Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Live With Ali Velshi 20180215

It was just a normal day and the fire alarm went off. Down the back staircase down the second floor and once we reached there you heard loud pop, pop, pop. And one of the administrators came out screaming, code red. Code red. Everyone get inside. As we were leaving the classroom i saw two bodies on my right side, i saw two bodies in front of me. And i was walking down the left to the hallway, i see a four more bodies. I know your best friend was shot right next to you. Do you know how shes doing . Have you heard what happened to her . Yeah. Unfortunately she didnt make it. I want us to take action and i dont want this to just be another mass shooting. I want this to be the last mass shooting. Today President Trump said were a nation in grief and the American Flag above the white house is flying at half staff. He expressed sim path your fo foye sympathy for the victims and those who feel alone and absent from his comments any reference to the guns or the assault style weapon used. I want to speak now directly to americas children, especially those who feel lost, alone, confused, or even scared. I want you to know that you are never alone and you never will be. If you need help, turn to a teacher, a family member, a local police officer, or a faith leader. Answer hate with love, answer cruelty with kindness. I was standing with the survivors when the president made those comments. They were not well received. Moments ago they provided a detailed time line of the events from the shooting, including from the moment the suspect was apprehended. I discovered an individual walking on the sidewalk that was wearing the clothing description that had been given over the radio. I pulled my vehicle over immediately, engaged the suspect. He complied with my commands and was taken into custody without any issues. The last hour we heard the shooting suspect utter two words when asked to confirm his identity in the Broward County courtroom, yes, maam. Nicholas cruise faces premeditated murder. And joining us is Tammy Leitner who i spoke to 24 hours ago when you first heard the news as we did and you rushed out from miami to get here. What do we know . Reporter right knew were seeing very two different pictures of nikolas cruz emerging. A according to his attorney he is a broken individual and sad and remorseful for what hes done. Now all of the students that weve spoken have painted a different picture of nikolas cruz, they painted a picture of somebody who is disturbed and calculated, somebody who is obsessed with guns who used to show pictures of dead animals that he had shot. He often joked about actually coming into the school and shooting it up. So two very different pictures emerging of this young man. Tammy, we know that he was arraigned today but people have been saying the people weve been talking to here and you were here earlier today have been saying he was a bit of an outcast. He had been expelled, he was not allowed to bring a bag with him to school for fear that he would bring probably weaponry. Do we know a lot about what authorities knew if anything about nikolas cruz. The fbi knew about him last year. It came to their attention that somebody posted something on youtube by the name of nikolas cruz talking about shooting up a school. The fbi official we spoke with said they did investigate this but they couldnt substantiate who the person was that posted the threat and nothing they could do about it at the time. Now they are suspecting that it was nikolas cruz that had posted this so they are going back and looking through his digital footprint, the local sheriff is telling us that did he have some disturbing media post online and that is what theyll be going through in the next coming days. Ali. Tammy, as i was talk to people here, they were expressing why here, this is such a safe community, listed on the website yesterday as one of the safest communities in the country. Safest cities in the world in the country to live in. About 30,000 people here in parkland florida, north of Coral Springs and the student had 3000 students, but this is a residential family oriented place and people are in shock. What kind of area are we talking about here . Reporter very residential and very safe as you just described. And something really interesting, i spoke with a number of teachers yesterday and they told me that since january they have been practicing these School Lockdown drills preparing for worse Case Scenario Something Like this and actually that morning when the shooting happened they had told all of the students to stay in the classroom and to lock the doors as had become part of the training and that day a shooting actually happened. That is truly one of the things ill never get used to, having high school or Junior School kids tell me they are used to these drills. They know what they are supposed to do. Thank you for your great reporting. Tammy leitner in florida. This mork we heard from the medical professionals who attended to those being treated at the hospital and the suspect himself at one point. Joining me is one of the hospital professionals, dr. Evan hoyer from emergency medicine. Doctor, good to see you. Thank you for being with us. What happened yesterday . What did it look like from your perspective . Well from our perspective, we essentially deployed a code green when we got the