingeverybody, we would be like,

-"This was horrible," but it'snot gonna end our lives. -Right.

-Like... So I guess what you'resaying. -Right. Um... Right.

The thing is is that if you wantto get rid of all of the guns,

then you'd have to havea constitutional amendment

and then you'd have to ban guns.I'm not in favor of that,

and I don't think muchof our country is,

because we prideour independence.

Even going way backto the Founding Fathers,

we saw guns, even then--and it sounds scary--

but as a deterrent to tyranny.

-Uh, the first tyranny wasgetting rid of the king. -Yes.

And so... I'm not sayinganything rises to that,

but, still, the idea of gunownership and independence...

We also collected, sort of,people from everywhere

who wanted to escape tyranny,who came...

who got away from tyranny,but who came here seeking

some, uh... this greatindependence that we have here

to do pretty much what you want,

not to hurt others.But, I mean, we should stop

and we should have a deterrentand we should do everything

-we can to stop gun violence.I don't think... -What is...

Then what is the one biggestthing that you think

would helpin the gun conversation?

What is the one big thingwhere you go,

-"We've made a move in thedirection..." -Right.

The families that have beenlost, the children that...

What is the one you can saywhere you go,

"Let's just try and do that.As a gun owner,

even I feel likethis could help"?

You know, if you look atthe commonalities, if you...

There's a lot of differentviolence. There's regular crime.

-Yes. -But then there'sthese mass shootings

that seem to get a lot of theattention and are terrible.

And, you know, for my kids,I just can't imagine coming home

and your kids have been killed.

But if you lookat the mass shootings,

there's some common things.They're white teenagers

with mental illness,predominantly.

They tend to go to places,though, that are defenseless.

They don't shoot uppolice stations,

they don't shoot upthe sheriff stations.

So they go wherethere's a big sign saying,

"We don't haveany defenses here."

So I think we shouldreverse that.

-And I know people would say...-So-so would you... so would you

give guns to, like,schoolteachers?

I-I'd put a sign upsaying that we are defended

and you, uh, come in hereat your own peril.

But would you give the...Would you say that teachers

should have the guns?

Well, what I would do isI think if you have the money

and ability and it's...We already do this. And there...

when there areviolent high schools,

we have policemen in 'em.

-And there are... -But would yousay that teachers should have...

-Well, what I would do...-...access to the guns?

I'd go... I'd go througha series of things.

Uh, I would... I would say,in certain instances,

you would probably have armedpolicemen, 'cause we already do.

-Okay. -In certain placeswhere there's a lot of violence.

In certain places you might havesecurity guards.

In certain placesyou might say yes,

teachers might haveconcealed carry or, uh,

principals might haveconcealed carry.

Have you seenwhat children do to teachers?

If I knew my teacherhad a gun...

I think that having somedeterrents

and having some self-defense isbetter than not being defended,

and really, we havea rash of these things.

One after another,they tend to choose people

who are defenseless,and I think when you announce

that you're going to be defendedthat you do change behavior.

For example, with terroristsattacking our cockpits...

-Yeah? -I would announcethat 100% of our airline pilots

are armed and you come inat your own peril.

I think thatdoes set a deterrent

and also, evenif it doesn't deter it,

maybe you do stop the person

who does chooseto come into the cockpit.

Well, you know what, I willsay this to you, Senator--

thank you for coming here,

for havingan honest conversation

-over a drink. Cheers to you.-Cheers.