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Stefanie Feldman, New Director, Discusses President Biden Opening Federal Office Of Gun Violence Protection; Writers Meet With Studio Bosses For Third Day Of Talks; Jesse Billauer, Champion For Change. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired September 22, 2023 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:31:50]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay in California, Michigan State University, Nashville's Covenant School, Louisville's Old National Bank and the Outlet Mall in Allen, Texas, these are just a few of the places, the many places that became the scenes of deadly mass shootings this year.

Already in 2023, this country has seen more than 500 mass shootings. Far outpacing the rates seen in previous years with an average of nearly two mass shootings per day.

It's a crisis that is sweeping across the country. It could be described as a uniquely American tragedy with the U.S. drastically leading in gun deaths compared to all other countries on the planet.

Today, though, the White House is set to announce new actions it hopes will combat this epidemic of violence. President Biden will unveil the first ever federal Office of Gun Violence Protection, something that advocates have wanted for years.

Joining us now Stefanie Feldman. She is the director of the new office.

Thanks so much for taking the time.

STEFANIE FELDMAN, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF GUN VIOLENCE PROTECTION: Thanks for having me on.

SCIUTTO: So let me ask you, in the simplest terms, where to find hope from this, right? Folks watching have seen so many acts of gun violence. They see them every day. As a journalist, I cover them almost every day.

Why should folks watching right now, hearing from you and seeing this announcement today, feel that this will make a difference?

FELDMAN: So there is no one more hopeful and optimistic than President Biden who has been working on gun violence prevention for decades.

He knows what it is like to succeed on this issue. He helped enact the first ban on assault weapons in 1994.

Even just in this administration, he signed into law the bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which is the most significant gun violence legislation in nearly 30 years. And he has taken dozens of executive actions.

But his message today is that he hears from survivors across the country when he privately spends hours mourning with them, grieving with them. He hears their message of do something.

Today, he is announcing an office, which will help do more.

SCIUTTO: OK. So tell me what the actions will be, then. I hear that message and I've heard the president comment in those terms before.

Tell us, what are the hard changes that folks can look to and say, OK, this might prevent one of the next shootings?

FELDMAN: Yes. So Congress absolutely needs to act. But while we are calling on Congress to act, the president is asking this office to take on four key priorities.

First, make sure that we are really fully implementing the bipartisan Safer Communities Act and the executive actions that the president has already announced.

Number two, dig deep and be creative to find other opportunities within existing law to reduce gun violence.

Number three, partnering with cities and states to enhance our support for them and encourage them to take additional action.

For example, there are a lot of cities and states across the country who are passing laws to allow gun manufacturers to be sued and held liable for their products. We can do more to pool states together and encourage other states to follow their lead.

And fourth, this office will help coordinate federal support for communities impacted by gun violence, for survivors who have long-term mental health needs, physical health needs, economic needs.

[13:35:07]

Those are just a couple of the areas where the president is going to accelerate the work in the weeks ahead.

SCIUTTO: Let me ask you this, because this, again, gets to what makes a difference. You mentioned bipartisan legislation.

And we should hail those kinds of things. It includes $750 million, for instance, to help states implement these crisis intervention programs, sometimes known as Red Flag laws.

We have seen, though, in some, sadly, many of these shootings, where those laws have failed, where there have been red flags but they haven't been enough to prevent a gun from getting into the hands of someone who wants to do bad things.

So tell us how this new office is going to help guide those resources that are already in the pipeline.

FELDMAN: Yes, it's a great point. Because having a Red Flag law is really important but it's only a little piece of the job.

We also have to make sure that people, and that's general members of the public, that's law enforcement, that's health care providers, that's educators, we have to make sure that they know these tools exist and how to deploy them in an effective way.

So the bipartisan Safer Communities Act, as you said, gives states the option to use money to enhance education about Red Flag laws.

With this office and the new capacity and platform we will be able to bring together governors and state officials and health agencies and law enforcement agencies to make sure that we are helping them understand that these laws exist.

Why it matters to make sure that the public knows about them ,and really expand our education campaign so these are keeping guns out of the hands of people.

SCIUTTO: I want to ask this because the president has said that he believes the gun violence or the movement to prevent gun violence is at a tipping point.

Now, I've heard that before, sadly, I have to say, after countless horrible tragedies. You go back to Sandy Hook, you go to Parkland, particularly when children are involved.

And then you will sometimes see them up on the Hill pushing. And you will hear some lawmakers, even some Republicans say we have to do something and then it doesn't happen.

