what do we want? >> change. tonightn kqed news room, students have taken up the call for gun control. saying adults haven't done enough. meanwhile, gun control advocates are singling out politicians for their ties to the nra. san francisco mayor on what he wants to accomplish before voters pick a new mayor ins,une. the challenges facing the california democratic party as they convene this weekend. hello and welcome to kqed news room. i'm filling in this week. we begin with student activism. the mass shooting at marjori stoneman douglas high school in florida revised a heated debate over gun control. only this time, young people are leading the charge. their message to adults? you haven't done enough to stop

gun violence. high school students across the country are staging demonstrations, rallies, and walk outs calling for lmakers to take stronger action or face consequences at the polls this fall. joining me now to talk about what bay area youth are doing are two high school students. lily conovallndaxwell stern. thank you for being here. >> thank you for having us. >> lily, i want to startwith you. what was your reaction when you heard about parkland? >> i was devastated to see that we're still dealing with ma shootings in this country. it made me scared for my own safety as a high school student, and, really, just absolutely , as i said >> maxwell, do you feel the same way? i mean, do you feel safe in your school? >> i feel safe in my bschool, i think perhaps it is a false sense of safety because a shaoting like can happen anywhere. and we've seen it happen anywhere. so i do feel safeo in my s now, but the problem is i don't know if i'll feel safe tomorrow

or the day after that unless anything changes. >> do you have to train at school for these types of incidents? is this something you've, you know,h experienced you're going to school? >> yeah. we've had lockdown drills before. we haven't had the shooting drill yet but there are talks of it next month. we've had l a of lockdown drills. teachers lock your doors and students under the dress. in case something happens on'll knoche door. >> one thing that the.brought up is the idea of arming teachers. i'm curious, lily, would you feel comfoable? >> absolutely not. school is about learning. and any weapons there could be a hazard to the students. and ialso feel like it's just putting a band aid on the larger issue we have. we have an issue withcegun violen general. armening more people doesn't seem like a good way to help aid that. w maxwell, i meaat do you think you and your peers are talking about whenwe talk about change? what do you want to go out and

sort of push politicians to do? >> well, i think politicians reed tognize this is no longer just, you know, setti up prayers and thoughts. i thinkt it's important t change happens. and i think change for youth mean stronger backgroun checks, who has access to guns. and that i ink is the most important issue. who is able to own a firearm in untry. so i think change means really listening to youth and hearing what we have to say about this issue. because it is affecting all of us. i mean, we're the after columbine generation. has normalized. >> it has. maxwell talked about stronger background checks and other sts of legislative fixes. we have strong gun laws in california. howo you want t focus your energy moving forward? i know you're 16. you can't vote yet. you can get out there and talk about this. >> to me, it's about really unifying as students and being able to really come together for

what we want collectively. i think that's going to take a lot of discussion. it's going to take a lot of work. because there are bigger picture things we can askfor but there's little things that can make the world of a difference. that, you know, we've seen some push back from the nra and other folks. do you guys feel like adults arl listening w enough? and or is it patron nicing when they say you're young and don't know what you're talking about. >> it's frustrating to hear that. don't think they recognize that, i mean, i'm going to be able to vote in a couple of years as will my peers and a lot of their constituent finance they don't reuesent our v and belief, then we'll see change in the voting polls. i think that's something tt e adults in, you know, congress need to hear. and i think, you know, that's really important that they understand that. >> yeah. so one thing, you know, we know is that the nra does have a lot of power. be votingd, you will in a couple of years. but are your peers feeling --

when you're having ns conversat lily, will your peers. do you think they're feeling ewre motivated in the last weeks than before? >> absolutely. i think there's something different about this time. i think it has a lot to do with the leadership from the students from parkland who have taken the stand and have been tbold. nk we're seeing there's blood on the hands of the politicians who are out therean have taken money from the nra and are continuing to protect the right to bear arms that arety assault rifles. i think that's just not okay. >> i mean, it seems like th might be a tipping point, but we've had las vegasappen just five months ago. you know, you talked about columbine. we saw ndy hook. do think it's because, maxwell, se happened at a high school and, you know, ttudents do have more of a voice. theye they understand how to work social media and other platforms. >> i think so. i think it also has to do with e fact we lived through sandy hook, columbine.

