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Connect the World
19 Children, 2 Teachers Killed in Texas School Shooting; Video Shows Gunman Outside Texas before Shooting; Zelenskyy Blasts Kissinger's Negotiation idea with Russia; Texas Governor: Tougher Gun Laws Aren't "Real Solution"; Action Take after Gun Violence Incidents across the World; How U.S. Gun Culture Stacks up with the World. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired May 26, 2022 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN, London. This is "Connect the World" with Becky Anderson.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: Welcome back! It is 4 pm in the afternoon here in London as the families and America grieve for 19
children and two teachers killed inside an elementary school in Ulvade in Texas. There are new questions about how Tuesday's mass shooting unfolded,
and how law enforcement responded?
CNN has learned the gunman was at the school for up to an hour before officers shot and killed him. Meantime, "The Washington Post" reports that
frantic parents who rushed to the school heard gunfire and begged officers to charge into the building. Here's how the Spokesman for the Texas
Department of Safety described the investigation so far.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. CHRIS OLIVAREZ, SPOKESMAN, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY: So what we do know is that the gunman was able to make entry into the classroom.
We're still trying to establish if there was any type of locking mechanisms on the doorway from the inside of a classroom because the gunman was able
to barricade himself.
We know there was adjoining classrooms where he was barricaded himself, and that's where he was able to carry out that mass shooting, where also there
were 17 injured in that close proximity of that of that classroom.
Yes, as you mentioned, of course, our main focus right now as the lead investigating agency is to provide factual information, gather the facts,
right now when we're trying to establish and cooperate exactly what was that role for that initial school resource officer? Was he responding in
his vehicle? Was his was the opposite vehicle, what was the distance between him and the shooter?
So we're trying to establish exactly what was his role? And how did he encounter the shooter? So we spoke to that school resource officer
yesterday evening, our Texas Rangers did an interview with him so I'm hoping to receive updated information today at some point.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, there are a lot of questions which are unanswered at present, hospital officials meantime say some of the critically injured
kids may be able to go home in the next few days. But of course tragically for the families of 19 students and two teachers that day will never come.
CNN's Boris Sanchez has their stories.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Anyone lives brutally cut short 21 families now shattered by an act of violence all too common in the
United States. 19 children now gone just days before the start of summer break none yet out of fourth grade.
Like 10 year old Uziyah Garcia, whose uncle calls him a great kid and full of life? He loved video games and anything with wheels. Uziyah's
grandfather Manny Renfro calling his grandson the sweetest little boy he's ever known. Renfro telling affiliate KSAT he played football with Uziyah
that he was fast could catch well and remembered all the routes they practiced.
And Amerie Jo Garza just 10 years old, her father Angel telling CNN, he finally learned his daughter's fate from a classmate covered in blood.
ANGEL GARZA, FATHER OF AMERIE JO GARZA: She was hysterical saying that they shot her best friend, I think killed her best friend and she's not
breathing and she was trying to call the cops. And that's the little girl the name and she's - and she told me she said Amerie, are you looking at
this girl?
SANCHEZ (voice over): Javier Lopez also 10 was excited to start Middle School. His mom Felicia Martinez told "The Washington Post" he was
recognized in an honorable ceremony only hours before the unthinkable. She said she'd never forget his smile. "He was funny, never serious".
Jose Flores Jr., also just 10 his father Jose Sr., telling CNN his son was an amazing kid and a loving big brother to his younger siblings. Always
full of energy he loved baseball and video games. Alexandria Aniyah Rubio, Lexi as she was called, had just received an award for the honor roll the
morning of the shooting.
Lexi's parents described her as kind and sweet with a big future ahead. They tell CNN she loved basketball and wanted to go to law school. Her
mother, Kimberly Mata Rubio posted this to Facebook. "My beautiful smart Alexandria received the good citizen award. We told her we loved her and
would pick her up after school. We had no idea this was goodbye".
And fourth grade teacher Eva Mireles an educator for 17 years. Her profile on the school district's website describes her love of running and hiking
and spending time with her family. A family that includes a college graduate daughter Adalynn; Adalynn posting a gut wrenching tribute to her
mother on Twitter describing her mom as her best friend and twin and calling her a hero detailing how she tried to save the lives of her
students by jumping in front of them.
[11:05:00]
AMBER YBARRA, RELATIVE OF EVA MIRELES: She was a vivacious soul. She spread laughter and joy everywhere she went. She was a loving and caring mom,
relative, teacher to her students.