What evidence do you have, does the president have, that we have at a tipping point, not just of frustration, but of action?

FELDMAN: So I think that the president hears this firsthand when he travels across the country and he talks to young people. He talks to moms. He talks to survivors of gun violence.

As I said. He's been to Monterey Park, he's been to Uvalde, he's been to Buffalo.

There is a sense that people have just had enough and the president and Kamala Harris hear this loud and clear, which is why they're excited to drive this work forward.

And I think our biggest hope is that young people, Generation Z, in particular, is sick and tired of living in a country where they have to live in constant anxiety of gun violence.

And they are demanding better from their elected officials. And President Biden is helping lead the way. SCIUTTO: I think about it every day I drop my kids off at school. I'm

sure a lot of parents watching do the same,

Stefanie Feldman, we appreciate the work you're doing. Thanks so much for joining us today.

FELDMAN: Thank you.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Critical talks under way right now between writers and studios. The third day of marathon negotiations. We have an update straight from the picket lines, next on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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[13:42:40]

SANCHEZ: Back on the picket lines and back to the negotiating table. Hollywood striking writers are meeting with the four heads of major studios.

It's the third consecutive day of high-level talks aimed at ending a strike that's dragged on for 144 days and is paralyzing the film and TV industries in the United States.

Let's get an update from CNN's Camila Bernal who has been following the negotiations in Los Angeles.

Camila, around this time yesterday, there was a growing sense of optimism that a deal would get done. What's the latest?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, there's still a lot of hope, but people are skeptical. They want to see the deal before they can celebrate or say that we're getting close, because those negotiations are ongoing.

What does get people excited is the fact that all four of these leaders of the major studios, Warner Brothers Discovery, our parent company, Netflix, Disney, NBC Universal, they are all at the table and have said that progress is happening.

So that's the part that has a lot of people feeling extremely hopeful.

WGA asking their members to come out today in high numbers, telling them, come out, if you can, because we are in that key time period of the negotiating process.

We're right in front of Netflix at the moment so you're seeing the crowds. Because of course, a lot of people are excited to be here as these negotiations are ongoing.

This is Morgan. She is a writer. And she got essentially her first job in writing.

It's been very difficult. You told me you blew through all your savings. How are you feeling right now in terms of those negotiations. MORGAN GRAIN, SCREENWRITER: I feel very hopeful right now. Like I was

saying earlier, like, you know, all of the encouragement and solidarity that we've been getting from the union, from our sister unions, brother unions, from, as you can see, all the people who have been passing by honking.

It's been -- it's been hard, it's been stressful but we're in this together and I feel like that's what matters the most.

And I know that right now it feels a little different with negotiations. The CEOs are there. I feel like they respect that they have to come and value our voices and value our asks and our requests.

They know that this is a serious time in our industry, a transformative time and they can't leave us out. We are the workers, we make it happen, you know.

[13:45:00]

So actually, I call her my fairy godmother, Grace Edward. She is a show runner and she has been helping me since the beginning of my career. I just ran into her today, actually. Just us out here.

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GRAIN: We're ready to go back to work and we're here. But we are not going to go back until we're valued. And we know that the CEOs value us and we are going to get paid what we're worth, so.

BERNAL: Thank you so much.

And that's what I'm hearing from everybody. They're ready to go back to work, they're optimistic, but they want to see that deal with the demands they put on the table as well -- Boris?

SANCHEZ: Camila Bernal, in Los Angeles, thank you so much.

Jim?

SCIUTTO: Still ahead, we hit the beach with CNN's Coy Wire to meet his Champion for Change, who is making waves by giving people with disabilities the chance to surf. The personal story behind his trailblazing work, next on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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[13:50:32]

SANCHEZ: This week, in our "CHAMPIONS FOR CHANGE" series, we've been bringing you stories about everyday people making big changes and lifting up humanity, like Coy Wire's champion, Jesse Billauer, who, in the world of surfing, is a legend.

SCIUTTO: It's a great story. He helped popularize a whole new style of surfing, earning a place in the surfing Walk of Fame last month. But his work off the board may have won him the most fans. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JESSE BILLAUER, FOUNDER, LIFE ROLLS ON FOUNDATION: The feeling that I get when I'm on the water, that's when I feel the most free.

When I was a kid, I fell in love with surfing. But by the time I was a teenager, I was on the right path to becoming a professional surfer and

"Surfer Magazine" named me as like one of the top 100 surfers in the country.

People, they don't understand how lucky they are until something like that's taken away.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Take us back to that day, March 1996.