all of us livedro thegh the pulse nightclub shooting and other shootings. for it to happen, it's sfr frustrating and we're tired of g thoughticians send and prayers. it's time for them to do something about it. it's become a point where does the safety of our children become more freedimportant than freedom to own a gun. >> i would echo maxwell's point saying we're high schoolers. we're made for change.hr we seeghout history how youth and especially high school and college students have made such huge impacts in our country. anhink we're seeing that here. and i would also say that, yeah, we've grown up with these mass shootings. this affected our lives. we've never lived in a world n where it been a part of our daily lives and our fears. andi think that's really important to know when we're talking about high schoolers versus elementars schooler or versus adults. becauseol high scs have been so directly affected at thisi . >> what is next? what do are you doing this weekend and the coming months

oefore you can actually get to the polls make change? >> well, we're definitely organizing walk outs and protests and make sure thathe politicians in office know that youth are listening and youth care about the issues. think that, also, educating our peers about gun control and gu violence in our country can eally make a big impact. i know i'm helpi organize a walk out at my school. there's a march for lives in oakland and san francisco and ross the bay area in a couple of weeks. and putting the word out there that carnage has to stop and the vicious cycle of service needs to end now. >> lily, i know you're helping organize some of the protests, too. why a walk ot? what message does that send? >> i think a walk out sends a strong message to o politicians and, also, to our community is that it needs to end'l now. keep walking out until we see some gun control happen. >> great.th thank you or coming in. >> thank you. >>nk tha you. the parkland, florida shooting is spurring new efforts from gun control advocates.

one strategy to singlein out ividual politicians like this television ad criticizing florida governor rick scott for his record on ns. governor scott has an a-plus rating from the nra's political victory fund and considering a run for the u.s. senate. the ad was supported by giffords run by gab by giffords. joining me now is giffords' executive director. we heard rick scott would support raising the age to 21 for some of the gunurases. i'm curious reaction and these mite shifts could hurt the efforts to attack those types of republican politicians that hava historically been supportive of the guns. >> that's a response primarily to the grassroots energy that is cong from the students in

parkland and all across the country. you see it here in california and across the bay area. >> and soth do you k, i mean, this is a good thing for folks who want more on the side of gun safety? could it potentially make it a little more muddled when we're going into the 2018 midterm elections? gt's aat thing. i mean, have to be careful to not be too tacto al. you have loo at the sort whole truths around politicians like governor rick scott. like you said, he's been an a-plus rated governor of state of the florida by the nra. florida itself has been a laboratory for the most dangerous pro firearm policy that the nra and the restobf the guning can possibly dream up. rick scott had an opportunity to protect kids' commnities in orida. not only did he do nothing, he used his opportunity,s henure as governor in florida, one of the largest, most important states in the country, to turn his ste into the nra's own

private laboratory for policy. i so what is the strategy here it? a state-by-state approach. doou think there's hope to change hearts and minds in congress? >>it's both. i want to go back to 1994. when in, youanow, two into bill clinton's term he lost his majority in the house and t nra was credited for driving a lot of thos defeats and brief republican gains. >> right. >> that defeat redlly hind the strength of the gun violence prevention movement for decade and generations to come. it scared the bejesus out ofci polis from coast to coast. >> rights, democrats, too. >> right. democrats and and lead to this, you know, collective giving up that occurred that persisted all the way into until 2012 in the san hook shooting. it's been five years since then we've been building a gssroots

