thank you for joining us. cnn's live town hall comes up at 9:00 p.m. good evening, the world is watching. those were the president's parting words today. he began the session by saying i want to listen, and after i listen, we're going to get things done. because he said the world is watching. tonight the conversation shifts to this arena not far from parkland where cnn town hal is about to take place. thousands of residents in attendance, members of law enforcement, teachers, parents and community leaders and most of all students will be there asking questions standing up as we have seen with poise and power and with pain. earlier today students in

florida state capital marched chanting we want change. florida state house voted against a bill banning assault rifles. they didn't ban those rifles but they did manage to pass a resolution against pornography calling it a public health risk. there were demonstrations today around the country. students walking out of schools. kids risking disciplinary action because they are tired of facing the prospect of sheltering in place, and ducking under desks and losing friends. the pain is still raw and you could see it at the white house today. >> we are here because my daughter has no voice. she was murdered last week and she was taken from us. shot nine times on the third

floor. we as a country failed our children. this shouldn't happen. we go to the airport i can't get on a plane with a bottled water but we leave it some animal can walk into a school and shoot our children. >> that was andrew pollack who lost a daughter, meadow. >> it is not about gun laws right now. that is another fight, another battle. let's fix the schools and you guys can battle it out. we need our children safe. >> calling for greater school security. reflecting the views of many students who do not want the second amendment to be a license to kill. he was hunkered down texting his

parents saying he loved them for perhaps the last time. >> i turned 18 the day after and woke up to the news that my best friend was gone. and i don't understand why i can still go in a store and buy a weapon of war sitting with a mother that lost her son. it's still happening. in australia there was a shooting in a school in 1999. you know, after that, they took a lot of ideas and they put legislation together and they stopped it. can anyone here guess how many shootings there has been in a school in australia? zero. we need to do something. and that's why we're here. >> we'll talk with some of the students and the mayor who were

at the meeting in just a moment. first, i want to talk to carly, met with lawmakers and she is back in south florida at our town hall. in your meeting with lawmakers, when did you and your fellow students express to them. >> we talked about our need for gun control and our need for change and how important it is to feel safe. >> were you talking to mostly democrats, republicans as well. and did they seem responsive to the points you all were raising. >> we spoke to one democrat and one republican and both of them seemed well received. the republican was a little more moderate and she kind of agreed with us on gun reform and how you shouldn't be able to get a gun at 18. and you shouldn't be able to get

an ar-15 at age 18 for sure. but i wanted to have a discussion with people that necessarily didn't share the same views with us on gun contr control. >> you know that it was voted down yesterday. you tweeted something last week that got a lot of attention. you wrote in part this isn't about guns this is about the people who had their life abruptly ended. it is about guns. >> yeah. well, it is about mental health, but the mental health is not the major part of it. because these people are allowed to get guns and they shouldn't be allowed to get guns with their severely mental illnesses but they are. but the point is that they are shooting people with guns and

they are killing people with guns and they wouldn't be able to do that if they didn't have guns. >> carly, i understand that your grandfather survived a mass shooting in 194 fine that he had to hide in a closet like you did to stay alive. did you expect this is something that the two of you would have in common? >> no. i always was worried. i am more of a nervous person and i look around and see what could happen if something happened to occur. but i never really imagined this to happen and i think it's so s surreal that he hid in a closet and i hid in a closet. and i see how these events are becoming generational and repetitive. it shouldn't happen like this and it shouldn't happen to two

people in the same family for sure. >> we appreciate you being there. our broadcast of the town hall begins at the top of the next hour. broward county sheriff brad israel is about to speak to those assembled. let's listen in. >> good evening, ladies and gentlemen. i'm only going it speak for a few minutes right now and i will be back on stage for a panel discussion in a little while. but can i ask all stoneman students to please stand up.

on laugh of the broward sheriff office, and the united states, i want say a few things about you. you are articulate, you are intelligent. you will not quit. you have gone to tallahassee, you go to washington, d.c. we have had columbine, we have had sandy hook. and now we have stoneman douglas

high school, parkland, florida where my very own triplets went to school. i walked through the crime scene 30 minutes after this horrific killer, this detestable coward took away 17 of our family members. i'll never forget this. i will never forget the vision. it is embedded in my head and i walked out of that school, and as i walked out, i wonder if blake, or brad or blaire could have sat there. i said two words to myself. i said never again. that being said, i'm an honest

sheriff. and honesty means when you did it right, we talk about that and when we were not successful, we talk about that with transparency. my generation, we did not get it done. you will get it done. america is watching you. you have an audience and this country is focused on you. they are going to listen to you speak tonight. special interest groups are going to talk. elected officials are going to talk. but i represent a special interest group too, they are called the young people of broward county and they are more important than anybody.

