Transcripts For CNNW CNN Tonight With Don Lemon 20180215

And sources say he is talking to investigators. He had been expelled. Law enforcement sources say the weapon used to kill those 17 people was an ar15 style firearm. He had a gas mask and smoke grenades and pulled the fire alarm, just to lure out more victims. Sources also saying that he tried to mix into the crowd, the crowd of students, to try to escape. Those are the facts right there. But they dont even begin to tell the full story here, the entireto story. The story is this. This is a sickness that has infected the country. Unchecked and unfettered gun violence. Today, 17 lives are over. 17 families are torn apart. Parents who sent their kids to school this morning, imagine that, many people send their kids to school. Just like theyve done every other day for years. They trusted their kids would be safe. Teachers went to work this morning, trusted that they would be safe in their space, in their work environment. The way we all should be safe in our work environments, every day, everywhere in our schools. Our churches, our offices at concerts, at nightclubs. Do you feel safe tonight . Theres another fact that we need to face. Every single one of us is just playing the odds at this point. The odds that in a country of 325 million souls that we wont be the ones who get hit by the next bullets that start flying. We wont be the one that gets that phone call about someone you love who did. Your son, your daughter, your brother, your sister, your spouse, or your parent, even a friend. Anyone you know. The phone call that changes your life. But with every deadly shooting in this country, the odds get worse and worse and worse. Are you really willing to keep playing those odds . Your life is too precious for that. The lives of our loved ones are too precious. The lives of the people in our cities and towns are too precious. Have we forgotten that life is a gift . Its a disgrace that this is still happening after sandy hook, columbine, virginia tech, emanuel ame church, pulse nightclub shooting, las vegas, the list goes on and on and on. This is what we are right now. But is this really who we want to be . A country where anybody, at any time, could be shot to death. And then when a bunch of people are killed and lives are shattered, we are sad and maybe angry, and then we forget, and we move on, until the next time. With the tragedy remaining in the headlines for even a shorter time than it did before. So just forget politics here. This is about lives. The lives of all americans. We need to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people. Everyone agrees with that. People who oppose gun control will say, today is not the day to talk about it. And you know what, they are absolutely right. Because the day to talk about it was weeks, months, years, or decades ago. And yes, of course, we also need to make Mental Health a priority in this country. But guess what, we can do both. We can do both of those things at the same time. If we dont, we have no one to blame but ourselves. This is america, people. Dont forget that. I know that we are better than this. So lets discuss all of it. The facts and the story behind all of it. And i want to bring in cnns martin savidge. Hes at the scene of the shooting at the high school for us. Ku ku kyung lah is at broward north hospital. So 17 confirmed dead. What more do we know . We know that Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is something that no one ever expected in this country. Tonight it is one massive crime scene. Authorities held a briefing just a few minutes ago and the sheriff said that 12 of the victims inside of the school have now been identified. Of course, that means that there are five other people that have yet to be identified. They are not releasing any names, because, of course, notification to families is first and foremost in their minds. The sheriff did say among the dead, a football coach. Among the wounded, a child of one of the sheriffs deputies in this community here. The impact is so far reaching. The superintendent says that all of the students have now been accounted for. In other words, there are no students that are missing here. They may not have identified, but they say they do know and have accounted for all students. And then on top of that, the grief process begins. The superintendent says tremendous grief and sorrow. Governor rick scott, he spoke out. He said that this was an and heres a quote here, this was an absolute pure act of evil. Thats how he classified it. There were questions, of course, just kind of like the issues you were raising, don, about the whole issue of gun control and what has and has not been done and security in the schools. He was not going to address that. Didnt even go there. And then i should also point out that what also is being reported here now is that this investigation is only getting underway. And it is quite clear, even though Authorities Say that they did not have any heads up or any warning, they do believe that there were students or there were people who knew the gunman, who had some indication that he was going to carry out this act. The sheriff didnt say how he knew that. He only said, believe me, come tomorrow, he expects five, ten, maybe a dozen people come forward and say that they had heard something about this. Meanwhile, inside of the school, the terror, very clear, coming from the students as they lived it, as they recorded it on their cell phones. And heres just a sample. Holy [ gunfire ] oh, my god oh, my god [ screaming ] [ gunfire ] holy [ gunfire ] reporter you understand how that sounds and the imagery is just terrifying to listen to. The power of the gunfire thats coming there. The state attorney general was also speaking to us tonight. She says that all funerals are going to be covered, the cost, that is, by the state of florida and all counseling for the survivors is also going to be covered by the state of florida. But it is quite clear, theyre just barely coming to grips with what has happened. So far, something this state has scene