army infrastructure to fight back against the nra and elect, you know, committed politicianss ache country. what the kids are doing, though, it's important. >> does it feel different? >> f itls different. it's for a lot of reasons. it's, one, it's kids. like we were discussing wi, i'm dad. i've been a dad for 15 months. i've been working on gun olence prevention for five years. it feels different to me to.y as a fath most americans are parents or kids and i think that's driving the light of change. second, there's a additivet. eff it's, you know, the third of the top ten worst mass shootings in this country taki place within a period of five months. and yet you see ts collective inaction from politicians owned by the nra, the nra spent $50 million to elect these people in 2016. and, you know, this inaction and collective paralysis they're getting what they paid for. >> part of the nra's power comes from how big of a group they are. i want to know what you're doing to get gun owners on board with

some of these safy measures. i think it has to be part of the conversation for your side. >> you look at gabby giffords and mark kelly. gabby is is a rmer republican gun owner herself. captain mark kelly in additionb tog an astronaut he's a combat veteran. >> right. >> you know he was, you know, i think 42 combat missionsn the desert storm. they are both gun owners. they live in a state likear zona. they're gun owners. and they can speak. owners. e still gun >> they are. absolutely. and, you kn, are able to, you know, speak to the rest of the country and explain why we ne change things so kids don't keep on dying. so our communities don't experience this awful toll of gun violence day after day. it's not just the mass shootings that hurtry this cou that leave families and communities devastated. >> right. >> they can show their or nal experience that you can protect kids, protect communities, pass laws that keep guns out of the wrong hands,

kee weapons of war off the strts while also protecting our basic rights as guaranteed by the second amendment. >> quickly, we only have a few seconds left. what are the specifics? what do you want to see done besides, obviously, changing the make up of congress? >> we're going district by district. we're going to elect the congressct that canlly go in there and do sreething. >>e talking about assault rifles ban? >> all of the above. we need to getpo w of war off our streets. make sure that every single purchase of the gun is scrutinized by, you know, comprehensive and strong background check. we need to get the cdcth and public health institutions in this country off the sidelines. they' pe beenhibited from doing basic research into the problem of and solutions to gun violence prevention. that ought to change. we can save lives from car accidents. any numberf thing we need the same collective national effort that starts here in 2018 and is driven by the

sort of moral certainty of these kids. >> right. >> and, you know, that's what we need riant now. >> you for coming in. >> my pleasure. now to safrancisco politics. last month the san francisco board of supervisors apprknted errell as mayor. ousting board of surervisors dent who served as acting mayor following the sudden death of the mayor in december. injune, san francisco voters will elect a new mayor. until then farrell will face a number of challenges including rising homelessness. joining me now is san francisco mayor marc ferr fl. thank y coming in. >> thank you for having me. >> you were on the board several years prior to this. what is it like going from supervisor to mayor that suddenly? and what do you think you can complish in the mayor's office that you couldn't do as supervisor? >> look, being the mayor san francisco, obviously, is a wholly different proposition than being a member of the board of supervisors. but a few things. i'm lucky to be born and raised

in san francisco. and serving as a memberf the ard of supervisor for seven years, on top of that, gave a great backgroundmito as this job. and really running our government for the next ha year. as you think about the challenges that we face as a city, it's no's secret. public safety, homelessness, and in addition to that, in the mayor's office i'll be putting together our city's budget for the upcoming two years. and i serve as budget chair fur ears on the board of supervisors. again, i have that ckound, you know, hopefully allow me to do a good job over the next half year. >> know th your appointment came of something as a surprise to a lot of people. and you were baed bay group the board that a lot ofu ways sparred with in the past years. more liberal wing already liberal board of democrats. why do youthink your politica foes wanted you in room 200? >> it'sneot about person in the job. it was the fact that at this point in time, we had one person servinas the mayor as, a

district supervisor, someone running mayoral campaign. i think from many people's perspective that was too much to be vested into one pe on. nted somebody over the next half year that was able to be dedicatedo the job of being mayor for the residents of san francisco. that's why i allowed myself to n have myme put in the ring. that's where we are today. >> i understand you have some news you would like to make here about somethi be bringing back from willie brown's days as mayor, i think. >> iunderstand that, as well. starting next week we're going to bedoing office hours at city hall. we're meeting witsresidents of francisco. anybody can sign up online. >> that's greating. slots.ing in ten minute we'll do it once a month on friday mornings. to make sure wee hear from peo and i hear from residents. they can talk about any topic they want. the sky is the limit. i mean, it's really importanto have an assessable, transparent office of the mayor. lland hope this will be something where we can really invite new ideas, hear ne

