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Mike Pence Protests NFL Protests by Leaving Game Early; Trump and Corker Exchange Attacks; New Information on Notes Left by Las Vegas Shooter; Some in Puerto Rico Losing Hope Weeks After Hurricane Maria; Assessing FEMA's Response in Puerto Rico; One Week On: Grappling with Gun Reform; Bodycam Captures Moment Officer Shoots, Kills Fleeing Man; Most International Students are from China. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired October 08, 2017 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:09] ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Hello. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. So glad you could join me.

We begin with a truly stunning day in politics. Just a short time ago Vice President Mike Pence reigniting the feud between the White House and the NFL, walking out of a game being played by his hometown Indianapolis Colts after opposing players kneeled during the national anthem.

Pence tweeted minutes after leaving, quote, "I left today's Colts game because the president and I will not dignify any event that disrespects our soldier, our flag or our national anthem."

Also on Twitter today an extraordinary exchange of insults between the president and a top Republican senator. After being slammed by President Trump, Bob Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, saying, quote, "It's a shame the White House has become an adult daycare center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning."

Now Corker was responding to tweets President Trump fired up first early this morning. In them, President Trump claims Corker, quote, "begged" the president to endorse him for re-election and also said Corker wanted to be secretary of State but then he turned him down. President Trump then went on to blame Corker for the Iran deal.

I want to go live to CNN's Ryan Nobles outside the White House.

Ryan, first, let's talk about the vice president walking out of that 49ers-Colts game today. What else do we know about that decision?

RYAN NOBLES, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana, if you look at the evidence that we have in front of us on social media, it certainly looks like the vice president knew what he was getting into and was prepared to leave this football game early. Those tweets you just showed were time stamped at 1:08. The kickoff was at 1:00 for this football game so they were ready to go the minute he left.

And the vice president showed a picture of him standing for the national anthem, and then left the game right away. And we know that the president was involved in this because the president tweeted shortly after the vice president's tweets that he said, quote, "I asked VP Pence to leave the stadium if any players kneeled disrespecting our country. I am proud of him and Second Lady Karen."

And they had to have known or at least expected that someone was going to be kneeling during the national anthem. It's happened at almost every single NFL game since the president attacked the original protester and that was Colin Kaepernick, who is no longer in the league, who started kneeling during games last year to protest racial inequality.

And Ana, this required a lot of travel at the taxpayers' expense. The vice president was in Las Vegas yesterday. He traveled to Indianapolis last night, spent the night there after only staying for that game for about eight minutes, he is now on his way to California. And there are some Democrats who are saying this was all just a big publicity stunt.

CABRERA: And meantime, even before that happened this fight between the president and a top Republican senator Bob Corker really lobbing personal insults at each other. How did we end up here?

NOBLES: Yes, and there seems to be a very different version of events between what Bob Corker and Donald Trump are saying about their interactions surrounding Senator Corker's decision not to seek re- election. And a lot of this animosity from the White House in Corker's direction comes from a series of interviews that Corker did where he spoke about the president and his leadership. One from Wednesday on Capitol Hill and another from back in August. Let's take a listen to both of them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BOB CORKER (R), TENNESSEE: I think Secretary Tillerson, Secretary Mattis and chief of staff Kelly are those people that help separate our country from chaos. The president has not yet -- has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability nor some of the competence that he needs to demonstrate in order to be successful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBLES: And essentially what Bob Corker's office is saying is that the president is lying about their interactions on this particular topic. This is a statement from Todd Womack who is the chief of staff to Senator Corker. He said, quote, "The president called Senator Corker on Monday afternoon and asked him to reconsider his decision to not seek re-election and reaffirm that he would have endorsed him as he has said many times."

That is completely the opposite of what the president has been tweeting today. And in just the last hour or so the president tweeting specifically that Bob Corker gave us the Iran deal. And it's important to point out, Ana, that Bob Corker voted against the Iran deal, and even though he was involved in the negotiations before the deal was put into fruition, when Barack Obama was in office, this was something that Bob Corker specifically voted against.