SANCHEZ (voice over): The second adult, another teacher, Irma Garcia was finishing her 23rd year of teaching. Her school biography says she and her
husband Joe were married for 24 years and had four kids together. She loved to barbecue and listen to music.
LALO DIAZ, IRMA GARCIA'S CLASSMATE: The teacher Irma Garcia was someone that was a year below me in school. I knew I had known her probably 30
years 25 years.
SANCHEZ (voice over): At least 17 others were wounded University Hospital in San Antonio is still caring for four victims, three children and one 66
year old woman, the shooters grandmother listed in serious condition. Officials say the gunman shot her in the face before he ran into school and
began his shooting rampage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is in the news somewhere else but not here. But it is happening - you're thinking big town big community, small town like Uvalde.
SANCHEZ (on camera): And CNN has confirmed the identities of four more victims killed in Tuesday's shooting. One of them Annabelle Guadalupe
Rodriguez was just 10 years old. She was a third grader and her family says that she was actually at school in class with her cousin, who apparently
was also killed in the shooting.
Eliana Ellie Garcia just nine years old is another victim. Her family says that she loved playing basketball and cheerleading and dreamed of one day
becoming a teacher. Another victim Tess Maria Mata was just 10 years old. Her family says that she loved Ariana Grande and was saving up money to
fulfill her dream of one day taking her family to Disney World.
Another victim Eliahana 'Elijah' Cruz Torres she was just 10 years old, and her family tells CNN "Our baby earned her wings" Boris Sanchez, CNN Uvalde,
Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Well, impassioned pleas for gun reform can be heard across the United States. And Republican lawmakers have had many chances to take
meaningful action in the past after other mass shootings, but made no move. CNN's Brian Todd explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Another slaughter of children inside a school another instance where a shaken President pleads for an end
to inaction.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: When in God's name we do we all know in our gut needs to be done.
TODD (voice over): But if there's any new movement in Washington after the Uvalde, Texas mass shooting any movement to ban or cut back the sales of
assault weapons, any movement to strengthen background checks, it could join a heartbreaking list of past attempts following horrific school
shootings that failed.
BILL CLINTON, 42ND U.S. PRESIDENT: We must do more to keep guns out of the hands of children.
TODD (voice over): That was President Bill Clinton three days after the massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado in April 1999 when two
students killed 12 fellow students and a teacher. Federal legislation was proposed to close loopholes for background checks at gun shows. It failed
in Congress.
MARGARET TALEV, MANAGING EDITOR FOR POLITICS, AXIOS: For president after president since Bill Clinton there are tragedies. There is a call to
action, their efforts of legislation and that legislation falls short.
TODD (voice over): The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut in December 2012 when 20 children were gunned down along with
six adults was a moment so horrifying that Democrats and Republicans said something had to be done.
BARACK OBAMA, 44TH U.S. PRESIDENT: This time the words need to lead to action.
TODD (voice over): Many believed tighter gun laws had a real chance of passing they didn't pass not a proposed assault weapons ban, not a
bipartisan measure for expanded background checks. President Barack Obama was still upset years later.
OBAMA: Every time I think about those kids it gets me mad.
TODD (voice over): Four years ago after a gunman killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, then-President
Donald Trump went against the NRA and called for sweeping gun legislation.
DONALD TRUMP, 45TH U.S. PRESIDENT: We want to be very powerful, very strong on background checks, and especially as it pertain to the mentally ill.
TODD (voice over): That movement lasted about a day at the federal level. The father of a Parkland victim following the Texas shooting on Tuesday
remained pessimistic and angry.
FRED GUTTENBERG, LOST DAUGHTER IN PARKLAND SHOOTING: It is so infuriating because all of these instances we know the next one is going to happen
because we haven't done anything to fix it.
TODD (voice over): One analyst says there's plenty of blame to go around and not just among politicians who point fingers at the other side of the
aisle.
TALEV: The public has not demonstrated a will to put this issue above everything else at the ballot box.
[11:10:00]
TALEV: Are they willing to prioritize that above voting on inflation or their pocketbook?
