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Families of Gun Violence Unite for Change; Press Conference on Oregon Shooting. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired October 02, 2015 - 14:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[14:30:00] RICHARD MARTINEZ, FATHER OF SHOOTING VICTIM: As I said, Brooke, background checks won't prevent all gun violence, but one of the things that every town for gun safety has been working on is red- flag legislation. That's passed in California. What that does is allows immediate family members or law enforcement to go in front of a judge and present evidence that a person is a danger to themselves or other people. The judge can order that this person turn in any guns they have and order that they not be allowed to buy a gun. So it gives families and law enforcement the tool to act proactively to prevent people who are seriously mentally ill from carrying out these terrible things and potentially harming themselves.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: I know a huge piece of this conversation is mental illness and we're going to talk to Sanjay Gupta later about that.

Here's the other issue. In Oregon, you have the sheriff in Douglas County, after what happened in Newtown, Connecticut, after those first graders were murdered, and now in his own hometown, the sheriff is standing up against any kind of gun control legislation. He says, quote, that it offends the rights of my citizens. This is the sheriff where the shooting occurred. What would you say to that sheriff?

MARTINEZ: I would say, take a look at the rest of the country. The countries that have -- the states that have the best background check laws have the least amount of gun violence. I can't accept people saying there's nothing we can do about this. I can't accept people who say we have --

BALDWIN: What about the president's point that we're numb, that the nation is numb? Does he have a point?

You're not numb, but other people could be.

MARTINEZ: Brooke, I was in Washington State this past November. It was the first time that a gun safety initiative had been put directly to the voters of the state. In that state, when voters were given an opportunity to choose common sense gun laws, they chose common sense gun laws by almost 60 percent to 40 percent. I think a lot of people in the country think that we have a more comprehensive background check system than we actually have. The polls show that the vast majority of Americans support background checks and that's something the people in Congress need to listen to and take action to allow this situation to continue, they have to decide. Are they going to be part of the solution or part of the problem? Continuing inaction by Congress just means that these things are going to continue.

One of the things, too, 88 people die from gun violence every single day in this country and hundreds are injured. It's not just mental health. Every day, women and children are killed in domestic violence situations involving anger management, alcohol and drugs. That situation is not a mental health issue. We need to address the issue of mental health and guns.

BALDWIN: Yes, I understand.

MARTINEZ: We need to address the issue of domestic violence and guns. We need to address inner city problems and violence with guns. There's not one solution that's going to address all these issues. But we need to have a discussion in this country, and we need to take action.

I have a sense of urgency because the longer it takes us to get this done, the more people are going to die in situations that are preventable. That's unacceptable to me and it should be unacceptable to the rest of the country. If you want to reduce gun violence --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Mr. Martinez, I have to go.

I appreciate it. It can happen to anyone. It can happen to anyone.

Let's go live to Roseburg, Oregon.

It looks like we're waiting, getting a couple people in place for this latest update. We're waiting also to hear from the -- here we go.

TIM FREEMAN, DOUGLAS COUNTY COMMISSIONER: Good morning, everyone. My name is Tim Freeman. I'm a Douglas County commissioner. Thank you for being here this morning.

This morning, I'm here to introduce each of our speakers. But before I do that, I want to thank our governor and our federal delegation for being here to support us in these very difficult days. Each of the speakers is going to give their statement, and we're not going to do any questions. We're here today to let the federal delegation have a chance to explain their thoughts and as time goes by, we'll have more opportunity to understand more of what's happened and have further dialogue.

The first speaker I'd like to introduce -- and I'm thankful for the governor for being here and coming down yesterday to help with this difficult situation -- is Governor Brown -- Governor?

[14:35:42] KATE BROWN, GOVERNOR: Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Freeman, and thank you for your leadership yesterday.

All of Oregon stands with Umpqua Community College and the city of Roseburg. I'm proud of how the community pulled together to care and comfort each other during this horrific crisis.

I want to thank our police, our firefighters, our dispatchers, our emergency medical personnel and all those at the college for their heroic efforts yesterday.

Oregon has worked continuously to prevent these kinds of tragedies, but they continue to happen here and across the nation, and it is going to keep happening until we decide we want them to stop. There's no single solution that will prevent every shooting, but we must and we will do better to prevent these types of senseless violence. This is a conversation that we will have, but today is not the day.

Today, we must be focused on provide in providing the support and condolences and help this community heal. As e we move forward, we can honor the lives lost at UCC best by remembering what it means to be a caring community, to demonstrate more kindness, respect each other more, and take the time to truly connect to the people around us. This is a very difficult time for all of us, and of course, especially those here in Douglas County, whose lives and families were changed by the events of yesterday. One person's deranged act may have broken all of our hearts, but he cannot prevent our hearts from growing back bigger and stronger and more committed to the Oregon that we all love so very much.

Thank you.

FREEMAN: Thank you, Governor Brown.

Our next speaker -- and I should mention the next three speakers got on planes and flew out here from Washington, D.C., to be with us today. I'm very grateful for their efforts. The next speaker is Senator Ron Wyden.

