weapon there. this is not a theoretical discussion. we've had this in other countries, too. we have a situation where the same thing is going on, but they don't have access to guns and nobody dies. >> what can you do without touching the gun issue? is there any way to reduce the risk without touching what our politicians seem to feel will kill them if they touch it? >> yes. there are a couple things we can do. i hate to say i'm glad in these situations, but i'm glad this person is identified as extremely depressed right away, so we can have that conversation. most people don't realize that's the main cohort we're talking about. the secret service reports 78% of the school shooters were either -- had either attempted suicide or talked about doing it. nearly all of them were extremely suicidally depressed. that is the main factor, the main commonality. we should be screening for depression. thisperson had been identified, but most have not. most teen depression, it usually manifests in adolescents because

when your brain starts changing -- it's simple to do. i don't know if you can show it on camera, a one-page questionnaire. it takes one minute to fill out. basic questions like, in the last two weeks how often have you had trouble sleeping, feel depressed and so forth. a great screening tool. it costs nothing. if they pass this out twice a year in home room to every kid and score it. we can identify kids and get them help. you're not going to solve every -- >> you'd be doing something, something that can help screen and you have to deal with resources. at least it would be a start. >> a huge start. >> mr. cullen, it would be great if we didn't have to keep having this conversation. but we will. i'm happy you're part of it because we need to keep talking. >> thanks, chris. following a lot of news. we have the latest details from the scene of the florida school massacre. this situation matters between the numbers of lives lost. let's get after it.

>> this is cnn breaking news. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. this is "new day." it's thursday, february 15 pgt. chris is in new york, i'm here in parkland, florida. this is the scene of the latest american tragedy. the city is in mourning today over another deadly school shooting. the high school that you see behind me is now the site of the deadliest school shooting in the u.s. since sandy hook. of course, we all remember the horror that happened there more than five years ago. so police say this heavily armed young man, a former student, stormed into this high school. he opened fire with a semi-automatic weapon, turning this school into a war zone. the 19-year-old suspect will make his first court appearance very soon, this hour we're told. this morning prosecutors have charged him with 17 counts of premeditated murder, meaning he

went into that school knowing what he was doing, that he was going to take these 17 lives. police say people -- the 17 people were killed in and around marjory stoneman douglas high school. one victim is identified as assistant football coach aaron feiss. so many of the others are students and don't carry identification with them. parents and students ar are missing. at least 15 people hospitalized still. five of them with life-threatening injuries this morning. obviously we're waiting for updates from the hospital on all of them as well, chris. >> alisyn, thank you very much. investigators are combing through numerous disturbing social media posts. the signs were everywhere, that this was someone that needed to be watched. it doesn't mean that he was not legally allowed to get a weapon. cnn also has learned that he was

actively getting treatment at a mental health clinic. again, that does not keep you from legally purchasing the ar-15 style rifle used in this massacre in florida. will something be done to stop the carnage? will you even hear republican lawmakers say we need to do something to stop the school shootings. the president so far, not spoken about the massacre. instead he tweeted. listen to what he said. it's interesting because he gets so close to the reality and then misses it. so many signs that the florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior. neighbors and classmates knew he was a big problem. must always report suchauthorit true. misses the important part, none of that would have made a difference. how isn't this part of making america great again? we're the worst at this in the whole world. let's begin our coverage. cnn's rosa flores live in

parkland and you have new information which is -- >> reporter: i just heard from the public information officer from the state attorney taking this case. what i'm told, as of 7:45 the suspect is still being processed. what that means is he probably will be facing a judge in the 8:00 document as we had heart about earlier. he will probably be added to the 1:30 docket. i also have another tidbit of information from jim lewis, the attorney representing the suspect's family. he says he doesn't plan to be at the courthouse today to represent the suspect. he's expecting for the suspect to get a court-appointed attorney. behind me you can see this is still a very active scene as investigators are scouring through the horrors left behind. we have to warn you some of the

individu video you're about to see is very graphic. [ gunshots ]. >> oh, my god. >> reporter: terrifying moments unfolding, a gunman brandishing a semi-automatic weapon, opening fire, killing 17. >> there were tears. some people were crying. some of my classmates didn't know if they were leaving the school alive. >> reporter: the chaos erupting minutes before the end of the school day. the fire alarm sounded. >> the shooter wore a gas mask and had smoke grenades. he went and set off the fire alarm so the kids would come pouring out of the classrooms into the hall. there the carnage began. >> reporter: students and teachers confused because only hours earlier they had done a fire drill. >> everyone thought it was a joke, and then the gunshots came about.

