Victim's Mother Plead for Action from Trump; The U.S. Calls for Gun Control After Mass Shootings; Skiing Takes Center on Day 7
VAUSE: U.S. president Donald Trump plans to travel to Florida and will meet with the families who lost loved ones in Wednesday's shooting. But there's no official word on when that will happen.</s>SESAY: When he does meet with them he can expect many people will be looking for concrete proposals to prevent such incidents, such tragedies from happening again. Take a listen to one student who survived the nightmare.</s>HOGG: My message to lawmakers in Congress is, please, take action. Ideas are great. Ideas are wonderful and they help you get reelected and everything. But what's more important is actual action and pertinent action that results in saving thousands of children's lives. Please, take action.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have a sense of what kind of action that would be?</s>HOGG: Any action at this point instead of just complete stagnancy and blaming the other side of the political aisle would be a step in the right direction. Working together to save these children's lives is what this country needs.</s>SESAY: Yes, focusing on the children.</s>VAUSE: What was really interesting was the response from all these kids from this school. It was blunt and it was direct.</s>SESAY: Absolutely. Absolutely, the ones who were literally in the line of fire. The president on Thursday framed the tragedy in terms of mental illness. He promised to tackle that, though he didn't say how.</s>VAUSE: Jeff Zeleny has more now on Donald Trump's response to this latest mass shooting.</s>TRUMP: My fellow Americans, today I speak to a nation in grief.</s>JEFF ZELENY, CNN SR. WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An all- too-familiar ritual unfolded across Washington today in the wake of another mass shooting in America, flags lowered to half-staff from the White House to Capitol Hill.</s>REP. MIKE THOMPSON (D): Mr. Speaker, can you tell us when the House may muster the courage to take up the issue of gun violence?</s>ZELENY (voice-over): But despite cheers from Democrats, there were no signs today Washington is any closer to addressing gun violence in the wake of the deadliest school shooting since Sandy Hook. President Trump did not mention the word "gun" in his brief remarks from the White House, instead talking about mental health.</s>TRUMP: We are committed to working with state and local leaders, to help secure our schools and tackle the difficult issue of mental health.</s>ZELENY (voice-over): While offering no specifics, the president said it was time for action.</s>TRUMP: It is not enough to simply take actions that make us feel like we are making a difference. We must actually make that difference.</s>ZELENY (voice-over): It's the fourth major shooting he's addressed since taking office, each time he's said it's not been the right moment to talk about guns. After the massacre on the Las Vegas strip...</s>TRUMP: We'll be talking about gun laws as time goes by.</s>ZELENY (voice-over): -- and the rampage inside the Texas church...</s>TRUMP: But this isn't a guns situation. I mean we could go into it. But it is a little bit soon to go into it.</s>ZELENY (voice-over): -- the White House had no daily briefing today. But the question we asked press secretary Sarah Sanders 136 days ago still lingers.</s>ZELENY: Does he believe that he could bring something new to the gun debate that has been, you know, I guess locked in typical politics for so many years?</s>SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, DEPUTY WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I think that there will be certainly time for that policy discussion to take place. But that's not the place that we are in at this moment.</s>ZELENY (voice-over): That moment has not yet arrived. Trump's presidential campaign was strongly supported by the NRA. But before running for office, he criticized his party's stance on guns, writing, "The Republicans walk the NRA line and refuse even limited restrictions. I generally oppose gun control but I support the ban on assault weapons and I support a slightly longer waiting period to purchase a gun."</s>ZELENY: But since taking office, President Trump has not expressed any support for a gun policy or any type of gun control measures. In fact, he has only talked about it on a day when America is reeling from another horrific shooting -- Jeff Zeleny, CNN, the White House.</s>VAUSE: Let's bring in our CNN political commentators, Democratic strategist Dave Jacobson and Republican consultant John Thomas. OK, so while everyone out there is agreeing that something needs to be done and maybe background checks would be a good place to start, guess what Republicans in the Florida state house were looking to do on Thursday? Because tucked away on page 88 of an --</s>VAUSE: -- agricultural bill about oyster farming, there was this provision which would have required the approval of a concealed weapons permit to basically be issued within 90 days even if a full background check was not complete. The vote was postponed. Dave, you know, chances are this is not an end to attempts to weaken, you know, the state's gun laws and it's not just Florida.</s>DAVE JACOBSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, I mean this is indicative of the NRA and the gun lobby's firm, iron grip over Republicans across the country. And it is -- it underscores the fact that Republicans will not do the will of the people; 95 of Americans, according to a recent Quinnipiac poll, want tougher background checks; 65 of them want a ban on assault weapons, like the gun that was used the other day. The fact of the matter is, any Republican who takes money from the NRA or takes money from the gun lobby and votes against common sense gun safety laws -- we're not saying take away the guns, just gun safety laws, has blood on their hands.</s>VAUSE: Yes. So John, why? If you look at the statistics, the AR-15, an AR style semiautomatic weapon,</s>JOHN THOMAS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, because I think a lot of Republicans and Americans feel that it is not just, if they didn't have an AR they would use some other kind of weapon. In fact, wasn't it the shooting in the church -- in a church a couple what a month or two ago that it was an NRA instructor using an assault rifle that stopped the shooter and had he not had the same level of firepower he might not have been able to stop that shooter. So I guess the point is, we don't necessarily just blame the gun because people who want to commit harm will commit harm. This shooter had many different kinds of weapons, not just an assault rifle. He had shotguns and several others.