SEN. RON WYDEN, (D), OREGON: In the last 24 hours, Oregonians struggled with unspeakable tragedy, grieved for the victims and the families and loved ones and gave a big, big thanks to our courageous first responders. Right now is a time for healing and helping the community. For the future, it is clear that it does have to be about more than words and good intentions if this carnage is to finally end. As a country, we cannot just shrug our shoulders and move on. In my view, ending these massacres is going to require compromise, compromise that is about rights and responsibilities. Gun owners have rights under the law and there must be responsibilities if these massacres are going to end. Oregon is exactly the place to lead this conversation. What we have shown as Oregonians again and again is we can step forward and help our people as we seek to help this community today and show a bit of light for the rest of the nation. Today is not about what any of us in the United States Congress have voted for in the past. It is about what common ground we, as people who don't always agree, can find in the future.

[14:40:43] FREEMAN: Thank you, Senator.

Next we have Senator Merkley.

SEN. JEFF MERKLEY, (D), OREGON: We have a long series of names branded on our hearts from across the nation. Places like columbine, sandy hook and now here at Umpqua Community College here in Roseburg. It's a list of names that no community ever wants to have been included in. And at this moment, this senseless act has broken hearts, every heart here. This is a small community. It's a community where everyone knows someone who was hurt or killed yesterday. The community has come together in an extraordinary fashion. The first responders responded quickly and competently. The sheriff, the county commissioners and the mayor and city manager all jumped in to make decisions in a flash to respond and address the situation. They did an incredible job, but there is no response that can repair the broken hearts.

Yesterday, when I walked back from the capital to the office building, I was told there's been a tragedy in Oregon. There's been a mass shooting in Oregon and, Senator, it's from your home county, Douglas County. I have a special place in my heart for this county. I was born in myrtle creek just south of here. When I was about 2, we moved here to Roseburg. I went to 1st grade here. I have family on both sides, my father's side and mother's side. And this morning, I was asked about my family down here. And I must say I never thought it could possibly be that my family, my extended family and cousins were directly affected. But as I said, this is a small town and everyone is affected. And one of the individuals who died is the great granddaughter of my first cousin, so she is my cousin. And I just tell you, every heart is damaged and broken. And this community is coming together to embrace each other, to exercise the companionship, the love, the affection, no one could have envisioned that here in this wonderful, beautiful place of Roseburg that this could happen. It is going to give us all food for thought. This long list gets longer with every passing week and month we have had 18 school shootings here in 2015. We have had 45 mass shootings in America in 2015. So we'll be carrying our hearts not only the sorrow and pain, but also the responsibility to ponder what we can do that there will be fewer cities, that this list will not continue to grow as it had has.

Thank you.

[14:45:] FREEMAN: So our last speaker today is Representative Peter DeFazio -- Representative?

REP. PETER DEFAZIO, (D), OREGON: Here approximately 25 hours after this tragedy, this is a day for us to mourn those who died and to give as much as we can to their family and friend and to pray for those still in the hospital and then for this community. For the townspeople, today is a day of mourning. We'll go through grief. We'll have memorials. And then there will come a time when we have all the facts from the investigation, which is ongoing that we may find discreet ways to deal with problems in the future.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time that I've spoken at a news conference like this. Thurston took place two miles from my home. In the case of Thurston, it was like I saw the press conference today. Tremendous demand for information, which isn't yet ready available, for solutions, which we can't even begin to think of until we know all the facts, and the impatience. This is not a time to be impatient. It's a time first to come together in solidarity and to give what solace we can to those who have lost so much. There will come a time where we'll move forward with ideas and solutions and I expect this delegation with the support of these local officials and our governor to move together in unison. But that is not today. That's for the future.

Thank you.

FREEMAN: I'd like everybody to come in closer, please.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for being here today. On behalf of the board of commissioners, I want to thank this group of people that has responded at all levels of government, city, county, state, federal, the tribes here helping us. And I really want to thank the first responders that are behind us. We are all here to support the victims and families of this horrible incident.

Thank you.

BALDWIN: So they are not taking questions. We're going to pull away from that.

You heard the county commissioner there in Douglas County, a number of members of Congress there representing the state of Oregon, all offering their sorrow, touching so many people, saying today is not the day essentially to politicize what's happening, but it is very important part of this conversation moving forward.

I want to broaden this conversation now. Let me bring in our chief medical correspondent, at one of the medical centers there, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Also, we have Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona, who lives in Oregon, and is familiar with this area. He's back with us today. Also CNN contributor and criminologist, Casey Jordan, is with us. And firearms and homeland security expert, David Katz, is here as well.

Casey Jordan, why does this keep happening?

CASEY JORDAN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: There are not enough hours in the day to really answer that question, except that the pattern that keeps being revealed is it's mostly males, predominantly white, in their 20s, and all feel maligned by life. I don't want to call them losers, but they have a number of failures with school and relationships, jobs, and they want to scapegoat all their failures on to someone or something else. And sometimes they pick microcosm of society. And you can't get focused on whether they hate women or blacks or religious people. It's that they are looking for anyone and anything to externalize the blame onto.

