i am alison camerota. welcome to cnn tonight. 338,000 children. that is how many american kids have been exposed to gun violence at school since the columbine tragedy. now, imagine this. you survived a school shooting in high school or two rival college and be the victim of another one. that is what happens with these three students and michigan state university, last night. i ll talk to the father of one girl during that nightmare tonight. also, parking survivor, they ve been hawn, will be here with his thoughts on the five year anniversary of that school shooting. plus, nikki haley, then perhaps in the ring for 2024 against donald trump. how will she now deal with their head spinning contradictions and positions. on trump. and ohio s governor says he will not drink the water in one part of the state. so one of the people of east palestine supposed to do? 11 days after that toxic train derailment. started spewing hazardous chemicals. erin brockovich is here tonight with us.
required to have the same requirements held to him or her. we know what to do. congress needs to act. let me be clear about something. if this congress refuses to act, we need a new congress. [ cheers and applause ] and we need states to act as well. not every state has a governor as competent as governor lamont and i mean that. but they can do a lot more. look what the governor has done here in this state. less than two weeks ago here in connecticut, governor lamont signed a bipartisan legislation with more than a dozen measures to prove gun safety. from providing open carry and strengthenin ing prohibiting open carry. illinois, washington state, passed assault weapons bans this year. bringing the total to ten states, the district of
remarks, he would punctuate his words, making clear that there needs to be more action on this issue. and this was a president biden who arrived as the consoler in chief. he began by sympathizing with the loss of some of those in the crowd. several hundred people here, some of them are victims of gun violence, some of them from the mass shootings that we have covered and so he sympathized with that loss, but also expressed optimism by saying that this was a movement that was garnering more momentum and punctuated by the legislation passed a year ago. and just to go through some of that, which president biden also ticked through that included toughening background checks as well as closing a loophole for domestic violence laws, and helping states with red flag laws. and while he did urge congress to act, there is also a reality that that action has been stalled. and so he also called on states, as connecticut has done, to pass their own red flag laws to try to prevent gun violence.
injuries are not going to be in vain. your friend, your family member, your loved one did not die in vain. that by acting in their memory, you can prevent the next tragedy, you can save lives, you can save families. and the process, you can continue to save the country. and i mean that. look, folks, a year ago the conventional wisdom was we would never get any republicans to support gun legislation. period. that was the conventional wisdom. and all the usual obstacles have blocked us once again, but it didn t happen. instead, i signed into law the bipartisan community act, which we referenced several times today, which many described which many striked described ast significant gun safety law in 30 years. it is. for me and for most of you, here s what it really is.
i ve never forgotten them. and i never will forget them. and i ll never stop fighting for them. i promise you. and i believe this is true that everyone in this room, you ll never stop fighting for them as well. we will ban assault weapons in this country. we will ban multiround magazines. we will hold gunmakers liable. we will beat the gun industry. we will beat big money that sits behind them. and the politicians who refuse to stand up and act. it won t be easy. i have no illusions. i have no illusions about the people in this room. look at what you ve already done here in connecticut and around the country. look at the movement you built. look at the people you helped elect. look at the progress you made in state houses. look at all the mothers organizing all across the country. listen to the young people who have spoken out here today. they re speaking for the whole