what do we want? >> change. tonight on kqed news room, students have taken up the call for gun control. sayi adults haven't done enough. meanwhile, gun control advocates are singling out politicians for their ties to the nra. san francisco mayor on what wants to accomplish before voters pick a new mayor in plus, the challenges facing the california democratic party as they convene this weekend. hello and welcome to kqed neoo i'm filling in this week. we begin with student activism. the mass shooting at marjorie stoneman douglas high school in florida revised a heated debate over gun control. nly 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, allies, and walk outs calling for lawmakers to takeio stronger a or face consequences at the polls this fall. joining me now to ta about what bay area youth are doing are two high school students. lily conovall and maxwell stern. thank you for being nkhere. >> tou for having us. >> lily, i wanto start with you. what was your reaction when you heard about parkland? >> i was devastated to s tt we're still dealing with mass shootings in this country. it madee scare for my own safety as a high school student, and,re ly, just absolutely devastated, as i said. >> maxwell, do you feel theame way? i mean, do you feel safe in your school? >> i feel safe in my school, but i think perhaps it is a false sense of safety because a shooting like that can happen tnywhere. and we've seen happen anywhere. so i do feel safe in my school now, but the problem is i don't know if i'll feel safe tomorrow

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

sort of push politicians to do? >> well, i think politicians need to recognize this is no longer just, you know, setting up prayers and thought i think it's important that change happe. and i think change for youth means stronger background checks, who hasccess to guns. and that i think is the most important issue. who is abl to own a firearm in our country. so i think change meanseally listening to youth and hearing what we have to say about this issue. because it is affecting a of us. i mean, we're the after columbine generation. it has normalized. >> it has. maxwell talked about stronger background checks and other sorts of legislative fixes. we have strong gun laws in anlifornia. how do you to focus your energy moving forward? i know you're 16. you can't vo yet. you can get out there and talk about this. >> to me,t's about really unifying as students and being ableto 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 lotf work. because there are bigger picture things we can ask for but there's little things that can make the world of a difference. >> so i knowow that, you we've seen some push back from the nra and other folks. do you guys feel like adults are listening well enough? and or is it patron nicing when they say you're young and don't know wha're talking about. >> it's frustrating to hear that. i don't think they recognize that, i mean, i'm going to be able to vote in a couple ofll years as my peers and a lot of their constituent finance th don't represent our values and belief, then we'll see change in the voting polls. i think that's somet ng that the adults in, you know, congress need to he. d 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. as we said, you will be voting in a couple of years. but are your peers feeling --

when you're havingn rsations, lily, will your peers. do you think they're feeling more motivated in the last few weeks than before? >> absolutely. i think there's something different about this time. i think t has a lot do with the leadership from the studen from parkland who have taken the stand and have been bold. i think we're seeing there's blood on thee hands of politicians who are out there and have taken money from the nra and are continuing to protect the right to bear arms that areasult style rifles. i think that's just not okay. >> i mean, itke seems l this might be a tipping point, but we've had l s vegas happen ju five months ago. you know, you talked about columbine. we saw sandy hook. do think it's because, maxwell, it happened at a high school and, you know, these students do have more of a voice. theye they understand how to work social media and other . platfor >> i think so. withnk it also has to do the fact we lived through sandy hook, columbine.

all of us lived therrough the pulse nightclub shooting and other shootings. for it to happen, it's sfr frustrating and we're tired of the politicians sending thoughts and prayers. it's time for them to d a somethiut 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 ng we're high schoolers. we're made for change. we see throughout history how youth andspially high school and college students have made such huge impacts in our country. and i think we're seeing that here. and would also say that, yeah, we've grown up with these mass shootings. this affected our lives. we've never lived in a world where it's not been a part of d ourly lives and our fears. and i think that's really important to know whene we talking about high schoolers versus elementary schoolers or versus adults. ibecause schoolers have been so directly affected at this point. >> what is next? what do are you doing this weekend and the coming months

before you can actually get to the polls to make change? >> well, we're definitely organizing walk outs and protests and makeure that the politicians in office know that youth are listening and youth issues.out the i think that, also, educating our peers about gun control and gun violencen our country can really make a big i'mpact. i knowelping to organize a walk out at my school. there's a march for lives in isco and nd san fra across 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, iu' know helping organize some of the protests, too. why a walk out? what message does that send? >> i think a walk out sends a strong messag to our politicians and, also, to our community is that it needs to end we'll keep walking out until we see some gun control happen. >> great. thank you both for coming in. >> thank you. >> thank you. the parkland, florida shooting is spurring new efforts from gun control advocates.