>> i heard screaming. i heard about five, circumstance gunshots. we thought they were fire crackers. >> faculty learning an active shooting situation was under way. students running for their lives, others hiding under their desk, sending frantic text messages. >> she said tell them someone is hurt on the third floor of the 1200 building. we can hear him crying and praying. >> reporter: one teacher hiding with 19 students inside a closet for nearly an hour. >> i literally was praying, pray, praying. it was the scariest situation of my life. >> reporter: police desperately attempting to locate the shooter. >> do you know where the shooter is? >> we don't know. >> reporter: this video shows students huddling on the floor when the s.w.a.t. team arrives. >> put your hands up. police. >> reporter: outside first responders rushing to help the injured while anxious parents waited to be reunited with their children. >> he said, mom, it was real, it

was really real. >> reporter: over an hour after the shooting began, police arrested the suspect in a neighboring city after he fled the scene by trying to blend into the crowd. the 19-year-old former student had been expelled for disciplinary reasons. >> he got ticked out of school, enjoyed hunting. he seemed very quiet and strange. >> reporter: investigators now looking for answers in the suspect's online posts. police uncovering these disturbing images of the suspect on instagram, showing him brandishing a knife and holding what appears to be a bb gun. in another photo, a target riddled with bullet holes. >> again, the suspect is expected to face a judge today for his first appearance. we're learning from the state attorney's office they believe he will be added to the 1:30 p.m. document today.

we're expecting him to face 17 counts of premeditated murder. alisyn. >> rosa, thank you very much for all that background. joining us are two students who survived this massacre inside the school. kelsey friend. she's a freshman. david hogg is a senior. guys, i know you've guys have had a trauma and a horrible night and day. thank you very much for being here. you each have such unique stories. kelsey, you're a freshman. you were in your geography class -- actually you were in your geography class until the fire alarm was pulled. you went out as if to file out and evacuate for the fire alarm. then what happened? >> everybody stopped moving, no one was going down the stairs, everybody was looking around like what's going on? all of a sudden, it was like a wave of kids running back upstairs screaming. some were crying, some were saying oh, my goodness.

>> had you heard the gunshots at that point? >> no, i had not. people said there were gunshots downstairs. i talked to my teacher and i said i'm scared, i don't know what's going on. then we heard the gunshots. >> then you turned around and you went back to your geography classroom. >> yes. >> then what happened? >> my geography teacher unlocked the door and i ran in thinking he was behind me but he was not. >> what happened to your teacher? >> he unfortunately passed away in the doorway of our classroom. >> did you see him get shot? >> i did not. i heard the gunshots and i heard the shooter walk down the hallway shooting more kids. i heard a young man crying for his mother dying. it was just hard because you don't imagine this happening to you. you see it on the news, you see it everywhere. you think it's not going to happen to you. until it happens, you just -- this is terrible.

>> kelsey, it's unthinkable. it's unthinkable that you would have to hear your geography teacher be killed basically in front of your eyes and hear another student struggling for his life. were you aware that -- did you see your teacher be killed or were you aware that he had been killed? >> when we were all piled up by his desk, that was procedure for code red, to hide and do anything possible to keep us safe, my friend said mr. beagle, which is his name, is not moving. he was laying in the doorway, he's not moving. she said i don't know if this is real or fake. we had rumors going around the school that the police would do a fake code red with fake guns, not actual, but sounding real. and i thought at the beginning that this was just -- it was a drill, just a drill, until i saw

my teacher dead on the floor. >> and you were hiding on the other side of his desk? >> i was actually hiding in front of his desk. >> how do you think it's possible that this shooter didn't come in? >> i believe that my teacher -- the reason why he was laying in the doorway is because he protected us. so the shooter probably thought there's no kids in there, because he was -- the classroom was empty. it looked empty. i believe that the shooter didn't think there was any students in there, but there was probably 15 to 20 kids in there with me. >> all huddled in front of his desk, some were behind it, some were in front of it. >> how long did you stay like that? >> if i'm going to be honest, it felt like five years, more than that. i was so scared. i wanted to go home. i wanted the cops -- my grandfather is a former state