TODD (voice over): And now after this school shooting a similar conundrum in Congress, House Democrats passed legislation strengthening background
checks. Now, Democrats in the Senate can either try to ramrod that through quickly with the likelihood that it would lose, or they can take more time
to try to negotiate something bipartisan with Republicans with the outcome of that far from certain. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Well, in the wake of this school massacre, protesters spelled out the word enough in large letters during a vigil at the headquarters of
America's powerful gun lobby, the NRA, the National Rifle Association.
Now gun control advocates plan to protest at the NRA Annual Convention in Houston, which of course, is in Texas this weekend. And it will be held
about four hours' drive from the scene of what is this deadly school shooting this week?
Let's bring in CNN's Sunlen Serfaty, as I understand it Sunlen because Donald Trump is expected to be at this convention security means no guns,
ironically, correct?
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: That's absolutely right Becky. And certainly ironic here the fact that the U.S. Secret Service is
banning guns from all NRA participants at this annual conference and there certainly is a big conversation going on now in the wake of this shooting
whether this annual conference by the NRA should happen or not?
Now Democrats are certainly saying now is not the time for something like this so close in proximity, so close in time to the shooting, and they are
calling for the NRA to cancel it. The Mayor of Houston notably saying look, there's nothing that he legally can do, he can't go ahead and cancel the
contract with the city in the NRA.
And he says the greater question here is really for those Republicans who are scheduled to still attend this event scheduled to still speak at this
event. And there are many notable Republicans most certainly the headliner is Former President Donald Trump. He will be giving a big speech there
tomorrow.
And since the shooting, we really saw him double down and saying what he believes the importance of still speaking, even in the wake of this of the
shooting, saying Americans don't need politics at this moment.
Also scheduled to attend is Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz and the Governor of Texas Greg Abbott. Now notably, Abbott was asked yesterday at
his press conference if he was still planning on attending and speaking at the NRA conference?
And he gave a little bit of a mixed message saying that his heart and his head is in Uvalde right now, and that certainly he's going to take every
moment as it comes. So not certain if he is still planning on being there tomorrow, that will be a big, important thing to pay attention to.
And the NRA, Becky defiantly saying that amid all of these calls, they are still going forward with the event and as you said it's only about 300
miles from the site of the shooting.
ANDERSON: The decision to move ahead with the convention echoes the lobby's move 23 years ago, when after the Columbine Massacre, it still move forward
with its summit in Denver that year. And undeterred by the new era of gun violence, the NRA President and Actor, Charlton Heston and they many of our
viewers will remember delivered this famous speech. And Sunlen, I thank you for your reporting. I just want our audience to take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLTON HESTON, THEN-NRA PRESIDENT: So as we set out this year, to defeat the divisive forces that would take freedom away. I want to say those
fighting words for everyone within the sound of my voice, to hear and to heed and especially for you Mr. Carr from my cold dead hands.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Let's go live to Uvalde, Texas now. CNN Crime and Justice Correspondent Shimon Prokupecz is there and we have now been looking and
trying to learn more about what is going on with regard this investigation what two days what do we know at this point?
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, details continue to be murky police at this point, releasing new pieces of
information. What we've learned today is that the gunman was able to enter the school through a backdoor that was unlocked. It should have been locked
it wasn't and policing that because of that, in part is why he was able to go inside the school unimpeded.
We also still don't have clarification yet on what happens outside the school when one of the first officers who are on scene encounters the
gunman?
[11:15:00]
PROKUPECZ: Yesterday, we heard from the police that there was no gunfire exchanged today they're saying they're not sure they're still investigating
that. So we're waiting for clarification on that. And obviously, the big question, really top of mind, for everyone here from the families, and
those of us certainly covering this is, why did it take so long for officers to storm this classroom that the gunman was in and kill him to
neutralize this thread?
We still don't have clear answers on that. We know from the police, that they believe this gunman could have been in this classroom for up to an
hour where all of the children were killed. And the two teachers that we don't know why it took so long for police to enter this classroom.
They were waiting for tactical teams to respond. They were waiting for additional officers to respond. And while all this is happening, what we're
starting to see is families emerge and telling stories of how they came to the school on the day of the shooting, looking for their children for their
loved ones.
They were at the school and while at the school, standing outside with all the officers who are already on scene. They can hear the gunshots. They can
hear the gunshots coming from inside the school. And they were confronting the officers saying let us go in let us go in and help get our babies out.
Let us go in and rescue our children.
And obviously, police would not allow them in. So we're starting to see some frustration from parents from people here in the community over the
police response and we're just waiting for more answers from the police.
