welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king. thank you for sharing your day with us. we're waiting to hear from the president of the united states. he's speaking as we speak right now at the white house, meeting with governors, sharing his proposals on gun control with dozens of governors around the country who are meeting here in washington. again, we expect video remarks any minute. we're also going to hear this hour from the first lady, melania trump. she, too, will give her views on gun control. in a bit we'll hear from reporters in the room of what the president has told the

governors so far. he has told them he will ban so-called bump stocks and he will do it himself through congressional action if the congress won't do that. and he sat down with the national rifle association and told them something must be done after the deadly shooting in parkland, florida 12 days ago. the president also said he's considering opening some mental health institutions that have been closed in the united states in recent years. meanwhile, cnn has learned that president trump and house speaker paul ryan spoke on the phone this weekend about gun controls. again, the question is, what will the specifics be going forward? from our indications so far from the reporters in the room, the president has not mentioned, as he did last week, a proposal to raise the age limit from 18 to 21 for buying at least rifles. we'll see as it continues. mana raju, sherry of the "new

york times." the president is in a freewheeling discussion with governors in the room. the state governor of florida, rick scott, is in the room. he has put together a proposal. am i right, the big question is will the president settle on a specific plan, send it to congress and stick with it? because you can't say, i want to do background checks unless you say which background check proposal you want to do. you can't say on one day i want to raise the age limit and then drop it after speaking publicly because it won't happen on capitol hill. how often does the president get very specific? >> this is something we've seen play out on immigration, on other things at the hill and the president will speak out seemingly for a proposal and then back off of it, change his position and then not lobby lawmakers to make sure it goes through. on a proposal about guns, it's going to be difficult no matter what the proposal is, but it's

hard to imagine they will take it up on their own if they're not real clear from the president what he supports, what he's willing to sign, and also if he puts political pressure on them to fall in line with whatever he does put forward. >> what did he mean last week when he said comprehensive background checks? this is a party that, by and large, rejected doing expansive background checks. is the president going along those lines? is he going further than that? and how is he going to get his party to go along with that? his party, in order to give cover to a lot of members who worry about primary challenges, he needs to come out and be clear about what he supports and give those guys primary cover, and if he doesn't, the chance of getting anything done is very slim. >> we would not be having this conversation if the president wasn't talking about it so much. he could have shut up and shut down. he could have said, i don't think gun control is the answer here.

he could have been more silent as the republican leadership on capitol hill prefer just not to talk about this. so the president is forcing the krg conversation. i guess the question is when will he settle with himself, i guess, and back it and be consistent? >> the president is consistent about saying no. that's something he is consistent about, he's consistently inconsistent. but that is the pro and con of a president that is not a professional politician, right? i think something that's appealing with someone like president trump who is not schooled in all the talking points is that you see in him like the american people an urge to do something. the parties are separated in their camps. they have particular partisan proposals they're going to follow on a party line. you see trump embracing things that straddle the party line. he's embracing gun control measures that are not popular among republicans because he's relatively oblivious to the whole partisan divide on these things, but also embracing things like arming teachers that is not at all popular in the gun

control crowd, right? that is part of what people like about trump is that he is not e beholden to the partisan divides, but then you have the down side that he doesn't do specifics. he doesn't do presidential leadership when it's an issue uncomfortable for his party, whether it's health care, immigration, gun control. those are hard issues for republicans and we have not seen trump take the lead on them in a way that would actually move his party to do something specific. >> we're about a minute away from hearing from the president at the white house with the governors. are they having policy meetings at the the hill or is it all being driven by the president as he goes from meeting to meeting? >> it's definitely the latter, and even though there is some great hope in some corridors that he will break from his party on all these issues, at the end of the day, he reverts back to the party line. he reverted on health care, immigration and tax cuts. i think the expectation is that he'll do the same thing here.