And he also was a key vote on healthcare and will be a key vote on tax reform, so just make sure we have that all out there on the record as we read the president's latest salvo in Corker's direction.

CABRERA: Something tells me Bob Corker was not unhappy to be leaving politics after all of this.

Ryan Nobles, thank you. I appreciate that update.

[18:05:02] I want to talk more now about the vice president's decision to leave the Colts game in his hometown of Indianapolis. With us to discuss, CNN contributor and former NFL wide receiver Donte Stallworth and political reporter for the "Washington Post" Eugene Scott.

Gentlemen, thanks for being here.

Donte, first, your reaction to the vice president's walkout saying he will not dignify an even that disrespects our soldiers and our flag.

DONTE STALLWORTH, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: It's totally his right to do that, right? That's the whole thing that the players have been saying from day one is that it's our constitutional right to be able to exercise our First Amendment right. And that also, obviously, extends to the vice president of the United States. But when you go and you use taxpayer money, you go and you have this whole staged publicity stunt that is on the taxpayer dime, flying from Las Vegas to Indianapolis, having to have this security detail, coordinate with the local police department, having staffer advance teams need to be on the ground in Indianapolis and then flying all the way back to the West Coast to Los Angeles.

And then we talk about, you know, the other president's or the president's other Cabinet members, we have the Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, you have the former Health and Human Services Secretary, Tom Price, and you also have the Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who have all done the same thing, right? They've upset at NFL players for taking a knee and expressing their rights that the military people have sworn an oath to, to the Constitution but yet they're not upset at the fact that they are using taxpayer money, hundreds and thousands of taxpayer dollars, to go to private islands and have dinner, to go and look at the solar eclipse in Fort Knox.

And then to go to Indianapolis today to a staged publicity event. To me that's what's disrespectful, not what the players are doing.

CABRERA: Eugene, it's interesting, Colin Kaepernick re-tweeted something you sent out. Of course, Kaepernick is really the brain child of this protest during the anthem. And you wrote, quote, "Any comment for the NFL players and other Americans who are disrespected by racism, the original reason for the protest?" And I'm curious what kind of reaction or answers you're getting to that question you post?

EUGENE SCOTT, POLITICAL REPORTER, WASHINGTON POST: Well, as you can imagine, there's a lot of fighting happening in my mentions, but I think what's really important is that this conversation be had in context.

There are people who have managed to protest racism while respecting veterans, and it's very important if people really would like to know more about how veterans feel about this issue, you can look at some polls. You can also look at pieces in publications like "The Undefeated" and NPR and "The Washington Post" where veterans have come out and said that they do support NFL players being able to express their First Amendment rights to protest racism because even veterans understand that racism is a problem in America.

CABRERA: Donte, you've been talking with current players, I know, and some have told you they're being now required to stand for the national anthem?

STALLWORTH: Yes. I've talked to a couple of players from different teams, a few players, actually. And it's interesting, the response has been from a number of guys around the league. The response has been from where the coaches haven't said anything to them about protesting at all. That's kind of let the team do their own thing. All the way up to that the team has tried to encourage or entice players to stand for the national anthem, and not -- again, and not take a knee or not hold up a fist.

These things are interesting to me. And I tweeted out something earlier after speaking to some players yesterday. And I wanted to know which owners, which NFL owners and NFL head coaches have these policies within their own team because every team is different. Every organization has their own team policy especially and specifically when it comes to this since it is not an NFL rule like it is in the NBA that players are required to stand for the national anthem before the game.

CABRERA: Do you think it should be a rule just to kind of remove all of the controversy?

STALLWORTH: No. I don't think there should be any type of rule to limit one's First Amendment rights. That's why it's the First Amendment. It's obviously the founders of this country felt like it was the most important amendment to the Constitution and obviously go back to -- all the way back to the beginning of the American Revolution where common sense was distributed thousands of times throughout the northeast of the 13 colonies and that was considered treason.