already too much of, don. You know whats interesting to me, martin . You know, its not that you had anything to do with this. But we bleeped out the expletives instead of the gunfire. I think the gunfire is much more offensive than someone saying bad words. Those bad words dont cause lives to be lost and people to mourn in the morning. They just cause this fake outrage about, oh, my gosh, i cant believe they said that. But moving forward, thats where we are right now. This shooter pulls a fire alarm to draw people out of the classroom to get a higher death toll. What more about this are you finding out about this suspect . Reporte reporter well, we know that the suspect is a 19yearold, a former student. And as youve already described, its reported he had a gas mask, was throwing smoke grenades and pulled a fire alarm. Its not the first time Something Like this has been done. Ive covered a lot of these kinds of shootings. Jonesboro, arkansas, same exact thing. The fire alarm was pulled to get students out of a classroom. That tactic has been used before. The gunman did attempt, apparently, to mix in with the students as they fled the school and he was apprehended, though, a short time later. So that ruse did not work for any great length of time. And its he was alive. And i say that because, most of these Mass Shootings that we have seen, especially mass School Shootings, usually the gunperson kills themselves. That was not the case today. Taken into custody. So, a time of reckoning is yet to come. Don . Martin, thank you so much. I appreciate that. I want to get to kyung lah now. Kyu kyung, youre at the hospitals that have been treating these victims. What are you learning . Reporter well, its the Broward Health system that were getting the latest information from right now, don. There are two primary hospitals. Im standing at the hospital thats closest to the school. A total of 17 patients were transported from this high school to these two primary hospitals. And what were learning from the hospital this evening is that there is some good news. We dont know how many of them were students, how many of them were teachers, of those 17. But we are now learning that ten of them are nonlifethreatening injuries. They are still wounded, but theyre nonlifethreatening injuries. Five of them, though, are considered lifethreatening injuries. There are five patients that are still fighting for their lives tonight. The bad news is that two of the patients that were transported to this hospital behind me, they did not survive their injuries. The hospital said that they will refrain from explaining exactly what they suffered from. They didnt want to get into those details, trying to protect these children as much as they could. And their parents, who are trying to come to grips with all of this. Woven into all of this, the complexity here for this hospital this evening was when the shooting happened, because this hospital is still close, one of the patients they received was the gunman himself. The suspected gunman. He was brought here via ambulance. He was surrounded, that ambulance surrounded by police cars, treated here by the doctors, the doctors said they simply had to strip away the idea of who all of these people were. That they had to treat them as humans. And then this suspect was put back into an ambulance and taken away. That ambulance driving down the highway, surrounded by police vehicles. They certainly want to make sure that they question this suspect thoroughly. But that was some of the struggle here this evening, don. But, again, five patients here that they have in a condition that they called lifethreatening. Don . We have to remember, these are children in the high school. Theyre kids, kyung. Parents and family have to be terribly scared about their loved ones. Are folks getting the answer at the scene that they need . Is the scene chaotic . Whats going on . Reporter its quelled a little bit here, but its having covered so many of these, its in the hours after a shooting that there is the most terror, because you just dont know as a parent. Weve seen it time and time again. The school itself is chaotic. The police, the Law Enforcement have got to figure out whats happening. And then parents are left in the tertiary, trying to connect with their children, trying to figure out whats going on. If they dont get the answers at the school, they start going to their community hospitals. What we saw here were vehicles that are symbols of American Family life. Minivans, suvs tearing into these parking lots at a controlled rate of speed, but then you would see mothers and fathers getting out and rushing to the emergency room entrance, being directed by Law Enforcement to go to a different part of the hospital, to try to figure out where their children are. To try to get some answers. And its really what you reminds you of. When you watch this scene over and over again, these family vehicles pulling in here, and the parents simply trying to figure out whats happened to their children. A scene, an American Culture that keeps happening, that they continually dont understand. Kyung, thank you. Kyung at the hospital. Martin savidge at the scene. Well get back to them. Please stand by. I want to bring in now two students at the hospital. Brandon menhoff is a senior who knows the suspect and brandons brother, aidan, is a freshman at the high school. I appreciate you joining us so much. I cant imagine that you have the courage to do this, but were so glad that you do. So thank you. Aidan, first of all, were so glad that both of you are safe. You were in lockdown in your classroom. You took pictures. So tell us about what was happening and what you were thinking when you took these photos . Really the first thing that popped into my mind is wheres the shooter and where is he going next . As you know, weve all the entire school probably heard the pops and really nobody knew where it came from. As you know, there can be echoes left and right. And it was really hard to identify it. So everyone just wanted to know where he was, were you safe, is your friend