BILLAUER: And the day was beautiful. The waves were really good. And I took off on a wave and pulled inside the barrel. And when I came out, the wave hit me in my back.

And I didn't have too much time to put my hands up. It was shallower than I thought, and I hit my head on the bottom. My whole body just went limp and numb. And I knew I couldn't move.

After that I woke up in the hospital in this rotating bed. When the doctor told me that I broke the sixth vertebrae in my neck, and that I was paralyzed, I was devastated.

I mean, like, I'm 17 years old. I'm in high school. I'm about to be a professional surfer and now I'm paralyzed.

All I wanted to do was just be a kid and be with my friends. And it was a difficult time because I didn't know what my life was going to look like.

WIRE (voice-over): Growing up for me, sports were my life, just like Jesse Billauer. My dream was to make it to the NFL. I made it.

But in my sixth season, I had a really scary moment. I hit this guy and his head came down and slammed right on top of mine and I got this burning sensation down my neck.

There was this tingling sensation like pins and needles down my right arm. And I didn't really have any strength in it. So, I needed surgery. They put a plate and four screws keeping my fifth and sixth vertebrae together.

Fortunately for me, I was able to come back. But not everyone who gets a spinal cord injury can make it out on the other side the same as they were before.

What happened to Jesse, it probably would have completely ruined most of us. But Jesse found out a way to shine.

BILLAUER: And so it took a few years to really get back into the water to surf because nobody was really doing this before me. I started doing it more often and figuring it out.

WIRE (on camera): Jesse Billauer is a trailblazer. He's one of the pioneers of adaptive surfing. The International Surfing Association created the World Para Surfing Championships in 2015. Jesse's won it three times.

The thing is, Jesse not only got himself back up, he's now helping people around the world. He started his foundation, Life Rolls On.

BILLAUER: We take people with various disabilities, surfing, skateboarding and now fishing. We offer these things free to the public.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For us, having her not in pain all the time and happy, as you can see, it gets us through all the hard times.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I never thought I could surf. And when I met you, it made a big difference in my life.

BILLAUER: It's amazing, though, to give back and to see the smiles on their faces and the parents' faces. I mean, to me, that's priceless.

At the end of the day, when the lights and the cameras and the people are all back at their house, to be paralyzed, lose that independence, that freedom, that's the real stuff that people need to, like, see.

Surfing and all that's easy. Being paralyzed is hard.

I don't think our circumstances truly define us because, to me, because I'm in a wheelchair, I shouldn't be able to surf. But I look at it like, I just do it in a different way.

Figure out the strength inside you and then you can help other people.

I'm Jesse Billauer, and I'm a surfer.

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WIRE: Jesse Billauer is one of my new role models. Any time I feel like I'm having a bad day, I'm going to remember what Jesse says, "Life Rolls On, Bro."

He reminds us that we can gain strength through our struggles. We can learn perseverance through pain.

[13:54:59]

And Jesse's events across the country, they are changing lives. His mom, Cecil, dad, George, they have been with him through every step of the way.

And all of these events for Life Rolls on are free to the public. So it takes partners to make that happen.

So you can check out liferollson.org to be part of the power. Next up is Jesse's big gala right by the ocean, October 14th at Jonathan Beach Club in Santa Monica. That's a big way to put the fun in raising funds for Life Rolls On.

SCIUTTO: This is such a powerful story.

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SCIUTTO: And I love, first of all, his own personal story overcoming such a shock, such a loss, but the way he spreads the love around to other surfers, but the kids. Some of those kids made me tear up.

SANCHEZ: Yes, empowering other people. I got all the feels from that story, Coy. I imagine it was really emotional to listen to him sharing that.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

WIRE: Yes. Man, getting a little emotional thinking about it.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

WIRE: But his dad told me, speaking of kids, like when it first happened, he couldn't drive past a playground without tearing up. It was that moment he was like I'm going to help my son be and do whatever he wants to do to help make a positive influence in this world for others.

That's exactly what he's doing with Life Rolls On.

SCIUTTO: Yes. No question. Hearing your story, too, of coming back from injury and the fear you went through. Well, listen, such a personnel story.

Coy Wire, thanks so much.

WIRE: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Be sure to tune in tomorrow night, 8:00 p.m. Eastern time, for the "CHAMPIONS FOR CHANGE" one-hour special. You get to meet all of this year's champions, including Boris's. Happens to be his dad involved in that one.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Stay with CNN NEWS CENTRAL. We'll be right back.

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