So I think that obviously the common sense book but also other instances have really laid the foundation for the principles of this country and the First Amendment as the most important, so none of that should be stifled whether we agree with it or not. There are -- Nazis marching on the streets in Charlottesville. Listen, that's their right. I'm not a fan of the Nazis at all or white supremacists, but that's -- it's within their constitutional right to do so but it's also in our constitutional rights to be able to counter-protest and peacefully like what happened in Charlottesville before unfortunately, and then you saw the end result of that with the young lady losing her life.

[18:10:06] CABRERA: And in fact there was another protest with white supremacists at that same area in Charlottesville last night.

Eugene, let's talk about the politics of this because the president says he now asked the Vice President Pence to walk out if the players kneel. So this is clearly a fight the White House wants.

SCOTT: Absolutely. We have data and surveys that show that one of the things that led so many Americans to get on the Trump train is his appeals to the cultural anxiety of many people among his base. And we saw that this weekend and the week as a whole has not been the most favorable for the president in terms of poor poll numbers coming out. He had the head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee come out and critique his foreign affairs knowledge.

And so I think he was worried that some people among his base would be getting off the Trump train just like it appears to Bob Corker has. And so how do you keep them on? You do things that led them to join you in the first place. And critiquing people speaking out against racism saying something that seems to be supportive of veterans and seems to be supportive of police keeps people who are already on the Trump train on board.

But thankfully most Americans, according to polls, know that the protests is not about the flag. It's about police violence and it's about police racism. And hopefully, I was asking in my tweet maybe our vice president could speak to that and address that issue for all of the Americans that they represent.

CABRERA: Gentlemen, I thank you for that thoughtful discussion.

Donte Stallworth, Eugene Scott, we appreciate it.

SCOTT: Thank you.

STALLWORTH: Thanks, Ana.

CABRERA: Coming up, new details are emerging about the note left by the Las Vegas gunman. What his calculations tell investigators about his plot.

And as Puerto Ricans struggle for basic needs more than two weeks after Hurricane Maria hit the island, the mayor of San Juan is now under new criticism, this time from the head of FEMA who says the agency filtered her out a long time ago. I'll ask the governor if he thinks these attacks are helping the three million people of Puerto Rico rebuild.

Straight ahead. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:16:24] CABRERA: If you're a country music fan, you know who that guy is. You know that song. That is country music superstar Jason Aldean on "Saturday Night Live" paying tribute to rock 'n' roll legend Tom Petty and also the victims of the music festival massacre in Las Vegas. Aldean was performing on stage in Las Vegas when the killer opened

fire. Now before the song, a very serious moment. Aldean sharing his thoughts on moving forward after the tragedy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON ALDEAN, COUNTRY MUSIC SINGER: This week we witnessed one of the worst tragedies in American history. Like everyone, I'm struggling to understand what happened that night and how to pick up the pieces and start to heal. You can be sure that we're going to walk through these tough times together every step of the way because when America is at its best, our bond and our spirit, it's unbreakable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Meanwhile, back in Vegas at the site of the massacre, there's been a major development. Investigators have figured out the meaning of those numbers left on a piece of paper in the gunman's hotel room underneath that green roll of tape.

CNN's Stephanie Elam is in Las Vegas with this new detail.

Stephanie, tell us what more you've learned.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, Ana. Well, this is something that we've been wanting to know about what that notepad had on it. We know it was just a series of numbers, there were no words on it. Well, now we have more clarity coming from David Newton from the Los Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What were the numbers -- was it gun calculations or --

OFFICER DAVID NEWTON, LAS VEGAS POLICE: Yes. He had written -- he must have done the calculations or gone online or something to figure it out, what his altitude was going to be, on how high up he was, how far up the crowd was going to be and what -- at that distance, what the drop of his bullet was going to be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELAM: And that interview happening on CBS' "60 Minutes." Now of course this is one detail there that still, while helpful, does not help figure out why the shooter would do this, help explain his motive now, which is seven days out now. And was still no clear idea why he did this and that is very still frustrating to investigators who continue to dig through thousands of leads to find out any reason why this man would have done this -- Ana.