information from from the Hospital Personnel that there was going to be potential x number of gunshot victims. So we have a process in place in our Emergency Department that we implemented to get our staff ready to receive the patients. And like the schools that you alluded to, in a hospital base setting we do drills as well. And over the past maybe six or nine months we had done an active shooting drill ourselves. It is unfortunate that have to you drill like that these days but we were prepared. And the transition of patient care from prehospital to ourselves was quite seamless and our staff was ready to take care of all patients that arrived. And all reports are that it was handled very competently but those you prepare for it, have you ever seen anything like this . We have not had an episode like this at our facility, no. What tell me what is happening now . What is the condition of those remaining patients . Yeah, good question. So obviously initially when the patients present, the goal is to stabilize patients as quick as we can. And of the nine total patients that came to us yesterday, we have three currently in house. One is doing quite well. An extremity wound and up walking around. The other is ex tib ated and doing well and then a third still remaining in our icu and is still getting some medical attention. And doctor, yesterday while we were covering this live we saw the arrest of the suspect and then we saw him removed to a gurney and taken to the hospital. You treated him. What was that about . So we were the receiving facility. We did receive the suspect and we treated him. We assessed his medical conditions and he was released into police custody. Doctor, thanks very much for joining us. Dr. Evan boyer from Emergency Services at Broward Health north and thanks for everything you did for the people who needed your help and the help of your team yesterday. Joining me now is michael moser, the division chief at the Coral Springs fire department. The First Arriving chief officer to the scene. Sir, tell me what you saw when you get here yesterday . Hi, good afternoon. When we first arrived it was surreal. There was a ghost town. There wasnt any patients. First arriving, our crews are behind us but within a short time, less than a minute patients started to present themselves to us. Brought by Security Guards on golf carts, Police Officers were carrying patients to us. And we started to establish crews to muster up and go to the scene inside of some of the areas even that hadnt been cleared just to make sure that we could grab as much patients as possible and bring them to the treatment area. And the thing i ask you is the same thing i ask the doctor, it is not clear to everybody that the departments like yours, Fire Departments and hospitals have to train for these mass casualty events now. Were you ready for this . I think were more ready than we could ever imagine. This is something that we train for often. This is something that we train for but hope we never use. Weve seen these incidents on tv and say we hope they never come to this town and because we practice and train often i think the men and women of our department were very prepared and i cant think of the situation going any better than it could have been based on what we had in front of us. It is very sad that there were some casualties here and those are images that we can never get out of our minds, our First Responders are going to see those things forever but the the patients we were able to care for, we saved a lot of lives yesterday. And there was confusion in that school. There was a fire drill, there was a wasnt a drill but something went off and the fire system went off and then the there was a notice that said there was an active shooter. What do you nun about the fi know about the fire alarms and why they went off. I dont know where the fire alarms went off. We have heard that from witness witnesses and people at the scene but it didnt affect us or our response. We received 911 calls from students and teachers that were actually here in the school and that is what got our response in getting our emergency crews here. So when you got here, you werent thinking that you were responding to a fire alarm, you knew you were responding to probably a shooting . Absolutely. And the initial 911 calls received were there was a possibly a shooting in the school. We hoped those 911 reports were not accurate. We dont want to respond to incidents like that. But as we were responding to the scene, and more and more calls were coming in, dozens and dozens of calls into 911 saying there was an active shooter situation, we knew this was the real deal. Let me tell, as we were covering, i too was hoping these were false alarms and that wasnt the case but here we are. Michael moser with the Coral Springs fire department. Thank you to you and and your team for your quick responses yesterday. Coming up, much more from parkland yesterday where at this time yesterday students were under siege in what should be the safety of their school building. When i was in the Vocational School he showed me the layout of guns and he would shoot them around. Hes always been a crazy kid. I heard him some people say that one day he would have done this and i think that was today. To everyone else, i look like everyone else. But on the inside, i feel chronic, widespread pain. Fibromyalgia may be invisible to others, but my pain is real. Fibromyalgia is thought to be caused by overactive nerves. Lyrica is believed to calm these nerves. Im glad my doctor prescribed lyrica. For some, lyrica delivers effective relief for moderate to even severe fibromyalgia pain. And improves function. Lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions, suicidal thoughts or actions. 