if people won't stand for sensible gun control laws, if they won't allow us to spend more money on our mentally ill, i am talk about a year or two or three, my heart goes out to them. we want them to get better. but while they are fighting mental illness, they should not have a gun. we're with you. you're knocking on the door. you're banging on the door. there will be real change. this group of people, you're going to vote either this year or next year, become voters. and if elected officials want to run for office but they won't make decisions to make us safe, i don't know what is going to happen in the rest of the country, but they are not going

to hold office in broward county, florida. god bless you all. i know you'll never forget our three teachers and coaches. i know you'll never forget 14, beautiful, beautiful children. hammer the message home. listen to what people say. you have a voice. stay together. god bless you. god speed. and you will get it done. thank you. >> scott israel telling students you will get it done. we will here from the county superintendent and principal shortly again. as you can see, there are thousands of residents, kids,

teachers, law enforcement community, political leaders, community leaders gathered there wanting to listen, to talk, to try to figure out what to do. joining us now three people who spoke with the president jonathan bank. julia you were the first person to speak to the president, how did you feel this listening session went. >> i feel this opportunity was more successful than i anticipated. i feel president trump was sincere and diplomatic about his responses talking about during the discussion and after. >> jonathan, did you leave the white house feeling confident about what the future holds. do you feel like there will actually be action taken by the president by lawmakers? >> yes, i do believe that action

will be taken by the president and the government of the united states. and that gun control will be in effect and change is near. >> mayor, i think you were one of the first if not the first to bring up assault style weapons with the president. do you believe additional restrictions on those types of guns are lynch pin in any meaningful solutions? >> i think there are many stages and many parts of the solution. i think we can't get hung up on one or the other. any step toward a solution is a good step. >> jonathan, for you, you talked about gun control, is that for you a key component in any progress? >> i do believe that is a key component, but a key component is security on school. trained professionals that are

able and good at using their firearm to protect the students at school. because school is a place to learn. >> julia, how about for you? one of the things the president seemed responsible to is perhaps the president arming teachers or others in the school who would be trained and armed. >> right. i understand the point of view of these people, however i am not necessarily for the guns in the classroom. i know these were a bunch of ideas up in the air. and none of it is for sure, it is all conversation. i wish we could talk about more solutions in the town hall. definitely more security on campus, security measures and much more security. >> you have grown-up in a time when this has always been in the headlines. >> right. so actually, no.

i am the senior class president. i have been busy planning prom and that is the theme. it is crazy that myself, an 18-year-old has had to shift my purpose and think about the safety, the safety of my fellow students, the safety of my nation. i am speaking on behalf of the students who are haunted by their fears and this is going to stop with all of parkland and all of the nation we will get this done. >> john shnathan, i have talked lot of students and say this may change the trajectory of their life. do you feel this has had that kind of an impact on you. >> honestly, i do not think this

has had such a political overtake on me. i believe that gun control and everything just needs to change. and i think put politics aside, students need to feel safe at school. this can never happen again and just it can't happen again. >> mayor, i want to ask you how people back in parkland are doing. we are going to hear from many students tonight at 9:00 in the ta town hall. and this is the beginning of a long process. >> yeah, it is. it is a very long process. and our community is still grieving. the teachers are expected to go back later this week and the students are expected to go back next week. and many of them, quite honestly are terrified. while we are talking about these bigger picture items, we also

need it be talking about the bigger things we can do to make the school safer. we are a bigger community and i have mentioned how close we are and family oriented and i am hoping we can get through this together. these discussions give me hope because people are now ready to make changes and have some solutions. >> jonathan, julia, and mayor, i appreciate your time. thank you very much. we will continue to listen to the speakers. later, one of the student who is marched today and spoke at the protest in tallahassee, we will speak to her as well. but we can always find time to listen to great thinkers and explorers whose stories take us places our hamstrings can't. all we have to do is listen. download audible to start listening. thisat red lobsterest. with exciting new dishes