ANDERSON: Understand it. Thank you, Shimon. Well, we are going to take a very short break. But look when we come back these kinds of attacks simply
don't happen elsewhere in the world. I'll speak with a criminologist on America's gun culture, and talk about how so many other nations have
managed to stop the horrors scene in Uvalde
And outgunned and outmanned Ukrainian forces fighting against Russian troops in Eastern Ukraine there have there been more deadly missile attacks
amid warnings that Russia still wants Ukraine's capital.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Kyiv's Mayor with an urgent warning today that Russia still plans to seize all of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Capital is actually Moscow's main
target he says. Ukraine says Russian forces are targeting dozens of towns in the eastern part of the country.
There have been fierce battles around Severodonestk as Russia tries to encircle outnumbered and outgunned Ukrainian defenses.
[11:20:00]
ANDERSON: Well, in already battered Kharkiv yet more shelling today killing at least four people and wounded seven. Then Ukraine's Foreign Minister
warns that Russia is trying to blackmail the world with its offer to unblock Ukrainian seaports and grain supplies if sanctions against Moscow
are eased, while part of his country in flames.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made a blistering attack on Henry Kissinger. Now it comes after the former U.S. Secretary of State
appeared to suggest that Ukraine should give up territory to Russia in peace negotiations.
Mr. Zelenskyy compared Kissinger's views to the appeasement of the Third Reich back in 1938, saying, and I quote, "in the real year 1938, when Mr.
Kissinger's family was fleeing Nazi Germany, he was 15 years old".
Well, CNN International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson joining us live from Geneva and this was a blistering attack by the Ukrainian president.
Today, the German Chancellor wrapping up the World Economic Forum in Davos suggesting simply we cannot allow Putin to win his war. What do we make of
these Kissinger comments?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, they're very troubling for the Ukrainians. And actually for position that it appears
many European governments in the United States have taken I mean, we know from the United States, their view is that Putin should come out of this
weaker that he shouldn't be enabled.
Olaf Schultz today, speaking at Davos said, Putin shouldn't be able to dictate the terms of the peace. We've heard from the British Foreign
Secretary as well, saying very much the same sort of thing today.
And this is the narrative that we've heard from European Union and other leaders. So what President Zelenskyy is saying is he's drawing this analogy
between Henry Kissinger saying that there should be peace negotiations that would essentially push Russia back to the pre February 24, the pre-invasion
lines, which would leave them with Crimea and part of the eastern part of Ukraine that they annex back in 2014.
He says, that's not enough, he's saying that to do that to President Putin today, would be akin to what happened in Munich in 1938, when Hitler wanted
to, was about to invade Czechoslovakia.
And there was a deal made Britain, France, Italy, all signed up with Germany, Hitler promised not to annex any other parts of northern Europe.
And he was given the Sudetenland as sort of a German speaking border area with the Czech Republic.
But of course, that became seen as an appeasement. And this is what Zelenskyy is saying that you make you make a move with somebody like Putin
to give him what he wants this territory on the ground.
And it will just come back and take more. You know, and there's evidence of, of what President Putin is doing now, not just taking the land. But we
know just yesterday, he announced it would be easier for people in the now Russian controlled Kherson and Zaporizhzhia areas to get passports.
That's just a step along the path to annexation that's read out of the Russian playbook. And Zelenskyy is saying that too many lives have been
lost. And that we shouldn't be talking in terms of appeasement. We should be thinking about all those lives lost and that there are real people
inside Ukraine that this effect.
So it's a very strong and clear push back. That Zelenskyy and Ukrainians are not going to let Russia take a more territory. And you're going to want
to take back what they got in 2014.
ANDERSON: And one commentator writing in The Atlantic magazine today, "Putin does not need an off ramp. He needs to lose only when he is
humiliated. Will Russia's wars of imperial conquest finally come to an end"? That's Anne Applebaum writing in The Atlantic magazine.
I think her words will resonate, certainly in many of the European countries that are and are close to Russia, geographically, certainly. And
feel the breath as it were of, of Moscow as a threat going forward.
ROBERTSON: Yes, and of course, the back of President Zelenskyy's mind is the fact that his military is only as strong as the weapons supplies they
get. So Kissinger's ideas take root, then, there's a potential that the Ukrainians could be forced into a weaker negotiation than they wanted.