there might be a loft tat of ta but at the end of the day you'll see run of the mill talking points that carry the day. >> what has happened is hearing from student survivors. we have one young girl that is recovering. 70% say they favor stricter gun laws. after las vegas it was 52%. the numbers are definitely up there as well. you have the national polling that doesn't affect house districts, but let's listen now to the president of the united states at the white house meeting with the nation's governors. >> thank you, everybody. thank you very much. i want to thank our vice president for that really lovely introduction. that was very nice, mike, and i

appreciate it. this is a time of great opportunity for our country. we've created nearly 3 million jobs since the election, a number that nobody would have thought possible. if you go back and take a look at what they were saying just prior to the election, nobody thought it was even possible. and we've done many other things, as you know, and i won't go over them because i want to be hearing from you today. but many other things that frankly nobody thought possible. gdp, 3.2, 3, 3. i think we're going to have another really big one coming up this current quarter. maybe a number that nobody would have thought would ever be hit. but i think we're going to have a very good number because of the stimulus, because of the massive tax cuts that we all benefit, whether you're a republican or democrat, you're benefiting tremendously from those tax cuts. apple is investing 350 billion in the united states, and you

look at what's going on, and it's really quite something. you just read a week ago exxon is now coming in with $50 billion, and many many companies. also something that nobody expected, they're also coming in with massive bonuses for their workers. nobody thought in terms of that. we know that everybody is going to get a lot more income, and we've seen that as of february 1st. everybody is saying, wow, i have an extra $250 in my paycheck. and that's pretty good stuff. so we knew that was going to happen. we didn't know that hundreds and hundreds of companies, millions and millions of people were going to be getting large bonuses because of what we did. one of the things we're working on is fair and reciprocal trade deals. we're not being treated fairly. you as governors are not being treated fairly. and when i get too tough with the country, you're always calling, oh, gee, don't do that. but i must say it's more senators in congress, men and

women, that call. you haven't been calling so much. you want to see great deals. but we have to make the deals fair. you know, with mexico as an example, we probably lose $130 billion a year. now, for years i've been saying -- for the last year and a half i've been saying 71 billion, but it's really not. and they have a vet tax of 16% and we don't have a tax. at some point we have to get stronger and smarter because we cannot continue to lose that kind of money with one country. we lose a lot with canada. people don't know it. canada is very smooth. they have you believe that it's wonderful, and it is for them. not wonderful for us. it's wonderful for them. so we have to start showing that we know what we're doing. world trade organization, a catastrophe. china became strong. you look at it. it was going like this for years

and years and hundreds of years, it was going just like this. i have great respect for president xi, by the way. so i'm not blaming them, i'm not blaming mexico, i'm not blaming anybody. i'm blaming us because we did such a poor job for so many years. i'm not just talking about president obama, i'm talking about many, many, many presidents. for 30 years, 35 years. but world trade organization makes it almost impossible for us to do good business. we lose the cases, we don't have the judges. we have a minority of judges. it's almost as bad as the ninth circuit. nothing is as bad as the ninth circuit, but it's almost as bad. speaking of that, daca is going to be put back into the ninth circuit. we tried to get it moved quickly. because we'd like to help daca. i think everyone in this room wants to help with daca, but the supreme court just ruled it has to go through the normal channels, so it's going back in

and there won't be any surprise. it's really sad when every single case filed against us is in the ninth circuit, we lose, we lose, we lose, and then we do fine in our supreme court. what does that tell you about our court system? it's a very, very sad thing. so daca is going back and we'll see what happens from there. so we want fair trade deals. we want reciprocal trade deals. scott walker has a wonderful company called harley-davidson in wisconsin, right? great. so when they send a motorcycle to india, as an example, they have to pay 100% tax. 100%. the prime minister who i think is a fantastic man called me the other day. he said, we are lowering it to 50%. i said, okay, but so far we're getting nothing. so we get nothing, he gets 50, and they think they're doing us a favor. that's not a favor. and you know what i'm talking about. it's a great company.