trooper -- to be there and get me home safely so i can see my family again. the first thing that came to mind is my mother. >> what did you think? >> what is my mom going to do without me? i'm her stone. i'm her first kid, and i'm the first of the family. they're going to miss me. i can't leave them. >> kelsey, you shouldn't have to be the rock as a freshman for your family because there's a hit yous school shooting. you shouldn't have to see your teacher be killed. when did you realize it was safe to come out? >> the s.w.a.t. team actually came out and got us and said it was all okay. once we were escorted out of the classroom, i did see mr. beagle's body out of the corner of my eyes, through the stairwell. i did see blood and i saw two students unfortunately curled up in balls. going down the stairs i saw more

blood, backpacks everywhere. it was like a movie scene. there was gunpowder all over the floor. it was just real, but it felt so fake at the same time. i couldn't comprehend it until i just started scream iing. >> of course it did. it's impossible for a 14-year-old mind or any mind to get around what you all endured in there, what you had to see. our brains are not built to have to see this. of course it goes into, this must be fake, this must be a movie. david tell me your experience. as i understand you were in your a.p. environmental science class. this all happened in the freshman wing. you're a senior. >> my a.p. environmental science class is about 200 away from where this atrocity occurred. our door was actually open, ajar, we heard the first gunshot. my friends in the front of the

room looked around and said, we think we heard a gunshot. she promptly closed the door. immediately after she closed the door, this sick person pulled the fire alarm to get people to walk out. while we were walking out towards our designated fire zone, there was a flood of people running in the opposite direction, telling us to go the other way. i started running with the herd. as we were running with the herd, we were running toward the freshman building. thank god for a janitor that stopped us. >> what did he say? >> he said you can't go this way, they funneled us into the culinary classroom. because of those heroic actions and the actions she took, split second decision, 30 seconds, she saved my life and saved easily 40 others there. >> you were running towards the gunman unknowingly. >> exactly. >> the janitor turned you around

and you were able to hide. >> in a matter of 30 seconds, we were in there, locked down and away. >> meanwhile, your sister is a freshman. >> yes. >> your sister was in the freshman wing along with kelsey. what was happened? >> i was extremely concerned for my sister, but we actually thought this was a drill, extremely realistic one at that. i thought that because of the extremely well executed response of the janitor and everybody else. but while we were in there, we soon found out this was anything but a drill. this was life or death. >> how did you find this out? >> our phones. sadly, my sister, she's a freshman. she had two of her best friends die. that's not acceptable. that is something we should not let happen in this country, especially when we're going to school. it's something we really need to take a look at. the fact that this is the 18th school shooting and this is only february is a testament to where this country has come and how far -- we need to dig out of this hole.

we need to step out of it and realize there's something seriously wrong here. some of our policymakers and some people need to look in the mirror and take some action. ideas are great but without action ideas stay ideas, and children die. >> you come at this from a different perspective. you're the news director of your student tv news station. you've been thinking ability these things, reporting on these things, even in the heat of the moment, you had the presence of mind to start taping some of this and asking people questions because that's how you think. >> the reasoning behind that was, honestly, when you're in these situations, you can't think of anything. you're kind of just frozen there kind of like -- i was thinking about what has my impact been, what have any of our impacts been? i realized i hadn't really had one. i thought to myself, if i die today, i want my impact to be --

if i die, i want to tell a good story. i want to show these people exactly what's going on when these children are facing bullets flying through classrooms. students are dying trying to get an education. that's not okay. that's not acceptable. we need to fix that. >> you did tape-record some of this. it's so graphic, we can't play it right now. it's so graphic. we have to do some editing around it. when i think about what you all saw in there and what you had to live through, do you have a message for the lawmakers, for congress, for the president? >> my message to lawmakers and congress, please take action. ideas are great. ideas are wonderful and they help you get re-elected and everything. what's more important is actual action and pertinent action that results in saving thousands of children's lives. please take action. >> do you have a sense of what kind of action that would be? >> any action at this point, instead of just complete

stagnantcy, and working together to save children's lives is what this country needs. >> what's your message, kelsey? >> i'm thank for for brouk and how they have these drills for us. if i didn't have these drills, i probably would have ran towards the shooter and not away from it. i probably would have ran away from it because i know it's a gun, but i probably wouldn't have known what to do because i've never been in a situation like this. quite frankly, i hope no child has to go through this again because this is the thing that you think will never happen till it does. it's terrifying. i will never forget what happened to me yesterday. >> and people are going to keep saying, oh, this is just another shooting, it's never going to happen to me. what happens is when you don't take action things like this eventually will happen to you. that's not acceptable. that's why calling on people to stand up, talk to your congressman, talk to people and don't stop fighting because children will continue to die if we don't take a stand now.

