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American Tragedy; Interview with Middle School English Teacher and Wrote Opinion Piece for Education Week: Pleading For Gun Reform Mary McConnaha; Reducing Gun Violence; High Travel Costs. Aired 10:30- 11a ET
Aired May 27, 2022 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JIM SCIUTTO, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: More children are speaking out about their experience in these horrific moments after a gunman stormed into Robb Elementary School. Listen to what an eight-year-old told my colleague Laura Coates last night.
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EDWARD TIMOTHY SILVA, SECOND GRADER WHO SURVIVED UVALDE SCHOOL SHOOTING: Well, at first the -- a lady came to the classroom and knocked on our doors with a purple shirt. She said, go and hide. And we turned off all the lights and went to the back of the classroom and put a desk in front of us. And we were hiding. I learned that we were having a real drill because we've practiced a lot and I think we say -- we were safe because we practiced. I was praying. Thinking why is this happening?
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SCIUTTO: Why is this happening? Students will bear the burden of that trauma for years as will their teachers. CNN's Don Lemon spoke with a substitute teacher at Uvalde High School which went on lockdown during the shooting. Listen to what she had to tell her students.
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LOREN AUGUSTE, UVALDE HIGH SCHOOL SUBSTITUTE TEACHER: I had to reassure them that we were going to get through this together. I promised them, literally, that I would take the bullet for them before anything happened. I told them just to stay quiet. Continue hiding. You -- we prayed together. We hugged each other. We stayed on the floor. We stayed on the floor for almost -- it felt like I think five or six hours.
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SCIUTTO: Kids are hiding in their classrooms. Let's speak now to Mary McConnaha. She's an English teacher and a new parent herself as well in Maryland. She joins me live. Mary, I want to ask you because you wrote an opinion piece for education week titled, "A Devastated Teacher's Plea for Gun Reform". There are a lot of folks who say here's what teachers need to feel safer and be safer. You're a teacher. What do you need to feel safer?
MARY MCCONNAHA, MIDDLE SCHOOL ENGLISH TEACHER AND WROTE OPINION PIECE FOR EDWEEK: PLEADING FOR GUN REFORM: I think that -- I mean, first and foremost, I would love to live in a country that has fewer guns than it does right now. But I also know that things like anti-bullying programs need more funding, social, emotional education, and awareness in schools, these are all things that schools can be doing even if we can't get sweeping gun reform.
SCIUTTO: Yes, that's a good point because so often after the fact you hear of warning signs for the students who carry out these kinds of things, not always, but sometimes you hear from gun advocates that the solution is, arm the teachers. Put a gun in your hands. What's your reaction?
MCCONNAHA: Teachers are very used to being told what's best for them. And to me, that sounds like a policy that was written without the consultation of a teacher. And I can't imagine a world where more guns would make classrooms safer.
10:35:00]
SCIUTTO: I try to picture that myself. But just as a teacher, what would that mean? What would it feel like to have a gun and a holster as you walk around the classroom surrounded by children? What would that look like?
MCCONNAHA: I think walking into schools with metal detectors is, you know, can be traumatizing for students. And so, to imagine that every teacher would have a gun, it would be even more of a constant reminder that the kids aren't safe. That the schools aren't safe. You know, I hear about, you know, new ideas about adding trip wires to schools and making entrances feel literally like maximum-security prisons.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
MCCONNAHA: And that isn't going -- that isn't going to help. That -- if we're worried about the trauma of these drills, we're worried about, you know, students seeing this on TV. Going harder in this way isn't going to help that trauma. It's not going to make them feel safer. It's just a constant reminder that that threat is real.
SCIUTTO: You just became a parent, as well. So, your experiences as a teacher and as a mother. I want to give you a chance here because there is, as we often see, another debate on Capitol Hill, another effort to pass some sort of gun legislation. If you had a moment in the room with that bipartisan group of senators trying to work something out right now, what would you tell them?