And again, his reference to the 1938 Munich, Czechoslovakia wasn't present. And those talks where a deal was signed about annexing part of their
territory to Germany at the time.
[11:25:00]
ROBERTSON: So, history there speaks very loudly to the Ukrainians. But this idea that President Putin will only stop when he meets a bigger force
that's able to make him do that. At the moment, he's calculating on the fact that that's not going to happen, that he can take this territory, and
who's going to push him back and that will come down to Ukrainians.
And that will come down to the resolve of the international community to take the economic pain to take the shortage of world food supplies, and
continue to supply Ukraine with the weapons systems it needs, not only to hold Russia back, but to retake territory.
And of course, Putin is right now, his military is making some gains in the east of the country, which is a tough narrative for the Ukrainians until
now. They've been able to show whatever is happening in some parts, they're making positive gains can't keep being the latest, major example. They
obviously need in their minds to be able to continue to do that.
ANDERSON: Nic Robertson is on the story for us, Nic, thank you very much indeed, particularly interesting words from Henry Kissinger today. Let's
get you up to speed on some of the other stories that are on our radar right now.
And British prosecutors have authorized criminal charges against actor Kevin Spacey. He faces four counts of sexual assault against three men
between 2005 and 2013 when he was artistic director of London's Old Vic Theatre.
A statement says the chargers follow a review of evidence gathered in a police investigation. Pakistan's ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan says the
country's government has until June the first to call early elections or he will return to the capital.
He had been leading a convoy to Islamabad but called off protests after security forces and demonstrators clashed across the country on Wednesday.
No hotel room required.
Qatar Airways and four other Gulf carriers will provide match date shuttle flights for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Doha in Qatar. 160 Shuffle flights
each day will take fans from multiple cities to Doha on the same day they have tickets for a World Cup match.
That tournament, of course, begins November the 21st. Well, three more conservative lawmakers are calling for the British Prime Minister to resign
in the wake of Sue Gray's, damning report on COVID locked down parties in Downing Street.
Those findings are front page news today in many of the newspapers and online sites across the UK. And a new poll shows two thirds of people in
Britain believe Boris Johnson should step down.
More top story after the break, including just how an 18 year old get holds of a military style weapon to cause so much heartbreak and anguish. We are
talking about the school massacre in Texas.
And the answer to that question is it is a lot easier than you think. And while mass shootings are not unique to the U.S. other countries have proven
change and action can work when faced with unspeakable horror.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:30:00]
ANDERSON: Let me start that again. I'm Becky Anderson. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who is pushing back on a call for gun reform, saying that tougher
gun laws are not a real solution,
His state has seen a number of high profile mass shootings in recent years, including the Fort Hood shooting in 2009 with 13 people were killed. The
shooting in the Sutherland Springs Baptist Church in 2017, 26 people killed there.
Santa Fe High School in 2018, 10 killed on that occasion. And in 2019, the shooting at the Walmart in El Paso 23 people dead. And of course this
week's mass shooting in Uvalde where 19 kids and two teachers have been slaughtered. CNN's Nick Watt takes a look at the laws that allowed a
teenage shooter to buy guns legally in Texas.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): 19 small children slaughtered by a gunman not much older than they were. He was the legal owner of two AR-
15-style rifles.
ROLAND GUTIERREZ, TEXAS STATE SENATE DEMOCRAT: They are assault rifles. So first thing he did when he turned 18.
WATT (voice over): We could go a day after his 18th birthday. He bought a rifle according to the local state senator, next day 375 rounds of
ammunition. Two days after that, a second rifle four days later, shot 19 kids and two adults dead.
This killer couldn't legally buy a beer to immature but could legally buy weapons of war.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe we could at least agree that we should raise the age for purchasing these weapons.
WATT (voice over): Unlikely just last year, lawmakers lowered to 18 the age some Texans can get a handgun license. For rifles, Texas law mirrors
federal 18 and up you can buy one of these after just a basic background check.
But from an unlicensed dealer or at a gun show, no check required. Here in Liberal leaning California, the legal age to buy assault style rifles was
up to 21 in 2019 struck down two weeks ago back to 18.
Why? America would not exist without the heroism of the young adults who fought and died in our Revolutionary Army wrote Judge Ryan Nelson today. We
reaffirm that our constitution still protects the right that enabled their sacrifice the right of young adults to keep and bear arms.