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what's "come at me bro?" it's something you say to a friend. what's not surprising? how much money matt saved by switching to geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. you're looking at the site of cnn town hall. taking the stage right now is robert runce who is broward county superintendent. >> good evening. let me first say i am so proud. i am so inspired by our students. i am so proud of your intelligence, your courage, your resilience. it is an honor to be your

superintendent, serving what i consider the greatest students in america. give yourself a round of applause. and i am here tonight with what i consider the most dynamic school board in america. our school board members have been fighting day and night for our kids and i would like them to stand up and be recognized. please give them a hand. it was one week ago ironically on valentine's day that the heart of broward county was broken by the horrific shooting that took place at marjory stoneman douglas high school

parkland, florida. that day, we witnessed, we witnessed the worst of humanity. but we also witnessed the best of the human spirit. we are so thankful for our first responders, law enforcement agencies, and most of all -- yes, give them a hand. it was an amazing display of force. it seemed like every law enforcement and first responder in broward county was at stoneman douglas that day. i also want to acknowledge and recognize our teachers and our administrators. will all our teachers please stand up and give our educators

a round of applause. come on, you can do better than that. [ applause ] our educators true american heroes. i want to thank everyone for their response and the discourage they displayed in this horrific moment. we want to also thank everyone across the country for your prayers, your words of support, your acts of kindness and your donations. there are no words to properly describe the sorrow and a grief that this community is feeling. we've lost some wonderful, promising students and some truly dedicated employees.

now, our priority and focus are on the well-being of our students, our staff, and our families. we will continue to provide grief counseling services and support. our school board members who are here today as you have seen have been outstanding along with our staff. they are doing visits, and check-ins with victim's families and the injured who are still in hospitals. the broward education foundation has set up a gofundme account. and teachers union also provided support. parkland is a resilient community and we will not let 17 bullets keep us down. we will not let 17 bullets to the heart keep us down. we will re-open school next week

tuesday. our goal is to get back to some sense of normalcy as soon as possible. we will have counseling services and support on staff. we will also see a significant enhancement in the level of security presence at the school. and that law enforcement presence will stay there for the remainder of the year and into the future. we have a moral responsibility to the next generation and future generations that we move this conversation beyond thoughts and prayers and sympathies to real action. [ applause ] our children deserve nothing

less. out of the ashes of grief and despair, we see sparks of hope and optimism. our young people at stoneman douglas have ignited a national movement for sensible gun laws, better funded mental health programs, better funded mental health programs and better coordination have services among school districts law enforcement entities and mental health entities. i am so proud and so inspired by our students who are showing this nation the kind of students that we produce here in broward county public schools, highly educated, articulated, life-ready individuals.

these are the young people that are going to change the world for the better. and let me tell you, our students are ready for this moment. they have been preparing for this moment. broward county has a great debate program. many of these students have participated in it. it is the largest debate in the country, it is the strongest debate program. this year we introduced it in elementary school and it is a transformative experience for kids and i believe it should be in every school in america. we need to change how we debate and have dialogue in this country. so we are here tonight at this

opportunity for our stoneman douglas and broward county family to share the story of our grief and pain, strength and resilience, hope and optimism. let's conduct ourselves with the civility that is necessary for respectful debate. every great school starts with a great leader. and we are so fortunate to have principal thompson at the head of this outstanding high school. [ applause ]

thank you for your leadership. we love you and appreciate all that you do. to our teachers at stoneman douglas, you work so tirelessly. you love the students as your own babies. and some of the dialogue that i have heard recently is about arming teachers. we don't need to put guns in the hands of teachers. [ applause ] you know what we need? we need to arm our teachers with more money in their pocket.

this country plays a lot of lip service to the importance of the teaching profession but never put our money behind it. let teacher compensation, benefit and working be part of the debate as well. so i say to all our teachers thank you for what you do every day. we love you. and we are going to do what we can to continue to support you. so there are many stoneman douglas eagles that have grown and flown all over the country and the world for that matter. so let's hear from them. let's take a couple of minutes to hear from some of them.