BALDWIN: Which is what they do, they want notoriety.

JORDAN: Which is what they do, exactly.

(CROSSTALK)

JORDAN: Once they pull off this violent act, their power will be solved even if they don't live through it, they will experience power and have the last word once in their lives.

BALDWIN: But he's dead.

JORDAN: Yeah, and that's the funny thing. They have this Tom Sawyer concept that they are going to hover over their funeral and watch CNN even after they're dead, and say, yeah, I did it. They don't realize once they are dead, the infamy is going to be completely negative.

And you have to give the sheriff a lot of credit. He refuses to say this man's name. He's not interested in letting him have one second of fame.

[14:50:09] BALDWIN: I haven't said his name either.

(CROSSTALK)

David Kats, your reaction?

DAVID KATZ, FIREARMS & HOMELAND SECURITY EXPERT: I won't say his name either.

(LAUGHTER)

I think this is an issue, in many cases, of someone trying to go from security can to infamy. That point is well made. Also, they do this by deliberately identifying and targeting places that offer the victims no hope, either escape or fighting back. So those are two commonalities. Until we make adjustments, we're not making any difference.

BALDWIN: Sanjay, I want to bring you into this. You have updates as far as some of the victims in the hospital. I want to hear the voice on the mental health aspect of the stories we keep covering.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: There's such a conflict here in so many ways. We talk about mental illness and it bears repeating. It seems like we talk about this in the wake of awful tragedy. People with mental illness are more likely to be victims of violence rather than perpetrators of violence. I say that at the outset because there's already so much stigma against people with mental illness that they are more likely to be victims. That bears repeating.

Having said that, somebody who does this has some component of mental illness. He may have recognized that in himself. The problem is that it's really hard to get treatment. It's really hard to get a diagnosis. It's hard to get outpatient therapy. It's hard to find an inpatient bed. That system is broken. We talk about parody, making mental illness on par with physical illness. We're nowhere close to that. That's not the only cause of this, obviously. But it's a big one. It's one that's forgotten a lot.

BALDWIN: Sanjay, do me a favor, standby.

Casey and Davis, standby with me as well.

We're going to continue this conversation.

A reminder, now that we've heard from the governor of Oregon, next hour, we are now hearing from the president of the United States. He will be addressing a personnel change within the administration, but he will be asked questions, presumably, that will be germane to what happened here in Roseburg, Oregon. So we'll bring that to you live. Please stay with me. Quick commercial break.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. This is CNN's special live coverage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:56:57] BALDWIN: You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

We're continuing our coverage of what happened in Roseburg, Oregon.

I want to bring in Ashleigh Banfield, who is there just by the campus, standing next to Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona, who lives in Oregon and is familiar with this area and who was instrumental in our coverage yesterday. I also have David Katz with me here, firearms and homeland security expert.

What is your biggest -- it bobbles my mind. It continues to happen. Beyond that, your thought is what?

KATZ: Two things, one is making sure people with these types of issues, whether they are mental issue, anger issues, whatever the circumstance is, make sure they do not get their hands on firearms. This is no way shape or form. It should be something directed at lawful gun ownership. It's these people --

(CROSSTALK)

KATZ: Right. These guns.

(CROSSTALK)

KATZ: The other thing everyone needs to know, if you're a student, if you work in an office building, if something like this happened, what do you do. New York City is requiring every high-rise building to do this training starting next month, first municipality in the world to do that.

BALDWIN: Ashleigh, Colonel Francona, let me bring the two of you in.

Ashleigh, I have been watching you all day and you have been getting story after story of how somebody played dead or survived or lost someone. And, Colonel Francona, to you, again, it hits home that this has

affected every person in this community there.

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: It has. And I talked to people in town, I communicate with people via social media that live here. They are still in shock. They are very upset that now Roseburg has become synonymous with all the other tragedies we have seen over the last several years. This is not what this community is about. They are worried about the stigma that will be attached to it from here on. We all love this place. That's why I moved here. The natural beauty and just the freedom that we have here. So we're worried that's going to be impacted forever.

BALDWIN: Ashleigh Banfield, final thought from you? You're surrounded by what's happening. Your biggest take away, thus far?

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Well, I just keep coming back to the fact that it's so stunning and beautiful behind us. And yet, in between me and those lovely mountains, is crime scene tape --

BALDWIN: Crime tape.

BANFIELD: -- and investigators. It's a crime scene that's an eighth of a mile from the college. Imagine what the frenzy of forensic activity is trying to process that horrifying blood-soaked scene on that college. They have so much investigative work still to do. And those families in this community have so much to mourn, still. It's a really tough place to be right now.

BALDWIN: And hearing from the first responders and law enforcement and folks who work in Douglas County, they all know people who have either gone through this community college or taught this community college. This has affected so many people.

Colonel Francona, to your point, this is added to the list of the Littletons and Newtowns and Auroras.

Thank you so much.

Now this.

[15:00:10] We are continuing our special live coverage here on CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.