>> kelsey, can you tell us about mr. beagle, your geography teacher. >> mr. beagle was my hero, and he will forever be my hero. i will never forget the actions that he took for me and fellow students in the classroom. if his family is watching this, please know that your son or your brother was an amazing person and i am alive today because of him. thank you for bringing and having this amazing person in life and giving him the power to be stronger than i could have ever been. he will be missed by me and multiple friends. his name through me will live on and i'll make sure of it. >> you're sure -- you feel certain that he saved your life. >> i'm 100% certain. if i could see him right now and

if he was still here and got out of the hospital -- i was talking to my mom, and i would get him a huge teddy bear to say thank you, but unfortunately i can't do that. i will not let this shooting go down as another one, because people are not understanding this this is not going to stop. just like he was saying, it's not going to stop until something happens. >> ideas are great, but we need action. >> exactly. >> something has gone terribly wrong when all of us adults are looking to you 14 and 18-year-olds for wisdom and look at how to solve this. that's where we are today. kelsey, i don't understand, how are you as a freshman going to move on? what's goings to happen when you go back to school? >> i don't know, but hopefully i can push through and make the remainder of this year worth it. freshman year is supposed to be fun and exciting.

unfortunately us freshmen this year and sophomores had to go through this. seniors and juniors, everybody had to go through this, teachers. i believe this was mr. beagle's first year at this school. and he's no longer going to be teaching here because of this insane man. >> are you going to be able to go back into this building behind us? >> yes, i'm not going to let this person stop me. that's what they want to do, scare us, make us feel unsafe. i say no. i take a stance in my own personal way to say that's not okay. i don't feel afraid, i'm going to continue learning so i can prevent this from happening again. that's what you guys as journalists are doing as well. the fact you're reporting on this says so much. what we really need is action. we can say, yes, we're going to do this, thoughts and prayers. what we need is action. please, this is the 18th one

this year. that's unacceptable. we're children. you guys are the adults. you need to take some action and play a role. work together, come over your politics and get something done. >> david hogg, kelsey friend, we're so sorry for your loss, sorry you had to endure all of this. thank you very much for telling us the story of your wonderful teacher -- >> thank you for letting me share it. i'd do anything to keep his name alive. >> you did that. thank you both very much. take care of yourselves. chris, what can you say? what more wisdom can we say than what these kids have the day after the most horrific devastating thing any of us can ever imagine, they had to watch their teacher and fellow students die. they had to worry about their friends and relatives. this, it's unspeakable. listen, we're all with them, the idea that today we're not hearing from leaders, that some of them won't come on the show,

they don't have ideas, that some of them think this is just the price of admission for high school. if you just sort of practice the drills and get really good at the drills, i guess that's the best we can ever hope for. >> they're great kids. it's amazing that they survived this kind of situation. everybody likes to put better hopes on the future and they're justified when you see things like that. i don't know how they made it through a situation like that to be so level-headed. we're not all with them. let's be clear about this. the message that young mr. hogg is putting out there is not one well received in our political culture today. the president of the united states basically just blamed this kind of situation on people not speaking out enough about it as citizens. unfortunately all these thoughts and prayers and beautiful intentions in a moment like this, they wind up going nowhere. those two were talking to you. but they're not talking to you. they're talking to marco rubio, talking to governor scott who

won't come on this morning to discuss those kinds of questions and that sense of urgency that these kids have that they just lived through something. they know what the reality is, not blinded by politics because they were staring at a gun. you coaxing out their story and letting people see how hey feel and what they think, that's powerful medicine. >> one more thing, chris, the idea that politicians say it's too soon to talk about this, that's not what these kids think. they went through it. they don't think it's too soon to talk about it. they want to talk about it. so that's what we're here doing. obviously you can see horrible trucks arriving now to clean up what's going on in this building behind us in the aftermath of this horrible latest school shooti shooting. will our leaders in congress act, do anything to stop all these senseless school shootings

and monitors? congressman ted deutch represents the district where this happened, he's next.