So 18 year olds in California can buy semi-automatic weapons today. In part because teenage soldiers died carrying single shot muskets in a war more
than 200 years ago.
SHANNON WATTS, FOUNDER, MOMS DEMAND ACTION FOR GUN SENSE IN AMERICA: Stronger gun laws save lives. Weaker gun laws cause gun crime and gun
violence. The data is in; we need our lawmakers to act.
WATT (voice over): This latest tragedy in Texas is very far from an isolated instance of a legally armed teenaged attacker. Just 11 days ago,
an 18 year old white supremacist gunned down 13 people in a predominantly black neighborhood of Buffalo, New York, also armed with a semi-automatic
weapon that he was also legally allowed to buy and own.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WATT: What just happened in Uvalde, Texas, of course brings back memories of what happened in Sandy Hook Connecticut, nearly 10 years ago now. 20
kids and six adults gunned down also by a teenage gunman, also armed with an AR-15 style weapon that was bought legally.
Now in the wake of that Sandy Hook shooting, the State of Connecticut changed their laws mainly around the size of magazines that can be attached
to those rifles. So will Texas make any changes in the wake of what happened in Uvalde? Unlikely, last summer when Governor Abbott was making
it basically easier for Texans to carry weapons, he said this, Texas will always be the leader in defending the Second Amendment and at a press
conference in Uvalde seemed not interested in any change. Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Now Peter Squires for you now, a professor of criminology at the University of Brighton here in the UK who has written extensively about gun
violence.
[11:35:00]
ANDERSON: Republican senators insisting the background checks would not have prevented the tragedy in Texas, nor would a ban on AR style rifles,
have a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One getting rid of AR-15. Why are these semi-automatic rifles necessary?
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL): If people want to talk about banning specific guns, they should propose that but it wouldn't prevent these shootings, the
shooting would have been--
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Batting and a weapon like that would--
RUBIO: I mean, they could commit the crime with a different weapons that performs exactly the same just wouldn't fit the definition in the law. But
it wouldn't prevent these crimes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why do people actually need an AR-15?
SEN. RICK SCOTT (R-FL): Well, I mean, I think, you know, we have in our Constitution, the, you know, our Second Amendment rights, and I'm not
interested in taking away rights of law abiding citizens.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: I listed at the start of this segment, just how many mass shootings there have been in Texas alone, where Governor Abbott, of course,
is a staunch supporter of, of the freedom to carry guns.
And Peter, we hear time and time again about why it is that lawmakers in the states believe there's nothing to be done on gun legislation. Just give
us your assessment, your sense of what's going on here?
PETER SQUIRES, PROFESSOR OF CRIMINOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF BRIGHTON: Well, I think there's a tight connection between the National Rifle Association,
the gun industry, and the campaign financing for Republican candidates.
So in a way, it creates a kind of lock down of a number of issues, as we saw, perhaps when President Obama tried to bring in the so called sensible
gun controls after Sandy Hook.
But you see, I'm a, I'm a criminologist by trade and we work to evidence. I'm also a member of the gun control network in the UK context, which is
advocated for tightening of, of gun legislation.
And in the UK, it has worked, it has reduced levels of gun violence, it's allowed police to concentrate on illegal guns. And it's generally been a
success. I think the picture is quite different in the states.
And what I think confuses the story is that I think America has three gun problems. One's a, you know, in terms of order of magnitude, the gun
suicide problem, which is mainly white, older white men, a gun homicide problem, which is disproportionately African American involved and a mass
shooting problem, which really accounts for only about 1 percent of victims. And the same solutions, I don't think, work in each case.
ANDERSON: Let's talk about the UK's experienced. And I want to allude to, for example, what happened in Australia back in 1996, as well. But after
the 1996 Dunblane massacre in Scotland that killed 16 kids at school, the UK moved very quickly to ban firearms.
The head of the tribunal conducted an inquiry that concluded that and I quote here, "There is no certain means of ruling out the onset of a mental
illness of a type which gives rise to danger or identifying those whose personalities harbor dangerous propensities".
On this ground alone, it is insufficient protection for the public merely to tackle the individual rather than the gun. Look. They're very quick, I
think it was 12 days within which the then Prime Minister Howard acted after a massacre in Australia. And gun legislation does work.
And we do see evidence in other countries that there are less of these mass shootings if legislation is tightened. But pro-gun advocates in the U.S.
once again and I've heard this before saying it is a mental health issue that needs attention, not gun legislation. What are your thoughts on that
argument?