CABRERA: Stephanie, I understand Jason Aldean is back in Las Vegas today standing by that promise, in his words, to get through this tragedy together. What is he doing? ELAM: Yes. We just confirmed that the country superstar did make his

way over to the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada, the level one trauma center where we saw so many of the wounded went, where they had critically wounded patients there. Some hundred -- more than a hundred patients went to that hospital after this crisis here in Las Vegas.

Well, we know that he went there today to visit with some of those critically wounded patients. So last night "Saturday Night Live" and then made his way back here to Las Vegas to spend some time sharing spirits, getting those fans, those super fans I'm sure many of them super Jason Aldean fans, lifting their spirits with a surprise visit from him today.

CABRERA: That's so nice to hear.

Stephanie Elam, thank you for the update from Las Vegas.

Now in the weeks since the massacre we have been reading the names of those who lost their lives as we've learned their identities. And here are the names and faces of seven of those 58 victims.

Andrea Castilla, 28 years old. Keri Lynn Galvan, 31 years old. Patricia Mestas, 67 years old. Austin Meyer, 24 years old. Carrie Parsons, 31 years old. Brett Schwanbeck, 61 years old. old. Teresa Nicol Kimura, 38 years old.

[18:20:10] These are the faces that should always be remembered. They range in age from 20 to 67, and they were mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, grandparents and grandchildren. They were loved.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: I want to take you to Puerto Rico now. President Trump's waiver of the Jones Act inspires today.

[18:25:03] That waiver was intended to expedite the shipping of aid to Puerto Rico. But the Department of Homeland Security says the waiver served its purpose and is no longer needed. Still some in Congress want to see that waiver extended because they worry the Jones Act could drive up cost of goods or delay shipments to the island.

So here's where the situation stands right now. Nearly 80 percent of Puerto Rico is still without power and just a little over half of the residents have running water as crews work around the clock to restore the infrastructure. For many frustration is growing as desperate residents wait for hours for something as simple as ice.

CNN's Nick Valencia reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The day starts early if you want to get basic goods in Arecibo. More than two weeks after Hurricane Maria hit, life here comprises of waiting in line for one service or another. By 8:00 a.m., the line for ice is more than two blocks long.

(On camera): I've been talking to this family, and they've been telling me that they've been here since 1:00 in the morning. We're coming up on 9:00 a.m. The local plant officials are supposed to open at 7:00 a.m., but that has yet to happen.

Also what we're told from these residents who have been standing in line for hours upon hours, that there's been a 20 percent increase in the price for the bags of ice.

(Voice-over): Kelly Lopez came to get some extra bags for her epileptic sister, who is bedridden. She's already been turned away once because her sister wasn't with her. Today, she's back to try again.

(On camera): It's very difficult for everyone here in Puerto Rico.

(Voice-over): And then just minutes after our cameras arrived, the doors open. We asked a local plant official why cost for ice have gone up. She says because prices for plastic and diesel have increased.

(On camera): And so the government or nobody is helping you supplement that? She says no, not at all. They're having to come totally out of pocket for it.

(Voice-over): While in Arecibo, locals beg us to check out the regional hospital. There are rumors of people dying in horrible conditions. This is what we arrived to. The hospital, back on normal power ahead of schedule. Those critical patients being housed outside in a temporary ward are now being moved back inside.

A hospital official tells us there haven't been any storm-related deaths. Mark Thorpe is the commander of a federal disaster relief team assisting the hospital.

MARK THORPE, TEAM COMMANDER, U.S. FEDERAL DISASTER RELIEF: When we have these in the continental United States, we can get help there quicker. The challenge here is getting everything here.

VALENCIA: Thorpe knows there are rumors about a lack of urgency in the relief efforts and it's taken a toll on him.

THORPE: When the hurricane came over, we were here.

VALENCIA (on camera): I know it's hard.

THORPE: Yes.

VALENCIA (voice-over): Across the street from the hospital, there is a different problem, another long line. This time at a local bank.