safe, and it was chaos out there. How long, aidan, were you on lockdown, and what were you seeing and hearing . I was probably on lockdown for about an hour, maybe ten minutes. It started with a few pops in the beginning, maybe about two, and i didnt really think much of it, as we normally have, you know, pops of chick bags opening at lunch or someone throwing something on the floor. And i actually had one of my friends, xavier, run into the classroom from using the bathroom in our fourth period. And he was frantically screaming that there was a shooter and that he could be close. And we all were just kind of startled. And then once the fire drill alarm was pulled, we knew this wasnt a joke anymore, as we had previously had a fire drill the same day, a few hours earlier, and we knew this wasnt normal and there was something definitely sinister going on. So from the beginning, you didnt believe it, you thought maybe it was fireworks or something. Nobody believed it. Yeah, maybe firecrackers, pulling a prank. So how did people react . Did you learn anything from the fire drill or from the drills that you have that helped you in this particular situation . Or is there nothing you can do in a situation like this that can prepare you . Yeah, we learned, you know, that we need to be silent, phones need to be off, we need to be on the same side as the door, not in sight of the window. We did do that, but, of course, there were tears, there was crying, some of my classmates did not know if they were leaving the school alive. And sadly, honestly, some of them didnt, aidan. Brand brandon, i want to bring you in here. Youre a senior, i understand. You knew the shooter. Yes, sir. Tell us about it. I had class with him sophomore year. I got assigned to a Group Project with him. I started talking to him. He told me how he got kicked out of two private schools, he was held back twice, he had aspirations to join the military, he enjoyed hunting. He always just seemed very quiet and strange. What do you mean, strange, brandon . Just always to himself, never really tried to associate with anybody, but once given the opportunity, he liked to talk. Was there anything besides him being sort of a loner, was there anything besides that that would make you think that he might go to extremes . Certainly not to this, but is there anything that raised any alarms . Other than todays stereotypes, not really. Not really. Did he have you said he was a loner, but did he have any friends . He spoke to you. Did you consider yourself a friend or just someone who knew him . As far as i know, he didnt have any friends. I wasnt really friends with him. I tried to avoid him for the most part. But when i got assigned to work with him, he started talking to me. How long had he been at the school . You said he got kicked out of two other schools, that he had aspirations to be in the military. Do you know how long he had been at this particular school . From what i believe, that was his first year. How long ago was that . He was there last year that was two years ago. So he was there you met him two years ago and he was there last year, so he was there for a total of two years, that you know . Yeah, and he was expelled last year for possession of weapons. For possession of weapons. Thats what i was hearing all over local news today. So youve heard that . I knew he went there in the beginning, i didnt see him after. Were you surprised see him then again did you see did you have any interaction with him before this started . Did you see him or just figure out afterwards that it was him, brandon . No. I was hearing it after the fact. Sitting outside the School Waiting for my brother, hearing parents, listening to the news, hearing my friends texting me, just getting information. Because of the rules, and listen, we dont fwhwhat the reality is, and well check on the information that you said, because i dont know that to be true, but did anyone at the school know about the weapons part of it, the alleged weapons part of it . Im not really sure. Youre not sure. You say today was surreal for you. Tell me about what you experienced, brandon. I was just sitting in class, getting ready to leave. There was about five minutes left in class. All of a sudden the second fire the second fire alarm of the day went off, which was a little alarming with the fact that there was two in one day. Got outside, stood there for two minutes with my friends. All of a sudden we heard gunshots. No one really knew what to do. Can didnt know if it was really or if it was even a gun. People just started running. Did you know any of the people who didnt make it . I havent really heard any names. You dont know. What about you, aidan . This wasnt fully confirmed. I heard some people talking about it, i think maybe an officer, my world geography teacher dont give any names. But mr. Beegel. Say again . They dont know if one of my world geography teachers did not make it or not. He was on hes the first classroom to the right from the stairs where the shooter has entered. And a lot of people suspect that he is gone. There has been no word about him. So aidan, how long were you in the classroom . How long did this gone on before you guys left the classroom . About an hour, yeah. So you stayed in the classroom for an hour, not knowing what was happening . No, not really. You know, we were watching the news inside, but, i mean, we werent really learning information that could help us in that situation immediately. We didnt know if there were multiple shooters, where he was. So the actual shooting, aidan, how long did that go on again . Well, it probably lasted maybe 10, 15 minutes. But we were trapped inside the classroom for almost an hour, because they just didnt know whether this guy had multiple people with him or where he was before they eventually found him. So then after that period of time, did people start to come in . Take me through, when did you realize that it was safe for you to go out . Take me through that, if you will. So, it was probably 45 minutes in and we had an admin in the room that was spectating and she