SQUIRES: I think there will be an element of mental health. I mean, as I've already suggested around - suicide, I think mental health issues are
involved there. And I think also you will find that people with mental health and personality disorders, as well as a range of other depravations
and a sense of alienation is what drives people to view the community as against them and cause them to want to strike back.
ANDERSON: I get that. But I guess, my question is -
[11:40:00]
SQUIRES: You can't always pick that up in advance.
ANDERSON: Yes, and my point being does the issue of mental health, which is clearly something that we all agree, needs attention. Does that Nick, does
that argument negate an argument that says, you know, there is enough evidence to suggest that gun laws ought to be tightened in America?
SQUIRES: I think the evidence base suggests that those states with the toughest gun laws have the least gun violence problems. I think when you're
talking about mass shootings at schools, they are such random, unpredictable events they can happen almost anywhere and have little to do
with underlying social problems in an area.
It takes just one person to kind of flip out go off the rails with a grudge against a school or a workplace for a tragedy to happen. There are enough
guns even if we could, even if we could hover up many of the illegal ones and tighten access to them in the first place.
ANDERSON: And we have seen those gun amnesties, of course, not least once again, they use Australia as an example of that back in 1996 --there is
evidence to suggest you work. Thank you.
One of the country's rocked by mass shooting in recent years was New Zealand, of course 51 Muslim worshippers slaughtered during the 2019
Christchurch mosque shootings.
The Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is visiting the U.S. this week on a trade mission and she is keen to show New Zealand open for business again after
shutting its borders for over two years due to the COVID pandemic.
But during her visit, she has taken the time to discuss her experience with a mass shooting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACINDA ARDERN, NEW ZEALAND PRIME MINISTER: We are very pragmatic people when we saw something like that happen, everyone said never again. And so
then it was incumbent on us as politicians to respond to that.
Now we have legitimate needs for guns in our country for things like pest control and to protect our biodiversity. But you don't need a military
style semi-automatic weapon to do that. And so we got rid of them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, Ardern sends an important message. Mass shootings can happen anywhere we know that. But other countries decided to introduce
stricter laws which have brought some success in reducing gun violence.
Take Australia for example, after that mass shooting I was talking about which was in Tasmania in 1996, it banned rapid fire rifles and shotguns and
it restricted licensing rules.
Gun deaths fell by more than half within a decade. And the gun homicide rate is just 0.2 percent, two per 100,000 sorry, compared to the U.S. rate
of 4.1percent. Remember ago we spoke with Peter Squires about the 1996 Dunblane massacre which shocked Scotland the attack on the school which
left 16 kids dead prompted UK lawmakers to pass a ban on the private ownership of all handguns in Mainland Britain.
Now the country has some of the toughest anti-gun legislation in the world and the gun homicide rate is close to zero. Many in the U.S. make the
excuse that guns are needed for hunting .
Well, in France, Shooting game is a way of life. But the country has no preordained right to bear arms. In fact, strict Licensing and Regulation
ensure that guns are not abused. There are 12.7 million civilian firearms in France compared to nearly 400 million in the United States.
I just want to return to the shooting in New Zealand for a moment. Within a month of the Christchurch shootings, Parliament there voted almost
unanimously to change the country's gun laws.
It banned all military style semi-automatic weapons and implemented a new firearms registry alongside stricter rules for gun dealers. I will repeat
what we've heard so often. The U.S. is the only country where this type of senseless mass killing occurs regularly.
New Zealand, the UK, Australia, and many others vowed never again. And they meant it. Mass shootings can be prevented. The U.S. just needs to open its
eyes to the solutions, its allies and its friends have implemented.
[11:45:00]
ANDERSON: Well, global warming is causing Iceland's glaciers to melt faster now than at any point in the past few 100 years. But tracking their loss
could give us a glimpse of what the future looks like in a changing climate.
So today on Call to Earth, a team documenting glasses is retreat. Our team is seeing unexpected changes, have a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These are some of the glaciers of southern Iceland. Despite its name, only about 10 percent of the country's landmass is
actually covered by ice. But since the year 2000, it's estimated that Iceland's glaciers have decreased in size by around 800 square kilometers.
Some are retreating by over 150 meters in a single year. Thorvardur Arnason, the Director of the University of Iceland has witnessed the
retreat up close.