issues, and most importantly continue to hear from people on the ground every day. i imagine onehing you'll hear a lot about is homelessness stateusing crisis and t of our streets. it seems like no matter how many thing the city does try to tackle that, they're just not working or not working well toough. i mean, what neede done differently? >> what i would suggest is what we're doing is actually working on the streets. we need to m simply e of it. first of all, as you think about it, op need to stop more from becoming homeless on our streets. we need to stop the hetried. >>'s like 41% became homeless in the last few years, i think. he exactly. you think about numbers. we had about 7,000 people that were homeless in san francisco a little over ten years ago. todaye have about t same number. >> yeah. >> during the same period of time, we housed or placed people back with their families 21,000 people. >> wow. >> so more andmore people are cycling into homelessness every year in the city of san francisco. first step to tackling the issue is stopping the tide as much as we can. we invest in different programs. giving people subsidizes to siry

in th homes. anybody will understand, as soon as you become homeless, and are out of your house, it's a idifferent set ofues for that individual or family. and we're doubling our efforts around homewardbound, which is the program if we find a loved one on the other end of the line we'll give someone transportation money and meal money to go home. if tey person promises to house the individual. incredibly successful program. over le70% of the pe a year later continue to be housed. it's working. we have amall budget on it. i'm going to be doubling that budget this year. we need to stop that inflow in the city of san francisco. and then those that remain on the streets, we need to do everything we can to get them off the streets into shiltelterd housing into better lives. we have five navigation centers in t city of san francisco. two more are coming online. we have two more potentially i the hopper. so we're doing more and more for the people that are on our streets today. we need to get them off the streets for themselves, first and foremost, and the residents of san francisco. e> one of the big issues that is

coming up in coming months is the police officer's union contract. they've suppted you, they are very controversial group in san francis t. why shoul public trust that somebody who was not elected isr the rightn to oversee this long-term contract? >> look, these contract negotiations come up i would be shirking the responsibility of the office of the mayor not to enter them. and, by the way, if they're not solved certain date, we enter into arbitration and they will be awarded regardless. but the good news is, i have professionals that are taking their jobs seriously and i work on it every day and i trust them. i'm not afraid to stand behind the men and women of our police department and the first rntponders departme they're protecting us every day and i'll support them. >> after president trump was elected, the board created a ifmmittee to spally deal with federal budget cuts. i don't think they've met yet.

your in charge of crafting the budget. whatmpt will the fed have? >> at the end of the day, san francisco, in terms of our posture as it relates to washington, d.c., now is a unique period of time. alf st everything coming out washington, d.c., is against the ethos of who we are as a city. we'll stay as a sanuary city. we'll combat what i.c.e. andru president is doing. we will not back down. we'll continue to fill those cuts. so, obviously, it's a little bit now what happens over the next few month finance seems like every day, if not every week, there's a different drama coming out of washington. we're going to react but reacty appropriatnd stick to our values of san francisco. > mayor, thank you for comin in. >> thank you for having me. this weekend, democrats convene one lst tiefore the june primary. candidates are stumping in hopes of slanding thetate party

endorsements. but there are also some clouds hanging over the party. just this week,emocratic state nator tony mendoza resigned over sexual harassment allegations.ow joining mes the politics team. scott schafer and sacramento reporter katie orr. they join me from the convention in san diego via sky . welcome th of you. >> thank you. >> katie, i want to start with you. you were in sacramento just ursday when mendoza resigned. we thought before that he might get kicked out of the senate. tell m a little bit about what happened and how democrats there reacted. >> yeah, senator mendoza had a sexual harassment investigation into him and it was completed nd it was found mo likely than not he hurt several women over a period of about ten years. senators were looking to expel or suspendim.