when i spoke with your chairman or the president of harley, they weren't even asking for it because they've been ripped off with trade so long that they were surprised that i brought it up. i'm the one that's pushing it more than they are. but it's unfair. and india sells us a lot of motorbikes. so when they have a motorbike, a big number, by the way. they have a company that does a loft busines lot of business. so when they have a motorbike that comes into our country, we get zero. they get 100%. brought down now to 50. and i wasn't sure -- he said it so beautifully. he's a beautiful man. and he said, i just want to inform you that we have reduced it to 75, but we have further reduced it to 50. and i said, huh. what do i say? am i supposed to be thrilled? and that's not good for you people, especially as governors.

it's just not right. and we have many deals like that. now, with all of that being said, let's talk china. because china we probably lost $504 billion last year on trade. 504 billion. i think that president xi is unique. he's helping us with north korea who, by the way, wants to talk as of last night. you heard that, they want to talk. and we want to talk also only under the right conditions, otherwise we're not talking. they've been talking for 25 years. other presidents should have solved this problem long before i got here. and they've been talking for 25 years. and you know what happened? nothing. the clinton administration spent billions and billions of dollars. they gave them billions. they built things for them. they went out of their way, and the day after the agreement was signed, they continued with nuclear research.

it was horrible. the bush administration did nothing, both. the obama administration wanted to do something. he told me it's the single biggest problem that this country has. but they didn't do anything. and it would have been much easier in those days than it is now. i think most people understand that. but we've been very tough with them. has been good but they haven't been great. china has done more than they've ever done because of our relationship. we have a very good relationship, but president xi is is for china and i'm for the united states. and russia is behaving badly because russia is sending in what china is taking out. so china is doing pretty good numbers, but russia is now sending a lot of stuff in. but i think they want to see it come to an end also. i think everybody does.

talking about tremendous potential loss of lives. numbers that nobody has ever even contemplated, never thought of. so they want to talk, first time. they want to talk. we'll see what happens. that's my attitude. we'll see what happens. but something has to be done. today i want to hear your ideas on a number of critical issues. but most importantly, we want to discuss the public safety in schools and public safety generally. but school safety. we can't have this go on. i'm grateful that governor rick scott is here, and we thank him for his leadership in the aftermath of the terrible tragedy in parkland, florida. horrible. our nation is heartbroken. we continue to mourn the loss of so many precious, innocent young lives. these are incredible people. i visited a lot of them. but we'll turn our grief into

action. we have to have action. we don't have any action. it happens, a week goes by, let's keep talking. another week goes by, we keep talking. two months go by, and all of a sudden everybody is off to the next subject. then when it happens again, everybody is angry and let's start talking again. we got to stop. by the way, bump stocks, we're writing that out. i'm writing that out myself. i don't care if congress does it or not, i'm writing it out myself. you put it into the machine gun category, which is what it is. it becomes essentially a machine gun and it's going to be very hard to get them, so we're writing out bump stocks. but we have to take steps to harden our schools so they're less vulnerable to attack. this includes allowing well-trained and school-certified personnel to carry firearms. at some point you need volume. i don't know that a school is going to be able to hire 100 security guards that are armed. plus, you know, i got to watch

some deputy sheriffs performing this weekend. they weren't exactly medal of honour winners. the way many they performed was frankly disgusting. unwas early, then you had three others that probably a similar deal a little bit later but i similar kind of thing t. i really believe, you don't know until you test it, but i think even if i didn't have a weapon, i think i would have run in. i think the rest of you in this room would have done that, too, because i know most of you. but the way they performed was a disgrace. second, we have to make sure we have treatment for mental health. this kid, at 39 red flags, they should have known. they did know. they didn't do anything about it. that was really a bad time, i

have to tell you. nobody bigger for law enforcement than i am. but between the people that didn't go into that school and protect those lives and the fact that this should have been solved long before it happened, pretty sad. so we have to confront the issue and we have to discuss mental health and we have to do something about it. you know, in the old days we had mental institutions. we had a lot of them. and you could nab somebody like this, because they knew something was off. you had to know that. people were calling all over the place. but you used to be able to bring them into a mental institution and hopefully he gets help or whatever. but he's off the streets. you can't arrest him, i guess, because he hasn't done anything, but you know he's like a boiler ready to explode, right? is to you have to do something. but you can't put him in jail, i guess, because he hasn't done anything. but in the old days, you would put him into a mental