MCCONNAHA: I guess I would ask them to be empathetic for a moment, to really put themselves in -- in our place. I might remind them how teachers feel when they walk into a classroom. How they look around the room and see, you know, what can be used as a barricade? What can be used as a projectile? These are folks who just, you know, a year and a half ago went through a similar situation that our children have gone through, you know, where they were afraid for their lives.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
MCCONNAHA: And so, bringing them back to that moment, you know, what was going through their minds? And now as a parent, how powerless would they feel if they showed up at their school and couldn't get to their kids?
SCIUTTO: Yes. It's a great comparison. You had lawmakers hiding behind their desks during January 6th and you had children hiding under their desks yesterday or earlier this week. Mary McConnaha, thanks so much for joining us.
MCCONNAHA: Thank you.
SCIUTTO: Still ahead, CDC data shows where there are more guns, there are more gun deaths. How the U.S. stacks up globally when it comes to gun legislation and the steps other countries have taken after mass shootings that have made a difference. That's coming up.
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Right now, there are American lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans, who are expressing some optimism that this time, after this latest mass shooting, there may be some movement on gun legislation in Congress, maybe. We've been here before. Nothing has happened despite enormous public pressure. Just think post-Sandy Hook. CNN's Tom Foreman takes a look at how the U.S. responds to mass shootings, compares to the responses of countries around the world.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jim, it may be very hard to unwind all these years of gun violence in this country and figure out how to fix it. But some gun control advocates say, it is easy to at least look at what others are trying.
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FOREMAN (voiceover): When five people were gunned down in the United Kingdom last summer, the nation was shocked. It's had some of the world's toughest gun laws ever since a mass school shooting in 1996. Gun deaths fell by half, mass shootings became extremely rare. So, in the wake of the new attack, the government announced even tighter restrictions. Including mandatory medical tests for mental illness or instability in would-be gun owners.
BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: My thoughts are very much with the families of all those who have tragically lost their lives in an absolutely appalling incident.
FOREMAN (voiceover): Large-scale shootings have triggered new limits on gun ownership and access in numerous countries. And advocates for gun control point to them as proof that mass shooting incidents can be dramatically reduced.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A gunman kills more than two dozen people and injured several others.
FOREMAN (voiceover): 35 people were killed during an Australian shooting spree in 1996. Despite a strong gun culture and stiff political resistance, the government launched a massive gun buyback program. Banning automatic and semiauto weapons. Murders and suicides with firearms plummeted and there's been only one mass shooting since.
JUSTIN TRUDEAU, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: There is no need in Canada for guns designed to kill.
FOREMAN (voiceover): Canada has enacted tough gun education, qualification, and registration requirements in response to mass shootings there. A slaughter in Nova Scotia in 2020 spurred opponents to say those laws don't work. But again, gun control advocates note an overall downward trend in gun deaths over the past 20 years.
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BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: We know that other countries in response to one mass shooting have been able to craft laws that almost eliminate mass shootings.
FOREMAN (voiceover): After 51 people were killed in New Zealand in 2019 by an Australian gunman who targeted Mosques, the government, in six days went after military-style semiautomatic weapons, high- capacity magazines, and more.
JACINDA ARDERN, NEW ZEALAND PRIME MINISTER: Every semiautomatic weapon used in the terrorist attack on Friday will be banned in this country.
FOREMAN (voiceover): And the prime minister said, just this week, they are not done.
ARDERN: There are still, obviously, guns that are misused in New Zealand. And so, I won't sit here and say that our system is perfect. But we saw something that wasn't right and we acted on it. And I can only speak to that experience.
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FOREMAN (on camera): Gun rights supporters insist you can't prove these regulations caused a decrease in mass shootings or that they would work in America. But these countries believe they have found a key to reducing gun violence and it starts with the guns. Jim.
SCIUTTO: Tom Foreman, thanks so much.
Brace yourself. This morning we are learning about more of the victims of Tuesday's max -- massacre. Another identified this morning. There she is, Miranda Mathis, just 11 years old. Her friends described her as a bright, fun, and spunky girl. And you can see it in her face. We're also learning about 11-year-old Layla Salazar who was also in fourth grade. Her family tells us, Layla loved -- and there she is, to run, climb trees, swim in the river with her two big brothers. They say she started each day by dancing and singing to the song "Sweet Child O' Mine." Well, that's quite a choice. And she loved her family very much.