</s>VAUSE: Anecdotal evidence is not empirical evidence, it's a great idea.</s>THOMAS: But terrorists, if they can't get guns in Europe, what do they use, they use vans. Right? People commit violent acts when they want to.</s>VAUSE: If that is the theory, then let's stop all chemotherapy treatment because chemotherapy doesn't work in 100 percent of the cases, so therefore we should stop all of it, right? That's the logic. Because if there are laws on the books that wouldn't have prevented this particular shooting, they're going to use something else, then let's just --</s>THOMAS: Why have a law at all?</s>VAUSE: OK. And speaking of that, over the past 12 months, the president and Republicans in Congress, they have actually been busy working on gun laws as in rolling back gun laws. Let's take a look. So this is what happened. They've blocked a rule that made it harder for the mentally ill to obtain guns, made it easier for fugitives to buy guns. They've moved to loosen gun restrictions on federal land, advanced a bill to make it easier to buy gun silencers. The House passed a bill allowed concealed carry across state lines. They've proposed cutting millions of dollars from the background check system. This is just what we could find. Again, John, today's point, when the vast majority of Americans want sensible gun reform, especially on the issue of background checks, why are Republicans doing the complete opposite?</s>THOMPSON: Well, like President Trump said he wants laws that will actually make a difference, not things that will make us feel good.</s>VAUSE: How does this make a difference?</s>THOMAS: The point is we need to look at what happened yesterday and say, what could we have done to prevent that attack? Perhaps fix the way law enforcement communicates with one another. Perhaps work to harden our soft targets. These are things that could have been done that weren't done. These are easy fixes that we can agree on. John, we can't even agree to keep the government open. How in the world are we going to agree in Congress on something as polarizing as Second Amendment issues?</s>JACOBSON: Well, the issues like, for example, the AR-15 in Florida, you can actually purchase when you are 18 years old. The background check only takes minutes. But if you want to purchase a handgun in Florida, you have to be 21 years old and it's a three-day background check. So why can't we just match that up and make it 21, 21 --</s>VAUSE: -- prevented this from happening.</s>THOMAS: Well, but the -- wasn't the guy bought the firearms, what, in September?</s>THOMAS: -- but it was premeditated, I guess is my point. So a week, a month. It wouldn't have mattered. Same with Steven Paddock in Las Vegas. He purchased the firearms well in advance.</s>VAUSE: Listen to</s>LORI ALHADETT, VICTIM'S MOTHER: I just spent the last two hours putting the burial arrangements for my daughter's funeral, who is 14. President Trump, please do something. Do something. Action. We need it now. These kids need safety now.</s>VAUSE: Well, safety may not be coming if the president's budget is any guide.</s>VAUSE: "Politico's" reporting the budget request calls for a $25 million reduction in funds designated for national school safety activities compared with 2017. Donald Trump's budget will eliminate altogether a $400 million grant program that districts can use to prevent bullying or provide mental health assistance. John, as they say, budgets are statements of values.</s>THOMAS: And imagine those things are going to change.</s>VAUSE: This is where his head was at two days ago.</s>THOMAS: You are right, yes. No.</s>VAUSE: And this problem with mass shootings was a problem was two days ago. It's just reoccurred now.</s>THOMAS: No, it is. I mean, he is going to have to change his tune and readjust his budget on that issue. And I also think the federal government needs to come up with concrete steps beyond just gun control to help fix this challenge. And my heart breaks when you see victims' parents like that. Of course she wants -- she wants action. I think we can all agree that we need concrete action. The sad part is, after these shootings, we don't -- there is never any plan because one side says gun control. There is never any plan of easy fixes that we can do. And I think there are some perhaps, I know Dave wants to see gun control. But there are some easy fixes that can be done. These students need to be protected in the meantime before any gun control legislation can go through.</s>VAUSE: Dave?</s>JACOBSON: Look, I think that this needs to be not a partisan issue. This is an American issue. Enough is enough. And this cannot be the new normal. Right? I mean, bottom line, 95 percent, I mean, that is virtually every American polled says that that they want tougher background checks.</s>VAUSE: It's only a partisan issue in Congress, it's not a partisan issue anywhere else.</s>JACOBSON: Yes, precisely. And that's a reflection that Congress is not executing what the people want. And there's a severe problem with that. And I think as we head to 2018 election, voters need to internalize and digest that information and hopefully change course.</s>VAUSE: We're out of time but when politicians start thinking like parents, one parent said today, that's when it will change. Fair enough?</s>THOMAS: Fair enough.</s>VAUSE: OK. Dave, John, thank you.</s>JACOBSON: Thank you.</s>THOMAS: Thanks.</s>SESAY: Well, former Trump campaign aide, Rick Gates, is close to a plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller. Sources familiar with the case tell CNN Gates is poised to cooperate with investigators and could help in building a case against President Trump or his team. Gates and former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort have pleaded not guilty to financial crimes unrelated to the campaign. A White House official says Gates' potential cooperation wouldn't pose any risk to the president.</s>VAUSE: Well, gridlock on gun reform is often blamed on the all- powerful NRA. When we come back, questions are being asked about just who is bankrolling the National Rifle Association.</s>SESAY: Plus, North Korean athletes are capturing international attention at the Winter Olympics. But North Korean defectors are not so thrilled about it.