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Plus 24month financing ends monday visit sleepnumber. Com for a store near you. Ythen you turn 40 ande everything goes. Tell me about it. You know, its made me think, im closer to my retirement days than i am my college days. Hm. Im thinking. Will i have enough . Should i change something . Well, youre asking the right questions. I just want to know, am i gonna be okay . I know people who specialize in am i going to be okay. I like that. You may need glasses though. Yeah. Schedule a complimentary goal Planning Session today with td ameritrade. Right now the white house is making plans for the president to come here to parkland, florida and meet with families. Trump announced that himself in a speech this morning, remarks about the shooting this morning. He spoke for seven minutes but he didnt say the word gun, instead focusing on Mental Illness. Were committed to working with state and local leaders to help secure our schools and tackle the difficult issue of Mental Health. Later this month i will be meeting with the nations governors and attorney generals, where making our schools and our children safer will be our top priority. It is not enough to simply take actions that make us feel like we are making a difference. We must actually make that difference. Some people think the issue is all about Mental Health. Others think it is about guns. But lets say you agree with the president , that it is about Mental Health and the ownership of guns. One year ago donald trump rolled back an obama era regulation that was designed to make it more difficult for people with Mental Health issues to buy a gun. For more on the president s comments, im joined by Geoff Bennett at the white house. Reporter the president doesnt seem to think that gun restrictions are the solution to gun violence and that speech part of which you showed the president quoted scripture anden occureraged the countrys children to seek help if they feel alone or afraid and as you pointed out, he avoided any issue of gun violence and a reporter asked the president once he was done if he was willing to consider anything in terms of new gun laws, the president didnt respond. And look, the president has often pointed to Mental Illness as the u the underlying issue but this is a president in which the president s words and actions seemed misaligned because as you pointed out a year ago he evoked the obama era rule at the urging of the nra which made it more difficult for people who have Mental Illness to buy guns. And rick scott, a friend of the nra and a friend of President Trump and during a press conference in florida he expressed a willingness to consider new regulations that would include that would include background checks that would check for Mental Illness but President Trump isnt going that far. So in terms of next steps, the white house is canceled a plan trip to orlando where the president would pitch infrastructure plan and they n can canceled a planned rally in pennsylvania and they will be in parkland as early as saturday. Jeff, thanks very much. Former president obama took to twit to call for better gun laws. The message reads, we are grieving with parkland but we are not power less. Caring for our kids is our first job and until we can honestly say that were doing enough to keep them safe from harm, including long overdue commonsense gun safety laws that most americans want, then we have to change. For more on the stark differences between the two commanderinchief, im johned by john mcclain, and andy card, former chief of staff to george bush and political analyst. And i will never forget, there are pictures the picture of you leaning into president bush on 9 11 to let him know what had happened is the one that most americans will remember. And you were with the president , guiding him on the things he did in the days after 9 11 to comfort a grieving nation. I was standing here today when donald trump made his comments and the responses from survivors of yesterdays shooting to what the president had to say was universally negative. Well, it is very important for the president to show empathy, real empathy with people who are struggling with a horrific situation that theyve experienced. And we grieve for them. We have to understand the grieving they are going through and it will go on for a long time. So i was pleased that president did make a statement. I wanted to demonstrate sincere empathy and im glad he is going down there so he could get a firsthand impression of the magnitude of the burden that is being carried by that community right now. Ron, this is my fifth mass shooting that ive covered and i have to say, while i agree with andy, the first step has got to be empathy from everybody, from the commanderinchief all the way down, i sensed a frustration on the ground where people didnt want to hear about anybodys thoughts and prayers. They wanted to know about action. Particularly these young people, the High School Students who dont seem emotionally invested in the debates that we have about gun control. They just dont