was telling us that police would be arriving shortly. And awe did start hearing polic opening the door busting through the doors, actually, and starting to evacuate kids. And we kept hearing it coming closer and closer to our door until they eventually made it to us and we all evacuated. So once you were outside, what was that situation like . Was it chaotic . Were authorities and school officials, what were they telling you . They werent really telling us anything else besides, keep moving. Make sure your hands are on the shoulders of the person in front of you. You know, no hands in your pockets. Just keep moving. Just keep watching until we made it out of the School Property and we dispersed from there. So we understand that nikolas cruz, according to authorities, aidan, tried to blend in with the students. So that was the reason, probably, they said, keep your hands above your head, because they werent sure who was necessarily involved in that situation, correct . Yeah. Did you guys see him at all, trying to blend in with students, either of you guys . No. No. Anyone at the school . Did they recall that . Not that ive spoken to. Most of the people that go ahead, aidan. Oh, go ahead oh. Most of the people that were presumably running with him, i believe, made it too far away to see anybody. Some people went to walmart, starbucks. Did you guys have you spoken to anyone who was anywhere near him or any of the people who were either injured or sadly killed . Nobody ive spoken to personally was injured, no. Yeah. So, aidan, you are a freshman, as i mentioned. Brandon, youre a senior, correct . Brandons a senior, youre a freshman. But aidan, your tweets drew a lot of attention from the country. How does it feel that people were following along with you as this situation was unfolding . Because no one knew anything. You were, you know, you were sort of the vessel that was giving information to the rest of the country and the world. I mean, thats a huge responsibility. I first started posting on twitter after i notified my family members. I tagged the high school. I was nervous and i just wanted it to be known, it was out there. And i started getting notifications on my phone that people were engaging with the tweet and people really found it useful information. As i probably tweeted maybe five minutes after we started. Settling down and hiding and, you know, there was no major news source at the time. There was barely any police there at the time. So i feel like a lot of people found it useful and im glad that i could do that. I sort of touched on this a little bit earlier, but brandon, did you take did you guys take the active Shooter Training seriously before . I know youve had it. But did you take it seriously. No one thinks its going to happen. No one expected it to happen, but i dont know, we had protocol put in place. We learned about it. We talked about it. But never really know what to do until the real thing happens. Yeah. Its hard to to talk about, im sure, and for people to understand, but if you can help the rest of the country and the world understand what you guys are going through and the people there, what do you say, aidan . Id say that we have to move forward, you know, arm in arm. We need to unite together. This is obviously a time of tragedy and especially since it happened so close to us, i feel like our entire nation needs to bond together and come together. I feel like there shouldnt be a divide. I mean, this is murder of children and staff and people that help children. And i feel like we need to come together as a country and a society. Aidan and brandon, thank you so much. Those words really mean a lot. You are two very brave young men. I would spend more time with you, but unfortunately, i have to get to a press conference from the governor of florida, rick scott. Thank you so much, we appreciate it. More on our breaking news. We need to get to governor rick scott in the middle of a press conference. Lets listen. [ speaking Foreign Language ] thanks, everybody. Thanks. So that was governor of florida, again, answering questions there. I guess it was a Spanish Language newsperson, speaking in spanish. Rick scott, the governor of florida, finishing up what appears to be an impromptu press conference about the shooting in florida. 17 people lost their lives. A number of people injured in that mass shooting. The students we just poke to moments ago, unbelievable young men. And you heard what aidan said there, we need to come together, talk about this, and figure out how to prevent this from happening. Taking the politics out of it and examining what we really mean in this society about who should be able to have a weapon that can kill multiple people in an instant. Is this what our forefathers wanted . Is this what you want as parents, as friends, aunts, uncles, cousins, loved ones . Is this what you really, really want . For someone who is 19 years old, barely a teenager, to have the authority to be able to take those lives in an instant. Someone who is obviously dealing with some things, going through some things. Is this what we want as americans . Is this who we are . Think about that. When we come back, much more on this breaking news. What were learning about the gunmans background, his background check at a gun store. Vibranium secured. Well done my king. Is my ride ready . Of course, big brother. But you have to hurry. 