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LAYLA SALAZAR, VICTIM, TEXAS SCHOOL SHOOTING: Hey, guys. Today is Mother's Day, OK. And if you haven't said Happy Mother's Day to your mom, what are you doing? Go say it right now. And I just wanted to wish all the moms out there, Happy Mother's Day, even though you're not my mom. And I also wanted to say, I hope you -- I hope all the moms out there have an awesome and blessed day.
MELINDA ALEJANDRO, LAYLA SALAZAR'S MOTHER: This is my only princess. She's my everything. She's like -- we went together everywhere. She was like stuck on me like glue.
VINCENT SALAZAR, JR., LAYLA SALAZAR'S GRANDFATHER: She was our world.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was our world.
V. SALAZAR: And now we're facing that. Even though we can't speak up, our hearts are shattered.
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SCIUTTO: Right now, millions of Americans are hitting the road for Memorial Day weekend. One that AAA is calling the most expensive one ever. The national average for a gallon of regular unleaded gas is now $4.60, that's up from $3.04 last year. A 10-year high even adjusted for inflation. But there's little sign those rising prices will keep Americans off the road. CNN's Pete Muntean reports.
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PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Single dad, Eric Stevens, says he makes $110,000 a year. But even that is not enough to afford a trip to the lake. Here in Los Angeles, $6 a gallon gas has kept his plans in park.
ERIC STEVENS, ENCINO, CALIFORNIA RESIDENT: Maybe for the affluent, they can afford it. But for me to go anywhere, is minimum, of $200 decision in regards to gas. And you haven't fed your kids or done anything else.
MUNTEAN (voiceover): Gas Buddy says holiday weekend gas prices are the highest they have been since 2012. But the pain goes beyond the pump. New data says hotels have jumped 42 percent compared to last year. Airfare is up six percent.
ANDREW GROSS, SPOKESPERSON, AAA: This will likely be one of the most expensive Memorial Day travel periods we've ever seen.
MUNTEAN (voiceover): Even still, AAA thinks Americans will not be stopped. Traveling to top destinations such as Orlando, Seattle, Miami, and Las Vegas. The latest projection, 34.9 million people will drive 50 miles or more over the five days around Memorial Day.
MUNTEAN (on camera): Do you think that the numbers will be all that far off from the projection?
GROSS: You know, we've never -- we -- our projections have always been pretty accurate. But we've never been trying to project in an environment like this.
MUNTEAN (voiceover): The new fear is this expensive start to summer travel could last. Gas Buddy's Patrick De Haan thinks the average price of gas will not dip below $4.50 for months.
PATRICK DE HAAN, HEAD OF PETROLEUM ANALYSIS, GAS BUDDY: I don't really think the higher price of fuel is going to slow down many. It may slow down some but, certainly, there's still a very healthy appetite to hit the road this summer.
STEVENS: You ready for school, baby girl?
MUNTEAN (voiceover): Not so for Eric Stevens who says he's choosing to pay for his daughter's daycare over a road trip.
STEVENS: Fun has been postponed for the indefinite future. Especially way things are going. While I'd like to say or hope there's an end in sight, I just don't see one.
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SCIUTTO: Pete Muntean.
MUNTEAN (on camera): One more day to point here, Jim, when you adjusted for inflation, gas prices are the highest they have been in 10 years, not since Memorial Day 2012 have we seen something like this. On the roads, traffic is building. It's really going to feel a lot more like 2019, although not totally there yet.
[10:55:00]
The point is, you got to be patient and really pad your wallet this time around. This Memorial Day weekend is going to cost you. Jim.
SCIUTTO: Pete Muntean in Washington, thanks very much. And thanks so much to all of you for joining us today through some difficult stories. I'm Jim Sciutto. " At This Hour With Kate Bolduan " starts right after a short break.
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