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joining us now to talk about all of this is democratic congressman ted deutch. he represents this district where this happened. congressman, thank you for being here. i'm so sorry for your people. >> thanks, alisyn. >> i don't know how to ask the question differently, i don't know how many times we have to ask the question as to why we can't stop this. do you have any wisdom? >> it's not wisdom that we need. it's action. i appreciate the interview you just did with the two students. as they were leaving, i just went to tell them how brave i thought they were. he looked at me and said we want action. that's -- that's coming from someone who had to endure just unspeakable horror yesterday. what happened here in an incredible community full of wonderful people -- i was at this school just a few weeks ago. these are some of the best kids

you'll find anywhere. >> and this was voted the safest town in florida. >> right. so all that that shows us is no one is immune from this kind of slaughter. look, i have to tell you, for all of the people who have been saying you can't politicize this, for the people who have gone and attacked anyone who said anything about the need to do something, the only people politicizing what happened here, the loss of life, the tragedy, one of the worst days that anyone here will ever experience are the people who don't want to take action, are the people who are looking for any reason to give congress one more chance to be silent. you shouldn't have to feel the way i do. you shouldn't have to stand with a group of cameras in front of a high school where kids were slaughtered to want to do something. >> those kids want us to do it today. they want us to talk about it today. the people who endured it and lived through it want it to

happen today. what's the problem with congress? >> you know what they don't want, they don't want to turn on c-span and watch a moment of silence in the house and then utter silence going forward. my colleagues came up to me yesterday to offer support and condolences. there were democrats, republicans, they came from every part of the country and i believe them. they were sincere and i appreciate it. but the nice words aren't enough. we have to look for ways to prevent future tragedies like this from taking place. this is one of the worst mass shootings in our country's history. we can't be numb to it. we can't accept this as just part of the price of living in america. that's not who we are. we owe it to the kids you had on, the families, everything has to be on the table. some people say it's just mental health. let's talk about mental health. some people rightly point out

that there's no reason to have high capacity magazines. let's have that debate. let's talk about ar-15s, let's talk about the second amendment. there are a million discussions -- >> are you having those discussions in the halls of congress? >> we're not having those discussions. >> why not? >> alisyn, the only way we were able to have a discussion about guns and gun safety on the house floor was by sitting in on the house floor for 26 hours straight. >> you staged a sit-in. >> a sit-in. i raised this with the speaker directly, after pulse, the worst mass shooting -- >> chris and i were reporting on that, too. with each one of these things, you think you'll never see something as devastating. and somehow they up the ante. so what was the speaker's response when you raised all these things? >> the speaker's response was we're not going to talk about that now. i told the speaker, at the time the discussion was about the

piece of legislation, the reasonable legislation that said, if you're too dangerous to board a plane, on the no-fly list, you shouldn't be able to buy a gun. not controversy at all. i said if you have concerns about civil rights concerns, due process which i think was his argument, then let's sit down and talk about it. clearly we ought to be able to find a way to take meaningful steps. after las vegas, there was a moment, a moment where everyone at least said -- even the nra said, well, maybe we should outlaw the bump stocks. >> unanimity. why would you ever be able to turn a semi-automatic into an automatic. then what happened? >> even the nra said we should do that. they quickly pivoted and said we're going to let the atf go forward with this. when as many people die on a regular basis, you have school shooting after school shooting, when you have this scene repeated everywhere in the

country all the time, we can't allow anyone else to try to take care of this. we have to try to do it. i've received messages not just from all around the country but from -- i'm on the foreign affairs committee, from people i know around the world, they can't believe it. we've got to find some way to do this. it's not political. those kids that were killed weren't killed because of what their party is, how they voted in the last election. they're students that showed up to school and never got home. >> how do you explain it. is it that the nra has a stranglehold on lawmakers? i was looking at the donations that the nra gives to various lawmakers, $4,000 here, $7,000 there. that's worth it? >> i don't know why -- i don't want to have a conversation about why people don't act. i want to have a conversation about what we have to do to cause people to act. going forward -- >> what's the answer? what does have to happen to get

people to act? >> our governor is down here with the attorney general. the president of the united states is going to be about an hour from here over the weekend. i would think instead of tweeting, as the president did yesterday, that some are trying to inject politics in this, i would think there's an opportunity for someone like the president to actually be a leader and say we can't have this happen, and remember the kinds of things he said when he was a candidate, in his prior life. look, this is not political. i know there are people watching who are just -- they're so anxious for me to bash one side, to make this a political fight. the politics are hard. they're really hard. no member of congress should have to come down here, get out

of their car and greet a grieving mayor to share stories that she knows, kids who didn't come home. no one should have to feel that in order to take action. i know this is hard. i know we have discussions about the stranglehold and the politics and outside interest groups. i don't care about that. i care about stopping things like this from happening so families don't have to grief, so we don't have to go through this time and time and time again. >> we hear you, congressman ted deutch. we hope your colleagues in congress hear you as a elwell. we hope you can make some progress. >> thanks so much. chris, you hear everyone's passion. you hear everyone's plea. >> you hear people who don't have the power. he's a democrat. we heard from the secretary of state. he was in the middle east.