and we will watch this video. ♪ >> hello, i am the senior class president of the founding class of 1992. and thousand of stoneman douglas alumni are standing with you. >> class of 1997, we are msd strong. eagle pride. >> i stand with you. msd strong. >> i stand with you. >> we stand with you. >> class of 2006.

keep soaring. >> through thick or thin, we are eagles. we fly together. >> eagles pride. >> i am only who i am because of this community and i want all of you know how proud i am to be part of this community. i want you to know that you are not alone in your grief. we are grieving with you. the entire country is grieving with you. >> we are msd strong and we are from dallas. >> we are with you. >> beautiful on broadway. we are the broadway company of chicago and we are stoneman strong. >> class of 2009. new york stands with you. >> once an eagle always an eagle. >> change has to happen and douglas is going to be the school that make it is happen. eagle pride. >> be positive.

be passionate. >> on behalf of the entire staff of marjory stoneman douglas high school, we want to thank you for your love and support. >> the worldwide support and outpouring of love has been overwhelming and appreciated. >> don't forget to be positive. >> to be passionate. >> and to be proud to be an eagle. >> brooklyn, new york. >> milwaukee, wisconsin. >> houston, texas. >> bay area, california. >> orlando. >> located in louisiana. >> philadelphia, pennsylvania. >> new hampshire. >> washington, d.c., we stand with you. >> i stand with you. >> i stand with you. >> stay strong eagles. >> we're with you guys.

>> i promise you, i will hug each and every one of you as many times as you need. and i will hold you as long as you need me too all 3300 of you and your families and we will get through this together. our community is strong. our students are strong. we will persevere in these trying times. as you can see, on the media, my staff, and my students are living our life. be positive, be passionate and we proud of being an eagle. we are msd strong. god bless the stoneman douglas eagles nation. [ applause ]

>> thank you. thank you. thank you. you guys know how i feel about you, you know. every single one of you in our community, you are the best. you know, you continue to amaze me through these difficult times. but the amount of support that we have received and you've given to victim's families, each other and myself is really unprecedented. thank you to all the communities around the world for your unwavering support of our community. it's my job now, my number one

priority is to support my students, staff and community during this time. and i know a lot of you are asking, how in the heck is mr. thompson being so strong during this time. i'm doing it from you guys. i need it for you, okay. but, i got a lot secret here to reveal. all of those hugs that i am talking about, that's my super fuel, okay. and you give me those hugs of strength continues my works with those hugs. keep them coming. the hug counter is 1,200 right now. once i get to 3,000 i am going to leap tall buildings. our kids are so unbelievable. and i am proud of their articulation and poise with the media.

and the world is very proud of you as well. i've received over 150 e-mails a day about how great you are. thanks for adding to my workload. if you stick with our motto, be positive, be passionate, and be proud of being an eagle, the sky is the limit. keep sending your thoughts and prayers and love because we are msd strong. >> a lot of emotion at the cnn town hall tonight. even before it officially begins. stoneman douglas high school

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with a nationally televised listening session with the white house today there, is a big question surrounding all of it. is now the time when gun debate can begin. connecticut senator has been there. here is what he said a week ago when news of the florida shooting broke. >> this happens nowhere else other than the united states of america. this epidemic of mass slaughter, the scourge of school shooting after school shooting. it only happens here not because of coincidence, not because of bad luck, but as a consequence of our inaction. >> senator murphy joins us now.

senator, after new town, there was hope that some progress might be made. does this feel different for you? >> the anti gun violence movement has been growing by leaps and bounds since sandy hook. the gun lobby, the gun industry has had a head start on us but we are catching up. this may be a water shed moment when all of these kids are speaking for themselves this may compel lawmakers to act. the public has made up their mind long ago on this issue. 97% of americans want universal background checks. we have to convince members of congress that if they don't vote with 97% of their constituents, they are going to pay at the

polls. >> the white house has said that the president is supportive of a bill you are cosponsoring. today in his listening session, the president seemed more supportive of arming teachers and others inside the school. is that part of the solution, do you think? >> that is an insane idea that will make our schools less safe not more safe. it is a creation of the gun lobby. the gun industry for years has called on societies to arm themselves in order to protect themselves which belies all of the evidence that tells us that communities and homes that are more guns are more likely to be subject to gun crimes. but has the benefit of selling more guns. my bill is a good bill. but let's be clear what it does.