institution. and we had them in new york, and our government started closing them because of cost. we're going to have to start talking about mental institutions, because a lot of folks in this room closed their mental institutions also. we have no halfway. we have nothing between a prison and leaving him at his house, which we can't do anymore. so i think you folks have to start thinking about that. third, we have to improve our early warning signals. action is taken quickly and decisively. you had the one mother, if you remember, in connecticut. she was begging, begging to take her son in and help him. do something, anything, he's so dangerous. and nobody really listened to her. and he ended up killing her and then the rest, you know what happened?

it was a horror. but she was begging to do something about her own son. she was able to see the notes of her daughter and they reported him. there the law enforcement did a very good job. fourth, we must pursue common sense numbers while keeping guns out of the hands of those who impose a threat to themselves and others. and fifth, we must strive to create a culture in our country that cherishes life and condemns violence and embraces dignity. now, with all of that over the weekend, i cannot believe the press didn't find this out. i can't believe it. i think they're getting a little bit -- i could never use the word lazy. you never want to say that. we don't want to give them any more enthusiasm than they

already have. i can't believe they didn't figure out this one. i had lunch with david lapierre, chris cox and david lehman of the nra. i could tell they want to do something. i said, fellows, we have to do something. we're going to do strong background checks. very strong. we have to do background checks. if we see a sicko, i don't want him having a gun. he know there was a time when anybody could have. even if they were sick, they were fighting. and i said, fellows, we can't do it anymore. there is no bigger fan of the second amendment than me and no bigger fan of the nra. these guys are great people. they're going to do something. and they're going to do it, i think, quickly. i think they want to see it. but we don't want to have sick people having the right to have a gun. plus, when we see somebody like this guy, they didn't do a good job but they had restrictions on

what they can do. we have to give immediate access to taking those guns away so they don't just leave and you sit there with seven different weapons. you have to give them immediate access. don't worry, you're not going to get any. don't worry about the nra, they're on our side. half of you are so afraid of the nra. there's nothing to be afraid of. and you know what, if they're not with you, we have to fight them every once in a while. that's okay. i will tell you they are doing what they think is right. but sometimes we're going to have to be very tough and we're going to have to fight them, but we need strong background checks. for a long period of time, people resisted that. but now people, i think, are really into it. mitch mcconnell, paul ryan and kevin mccarthy hopefully will wochl ol some resignation.

-- work on some resignation. just in concluding, we have tremendous things happening. the country is doing well and then we have a setback like this that's so heart-wrenching. it's so heart-wrenching. and we have to clean it up. we have to straighten it out. it's wonderful that we're setting records on the economy. we're setting records. black unemployment at an all-time historical low. hispanic unemployment at a historical low. women unemployment at an 18-year low. 18 years. and actually i did very well with women during the election. nobody wants to give me credit for that, as you know. and i'm very proud of that. to me these are incredible statistics. and very importantly, we're

doing -- our companies are doing well, the fundamentals are beyond, literally, what anyone has ever seen. there was bubbles in the past because these companies were valued and nobody understood where is the money? where is the money? and these are really strong companies we're building now. we have tremendous underlying value. i want to bring the steel industry back into our country. if that takes tariffs, let them take tariffs, okay? maybe it will cost a little bit more, but we'll have jobs. i want to bring aluminum back into our country. these plants are all closing or closed. recently we put a tariff on washing machines because we were getting killed, believe it or not, on washing machines and solar panels. that was two months ago. you have to see the activity on new plants being built for washing machines and for solar panels. we had 32 solar panel plants. of the 32, 30 were closed and

two were on life-to-life resuscitation. they were dead. now they're talking about opening up many of them, reopening plants that have been closed for a long time. and we make better solar panels than china. one of their knocks were the solar panels were lousy, they weren't good. we make a much higher quality solar panel. so after two months, we're opening up at least five plants and other plants are expanding on the washing machines, which, by the way, it sounds a little hokey to say washing machines. it's a very big business. but then you look and see -- i won't mention countries, i would never do that. but how many chevrolets are in the middle of berlin? how many fords are in the middle of tokyo? not too many.