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More entertainment, internet, and unlimited plans. More for your thing. Yeah, thats our thing. Heres our breaking news at this hour. 17 People Killed in a mass shooting at a florida high school. I say people, most of them kids, high school kids. Were learning more tonight about the 19yearold suspects weapons and about clues from his social media. Cnn crime and justice reporter Shimon Prokupecz joins me now with more. Hey, shimon, thank you so much for joining. Breaking news tonight is about what happened. I understand you have some new news tonight on the shooters background check. What can you tell us . Thats right. A lot of questions throughout the day about this weapon. The ar15 style rifle that he used in the shooting. Were now learning from u. S. Officials who have been briefed on this investigation that the shooter purchased the firearm. They now have information, the atf has been racing the ing tra firearm. And what were being told by u. S. Officials is that he purchased this himself. He went into a gun store and was able to purchase this ar15 on his own. We believe that it was done in the past year. And key here is that he passed the background check. Now, don, whats interesting here is because hes 19, so if he purchased this a year ago, le lets say hes 18, thats perfectly legal. You can purchase this style of weapon at a firearm store at his age. What you cant purchase a handgun. Because you have to be 21 to purchase a handgun. So its kind of an interesting piece of detail here that there is nothing essentially preventing him from purchasing this weapon. So you have to be 21 to purchase a handgun, but only 18 for an assaultstyle weapon . Thats the federal law. Essentially, there was nothing preventing him, not his age, nothing in his background, from purchasing this. That is that makes absolutely no sense. Uh, do we know anything about search warrants . Shimon, im hearing theres new information about them . Yeah, so the local police there along with the fbi and the atf all working together here. We know of at least two search warrants that are being execu executed, that the police and fbi and atf are in the process. One of them, we believe, is his home. And then theres another location, were not sure what the other location is, but at this point, you know, its usually expected in these types of situations. They go to the home, they grab the computers, whatever else, to look to sort of get a sense of what he was doing at home, his computers, go through his computers. So what you would normally see in these types of situations is going on right now. And this is going to be work thats going to go on throughout the night. And tomorrow morning, hes supposed to be in court sp. So police will certainly learn a lot him through the night. So hes supposed to be in court in the morning. Talk to me more about some information on his social media posts again, shimon. These are some of his instagram posts. And we heard the sheriff there all day in his press conference raise issues with the social media, his background, the their background check of him, and what they were able to find was really disturbing items on his social media pages. Items about guns, Different Things he talked about, killing Law Enforcement, really concerning to them. And wondering, the police there wondering why is it that when he expressed the words that he used about killing, the pictures that he used, of the weapons, why is it that no one went to police to report this. He certainly, right now, is not only police, on the radar of the police, but certainly, when you look at the type of items he was posting, open for anyone to see on instagram, it raises a lot of questions for police as to why no one reported him. And the sheriff sort of stressed this tonight. In his last press conference of the evening, he said, you know, this whole idea, if you see something, say something. And he kept talking about that. Because time and time again, in tease ty these types of situations, someone does see something, they think, hey, ill ignore it, it doesnt seem like a big deal, but it does turn out to be a big deal. And the sheriff was concerned there were some missed opportunities here in trying to prevent this because no one alerted the police about him. Shimon witthank you very muc. If you get anymore information, please come back and report it to us. I want to bring in cnn contributor, wesley lowry. Chris wecker is a former investigator of the investigative division. It floors me. And i dont know anything i dont know everything about gun laws. I dont know everything about weapons. But what i do have the common sense. So you can get a handgun at 21 years old, right . But at 18 you can buy an assaultstyle weapon, but you cant buy a handgun when youre 18. What is the sense can you please i really want to know this. I dont mean to be facetious about this. What is the logic behind that . How does that make sense . I dont know the logic behind it. But actually in florida, if youre 18, you can get either. So florida has one of the most liberal gun laws in the count country so thats not a federal regulation, thats by state . Right. Correct. Now, if you look at the website of the International Association of chiefs of police, the Largest Police organization in the country, the major city chiefs association, all the major Law Enforcement associations, theyve come out against these assault weapons, especially these ar15s for years and years. And during the time that they were controlled or banned, violent gun crime went down 66 . So the assault weapons are the theyre not the only issue here. There are many other issues involved. But they are one of the issues here. Mmhmm. So, chris, once again, we see these images of Young Children running out of their school, hands above their heads, Law Enforcement swamps a mass shooting scene. You can see them all there standing. Look at this scene. We have seen these images before. What will investigators be looking for at a crime scene here . Well, there are a lot of things going on right now. The Fbis Evidence Response Team is looking very hard at the crime scene, his movements, tracking his movements from start to finish. Whats more important, though, is, you talked about the sort of the Early Warning system that see something, say something. This kid was flashing red. There were neon signs over his Left Shoulder from his social media posts, he was about to go off. And ive seen his social media posts from two years ago. And hes posing with weapons, hes posing with knives. Hes making threats. 