understand why we let these things happen. Yeah it would help if the president if the president to stop lying about all of this. First of all, he talks about Mental Health but put forward changes that will mean 13 million fewer people have Health Coverage and those people will need Mental Health care and he wont get it. So he is not making Mental Health any better and secondly, they are mentally ill people all over the world and only in the United States do parents send their children to school and wonder if they will be the victims of a mass shooting. Because we have out of control gun laws, we have weapons of war on our streets. These weapons, the weapon used in parkland was banned under federal law for ten years, that ban expired and it is now legal. There is no reason why it shouldnt be banned again. Andy, lets talk about the relationship between politicians or maybe even the Republican Party but some democrats. And the nra which likes to think of itself as a Member Organization but a lobby for the gun industry and it not only funds some peoples campaigns, and gives them money, as it has for the president and several senior republican senators, but it sort of guarantees if you do their bidding, no one will run against you and if they do, theyll campaign against them. Is the relationship between the Republican Party and the nra gotten to a point where it is disfunctional and unhealthy. First of all, i feel strongly the nra is not representing the gun manufacturers. It represents people who own guns and there im not sure that is true. Lets be honest about. That if you own a gun the nra sends you a membership whether you ask for one or not and if you decide to pay for it is under 20 a year. It is like aaa. I know people the nra is run by the gun lobby. Lets be honest. Lets today on this day be the people that are honest about that. They are the gun lobby. I will acknowledge they are the lobbyists but they also represent a lot of people who own guns. I happen to feel that they should be part of the solution. They should say, we want to come to the table and work on a common sense solution. The Mental Health problem is real. Guns are the gun problem is a real problem. I want to see both and get together. My wife is a minister and she is active saying we she wrote a book about it called pray, act, pray again and i want to pray. It is very important. But i want to see some action. And yes well have to pray again. Like to see some action. And lets bring everybody together. They should come together without lights and talk about the problems and work on solutions because there are solutions. I dont think a person 19 years old should walk in and get an ar15 and buy it magazine that could allow him to or her to shoot lots of people. I dont think that is right. So im not afraid to challenge the status quo, the status quo is not working. But i also think that people do have a Second Amendment right and they have Mental Health issues and rights of privacy in dealing with Mental Health so these are big challenges and to get people together and i encourage people to find the courage to sit at a table and look for both and Solutions Rather than no solution at all. I hear you. And i agree. And in between the prayer, there should be some action. I dont know that the nra is going to be party to that. The nra, we asked them fire comment and they said it is their policy not to comment until all of the facts are known. Ron, good to see you. Former chief of staff to biden and gore and former chief of staff to george w. Bush. And up next, ten Mass Shootings using an ar15 type gun. When can we Start Talking about gun control and the gun problem weve got here in america . Shooting after shooting and there is always the same thing is said, it is not the time to talk about gun control. It is not the time. It is time to pray for the families and i just think that that hasnt gotten us anywhere. Here we are and we are the latest statistic on School Violence and as a society, as americans, were failing our children and not keeping them safe and congress is failing us and the government is failing us and something has to be done. Ly that youll ever need staying ahead isnt about waiting for a chance. Its about the one bold choice you make, that moves you forward. the one and only Cadillac Escalade. Come in now for this exceptional offer on the Cadillac Escalade. Get this lowmileage lease on this 2018 Cadillac Escalade from around 879 per month. Visit your local cadillac dealer. When this guy got a flat tire from around 879 per month. In the middle of the night, so he got home safe. Yeah, my dad says our insurance doesnt have that. What . you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. 