on thursday they couldn't decide which they wanted to do. in the end, theyd were spa from having to make that choice because mendoza, perhaps sensing th t decision wasn't going go his way decided he would leave on his own terms. and ultimatel resign. >> that must be a relief for some of them. also, there are other investigations ongoing includin against a femwmakers. how much do you expect it will be part of the conversation thi? weeke >> well, i think it's an issue they're not going to be to avoid. we know there's a safe space set up here in the convention. there's a hotline people can call if they feel like they have been harassed. so in that regard, they're ting to take it seriously. i think it's something that we'll hear candidates speak aut when they address delegates this weekend.he because me too movement has been so momentum and important to people. i don't think they can really ignore it. >> and, scott, i know you've

been talking to a lot of folks about some of the skizisms we tysaw in the national p during the 2016 election between t left wing of the partymo and th moderate. how will it play out this weekend? especially diane fieinstein beig challenged thisweekend? we were at the last democratic convention in sacramento when they elected a new chair by 60 votes out of many, many hundreds and several thousand votes. and it leftery hard feelings. nd so the new chair, eric bowman, is trying to reach out to those who didn't support him last time around. as yousaid, they're some of the most active members of the democratic party are not necessarily moderate. they are, in fact, the progressive wing. the nurses. me of the teachers groups. and they're the ones who are giving kevin day leon, for example, aok hard over feinstein. they like his politics. what is complicated about him,

senator mendo were roommates until a few months ago. so that complicates his case to women, in particular. >> we heard you, scott, talk about kev d andne feinstein. we'll be watching that. any other big endorsements that, you know, you think could come down thi weekend? >> well, it's tough. because, you know, a candidate needs to get60% of the vote of the delegates. and in a governor's race, for ou example, have four democrats who are well known. getting to 60%, that would be a big deal. but i really don't expectat is going to happen. it matters most these endorsements down where people s aren't payinuch attention. they don't know the candidates as well as they do in the governor's race. >> katie, saking of district races, one thing democrats are hoping for nationally is to pick up some cgressional seats. we've seen at least seven

districts that areeld by republicans in california being targeted. how much energy behind that this >> i think that is a lot of energy. people feel like they have a shot at some of the seats they ght not have in the past. i think we're going to see a lot of momentum aroundr that. af seeing already signs and teachers for some of these candidates. candidates, for instance, challenging tom mcclintock near sacramento. that's a big part of this weekend. because they're d,excior instance, they might be able to take over darryl issa's seat os thing like that. >> scott, i mean, in that race, for example, you have several strong democratic candidates vying and othe there's, you know, more than several. is that a concern for party aders? how do they navigate that? i don't think the party chair wants to be seen as pushing progresfve democrats out any races. >> it is a real problem.

because, you know, in the top two primary system we have in california. the top twon finishers primary go on to november. and so let's say orange county around fullerton, you have five or six democratsuing. and they're well funded. and so the question becomes are toing to slip the vote so much that two republicans sneak in, which is, you know, finan vember. i think what you might see is if ny of the candidates get an endorsement, that the others are going to be encouraged, shall w say, to maybe run for another office at some other time to take one for the well being of the party. because they really need to pick up one or two seats in california. they're going to take back the house. >>reat. ll, that is senior politics editor scott schafer. kqed kae orr. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> thank you. you can find more of our coverage at kqed.org/newsroom.

thank you for joining us.

robert: where ds the gun debate go from here? president trump is open to anges but the n.r.a. balks at restrictions and lashes out at the aedia democrats. i'm robert costa. the president's next steps en masse shootings and newve lopments in the russia probe. ghtonit on "washington week." >> there are no words. the families lost their chilen. we lost coaches. rebert: pdent trump says schools should do more to protect students and throws his support behind the n.r.a.'s long-standing propal to arm teachers. president trump: it's time to make our schools a much harder target for attackers. robert: the n.r. asues so --