(On camera): Just before we got here, we're told the bank system collapsed and now those who have been staying in line there is no guarantee that they're going to get any money. (Voice-over): Arizayin Medina (ph) drove 30 minutes from a

neighboring town just to stand in line five hours. He says he has no other choice.

(On camera): Everything is money here. Everything is money.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Everything is money here.

VALENCIA (voice-over): In Arecibo, locals say they're living each day as if it's the first day after the storm. Desperate for help, but now they have lost hope.

Nick Valencia, CNN, Arecibo, Puerto Rico.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Thank you, Nick.

Still to come, another mass shooting, another endless debate between gun control advocates and the NRA. Why does it have to be this way?

We'll get the inside story from a former top lobbyist for the gun industry who is now revealing the secrets behind what drives the NRA's politics.

Confessions of a gun lobbyist next live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:32:57] CABRERA: Back to Puerto Rico now which is still struggling to recover after Hurricane Maria tore through the island more than two weeks ago. And joining us now on the phone is the Governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rossello.

Governor, thank you for spending time with us. Obviously, it will take some time before the island's infrastructure can be rebuilt, but San Juan's mayor has been quite critical of the government's response efforts and even continues to tweet stuff like this: increasingly painful to understand that American people want to help and the U.S. government does not want to help. We need water!

And now listen to how FEMA Director Brock Long responded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROCK LONG, ADMINISTRATOR, FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY: We filtered out the mayor a long time ago. We don't have time for the political noise. The bottom line is, is that we are making progress every day in conjunction with the governor.

And in regards to the power failure, we're restringing a very fragile system every day. As we make progress, simple thunderstorms pass through, knock the progress out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: So, Governor, what is the situation on the ground? What is the reality? Give us your assessment of the government response.

GOV. RICARDO ROSSELLO, PUERTO RICO (via telephone): Well, thank you, Ana, for the opportunity. Right now, we've been building capacity in the past couple of weeks, so that we are -- can make sure that food and water get to the people of Puerto Rico, that we can have hospitals running, we can have fuel getting to the places where it needs to, and that we can start restoring some normalcy.

Of course, we've heard complaints that some of the food and water haven't gotten to the different people of Puerto Rico. The truth of the matter is that there have been over 8 million liters of water, 8 million (INAUDIBLE) of food distributed along the island. They have gotten to the regional. Some of this, they have gotten to the municipalities.

However, we've heard complaints that some of the municipalities haven't been getting these to the people. So I ordered an investigation on this to see which municipalities are doing the correct thing and which ones aren't.

[18:34:56] I also sent National Guard to make sure that the food and water gets to the people of Puerto Rico and sent auditors to all of the municipalities so that we can have an account of what food is being delivered and the water that's getting to the people of Puerto Rico.

This is paramount for us. And whoever, you know, is not doing so, there's going to be some hell to pay.

CABRERA: So what I'm hearing you say, it sounds like, there is still a serious issue. There is still a gap in terms of the response and making sure people who need the help the most perhaps are getting it.

ROSSELLO (via telephone): Well, we're making every effort to do it. We've opened public, you know, staging areas. We've gone to the different municipalities. We've opened up schools so that they can cook and give water to the people. And we've done so with the municipalities and with other efforts that have been helping.

But, of course, if we still hear complaints, we want to make sure there is -- it doesn't translate that we're getting food and water to the places that it needs to go. People can go to status.pr, and they can see the delivery systems that have occurred across the island during the past couple of weeks.

But if there is somebody that is not receiving food, we need to make sure -- we need to understand why that's the case when it's getting to the different municipalities. So, again, we're going to be very vigorous, and we're going to be very, very stern with this.

If somebody is withholding water or food for whatever reason in Puerto Rico, that is not acceptable. And we'll make sure with the National Guard, with the military, with our auditors, that it gets where it needs to go.

CABRERA: We continue to be with you and the people of Puerto Rico, in spirit at the very least. I wish we could do more to help. Let us know if there is something. I know there's not a whole lot we, as individuals, can do here, but do know that we'll do what we can.

Thank you so much, Governor, for spending time with us and shedding some light on what's happening there. We don't want to forget that ongoing situation.