le out ategy to sin individual politicians like this television ad criticizing florida governor rick scott for his record on guns. governor scott has an a-plus rating from the nra's political victory fund and considering a run for the u.s.ete. the ad was supported by giffords runy gab by giffords. joining me now is giffords' executive director. we heard rick scott would support raising the age to 21 for some o the gun purchases. i'm curious reaction and these minute shifts could hurt the oforts to attack those types republican politicians that have historically have been guns. ive of the >> that's a response primarily to the grassroots energy that is coming from the students in

parkland andhell across country. you see it here in california and across the bay area. >> ayo so do think, i mean, this is a good thing for folks who want more on the sideof gun safety? could it potentially ma it a little more muddled when we're going into the 2018 midterm elections? it's a great thing. i mean, have to be careful to not be too tactical. you have to be loo at thewh sor e truths around politicians like governor rick scott. like you said, he'seen 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 rest of the gun lobbying can possibly dream up. rick scott had an opportunity to protect kids' communities in florida. not only did he do nothing, he used his opportunity, his tenure as governor in florida, one of the stlar most important states in the country, to turn his state into the nra's own or

private labor for policy. >> so what is the strategy here it? is it astate-by-state approach. do you think there's hope to change hearts aninds in congress? >> it's both. i want to go back to 1994. when in, you know, two years into bill clinton's term heost his majority in the house and the nra was creditedvifor d a lot of those def bts andef republican gains. >> right. >> that defeat really hindered the strength of the gun violence prevention movement for decades and gerations to come. it scared the bejesus out of politicians from coast to coast. >> rigdes, crats, too. >> right. democrats and republicans. and lead to is, you know, collective giving up that occurred that persisted all the way into until 2012 in the sandy hook shooting. it's been five years since then we've been building a grassroots

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

some ofhese safety 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 former republican gun owner herself. captain mark kelly in addition to being an astronaut he's a combat teran. >> right. >> you know he was, you know, i think 42 combat mssions in the desert storm. they are both gun owners. hey live in a state like arizona. they're gun owners. and they can speak. >> they're stine gun . >> they are. absolutely. an, you know, are able to, you know, speak to the rest of the country and explain why we need to change things so kidsonon't kee dying. so our communities don't experience this awful toll gun violence day after day. it's not just the mass shootings at hurt this country that leave families and communities devastated. >> right. >> they can show their own personal experience that you can protect kids, protect communities, pass laws that keep guns out of the wrong hands,

prep weapons of war off the streets while alsecting our basic rights as guaranteed by the second amendment. >> quickly, we onlyhave 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 strict. we'ing to elect the congress that can actually go in there and do >> are we talking about assault rifles ban? >> all of the above. we need to get weapons of war off our streets. make sure that every single purchase of the guns scrutinized by, you know, comprehensive and strong backgroned check. we to get the cdc and other public heas h instituti this country off the sidelines. they've been prohibited from d ing basic researchto the problem of and solutions to gun violence prevention. that ought to change. we can save lives from car accidents. y number of things. 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 right now. >> thank you for coming in. >> my pleasure. nowo san francisco politics. last month the san francisco appointed pervisors mark ferrell as mayost oug board of supervisors president who served as acting mayor following the sudden death of the mayor in december. in june, san francisco voters will elect a new mayor. unti en farrell will face a number of challenges including rising homelessness. joining me now is san francio mayor marc ferrell. thank you for 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 accomplish in the mayor's office that you coun't do as supervisor? >> look, being the mayor of san francisco, obviously, is a wholly differeroposition than being a member of the board obusupervisors. a few things. i'm lucky to be born and raised

in san francisco. and serving as a member of the board of supervisor for seven , yea top of that, gave a great background to assuming this job.y and rea running our government for the next half year. as you think about the ch lenges that we face a city, it's no secret. it's public safety, nd homelessness,n addition to that, in the mayor's office i'll be puing together our city's budget for the upcoming two years. and i serve as budget chair for four years on the board ofrs supervi again, i have that background, you know, hopefully allow me to do a good job over the next half year. >> i know that your appointment cam sof something as aprise to a lot of people. and you were backed bay group on the board that a lot ofys you sparred with in the past years. more liberal wi of an already liberal board of democrats. why dopoou think yourtical foes wanted you in room 200? >> it's not about one person in the job. it was the fact that at this point in time, we had one person serving as the mayor as, a

district supervisoeone running mayoral campaign. i think from manyspeopl perspective that was too much to be vested into one person. we wanted somebody over the next half year that was able to be dedicated to the job of being mayor for the residents of san francisco. that's why i allowed myself to have my name put in the ring. that's where we e today. >> i understand you have some news you would like to make here about something you're going to be bringing back from willie brown's days mayor, i think. >> i understand that, as well. starting next week w going to be doing office hours at city hall. we're meeting with residents of san francisco. anybody can sign up online. >> that's greating. >> meeting in ten minute slots. we'll do it once a month friday mornings. to make sure we hear from people and i hear from residenes. can talk about any topic they want. the sky is the limit. i mean, it's really important to have ansssable, transparent office of the mayor. and hopefully this will be something where we can really invite new ideas, hear new