in fact, ford sort of closed up their operation in japan because they couldn't get cars in there. i spoke to prime minister abi. they told me they made a car that was so good. they spent a fortune. they had the best of everything, the best of safety. they brought it in, and after inspections that lasted forever, it was rejected. that's a form of tariff, too. maybe that's a more deadly form of tariff. that to me is just as deadly as 50% and 25% and 100% in many cases.

we laid the seeds. you can't do a lot of it without a process. we've gone through the process. a lot of them you have to wait for 90 days. i'm waiting for the bump stocks. it's gone, essentially gone. bump stocks, you shoot rapidly, but not accurately. i don't know if you've ever heard what a bump stock does. the bullets come out fast but you don't know where the hell they're going. that's why nobody even really too much came to its defense. but he used it in las vegas and he was using bump stocks in las vegas, as you know. so we're getting rid of them. so you're going to ask questions. i'm going to help you folks. we're going to get all of the things that we want to do, whether it's transportation, whether it's safety, whether it's law and order. one of the things the past administration would not do is give this incredible equipment

that we have, excess military equipment. wouldn't give it to the police. would not give it to law enforcement. they didn't like the idea, the administration, of armored vehicles. i guess maybe they would rather have -- why wouldn't they want them? people were in danger, people were being killed, people were being shot, people were being hit with rocks during some bad times in some rough places, and we've given out hundreds of millions of dollars worth of our excess military equipment to your police forces, and i will tell you every time i go to one of your cities, they come up to me, the police, and they say, thank you so much for that equipment. we feel so much safer. when they can go in an armored van to a site and not worry about getting shot or hit in the head with a rock. to me it's common sense. what can i tell you. i will say this, your group

really appreciates it. with that i'm going to ask brian to say a couple of words. then we'll go around and take some questions. maybe we'll have rick scott come up second. and i'm here as long as you need me. let's get it all out. we want to help the governors. we want to help our states. and we want to make our schools safe. brian? please. [ applause ] >> mr. president, thank you. i truly appreciate you, i appreciate all the members of the cabinet. on behalf of altogethl the gove i want to thank you for your hospitality and the first lady's hospitality. it was a privilege to be able to visit. >> we'll take a break from this event at the white house. this is the president meeting with the governors. the first lady melania trump talking at a lunch of the spouses. >> i appreciate spending time

together at the spouses' luncheon, and i'm honored to host all of you today. before i begin, i want to be sure we take a moment to reflect on the horrific shooting in florida. our continued thoughts and prayers go out to all who were affected by such a senseless act. as a parent, i cannot imagine the kind of grief and tragedy that brings. i hope and i know we all find ourselves wondering what we can do to help. in my year as first lady, i have also learned that there are oftentimes of tragedy that you see the strength and resilience of the human spirit. i have been heartened to see children across this country using their voices to speak out and try to create change.

they're our future and they deserve a voice. i know all of you are seeing this in your own states and territories, too. and i believe that if we all come together, we can start to affect positive change for our children and help prepare them for their futures. as i have said before, it is important that as adults we take the lead and the responsibility in helping our children manage the many issues they are facing today. this means encouraging positive habits with social media and technology, even limiting time on line and understanding the content they're exposed to on a daily basis. this also means taking the time to teach them about the real

dangers in drug abuse and addiction. this country is in the middle of an opioid crisis. let's use that grim reality as a tool to stop this epidemic. before you leave to go back to your wonderful states and territories, i'm asking you all to join me today and commit to promoting values such as encouragement, kindness, compassion and respect in our children. with those values as a solid foundation, our kids will be better equipped to deal with many of the evils in our world today, such as drug abuse and addiction and negative social media interactions. in my role as first lady, i want to nurture and protect the most valuable part of our society and our future: children.