219 followers. Thats 219 chances that someone could have picked up the phone and made a phone call. This is the most egregious example of nobody pick up the phone and making that call. Whether its a teacher, a parent, or somebody that saw his posts on the internet. But this kid was flashing red. Yeah. We keep asking, you know, were signs missed or, you know, if theres anything you can do. Weve done this with every single shooting that ive been here, and ive been sitting on this anchor desk for cnn for 12 years now, almost 13 years. Do we ever really find does it ever make sense . Do we ever find out what the issue is beyond the one common denominator here . Which is you know what. Is that for me, don . Yeah, thats for you. Yeah, there are always lessons learned. There have been many, many things that have changed over the years, but mainly in the area of trying to prevent these incident ifs a School Security standpoint, from Law Enforcement response aspects, i do School Security assessments. Im up on the most recent security techniques, the things that will work or have the best chance of working. You know, its a combination of things, don. But i still go back to that first line of defense, which is the people that are can observe the behavior of this person and know, you know in your heart that something bad is about to happen. But youre reluctant to pick up the phone and stigmatize that person and draw draw Law Enforcement attention to them, because youre afraid that maybe youre wrong. Well, the stigma is not whether someone has a mental issue. A Mental Health issue. Thats not the stigma. I think the issue is, is allowing those people, that kind of person to have access to a weapon, especially an assaultstyle weapon. Wes lowry, youve been sitting by patiently here. You heard the new information. He was able to legally my an assaultstyle weapon at 18. Perhaps at he wouldnt have been able to do that with a handgun, but im hearing from chris wecker, at 18, you can do both in the state of florida, legally. Sure. And i think that that each of these shootings, and don, youve been talking about the years youve been here at cnn covering these, my entire career has been going from one of these shootings to the next of these shootings. It feels like its one of the only constant things each year that were going to find ourselves here having this conversation. We were here in vegas, in Sutherland Springs and charleston. And the list seems endless almost going back to columbine. The details are different in each of these cases. In this specific case, it does seem based on what will we know so far that there were clear and obvious warning signs of who this person was and that he might have been a risk. You think of other cases, Stephen Paddock in vegas, where we still dont have any splap explanation of why we did this. And it might have been difficult for someone to spot him beforehand. Youve been getting it through this conversation, theres a clear common denominator here of certainly some element of mental illness, but also the access to these weapons. That we are the only country where this is routinely happening this way, that our children are being slaughtered as they sit in their high schools and Elementary Schools. That we know that our valentines day might be interrupted in the middle of the afternoon as cell phone video burst into our phones of children and their hands trembling as they hear gunshots in their hall hallways, right . This is something, we run the risk of becoming desensitized to, but frankly were all traumatized by. Every few months, we know were beginning to be confronted with this trauma and this terror, that frankly a lot of our brothers and sisters across the world do not have to worry about walking into a church, a synagogue, a mosque, a high school or an Elementary School and being gunned down this way. If you look at any of the information, any of the studies thats been done about this, the only common denominator that separates from the rest of the world. The rest of the world is here and we are here off the charts when it comes to this type of violence. And only common link is the number of guns that americans are allowed to have. And listen, you can save it people who are saying, oh, its not the time to talk about guns or whatever. Yes, it is. Shut up. I dont want to hear it. It absolutely is. Again, anyone with any sense knows that this is the one common denominator that america has, the sickness that we have, that we have these sorts of things, is having this much access to guns from people especially for people who should not have access. So dont tell me that its not time to talk about it. You talk to those people down in florida who lost their loved ones. Thal tell you, its time to talk about it. My loved one would be here if this shooter did not have accn s assaultstyle rifle. And then there are those who say, its a rifle. Its different from a handgun. We should be able to buy a rifle at any age. That makes absolutely no sense. What is the logic behind that . Of course, i do think that we feel and we can feel this frustration even with how youre talking and the conversations you have. We fall into the cycle. When these shootings happen, people immediately jump out and think, dont talk about any of these things yet. And i think that theres a real i think for many of us who cover these stories and speak and interview these families, even just as reporters and journalists, not as advocates or activists, as folks who generally want to better understand the world were in or understand whats happening. It is clear that guns are the primary factor in this conversation. And that we cant get to that point and cant have that conversation, that were seeing dozens of children being killed. I had a colleague, john cox, who did an amazing project this last year, where he was looking a the hundreds of children who have been present for a School Shooting inside one of their schools. I think the number was 1,500 students since columbincolumbin. There have been a whole generation of students who have grown up with lockdown drills. A generation of teacher who is have been taught this way. And theres this fear, i think, from some folks. This isnt really about the politics or certainly not partisan politics, but theres a fear that having