he was asked about it. he said now is not the time to talk about it. we hear it time and again. it's important for you to hear the questions, especially on the scene of the tragedy. we all know congress has not taken action. by they i mean republicans. they're the ones in power. they won't even meaningfully ask the question, what are we going to do to stop school shootings. you don't even have to have the word gun in the question. they still won't ask it. many are pointing fingers at republican leaders, not just me. including former gop congressman david jolly who said this on cnn last night. >> let's be brutally honest about what we do know, and i say this as a republican. republicans will never do anything on gun control. consider last summer, you had republican members of congress shot and nearly killed during a softball practice, and they did nothing. after the pulse nightclub, democrats had a sit-in in the house. republicans did nothing. after vegas, hundreds injured, over 50 killed.

republicans did nothing. there are two things i would suggest tonight. first, flip the house. flip the house. republicans are not going to do a single thing after this shooting we saw today. >> so we invited republican senators, marco rubio, ted cruz, he's from texas but talks about this issue a lot. we invited the governor to come on the show this morning. they declined. we say let's get after it. it's not a slogan. it's an approach. you have to take these issues on. you've got to ask the tough questions. you must be held accountable. rubio says this is an inexplicable tragedy. that couldn't be less true. governor scott is actively fighting right now to penalize doctors who even ask patients in their state if they have firearms. where are they? they won't come on here they're on fox news this morning, the mother ship, so they won't be pressed about gun control. what are they afraid of? joining us is former republican

congressman david jolly of florida. the key word, my brother, is former, because it gives you a freedom to discuss what is true. still, you care about your party, and saying flip the house is not something to be flip about. why are you calling for that? >> i've been in republican politics for over 20 years and had an opportunity to work in a congress as staff, serve as a member of congress. the reality after each shooting, if we are brutally honest, is republicans are not going to do a single thing. so if you're an american that this is the center of your political ideology, gun issues, then you need the democratic party to be in charge and address reasonable and reasonable gun control. republicans will not do it. chris, i would also point out -- there is this thing about former members often speaking out. i tried to lead in the house on the terror watch list i offered a compromise that had due process that ted deutch was

talking about. i was the only republican to sponsor background checks. i received nra support before i cast a single vote. once they started seeing my votes and once they saw the bills i introduced, they abandoned me, and much of my leadership did as well. >> the nra matters. there are numbers flying around. i haven't checked them because i don't think it's relevant. their impact is obvious, the money is one part. it's your voters. people will come out, jolly, and vote on their second amendment rights or their ill-conceived notions of what that freedom is about and why it's important in today's society. they don't come out on this issue and vote the same way. do you think pressure from people is the answer to get your party to at least address the fundamental question of what can we do to stop the shooting?

>> the nra is a beltway organization that controls the money, but they mobilize voters back home. as a result of gerrymandering you have the super red and super blue districts. there is a constituency that holds tightly to their firearms that have explained to me, republicans i know and i trust and i love, have said, the reason the second amendment is there so we can keep firearms in case the government comes against us. so those are the constituencies that you're wrestling with. i don't think pressure will work on this. republicans have had too many opportunities. >> i hope you're wrong. let's be honest, few you can sell somebody on the contrived notion they need an ar-15 to protect themselves from the government that has nuclear capabilities, you might as well use good logic. we've been making a mistake on our side as well. alisyn and i believe you shouldn't say the names of these shooters or terrorists when they

attack because there's no reason to dignify them. the mistake we've been making is, we don't say by name the lawmakers of that particular state and what they have done or refused to do. so this morning, let's undo the mistake. governor scott again is active li fighting -- jolly, tell me if i'm wrong. he's actively fighting to penalize doctors who ask their patients whether they have firearms in their state? this is a law under the aca they brought in. it was something they didn't like in florida. they got rid of it. it became a federal lawsuit. the law won. scott is forcing an appeal of that. he wants to fight it. that's him. rubio calls it an inexplicable tragedy. it is the most easily explained tragedy you can have. he knows why this happens. then you have ted cruz -- none would come on this morning. you would, jolly, but you're on the right side of this argument. they're all on fox, the mother ship because they don't want to