i hope you will join me today in my efforts and ask for your support. my office will be reaching out to many of you in the future as we travel the country and work to promote and fight for the well-being of our children. thank you all for being here today, and thank you for all that you do for your home states and territories. god bless each of you and your families, and god bless the united states of america. >> listening to the first lady of the united states, melania trump there, speaking at a spouses' luncheon. it's a tradition they go to the white house. you saw the president in one part of the white house speaking to the governors. the first lady brought up the conversation about the violence in parkland, florida. no specific proposals except to

say there is also a drug crisis in the country. the kids need to be restricted on social media, what they see on line. we may take you back to the white house live with the president. we may take you back there as developments warrant, but let's start from the president, what we heard from the president earlier in the sense he said it's time to act. he said he's met with the nra. he said at times you might have to pick a fight with the nra. last week he said he wanted to raise the age limit for gun purchases. at least so far today, we have not heard that from the president. what did he do right, i guess, and what did he not do right in the context of moving the ball in washington? >> i don't think we know exactly what he's talking about, exactly what the nra is for and what he's for after this lunch that he said was a productive meeting. he said he wanted to push, quote, very strong background checks. he said that again, but he did not say if he was willing to go as far as background checks on internet sales or gun shows which the leading proposal in the senate, the mansion toomey

bill, which doesn't have enough votes in the senate, he said he would get behind that. he also said he would write a new executive order, some administrative action in regard to bump stocks. after the las vegas shooting, the nra said they didn't want congress to act, and they were okay if the atf acted. unclear if the atf even has the authority to go that far. unclear if the president is in line with the nra and ready to take on the nra. >> i do think it's possible that trump could try to be the president that takes this really divisive issue and tries to get action on it, because he does have a good relationship with the nra, he does have a good relationship with congressional leaders. it's just unclear to me after this speech where he is going to fall on this. the point you made about not bringing up raising the age on purchasing certain types of weapons, that would be -- of all the issues he's talked about related to guns, that would be one that the nra would probably fight the hardest on.

the fact he had this lunch with nra officials over the weekend and did not raise it in this meeting, i don't know how much to read into that because he had kind of a rambling speech there, but i think that is probably notable. i also heard from administration officials that they don't right now see a lot of appetite on capitol hill to move on that. >> it's just that lack of appetite on capitol hill that if the president wants these things, he'll have to force his own party. for anyone who was not with us at the top of the hour, listen right here. if you're a trump skeptic, if you're in favor of more gun controls or at least new gun restrictions, expanded background checks. you've been watching to see, is the president going to be on my side this time? listen. >> because i had lunch with wayne lapierre, chris cox and david lehman of the nra. they want to do something. i said, fellows, we have to do something. we're going to do very strong

background checks. we have to do background checks. if we see a sicko, i don't want him having a gun. i know there was a time when anybody could have. even if they were sick, they were fighting. and i said, fellows, we can't do it anymore. there is no bigger fan of the second amendment than me and there is no bigger than of the nra. these guys are great patriots, they're great people. and they want to do something. they're going to do something. >> he went on to say sometimes we might have to fight with them. if you're the president of the united states, that is smart political positioning. you're safe with your own base. they may look at him and say, what does he mean? and you're reaching out to the middle there. the hard part? the specifics and the follow-through. he said we're going to do background checks but the only specific bill he mentioned was senator bob cornyn's bill which is very, very modest of the existing system. it doesn't cover the gamut of background checks. >> and if you take president

trump at his word and that he wants to do something, the last president that wanted to do something was president obama after the last newtown shootings. what president obama found was that time was not on his side. the passion of the president eventually fades, he took time to get recommendations, and by the time it came to a vote of, i think, 2013, which was four or five months after the terrible shootings, all this sort of political urgency had faded. how fast can he get the congress to act? because we know history shows that if they wait months and months and months, and we get to may, there is also an election this year. the closer you get to that, the harder it is for these lawmakers