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With an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is now the number one selling brain Health Supplement in drug stores nationwide. Prevagen. The name to remember. Welcome back. Im in parkland, florida, where we are learning more on the devastating shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School to the right of the trees. The president just tweeted ordering the flags flown at half staff through sun set on monday february 19th. Weve been speaking with the young men and women who survived this horrible incident. All you hear is these loud, pop, pop, pop. At least three. I grabbed the door and i turned around and we start running and as were on the way up to the third floor you hear the guy open the back staircase door and started shooting and screaming. They escorted us out of the media center and we had to walk down the hallways by the stairs and at a point they told us to start running because we had to run past the freshman building which is where the shooting took place. As we were leaving the classroom i saw two bodies on my right side, i saw two bodies in front of me, and as im walking down left to the hallway, i see four more bodies. And one of them were very bad and it looked like one of them were trying to cover it up. Everybody is getting used to this and that is not okay. There is 18 more Mass Shootings than there needed to be at schools an that is way more than we need and it needs to come to an aent an end and if you let this keep happening, it is your kid that is next. It is a warning to heed. Here in florida, we are hearing calls for lawmakers to do more to stop the Mass Shootings but in the state house the Florida Senate is debating a bill that would make it easier to buy a gun. The Florida State Senate Appropriations committee is planning on hearing legislation to allow people it get guns without completing a background check. At all. That is something that the majority of americans believe. We should make harder the background check should be harder. And florida already has lax gun laws or as the nra would put it very good gun laws , you dont need a permit or register your firearms and there is no licensing and from the state house to capitol hill it is not clear this call to action being received. House Speaker Paul Ryan said it is less an issue of new laws and more about enforcing current ones. Remember, we do have laws on the books designed to prevent people with Mental Illness from getting firearms to for people with criminal backgrounds from getting firearms but the question is just like the texas instance, are those lawing working the right way. For mow im joined by Msnbc Garrett Haake on capitol hill. There is a lot going on there. But these calls, from here it is almost uniform and this isnt about proSecond Amendment or antiSecond Amendment and young people saying why cant these politicians fix this. It keeps happening. Reporter that is a fair question. The problem has been twofold. First deciding what problems to fix and the second remaining focused enough to actually fix them. Remember, after each of these major shootings, weve seen over the last couple of Years Congress start to act on things like banning bump stocks or improving the background check system. Seeing if they could do more to get the military to communicate with the fbi when doing background checks. All of the efforts run out of gas as attention is turned elsewhere and congress has thus far done nothing. Ive been talking to lawmakers all day today who is agree that perhaps it is time to do something, although it is not entirely clear what. I asked chuck grassley, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary committee and he would see any legislation come across his desk and here is what he told me would be a priority. It seems to be common for a lot of these shootings, in fact almost all of the shootings, and that is the mental state of the people that are doing it. And we have not done a very good job of making sure that people that have mental reasons for not being able to handle a gun getting their name into the fbi files and we need to concentrate on that. And the irony is one of the few things of the Trump Administration has done about guns during the tenure is to undo some obamaera regulations that did exactly that. So for folks looking to congress to act, youre probably going to have to wait longer. Garrett haake on capitol hill. If you dont know much about firearms, you probably are familiar with the ar15. It is a semi automatic weapon referred to as americas gun. It is a customizable and adaptable weapon. There is an estimate that we own 8 million and being used in tragedies like yesterdays shooting. In the past 11 years, ar15 style weapons have been used in 12 Mass Shootings. Ar15 have been used in five. Here is a look at them. First, october of 2007 in wisconsin, six people were shot and killed. In 2015, one person was shot and killed in little water, new mexico and a few months later two people were shot and killed in conyers, georgia and then three people shot and killed in Colorado Springs and in october of last year we had the vegas massacre, the deadliest mass shooting in modern u. S. Hist yoifr history. And im joining now by contessa brewer. These guns are easy to get and modify and easy to shoot. And in fact, the nra labels the ar15 the most popular rifle in america. And as you said, estimated gun owners own 8 million of them. They are using in hunting and shooting and in massacres and they are manufactured by many companies. Some of the big ones you have heard of. Sig, winchester, remington, among others. There are hundreds more smaller and Lesser Known Companies that manufacture the guns an the accessories. And there are hobbyist and others who make custom firearms and they could even be manufactured on 3d printers. These would be unregistered and untraceable. Gun makers enjoy Legal Protection that other makes of Consumer Products do not. The protection of lawful commerce and arms act was passed in 2005 protecting manufacturers and dealers from being held liable when crimes are committed with their firearms and since the assault weapons ban was aloud to expire in 2004 sales of the ar15 and other semi automatic have soared after the 26 murders of the grade schoolers in newtown, connecticut. And i reached out to the National Shooting sportman association to inquire about the Industry Response to the shooting yesterday and a spokesperson emailed me and said our hearts go out to the victims of the tragedy and their families. Out of respect for the families, the community and the ongoing Law Enforcement investigation, we believe it would be inappropriate to comment or participant in media requests at this time. But the Organization Published a report in 2016 showing the Economic Impact from the firearms and ammunition industry. That it grew from 19. 