In the meantime, let's talk more about another heartbreaking tragedy. This is one week now since the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. With 58 people dead, more than 500 wounded, the U.S. is doing some soul searching on an issue that divides people like no other -- guns.

Here's what we do know about where the American public stands. According to the latest polling specifically on gun reform and gun rights, 94 percent of American voters support background checks. Just five percent are against them according to Quinnipiac. Even in households where there is a gun, 92 percent still support background checks.

Now, in a survey done by Pew Research, more than half of Americans say the nation's gun laws should be stricter than they are now. Eighteen percent said less strict, and 30 percent say they are about right.

In a CNN poll after the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, 55 percent said they favored stricter gun control laws, 42 percent were opposed.

Joining us now is Richard Feldman. He is a gun owner and the president of the Independent Firearm Owners Association.

And, Richard, you were once a regional political director for the NRA, so you have a true insider's view of that organization. How is it that despite the events of the last week and beyond, the NRA still has such a stranglehold on any kind of gun control even when many, apparently, in its own membership, appear to agree with the public at large and want tougher gun laws?

RICHARD FELDMAN, PRESIDENT, INDEPENDENT FIREARM OWNERS ASSOCIATION: Well, first of all, I don't think that the NRA leadership has a stranglehold on anything. It's true that about a third of the population of this country are gun owners, and gun owners care very deeply about their Second Amendment rights.

You know, all of our precious liberties stand or fall together. You can't pick and choose. Well, I like this part of the First Amendment or that part of the Fifth. They all go together, and they will all either fail together or they will succeed together.

What we need to do in this country is a much better job of recognizing there are certain lines. But within those lines, there's so much more we can accomplish, with gun owners and non-gun owners alike. But every time there's a tragedy like last week, we seem to want the talk about the most difficult aspects.

You know, one of your great commentators, Dr. Cedric Alexander, the deputy mayor, and former chief -- police chief in Rochester, he, too, has the same kind of insights into this.

Sometimes, there's not a lot we can do. But there are so many times -- the deaths every single day in Chicago and other urban areas in this country -- there's a lot we can do about this problem. Even if there's not so much that we're able to do about an odd and terrible problem like last week in Las Vegas.

CABRERA: So do people just throw up -- I mean, just throw their arms up?

FELDMAN: Why do we allow the things that disagree with -- I'm sorry?

CABRERA: Do people just throw their arms up, though --

FELDMAN: I'm sorry?

CABRERA: -- when you're saying that there's not much, perhaps, we could do about what happened in Las Vegas?

[18:39:57] FELDMAN: You know, when you take someone like this shooter, he would have passed any background check that I've ever heard proposed. He didn't seem to have a mental history background.

We're all still scratching our head, wondering, what happened to this guy? Was there a frontal tumor in his brain? I mean, this was bizarre.

In most of the other shootings, over the past 10 or 20 years, there's been some indication, and we've missed the signs. This time, there didn't seem to be any signs, at least none right now that anyone's brought forward.

But why do we allow events like this to prevent us, as a society, from doing the things that we could do? And there's so many things that we could do.

CABRERA: Like what?

FELDMAN: We always seem to focus on the gun, instead of on the person using or misusing the gun. We'll take for example --

CABRERA: Tell me what you see as a solution.

FELDMAN: Well, I think that it does make sense to have background checks, although it wouldn't have made any difference in this particular case, in all commercial transactions on guns. We have an issue in this country with six, seven --

CABRERA: Why not all transactions on guns --

FELDMAN: -- hundred -- I'm sorry?

CABRERA: Why not all transactions on guns? You said commercial transactions on guns.

FELDMAN: I did. CABRERA: Why not all?

FELDMAN: Because then you will get opposition from people like me and many gun owners who say, what is the government trying to do when you transfer a gun to your son or to your wife or to your mother? There are certain things that the government shouldn't try and get involved in.

When you send a gun -- sell a gun to your hunting buddy for 20 years, what is the great role -- you know that person. The problem is when you're transferring your gun to someone you don't know.