be asked about this. what are they afraid of? tell me. >> because they're weak-kneed ideologues. i hate people who say i'm a hunter, i like to own guns. they don't have the courage to stand in front of the american people and admit they don't have solutions to these issues and they're hiding from the american people on it. they're weak-kneed ideologues. last year they tried to pass guns on campuses, kids could walk into a classroom, lay their gun on their desk. fortunately that got killed. those are the politics of the republican party. i'm a republican and i wish republicans would address universal background checks, responsible gun control measures. they're not doing it. it's not i want democrats for ideological reasons to take control of the house, but the reality is, in the wake of these mass casualty firearm events, only the democrats are speaking to reasonable gun control. republicans are hiding.

>> again, it is a huge component of this discussion. i don't mean in any way to suggest otherwise. nobody in this building has been to more of these shootings than i have, i would expect. the question how do we stop the school shootings? it has other components as well. i don't believe in villainizing the mental ill. they're more likely to be victims of gun violence than perpetrators of it. but you do have in these mass school shootings, well over three out of four have a mental health component. why not stop there. brother rubio was on fox news saying you've got the mental health thing and it's a combination of different factors. it's hard. you've got to look at it, its totality. why not screen for depression? they know in the clinical community it's easy to screen and it's a really strong preventative measure. why not just do that? why not start the conversation there. >> there was a mental health bill out there for three years that republicans embraced as the

answer. they never would move it and pass it. >> one of the regulations trump got rid of was the obama regulation about making additional screening a little harder for people with diagnosed mental illness to get a weapon. they got rid of the regulation. >> there has been a question if you allow doctors to report, does that reduce the likelihood people would seek care. at this point that's a value judgment and i think we have to take that risk. this is the reality of politics, they fight a slippery slope every single day. they don't want to see an inch of ground given, that's why you didn't see the bump stock vote. there was no way paul ryan and republicans were going to have a vote because the nra didn't want it. that's their advocacy position. here is what's happening in congress, and every republican, every democratic has to face this question. a lot of people are elected for the first time based on a certain ideology, a rigid ideology. the day you get elected, you

hold the public trust, everybody's public trust, not your party's public trust. the question is, are you only advancing your ideology or are you trying to solve problems that are real for american families, real for these families in florida today, ream for people in colorado, in las vegas, columbine, sandy hook, ream for people at pulse? the reality is republicans are not addressing the real issues. i would also say democrats often play mole ticpolitics with this. they might be right on gun control, but they had an opportunity to reach a compromise. they were part of the hands that killed it. i've got the scars on my back to prove it. >> why did they kill it? what was the democrat problem? >> i'll tell you exactly what happened. there are photos of me on the house floor during the sit-in, middle of the night. we reached a deal. i said to the democrats, i can get 30 republicans if you can bring a compromise bill with due process. we went to bed about 3:00 in the morning. we had the votes, i believe. the next morning a democratic

colleague said to me his leadership said nobody work with jolly, we're spending $2 million to beat him in november. we're not going to let him lead on this compromise bill. in that case there was a compromise there. susan collins had one as well. it got killed in the senate. >> party over people. that's bs, jolly. if that's true, i'll check it just to make sure. y appreciate you being on, dave jolly, thank you for your perspective, especially as a republican and one who loves their party. >> thank you. >> once again, jorn what you're afraid of. governor scott, we know you're a fighter. we know you believe passionately. senator rubio, same thing. senator cruise, it's your hallmark, you're the great debater. why won't you answer the questions that need to be answered? why won't you discuss how we stop the school shootings? it's a simple question. people should insist you answer it. alisyn, back to you, please, in

parkland, florida, where everybody's head and heart should be this morning. >> chris, thank you. i look at the school buses over my right shoulder. i can't imagine kids boarding those again and feeling safe. we have breaking news in parkland, florida. as you know, 17 people killed in the high school behind me in this shooting massacre. the 19-year-old suspect is expected to make his first court appearance today. we have cnn's dave briggs live at the courthouse, outside the broward county courthouse with more. dave, what are you learning? >> reporter: alisyn, let's start from the top where nicolas cruz was arrested near the school without incident. taking the hospital briefly for breathing issues, then taken here early this morning to the brouk courthouse, charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder, held without bond. still being processed. as you may have mentioned, a