1 billion in 2008 to 49. 3 billion in 2015. Look at that. And what is more, they say they added more than 100,000 jobs related to gun making. It has incredible dollar impact in communities from coast to coast. Contessa, thanks very much. We want to take you to a vigil happening right now at this school. It was scheduled for a little while from now but for some hours ive been seeing students gather. Theyve come up to where we are. You cant get to the vigil from where we are and police have redirected them around but lets listen in for a moment. [ applause ] my daughter graduated from Marjorie Stoneman douglas in 2017 and like many of us that are all here, we came here because parkland is a beautiful place, with amazing teachers and amazing schools and amazing parks and this is impacting thank you for another day that were standing here. I know there is a lot of grief that is happening right now in the families and friends of everyone that was impacted by this tragedy. I pray for comfort right now, that only you could provide. I pray for peace. But god i pray above Everything Else you would Bring Community like you never have before. And i play that parkland would rise back from this. This would be something that was a hiccup in the road, but god, we know were going to be Better Beyond this. Our prayer right now over all of the leadership that is taking care of the situation and all of the Police Officers that are working through these circumstances. Lord i pray for wisdom and guidance through it all. And lord i pray for just that overwhelming peace. Everybody that has walked through this situation, god, thank you for everything that youve already started to do and what i pray that you just restore only you can restore. In jesus name. Amen. 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Here in florida, ive spoken to several eloquent mature students who say enough is enough. It is time for change. These horrific School Shootings cannot be part of our every day lives. Unfortunately these are sentiments weve heard before, especially five years ago after sandy hook. 26 people were killed. 20 of them were first graders. I was in newtown, connecticut. I saw firsthand the pain of these parents and the community. It was one of the worst experiences of my career and i was just covering it. Experts said at the this is it. It will finally change the gun law. But it wasnt it. Im joined by Alyssa Parker her daughter was killed in sandy hook and the kocofounder of an organization and wrote a book. If you think that the flags at half staff for reaction coming after sandy hook. Because i was standing with survivors today who seemed to discount the thoughts and prayers are with you. They want to see something done. Of course. I think all of us when we see things like this happen, it is impossible to not feel and have strong reactions and i would never discredit the power of prayer but there is definitely action that could follow. Lets talk about one of the things ive heard a lot today and it is getting frustrating is the idea we have to look into this and study and figure out how people who may not be emotionally balanced or have Mental Health issues should get guns but we dont treat Mental Health all that se seriously. And we cant identify them but the idea of keeping them from getting guns, what do you know that could be done . I think when i look at these tragedies and i see them happening over and over again, the common theme that i see is that emotion we were just talking about. They are strong and we feel angry and i tend to see two reaction. One is to bottle that up and push it away and you become numb and all of this you just want to pretend it is not happening. And then the other reaction is to take that anger and throw it at a hot topic button and start debating and arguing and pointing fingers and we know this doesnt work. We have seen it over and over again fail to prevent others from happening and so i think what we need to do as a country and as individual communities are watching this, what we need to do is take a step back and see the big picture. And look at the puzzle in front of us and how do we collaborate and actually stop things like this from happening to our schools. Can you see it happening . Do you see change . Because i had ninth and tenth grade students asking me that today. What will stop this . What can actually happen . Oh, it absolutely is possible. And ive seen so many communities across the country and that was why after this tragedy happened i cofounded with michelle gay safe and sound schools. We have reached almost every state in the nation and every time we talk to them we are reinforcing the idea of assessing