to do anything. if this doesn't happen quickly, whatever "this" is, and i think to my news point, we don't know quite what that is, but if it doesn't happen quickly i'm very skeptical it happens at all. >> and this has always been the irony strategy, is to wait out these moments of urgency, because the urgency does fade. tragically the moments happen soon enough, that as soon as the urgency fades, there is another one, as sad as that is. that may be working in favor. a lot of people have said how melania trump has been somewhat invisible in recent weeks, and she doesn't often come out to speak on policy at all. even when she does speak, which is relatively rare. so this appears to be something that has moved her as a mother as she spoke about finding a

cause that first ladies significantly find a cause. she talked about cyber bullying which sounded terribly ironic. but if this is something she's is passionate about, having her to be the face of that is also powerful. >> she said if she were to travel, especially at a place where this is difficult for. also more on the controversy in florida. the sheriff in broward county also under fire. quick break. we'll be right back in just a moment with more. whoooo.

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welcome back. at the white house today, president trump meeting with the nation's governors, democratic and republican. a former member of the house of representatives debating the president over the president's proposals, one of the proposals in the wake of the parkland, florida shooting. the president says we should train and arm some teachers. the governor disagrees. >> i know that you have suggested arming our teachers. and i just --

>> no, not your teachers. arming a small portion that are very gun adept that truly know how to handle it. i do feel, governor, it's very important that gun-free zones, you have a gun-free zone, it's like an invitation for these very sick people to go there. i do think there has to be some form of major retaliation if they're able to enter a school. and if that happens, you're not going to have problems anymore because they're never going to the school. it would just be a very small group of people that are very gun adept. go ahead. >> if i may respond to that, let me just suggest whatever percentage it is, i heard at one time you might have suggested 20%. whatever percentage it is, speaking as a grandfather, speaking as a governor in the state of washington, i have listened to the people who would be affected by that. i have listened to the biology teachers and they don't want to do that at any percentage. i have listened to the first grade teachers who don't want to be pistol-packing first grade teachers.

i have listened to law enforcement who said they don't want to have to train teachers at law enforcement agencies which takes about six months. i just think this is a circumstance that we need to listen, that educators should educate and they don't want to be faced with this responsibility of packing heat in first grade classes. i understand you suggested this, and we listen to people about it and maybe they don't look so good a little later. i suggest we need a little less tweeting here, a little more listening, and let's just take that off the table and move forward. >> thank you very much. we have a number of states right now that do that, and i think with that in mind, i'll call on greg abbott, great governor of of texas. >> the president of the united states testy exchange with the governor of washington state. the president has suggested, he's the president of the united states, so whatever he says it's a national conversation, but even he tweeted out over the weekend, maybe it should be states that do this.

it's one of the controversial proposals. my view is air it out. if you have a proposal, air it out. you have the president saying let's arm some teachers. and he did say at one point maybe 20%. he made clear you train them first, you make sure they're adept at firearm skills. the governor of one of the states saying, no way, no how. >> people who support it support it passionately. people who oppose it support it equally as passionately. i think one of the questions that came up as we started this debate, if you put guns in the hands of teachers in classroom, and you look at the college in florida who they did have a gun. this is not as foolproof as the president suggests, that if you put guns on campuses, they won't come. not necessarily true. it's hard to see this happening at a federal level, but certainly interesting to watch at state and probably more at

local levels if you do see certain communities grab onto this idea. >> there are some republican governors, i assume at that meeting, that say at least the state should have the option. as we get into should we raise the age, should teachers be armed, should the background checks be expanded. it's a horrific tragedy what happened in parkland, because you have governors running for the senate, because it is such a swing state in politics, because it is such a gun rights state, a debate in florida could be more interesting than a debate in washington. >> potentially. we'll see what happens. we keep talking about is trump going to propose these things, how concrete is it? trump is more or less thinking out loud and that did not look like a listening face, the face he gave to jay ensly, his body