it compels states to existing law. i hope that we will have a full debate on the senate floor about the ways we can better protect our kids and all citizens of the country. >> so many deaths in school shootings, take place in the first couple of minutes. often time police response time is six minutes. the argument for arming teachers or others in the schools, you have more guns to fight back. you say it is a recipe for disaster. can you explain why you think so? >> it is a recipe for disaster because what happens when you arm teachers is one, you put a whole mess load of guns close to kids that can be used accidentally. second, you create cross fire that can get a lot of innocent

people killed. third, you make it hard for police responding to figure out who the good guy and who the bad guy is. empirical we know in homes that are guns those guns are more likely to kill you and not an intruder. take dallas, where there were people walking around that square with ar-15 strapped to their backs and it didn't help in that carnage. this is simply a talking point from the beggun industry. they are trying to make you think that more guns will make you safer. >> raising the minimum age to buy an ar-15 type rifle, which would have in theory prevented

the shooter from inquiring the rifle. does the nra's opposition guarantee defeat. >> right now congress is owned by the nra. the reason that president trump is supporting the bill that i introduced with senator cornyn is because it is supported by the nra. it is the further that the white house and the republican in congress will go. the nra will lose their grip on congress, but probably have to come after an election. i fear that the nra has veto authority over legislation in congress. maybe i will be proved wrong, but that seems to be the reality. >> president trump tweeted this, he tweeted i will always remember the time i spent with students, teachers and families. we must not let them down. do you have hope this will spur

the congress to act in meaningful way? >> again, i am glad that he is endorsing the bill that i wrote, about you it is an incremental the end of that event today was full of nra and gun lobby rhetoric, loading our schools up with more weapons, something that teachers don't want and students don't want. there was a day when the president was for the elimination of assault weapons and universal background checks. and maybe when he's thinking about the demands from these kids to fix this problem, he'll remember that. i hope he'll also remember this isn't just about school shootings. even on days when there isn't a school shooting, 90 people in this country die from guns. 30 of them are gun homicide.

we owe an obligation to everyone who is a victim of this epidemic, not simply those who are victims of school shootings who get a lot of time on the news. >> thank you, senator chris murphy. the first lady, michelle obama, tweeted "we're behind you every step of the way." joining me is former obama senior adviser david axelrod. david, do you share senator murphy's feelings about the chance of getting meaningful legislation passed and signed into law? >> he's been steeled by hard experience. and the country has as well. n newtown seemed like such a clear case. yet even a 90% bill, you know, universal background checks, never went anywhere. so there is hard experience to

look at here. on the other hand, we've never seen anything quite like this. these kids are just overwhelming. these kids are so inspiring, so impressive. and they are just asking us to suspend our cynicism, to throw off the political shackles that campaign contributions and threats from the nra represent, and finally live up to our responsibilities. and my great hope for them and the country is that they -- is that we're able to do that. it would be a terrible thing if their earnest pleas are responded to with business as usual. and the president has the ability to make a difference here. i agree with senator murphy, his rhetoric at the end of that session at the white house today was very discouraging. on the other hand, we know he watches television, we know he's watching these children. he has a sense of the impact they're having. he was in a room today with some

very moving people. and perhaps he'll find the courage to take some steps in the right direction. maybe not all the steps that we need, but more steps than the nra will allow. and if he does, he'll provide political cover for others to as well. >> you think him coming forward on this would provide enough political cover to buck, for some people to buck the nra? >> yeah, i think that -- i think that it would. i think it would be a risky move for him with his base. i also think as a political matter he would make some inroads in places where he needs to like in suburban areas around the country by doing it. but at the end of the day, one hopes it's not all about the political calculus, that he was moved somewhat by the people in the room, even if he needed a note card to remind him to tell them that he's listening. >> it's interesting to me that you feel sort of the voice of these students could possibly be some sort of -- i don't know if

"watershed event" is too strong a word, but could actually make an incidence. >> listen, anderson, i don't want to be pollyanna-ish about it. i've been in tears the last few days watching these kids. the hard-bitten political side of me says it will end the way all the others have ended. but i've seen movements in this country before, the civil rights movement is one, where the young people really led the way and pricked the conscious of the country. maybe that will happen here. >> david axelrod, i appreciate your time. many students spoke at the florida state capitol, including sophie whitney. >> people are talking about how we are not serious because we are children. have you heard my friends talk? we're serious. we are here to discuss with our state legislators how we can prevent what happened to us. we are going to make a change. we will not give up. this is only the beginning of our history. please be on the right side of it.