your school,ism pleamenting new safety procedures and creating a system where you could audit it and bringing all of these professionals that have the information that will help guide you to putting those puzzle pieces together. It is absolutely possible. It does take time. It does take investment. But creating these free resources as an organization, our entire goal is to educate people and help inspire them to do it in the first place. Alyssa, one of the things that may be a turning point is the tact there was so much video. The kids have phones and you saw the horror in those classrooms. Which we didnt see it at sandy hook. You lost your 6yearold daughter emily. I think it is important that we remember these victims. And we keep remembering them so that we stand and take action. Tell us about emily. So my daughter emily was just a ball full of sunshine. She was like rainbows in real life. She was an artist. She loved to create things and she expressed herself on paper and that is one of the things that ive treasured so much about her and her life with having these journals of how she saw the world in front of you in books. And so i think about those families there and that community and the pain that they are feeling. There is nothing like it. Its incredibly powerful and difficult and that is why my entire life has focused since this tragedy on ensuring that these kinds of things dont happen and unfortunately they still are and that is why im using any voice to help educate people. Not for lack of effort on your part and people like you. Thank you for continuing to work hard to solve this deadly problem. Alyssa parker who lost home run daughter in the sandy hook shooting. After sandy hook, the state of the connecticut took the lead in Getting Better gun control laws after the federal government didnt act. They classified more guns as assault weapons and limited the sale of magazine and required a permit to buy a gun or ammunition. Im joined by the man who helped sign that into law Dannell Malloy who was there who saw this all happening. We were in newtown at the same time. Governor, what do you say the story here everybody understands what happened at the school behind me. Everybody understands the memory of those 17 who died yesterday afternoon. They dont understand the politicians. They dont understand why the political infrastructure cant fix this. Can they . Im going to answer that. But you just had an extraordinary interview with an extraordinary person who is devoted her life to try to make sure this doesnt happen in other School Systems and schools across our country. And i just want to say that the parents the parents have done a magnificent job from newtown from day one and i i know so many of them and i want to thank her and all of the parents who are engaged. Now back to your question. First of all sh the federal government should do something. Quite frankly any senator who has voted against legislation that would make us safer should be embarrassed quite frankly, they should resign. They should be called out for the cowards that they are. Because they are more afraid of the nra than see someone elses children shot and killed in a school. It is time that americans rise up and understand as i said two days after newtown, this is going to come to your town, it is going to come to a school near you. It is going to come to a Movie Theater near you and a church near you if we dont do something about it. I predicted these things would happen with increasing frequency and that is what has happened. But there are states that have come forward like connecticut and done something about it. In connecticut, weve had the largest decline in Violent Crime over the last four years of any state station in the nation by a third. Obviously weve made our state a safer place because of the legislation we passed. You condition buy that weapon now in connecticut. You cant buy any weapon without a background check. Buy ammunitt a permit. Of course, we made our state safer. But are we as safe as we could be . The answer is no, because a bunch of cowards in washington wont do their job. Let me ask you this. I was talking to andy card earlier, former chief of staff to george bush, and i made a simple statement about the nra being a powerful lobby for the gun industry and i got pushed back from him on that. The nra is a powerful lobby for the gun industry. We cant seem to come to terms with the role they have in our political system. Was he on our planet when you had that conversation with him . Because, of course, nra is calling the shots for the Republican Party. He knows that. And by the way, you talk about people who are responsible for whats going on in our country. Under the Bush Administration in 2004, the ban that we had on the sale of the types of weapons that have been used in many, many of these shootings was allowed to expire. Why . Because the nra wanted it to expire. Why . Because companies wanted to make money. Why . Because these were popular gun that could be mass marketed regardless of the circumstances under which they could in fact be used. You know, the term blood on your hands can be applied to a lot of folks. When we did that, when we allowed that to happen, there was blood on a lot of peoples hands. Governor dannel malloy, good to talk to you. Thank you, sir. I wish we could talk under different circumstances, sir. We will. Thank you. Up next lawmakers are responding to the latest School Shooting. What they are saying and how much money those same lawmakers have gotten from the nra. And you want to help the virk ti victims . Search stone man douglas victims fund. 