language was pretty negative. so he's seeing what gets shot down. raising the age, he's seeing that doesn't fly so well with the nra so he's looking at other things as well. he doesn't seem to be listening to things that other people care about. he's probably not going to listen to a liberal governor from the west coast. i think he is in a phase of just seeing -- he takes people's temperature, right? he polled people at mar-a-lago to see -- that's his sort of focus group. he's always bouncing things off people, and it's the opposite of a traditional president's process who would in private check the polling with advisers and then come up with something that was the thing they were going to present. he presents everything first. >> that's what the congressional leaders, mitch mcconnell, paul ryan have been silent on this issue, because they don't know exactly where the president stands. we do know paul ryan and the president did speak about this issue over the weekend. but exactly where the president is going to end up, they don't

want to get ahead of the president, they don't want to get crosswise with the nra, so they're being quiet and seeing where the debate plays out, and we'll see what they ultimately decide to do, but we know they'll not make any key decisions this week in washington. before we go to break, one victim of a shooting who spent two weeks in the hospital recovering from rher wounds. today she spoke and said it's the students in parkland that have turned this into such a different national conversation. >> i would just like to say that i'm so grateful to be here and it wouldn't be possible without the doctors and first responders and these amazing doctors and especially all the love that everyone is sending. i was thinking about all the letters and gifts that i was

given and all the love that's been passed around. i definitely wouldn't be here without it.

we're back and he spoke harshly about the broward county sheriff's response. at least one officer did not go into the school during the shooting. there are three deputies who arrived, not sure exactly when they arrived, and they also did not go into the school. the president said not exactly medal winners with that behavior. here on "state of the union" with jake tapper yesterday, the broward county sheriff. listen. >> deputies make mistakes, police officers make mistakes, we all make mistakes, but it's not the responsibility of the general or the president if you have a deserter. you look into this. we're looking into this aggressively and we'll take care of it and justice will be

served. i can only take responsibility for what i knew about. i exercised my due diligence, i've given amazing leadership to this agency. >> how much is this controversy and this investigation going to impact the other conversations? because if you are an opponent of new gun restrictions, even an opponent of expanded background checks, you say, no, there were red flags, they missed signals. then you had an officer on the scene who didn't enter the school deal with the accountability crisis before you start saying, let's change the law. >> one of the things that happens after all of these shootings is that the question becomes, do you deal with the general issue or do you deal with the particulars of the incident? so after vegas there was a big focus on bump stocks because that was the accessory that the guy used to make the gunfi fire faster. here the people who want to avoid addressing some of the bigger, broader issues of availability of guns are going to focus on the particulars of

this case in which these things were missed. >> like they should be able to do it all. they should be able to investigate, have the broader conversation, take some votes and see what happens. the deputy there, peterson, has hired an attorney who issued a statement saying, let there be no mistake. mr. peterson wishes he could have prevented the untimely passing of the 17 victims on that day and his heart goes out to the families of the victims in their time of need. however, the allegations that mr. peterson was a coward and that his performance, under the circumstances, failed to meet the standards of police officers are patently untrue. this is now a huge part of the follow-up to this story. >> yes, of course, and there are a lot of existing systems that could stand to be fortified. we talked about the cornyn bill. that is also about tightening the existing background check system because there are, especially in this case, a lot of instances in which the existing system broke down. how do you translate that into policy? is there any way to encourage

this kind of thing nationally, whether it's, you know, sheriff's departments like this that are apparently falling down on the job, and of course this is preliminary. we don't know what we're going to find out as this investigation goes on. >> and the investigation will play out in the middle of a very tight election year in florida as well. we'll keep an eye on that, we'll keep an eye on the entire conversation. we'll see you back here tomorrow. thank you for joining us. wolf starts after a quick break. have a great day. our health. we're life line screening... and if you're over 50... call this number, to schedule an appointment... for five painless screenings that go beyond regular check-ups. we use ultrasound technology to literally look inside your arteries... for plaque which builds up as you age- and increases your risk for stroke and cardiovascular disease. and by getting them through this package, you're saving over 50%.

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wolf blitzer here in washington. 8:00 p.m. in damascus, 9:00 p.m. in moscow. wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks so much for joining us. a ban on bump stocks with or without congress' help. the president promise gun control after an officer wouldn't enter who was first on the scene in