CABRERA: But what if you don't know something about that person? But what if you don't know --

FELDMAN: But if you don't know --

CABRERA: -- something about that person?

FELDMAN: You see, what you're suggesting --

CABRERA: To play devil's advocate, as you point out, this gentleman who opened fire, there's a lot we don't know. There's apparently a lot, a lot of people around him didn't know about what was going on inside his head. I mean, what does a background check hurt?

FELDMAN: Well, a background check wouldn't have found anything on this individual because he had no history. What I'm suggesting is we can do the smart things that adults ought to be considering doing without dealing with the esoteric issues that probably there's not much we can do about them.

There are 700,000 stolen firearms in this country every year. There are some fixes that we could do to make those guns far less attractive to be stolen. There are shootings in this country every single day.

Why don't we have an intelligent adult conversation about the interrelationship between our war on drugs and gun violence? If we're concerned about deaths, let's have that conversation.

CABRERA: Let me ask you about that.

FELDMAN: Let's use this moment.

CABRERA: Let me ask you, though, about solutions, because the bottom line here is this is a problem that is not getting better. More guns are not making this country safer necessarily.

We're seeing more mass shootings and more casualties at these mass shootings each time. What do you see as the solution to that? And is it worth trying something different?

FELDMAN: Well, you know, you don't need to have a gun if your goal is to cause tremendous mayhem.

In fact, you only have to go back to 1990, the Happy Land fire in the Bronx, where a disgruntled lover took one gallon of gasoline, threw it on the steps, and killed 87 people.

Now, I'm not trying to compare one to another, but if you're determined to kill a large number of people, you don't need a firearm to do it. There are lots of --

CABRERA: I hear what you're saying.

FELDMAN: -- tragedies -- yes.

CABRERA: That's a good point, but let me just talk about some data that we have, very quickly, because there has at least been some research done on this issue. And an analysis performed for CNN, in fact, just recently, found that states that have an active magazine restriction, for example, are associated with fewer mass killings.

In fact, the analysis found 63 percent lower rate of mass killings in the seven states where there is a limit on magazines, limiting those to just 10 to 15 rounds. Is that something you would support if it were to lower the death count?

FELDMAN: That's one of the sillier arguments, although it sounds pretty facile on its face. To be able to say, well, if you have eight rounds in a gun, it's OK. But if you have nine rounds in this magazine, you're really dangerous. Well, couldn't I have two guns, one with each of seven rounds in each? That's missing the point.

We do this after every one of these tragedies. We focus on the gun or the ammunition instead of the real issue, which is always, in whose hands were the guns and how did they get there? What kind of policy solutions could we utilize to make it more difficult? Probably not impossible, but more difficult.

[18:45:07] And let's also remember that there are three very distinct types of gun misusages. There's the intentional criminal misuse, there's the negligent misuse, and then there's the deranged murderer like last week in Las Vegas.

Each one of those different types of situations requires a completely different panoply of solutions and public policy addresses that are necessary.

CABRERA: Right.

FELDMAN: We can do that.

CABRERA: OK.

FELDMAN: But not if we're going to talk about the absurd.

CABRERA: All right. Richard Feldman, author of "Ricochet Confessions of a Gun Lobbyist." Thank you for coming on.

FELDMAN: Thank you for having me.

CABRERA: A new episode of "THIS IS LIFE WITH LISA LING" premieres tonight. Up next, we'll have a preview of that episode and I'll chat with Lisa. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:50:20] CABRERA: Bodycam video of a police shooting death has sparked outrage from activists in Utah. The video shows a Salt Lake City police officer shooting a man after he was detained back in August.

The video has just been made public. And we want to warn you that this video is graphic, and you may find it disturbing.

In the video -- it comes from three different police body cameras -- you see a 50-year-old Patrick Harmon after he was stopped for riding his bicycle, but Harmon takes off running. And that's when Officer Clinton Fox fires his gun.

Polo Sandoval is joining us now. He has been following the story.