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Looking for a hotel that fits. Whoooo. Your budget . Tripadvisor now searches over. 200 sites to find you the. Hotel you want at the lowest price. Grazi, gino find a price that fits. Tripadvisor. This is food made to sit down for. Slow down for. Put the phone away, and use a knife and fork for. And with panera catering, its food worth sharing. Panera. Food as it should be. As is the case with most tragedies, we are hearing from lawmakers, and this one is no different. Louisiana republican senator bill cassidy tweeted his sympathy and prayers, saying his heart goes out to the victims and their families. But for fact sake, according to the Nonpartisan Center for responsive politics, the nra spent more than 2. 8 million on cassidy throughout his career. That includes Campaign Funding and ads attacking opponents. Ohio republican senator rob portman tweeted about the heart breaking news, sending his prayers. Portman has benefited from 3 million in support from the National Rifle association. Iowa republican joni ernst asked her followers to join in prayer for those at the school and thanks First Responders. But the nra boosted ernsts election efforts to the tune of 3. 1 million. Right here, florida senator marco rubio who sought the republican nomination for president in 2016 and spent the day tweeting updates called it a terrible day, you pray, never comes. His campaign ben filthed from 3. 3 million funding in opposition and attacks thanks to the National Rifle association. Colorado senator tweeted his heart break for the situation and once again, prayers for First Responders. But 3. 9 million of nra funds have been spent to boost his campaign and attack his opponents. Arizona republican john mccain tweeted his prayers just a short time ago, the National Rifle association has spent more than 7. 7 million on john mccain, the most of any lawmaker by far. Florida governor rick scott ordered flags lowered to half staff calling the shooting a senseless tragedy. Scott who is up for reelection this year enjoys a aplus rating from the National Rifle association. Mike pence tweeted about heart break. He has an a rating and enacted laws as governor of indiana including legislation to allow firearms to be kept in vehicles on school property. President trump tweeted his prayers, adding, quote, no child, teacher or anyone else should ever feel unsafe in an american school. The nra spent more than 21 million supporting trump in the 2016 election, almost 10 million on ads and other protrump material and 12 million attacking hillary clinton. The thoughts and prayers are with the victims. The dollars and cents are another story. Im joined now by cameron kaski, a student who witnessed the shooting here at the school. Cameron, tell me what you saw. Ali, i was in a room locked with about 20 other students, and i saw a lot of hysteria. I saw there were a lot of things going on. There were a lot of rumors. Nobody was entirely sure what was happening. It was a blur. People were showing me videos of gore. I was being shown videos, not necessarily against my will, but without asking, of teachers that i knew being shot and bodies and blood. It was, it was all very scary because we were still in the room and there was a chance the person who was doing those things was coming right for us. Cameron, i have to ask you, 24 hours after the event, ive spoken to a lot of your schoolmates and they have a real range of emotions. Some of them are so upset, theyre suffering from anxiety. Others seem to still be in shock. Others are grateful theyre alive but they lost friends. How do you deal with this . A slew of emotions, anger, its fear, its grief. Ive been trying to handle those altogether and to some sort of mad inspiration. Im trying to get the message out that it is important to grieve, but its also to make sure its important to make sure the bad guy make sure Everybody Knows their vote counts on this. It is my belief the blood of those 17 people is on rick scotts hands. Cameron, the thoughts of the country are with you in helping you and your colleagues in this Community Get through it. Thank you for joining me, and i wish you well. Thank you for having me. I want to take a moment now. I want to take a moment now to remember the victims of yesterdays shootings. As of now, we know of 17 People Killed in the tragedy and we have the names of 13 of them. They are peter wang, nicolas, luke, elena, alyssa, helena, scott, joaquin oliver, karen, as well as a man named aaron fieft. He was an assistant football coach and Security Guard at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School. According to the school, he sacrificed himself to protect the students. Beloved member of this community, aaron along with more than a dozen others was taken away from them too soon. Yesterday marked the 273rd School Shooting in this country since sandy hook. That brings this difficult hour to a close for me. Thank you for watching. Deadline white house with Nicolle Wallace starts right now. Hi, everyone. Its 4 00 in new york but our attention is in parkland, florida this hour where 17 people have lost their lives and at least 14 more have been injured in the learning the name vict