THORVARDUR ARNASON, DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF ICELAND: About 14 years ago, I started to do repeat photography at one of the glaciers here Hartfordshire.
I went once a month for eight years. It's like visiting an old friend. There is this sense of familiarity.
We have about 20 outlet glaciers that come down from the - ice cap, all of them have receded.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Arnason and his part of a team documenting the glacier retreat. Overlaying archive aerial photos with current day drone footage
reveals the dramatic change in the landscape.
Rising global temperatures driven by rampant fossil fuel consumption, have left some experts warning that the glaciers in Iceland are at risk of
disappearing entirely.
ARNASON: We need to tell people what the reality is. On the other hand, we don't want to frighten people to immobilize them through anxiety.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Melting ice is the biggest contributor to sea level rise. But as most of the world is worrying about flooding here in the town
of hot climate change is causing the opposite problem.
ARNASON: As the glacier melts and the pressure of the ice cap becomes less and less, the fjords are becoming shallower.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As Iceland's glaciers lose their weight, the landmass rises out of the water in a process known as isotactic rebound.
ARNASON: So every three or four years the land lifts up by an inch. Closer to the glacier these effects become enhanced. So up by the glacier margin
we're looking at up to an inch and a half per year.
[11:50:00]
ARNASON: There have been very noticeable changes here in this area. And one of them is all of these small islands that you can see in the --, these are
only visible during low tide.
But as the land is lifted up, these become more and more noticeable. Nature here is very much alive. So it's generating new things. So it's destroying
other things, but climate change speeds everything up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Arnason and the team's next project is to use time lapse photography to look into the future.
ARNASON: We want to pre visualize what our fastest receding glacier - will look like 100 years from now. Based on worst case, business as usual and
best case, there is always a range of potential futures that is open to us, there is still a chance for the wounds to heal and for the glaciers to
recover, at least to some extent. We have to make a conscious informed decision about which future we choose.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: He makes a very good point. Let us know what you are doing to answer the call folks with the #calltoearth. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Well, it's happen again. America and the world mourning the deaths of 19 children and two of their teachers murdered at their
elementary school in Texas this week.
This massacre the latest tragedy and tragic incident in what is an epidemic of gun violence in the United States and the latest reminder that America's
relationship with guns is a global outlier.
This is a photo of the two assault style rifles the shooter bought just after he turned 18 years old. Well, a bit earlier CNN's Tom Foreman talk to
Brianna Keilar about how Americans gun culture compares to the rest of the world, have a look at this.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No one in the world owns guns the way that Americans own guns. Look at the numbers up here. There are 120 guns for
every 100 Americans that means every single person you see today, imagine that person with a gun and every fifth one, give them a couple of guns.
That's how many guns are in America next time you're stuck in a traffic jam, think to yourself more guns in this country than cars. That's one way
of looking at it. This is very high compared to the world at that rate of 120.5 per 100 people.
The next two closest ones are the Falkland Islands down by Argentina with 62 per 100 and Lilith is Yemen over by Saudi Arabia and Oman over there,
they've been locked in conflict armed conflict for seven years now.
They have far less than half as many guns as people have in the United States compared to the rest of the world. Here's another way of looking at
it. There are 330 million people in the United States, 393 million guns in the United States. The rest of the world 7.4 billion people, look at that
7.4 billion compared to 330 million they have 464 million guns.
[11:55:00]
FOREMAN: More? Yes, but by per capita, not even close, total number of civilian guns in the world, almost half in the United States just over half
for the rest of the world. One other way of looking at this though, is also note that it's not evenly distributed.
Of course in the United States, this is how it breaks down.
44 percent of U.S. households have a gun in the house somewhere 44 percent again, pushing up toward half. And 32 percent of U.S. adults personally own
a gun Brianna.
The bottom line is, nobody in the modern world has owned guns at this rate as a country and the numbers keep going up.
ANDERSON: Well, that's Tom speaking to my colleague earlier. In some states like Texas, it is easier to buy a gun than it is to vote. That is
absolutely absurd. We've seen this before in Columbine, Sandy Hook, Parkland, and many more, well, horrific tragedies with palpable heartbreak,
how many more communities must be broken.
Well, tonight the Uvalde community is broken and it's grieving and it's a small town that will be forever cursed with this horrible memory, a
horrible memory that stole 21 young and innocent lives from their loved ones. Good night!
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:00:00]
END