And, Polo, you have some new information about that man police shot.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this new information, I will show you a little more live. My producer, Carolyn Sung, a few moments ago, speaking to this gentleman's sister, Antoinette, who says that she was -- that she believes that her bother suffered from schizophrenia and was also bipolar.

And she believes this gentleman did not mean any harm to these officers, so as a result, her family is now pursuing legal action here in this case. And, obviously, she was describing being heart broken, seeing her younger brother take his final breaths, his last breaths, on that body camera video, that shows the initial incident.

We want to show you some of that video today. It's fairly disturbing here where you can see that August 13th incident, when Patrick Harmon was in the process of being arrested for an outstanding warrant there in Salt Lake City, Utah.

When he essentially dashed away from police officers, investigators, including the officer that fired those deadly shots, are saying that, at one point, this 50-year-old man turned around and attempted to -- or at least he was afraid that this man was going to stab him.

As you hear from the District Attorney, himself, as he describes the facts here that were reviewed and why he reached a decision not to prosecute the officer who fired those shots.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SIM GILL, DISTRICT ATTORNEY FOR SALT LAKE COUNTY, UTAH: He escaped. The officers heard, I'm going to cut you, I'm going to stab you. And the officer in question who used lethal force saw what he believed to be a knife.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Now, we should add there was a knife that was found there at the scene, and that knife is the one that investigators say that the officer actually saw when he decided to fire those shots.

But again at this point, the decision made, not to prosecute. So as a result, we are seeing some of these protests that could potentially happen tonight in Salt Lake City, Utah. We will watch those for you.

CABRERA: Thank you very much. Thanks for the reporting, Polo.

SANDOVAL: You bet.

CABRERA: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:57:05] CABRERA: The U.S. has always been a place of refuge for Chinese people from all walks of life. And now China's burgeoning economy has paved the way for better off Chinese families to send their children to study here in the United States. And that's the focus of tonight's episode of "THIS IS LIFE WITH LISA LING." Here's a sneak peek.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LISA LING, CNN HOST: When I was in high school, there were maybe five international students the whole time I was there, and none of them were from China. Today, there are more international students from China studying in the U.S. than from any other country in the world.

And right now, we are in a high school where over 70 percent of the students here are from China.

It's a part of a trend in private and public schools across the country. China's economic boom has made a lot of people wealthy, but it's also lifted over 300 million people out of poverty into the middle class. And now, many are using what little they've gained to pay to send their kids to America for school.

That means thousands of Chinese kids are here without their parents, far from family and home.

You all were what, 15, when you came to the U.S.?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Around 15, right.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

LING: There is a perception that all Chinese kids who are studying in the U.S. come from lots of money.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not really.

LING: What do you have to say about that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not for me. But if you look around our school, you will find that's the case for a lot of kids in our school.

LING: I've never seen Maseratis.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, you can tell, right?

LING: Mercedes and Porsches in the parking lot of a high school.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the parking at school.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

LING: What is that like to go to school with kids from China who have so much money?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Chinese families, they really want to show off how I can start from zero and make that much money. They have a good heart. They just don't want to study.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Lisa Ling is joining us now.

Lisa, what is the one thing that stood out most to you as you explored this subject?

LING: Well, you know, as a Chinese-American, I've known that Chinese have come to this country for over 150 years. And, for the most part, people came in search of a better life, and they ended up working in low-paying jobs. I mean, that was certainly the case for my own grandfather, who was quite an educated man himself.

But in recent years, since China's economic boom and particularly during the tech era, some people have gotten very, very rich, very, very fast. And so the amount of money Chinese are now spending in the U.S. is just absolutely dizzying.

It's estimated that Chinese investors have already spent hundreds of billions of dollars in everything from real estate to security. So the profile of the Chinese coming from China these days has changed quite drastically.

CABRERA: Wow, that is amazing. Lisa Ling, it sounds like a fascinating exploration. Thank you.

And make sure you watch the new episode of "THIS IS LIFE" tonight at 10:00 Eastern here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:00:07] CABRERA: Top of the hour, you are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. Great to have you with us.