the reasonable conversation that the reality is guns are factor here, will lead to policy changes that those folks maybe do not want. It was alluded to earlier, when you talk to policing groups, a lot of my job is to talk to police and police chiefs, they are often the most vocal advocates for stricter gun laws. They often talk about how, if you want to support the police and cut down on things like crime or officers being killed, things weve talked a lot about over the last few years, and things that frankly a lot of folks who support gun right also talk about supporting, if you want to support the police, very often the police are the first to say there should be tighter restrictions on who can have these firearms. There should be tighter restrictions on how widely available they are. And yet for whatever reason, our political conversation goes to thought zs and prayers and it moves right past it becomes a political argument about whether people want to take your guns away and this is the Second Amendment and it just becomes so silly. And any thinking person knows, listen, i want to be able to protect my family. I have loved ones who live alone. I certainly want them to be able to protect themselves. I want them to be able to have the right to have a gun. But who needs an ar15 . Who really needs an ar15, besides Law Enforcement . Or someone who is responsible enough to be able to have that type of gun . A member of the military. A member of Law Enforcement. Someone who has had responsible gun training. A 19yearold who walks into a gun store . I mean, come on, really . Are we giving that sort of responsibility to that person . And ive got to ask you here, chris. This is the facts. The shooter used an ar15. This type of gun has been used in aurora look at your screen, everybody. Aurora, newtown, san bernardino, las vegas, and on and on. All the other shootings you see there and more. Ar15 style weapons. So frequently used in all of these Mass Shootings. Chris . The ar15 type rifle is ubiquitous throughout the United States right now. And if you drain the politics out of it, and you listen to the professionals, which, again, is the International Association of chief of police, the Largest Police organization in the world, and they say, assault weapons should only be in the hands of police and Law Enforcement excuse me, military. They kill too many people too fast. Thats what theyre built for. In the urban setting, and particularly in the hands of young people, people who are under 18 or excuse me, under 21 in this case, its even more exaggerated. They are going through problems and all kinds of issues. It doesnt belong in their hands. Its just a its a weapon that can kill too many people, too fast. And Law Enforcement doesnt want to go up against those kind of weapons. Theyre the weapon of choice for gangs and the weapon of choice for terrorist organizations. Theyre not built for hunting. Theyre built for killing people and a lot of people in a short period of time. Well, nothing is going to get done thank you, gentlemen. Appreciate it. Nothing is going to get done unless we as americans stand up and realize that something is wrong and try to make changes. And guess what . Nothing is going to get done unless our lawmakers have the backbone to stand up and make changes. And if they dont, the shooting, is blood on their hands . Well be right back. Need a change of scenery . Kayak compares hundreds of travel and Airline Sites so you can be confident youre getting the right flight at the best price. Cheers kayak. Search one and done. Im in the kitchen. I need my blood sugar to stay in control. I need to shave my a1c im always on call. An insulin that fits my schedule is key. Tresiba® ready announcer tresiba® is used to control high blood sugar cnn. Dont use tresiba® to treat diabetic ketoacidosis, during episodes of low blood sugar, or if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. Dont share needles or insulin pens. Dont reuse needles. The most common side effect is low blood sugar, which may cause dizziness, swtiting, confusion, and headache. Check your blood sugar. Low blood sugar can be serious and may be lifethreatening. Injection site reactions may occur. Tell your prescriber about all medicines you take and all your medical conditions. Taking tzds with insulins like tresiba® may cause serious side effects like heart failure. Your insulin dose shouldnt be changed without asking your prescriber. Get medical help right away if you have trouble breathing, fast heartbeat, extreme drowsiness, swelling of your face, tongue, orhrhroat, dizziness, or confusion. Ask your Health Care Provider if youre tresiba® ready. Covered by most insurance and medicare plans. Tresiba® ready aah . I would have said you were crazy. But so began the year of me. I discovered the true meaning of paperless discounts. And the indescribable rush of saving drivers an average of 620. Why does fear feel so good . I fell in love three times once with a woman, once with a country, and finally. With myself. So, do you have anything to declare or not . Isnt that what im doing . News. A mass shooting at a high school in florida. At least 17 people are dead. 17 People Killed. The 19yearold suspect had been expelled from the school. I want to bring in cnn contributor frank bruni the columnist for the new york times. I wish we could talk under better circumstances. But here we go, another shooting, another angry young man. We have seen too many tragedies like this. Whats your reaction. My reaction is how many more do we see before we take it seriously . You talked about this. Were not taking seriously when it comes to congress and gun control. We have done nothing. We have had sandy hook, the pulse night club. Las vegas strip. What has changed . Can you point to a meaningful new regulation or law . We have some of the most relaxed, lax gun laws in the country. We are swimming in guns like no other developed country. What do you know were a country drowning in gun deaths like no other country. We are not heeding that message. At least our lawmakers arent. Can i tell you