disturbing portrait is emerging, all too familiar, one of the weird, sketchy, odd, loner with anger and emotional issues. there was this chilling description to "the miami herald" from a classmate, joshua char row. i can't say i was shocked from past experience. he seemed like the kind of kid who would do something like this. imagine that. a kid that you know would seem like the kind of person to walk into a school and shoot 17 people and kill them. the big question being asked is why weren't some of these warnings heeded? there was a warning from a math teach everer, jim guard e-mailed to other teachers saying cruz was not allowed on campus with a backpack. there's these disturbing instagram pictures with guns, knives, that has now been scrubbed. youtube, that's where the story is likely headed. according to buzzfeed, one blogger contacted the fbi with a

warning about cruz saying he would be a professional school shooter. the fbi requested an in-person interview. cnn has reached out to the fbi for comment. what we know now is he'll appear in court, not this morning, but likely in the afternoon session, again, facing 17 counts of premeditated murder. alisyn? >> i'll take it, dave. thank you very much. we do have breaking news from the white house. president trump issuing a proclamation, while we wait to see if he will actually address the nation. this is an unusual move. let's get to cnn's abby phillip. a proclamation. what does it say? >> reporter: that's right, chris. good morning. the president still hasn't spoken out publicly to the american people. the white house released a paper statement. it's about a paragraph long. it offers sympathy for the victims and also orders the flags at the white house to be lowered to half mast, a familiar ritual in the wake of these

kinds of massacres. we have been asking the white house all morning about what the president plans to say and do about this, this shooting happening on his watch. still no word yet. he also, as you have been talking about all morning, sent out another tweet talking about what he thinks friends and neighbors should do when they see people who might pose a risk. of course, we know that that was done here in this case. in this case the white house is putting out a statement basically saying that the violence was terrible, and that he is offering sympathy from the people who lost loved ones. this is just a one-paragraph statement from the president this morning. we're waiting to see if we'll see and hear from him this morning. >> that's the proclamation that you're reading from? >> reporter: yes. >> so it's just thoughts and prayer, sympathies, this is terrible. >> reporter: flags lowered -- what we often see from these types of incidents, that's what

is written here on this piece of paper. >> abby phillip, thank you very much. alisyn, let's get back to you in florida. >> joining us is democratic senator from florida bill nelson. senator, we're very sorry for what's happening in your state this morning. >> thank you, alisyn. >> senator, what can you tell the american public and our viewers right now about how we're going to stop this? >> well, these are all our children. you can imagine if you were the parent of one of those children and you're looking for answers and all of the above has been talked about, the mental health, preparation at the school and so forth. but you get right down to the weapon, an ar-15. it's a high-caliber, rapid-fire, military-style weapon. it's easy available.

in florida we have a background check law since 1998, but it is not enforced. and as a result it's easy to get these kind of assault weapons. so if you are one of those parents, you would be asking yourself, if it weren't an ar-15, my child might be still alive. and that's an issue that we have to confront. yet, we try something as common sense as, if you're on the terrorist watch list, you can't buy a gun, and we can't get that passed. >> yep, no fly, no buy. i remember it well. i remember the bump stock conversation well. i remember the conversation after newtown well. i remember all of these well because we've covered so many of them. senator, let me ask you this about the background checks.

this suspect left a really shocking digital footprint. he was telegraphing what he was going to do in social media posts. he said things like, i want to shoot up lots of people. he said things like, i want to shoot people with my ar-15. how can someone like that get their hands on a gun? >> well, it's not absolutely certain that a background check would have caught him because he's so young and he's been in and out of the mental health system, but it would be another check. but at the same time, if he could not buy the assault wea n weapon, that would make a difference as wealth. we're going to have to confront this as a society. every time we go through this -- look, we've been through it three times in the last couple years just in florida. the pulse nightclub.

a year ago t ft. lauderdale airport shooting, in the same county as parkland, we've been through this a lot. each time we say enough is enough and then, of course, it isn't enough. >> senator bill nelson, we appreciate you coming on to talk about this. we're sorry for what your state is having to endure again this morning. >> thanks. >> i'm down here in parkland, florida. i'll be here again throughout the day as cnn's coverage of the massacre here in florida will continue on cnn "newsroom" with john berman after this very quick break. [burke] at farmers, we've seen almost everything

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