help us. help us so children don't fear for going to school. help us so mass shootings aren't inevitable. help us so our children, our grandchildren, and their children after that don't have to march for their lives. help us for our 17 fallen brothers and sisters. help us so no one else dies. thank you. >> sophie whitney joins me. sophie, you had a chance to speak with governor rick scott tonight. what did he say to you and your fellow students? what did you say to him? >> we were actually pleasantly surprised to hear how receptive he was to our ideas. it was more an open conversation between us and him. we started it off talking about the policies that we would like to see in the upcoming bill, and he would respond with different ideas to maybe make it a little different than our ideas. but he seemed to really hear what we were trying to say. >> when you and i talked last

night, you told me that if you were to craft your own bill, it would address mental health, background checks, some kind of waiting period, banning assault rifles. i'm wondering how many of those specific topics came up. >> just about every one, except for banning assault rifles. but that was in a perfect world, that's a lot to ask for in one session. >> the legislature in florida, their session ends in just a couple of weeks. were you able to get a sense at all today of how much it's going to take to get something done before then? >> well, according to governor scott, he said that there will be a bill proposed this friday. but that wasn't a positive. but i'm hopeful that he actually might follow through. >> did he say what would be proposed? >> a bill that kind of combines all of the things we were talking about including background checks, a lot of mental health examinations, hopefully raising the age to buy a gun, a waiting period.

>> i know you've mentioned before that actions speak louder than words. did you leave today's meeting believing that action actually will be taken? because a lot of times people will say things to your face and then there's no actual follow-through. >> yeah, well, i won't believe everything he says until we see the bill. but i'm going to be hopeful just to keep morale high. but i think that there's a good chance that we're going to get at least some of the stuff that we want out of this bill. >> i'm wondering also at the protest today what you saw today, how you if he felt about how it went, and what you're expecting from the town hall tonight. >> most of the kids on the trip weren't allowed to actually leave to go outside to see the rally. there were a lot of people protesting inside. it is good to see people joining us, and a lot of kids standing with us. and from the town hall tonight, i have a lot of friends speaking there. i'm really hoping senator rubio is as responsive and receptive as governor scott was tonight.

>> sophie whitney, i appreciate your time. thank you. >> thank you for having me. the town hall is now just a few minutes away from starting. i want to check in with our alisyn camerota who is there. alisyn, i didn't realize what a large event it would be. there are thousands of people there. i see senator marco rubio, senator bill nelson, congressman deutsche from the district where the school is. it's an enormous turnout. >> it is an enormous turnout, bigger than we expected. there are something like 7,000 people here. that's what security estimated for us. and if you didn't know, anderson, that something, this unspeakable tragedy had happened, you would think this was a pep rally for stoneman douglas school, because there is so much school spirit here. when they ask the students, the kids to stand up, this arena erupted in support and love for them. when they asked the teachers of

the district to stand up, the arena erupted. and when they asked the principal of stoneman douglas to come out, it brought the house down, people just applauding in sustained collapse for a long period of time. there's a lot of love and support in here. we also just watched the sort of 16 to 18 most recognizable faces of the survivors walking out and now they're onstage behind me. this has already been a remarkable night. it's going to be a very emotional night. people are already yelling questions to the lawmakers, they're not waiting for it to start. it is just going to be an extraordinary conversation. the mood in here is filled with love as well as lots of demands and questions from these students who are still in so much pain. >> alisyn, thanks very much. time to hand it over to jake tapper. he will be leading the cnn town hall which we're calling "stand

up." as alisyn said, there are thousands of people in the auditorium. communities members, parents, teachers, lawmakers, legislators, and of course, as you saw, students from surrounding schools as well. marco rubio is on the stage. the students from stoneman douglas. the cnn town hall, students demanding action, starts now. ♪ good evening and welcome to broward county, florida. i'm jake tapper. you're about to witness an historic exchange between survivors of a horrific school shooting and their elected leaders. in this arena are thousands of people whose lives were changed forever one week ago today, when a gunman opened fire inside marjory stoneman douglas high