something because i think the moniker gun control is a negative thing. You want to take guns away. We dont say car control or drivers license control, or Car Insurance control, or house insurance control. Because in order to get a drivers license a drivers license youve got to pass tests. Youve got to be a certain age. But no one says we want car control. Right. What about just gun licenses, gun laws. Or gun safety. And its my bad for saying gun control. No, but im not. No, it is, because i think if were serious about getting somewhere, we have to be very, very careful in our tactics. And that includes language. And that includes when an incident like this happens talking about all aspects of it. This is absolutely a story of guns. Its absolutely compelling us to look at gun laws to look at gun safety. But we also have to look at the rest of it. This seemed to be a troubled young man giving off all sorts of warning signs. And if were going to be serious about solving these things as we talk with great vigor about our gun laws and about gun safety we also need to talk about whether we are looking at each other with enough alertness and concern, whether we are sounding warnings about the people around us. When the warning deserve to be sounded. Its a tough thing because none of us wants to rat out people. None of us wants to be alarmist. Civil liberties are important. Over the coming days as we hear more about this particular story were finding out a lot of people failed in noticing what this young man was sending out what he was going through and maybe interveeng before we had all the death. A little bit more on this before i move on. Just the absurdity in all of this. When this i had really bad allergies this winter. When i went to the pharmacy i had to show my drivers license to get sudafed. I had to jump through hoops when i bought a house. When i butt a car in order to finance it you have to do all the things. Moving to new york city to get a drivers license. Where is the Social Security card, the passport, all this information . How do we know this is you . But when i was in when i covered aurora for in network and i went into a gun shop in aurora, colorado to buy an ar 15 it took me 20 minutes to get that gun and bring it back from aurora, colorado on an airplane, no problem. Right. And thats thats wrong. And thats not what the Second Amendment was supposed to be about. Let us remind ourselves the Second Amendment was written 200 years ago where we have the kind of weapon used in this massacre. There is something wrong with the culture. And i we refuse to address it. And thats on all of us i mean you mentioned lawmakers not having enough back bone. 100 true we are not putting adequate pressure on them. Not enough voters are prior advertising in as an issue to make sure the lawmakers nap to. Because ultimately if they feel the wrath of voters the way they feel the fear of the nra they may change and vote for some of the stuff that they are running from as fast as neck. Listen, people are probably surprised im going on about this. As you know i lost a loved one recently. And shockingly because it wasnt expected. So what im saying is that i cant imagine what the folks there are going through. I only know what i went through. I cant imagine sending my kid off to school, going about my business, and thinking my kid is safe because the teachers are there. The security people are there, maybe Even Police Officers my kid is fine theyre with students and peers and going to get a Higher Education and for the American Dream and then getting that phone call. I just may heart breaks for people. The reason i say that is because here is what the president says. He is right my prayers and doeldss to the families and victims of the terrible florida shooting. Into eno child teacher or anyone else should feel unsafe in an american school. We know he is a big advocate of gun rights. Talks about the Second Amendment saying everyone is trying to take your guns away. He is opposing gun measures. Right. The expression of sympathy is lovely. Whether its gun measures oh offer, what are you doing. I heard you go on and on about the danger of undocumented immigrants. I didnt hear about gun spaeft. I heard you praise rightly the heroism and actions of Law Enforcement officials and rescue workers in las vegas. What about talking about how we make sure the Law Enforcement officials and rescue workers dont have to wade among the corps in the first place. He is not having a complete conversation and not showing leadership. If you dont have a life you cant have a job. He says the undocument the immigrants are taking jobs away from whatever. However you feel about that. But if you dont have a life, nothing else really matters. If your loved one is not here, nothing else matters. So he wants to spend 25 billion on a wall. Right. That every thinking, smart expert will tell you does not make a difference. It has nothing to do with border security. Everybody wants border security. There are better ways. Why not take as the 25 billion and spend it on keeping lives keeping people alive. Yes. Rather than some talking point for the base. Just a fraction of that money could fund a really comprehensive investigation into why in country has a rate of gun death unlike any other. We know why. We know it very much starts with the availability of guns and there is other stuff too. Lets be comprehensive. That wall does nothing for kids sending kids to school with a pang of fear sending kids to schools that have active shooter drills because this has been happening so long. Its crazy that this very school where the bloodshed happened, they were accustomed to active shooter drills because every school prepares for this moment. We live in a country where this moment is so envisionable by people that its part of a schools you know procedure to prepare for it. Thats nuts. Umhum. Thank you, frank. 17 lives lost. And for the people still alive mourning them, im sorry that i as an american a and we as americans did not take better care of the students of the people who were there. Well be right back