issues, and most importantly continue to hear from people on the ground every day. ne >> i imane thing you'll hear a lot about is homelessness and housing cris s and thete of our streets. it seems like no matter how many things the city d to try to tackle that, they're just not working or not working well enough. i mean, what needs to be done differently? >> what i would suggest is wh we're doi actually working on the streets. we need to simply do more of it. rerst of all, as you think about it, we need to st people from becoming homeless on our streets. we need to stop the tried. >> there's like 41% became homeless in the last few years, i think. >> exactly. you think about the numbers. we had about 700 people that were homeless in san francisco a little over ten years ago. today we haveut the same number. >> yeah. >> during the same period of time, we housed por placeple back with their families 21,000 people. >> wow. >> so mor a and more people 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 stay in their homes. anybody willunderstand, as soon as you become homeless, and are out of your house, it's a different set issues for that individual or family. and we're doubling our effortswa around ho bound, which is the program if we find a loved one on the other end of the line, give someone transportation money and meal money to go home. if they person promises to house the individual. incredibly successful program. over 70% of the people a year later continue tbe housed. it's working. we have a small budget on it. i'm going to be doubling thah budget year. we need to stop that inflow in the city of san francisco. and then those that remain on the streets, we need to doe everything can to get them off the streets into shiltelterd housing into better lives. we have five navigation centers in the city of san francisco. two more are coming online. we have two more potentially in 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 ,themselv first and foremost, and the residents of san francisco. >> one of the big issues that ii

coming u the coming months is the police officer's union contract. theye supported you, they are very controversial group in san yfrancisco. hould the public trust that somebody who was not ele red is tght person to oversee this long-term contract? >> look, these contract negotiations come up i shirking the responsibility of the office of the mayor not to enter them. and, by the way, if they're not ed bay 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 dr and it them. i'm not afraid to stand behind the men and womenof our police department and the first responders departments. they're protecting us every day and i'll support them. >> after president trump was elected, the board created a committee to specifically deal with federal budget cuts. i don't think they've met yet.

your in charge of crafting the budget. what impact will the fed have? >> at the end of the day, san francisco, in terms of our la posture as it s to washington, d.c., now is a miique period of time. almost everything out of washington, d.c., is against the ethos of who we are as a city. we'll stay as a sanctuary city. we'll combat what i.c.e. and president trump is doing. we will not backl down. weontinue to fill those cuts. so, obviously, it's a little bit of wait andap see now whatns over the next few month finance seems like every day, if not every week, there's a different drama coming out of wasngton. we're going to react but reactp riately and stick to our values of san francisco. >> mayor, thank you for coming in. >> thank you for having me. this weekend, democrats convene one last time before the june primary. candidates are stumping in hopes of landinghe state party

but there are also some clouds hanging over the party. just this week,e democratic st senator tony mendoza resigned er sexual harassment allegations. joining me now is the politics team. scott schafer and sacramento reporter katie or they join me from the convention in san diego via skype. welcome to both of you. >> thank you. >> katie, i want t start with you. you were in sacramento just thursday when mendoza resigned. we thought be hore thatmight get kicked out of the senate. tell me a little bit about whatw happened and democrats there reacted. >> yeah, senator mendoza had sexual harassment investigation into him and it was completed and it was found more likely than not he hurt several women over a period of about ten years. senators were looking to expel or suspend him.

on thursday they which they wanted to do. in the end, they were spared from having to makeoi that c because mendoza, perhaps sensing the decision wasn't going to go his way decided heav would l on his own terms. and ultimately resign. be a relief for some of them. also, there are other investigations ongoinginuding against a female lawmakers. how much do you expect it will be partf the conversation this weekend? >> well, i think it's an issue they're not going to be to avoid. we knhere's a safe space set up here in the convention. there's a hotline people can call if they feel like they have beenas hd. so in that regard, they're trying to take it seriously. i think it's somhing th we'll hear candidates speak about whedethey address gates this weekend. because the me too movement has been so momentum and important i people. on'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 io saw in the nal party during the 2016 election tween the and the of the party more moderate. how will it play out this weekend? especially diane fieinstein beig challenged this weekend? >> 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 left very har feelings. and so the new chair, er bowman, is trying to reach out to those who didn't support him last time around. as youhe said,re some of the most active members of the democratic party are not necessarily moderate. they are, in fact, t progressive wing. the nurses. some of the teachers groths. and they'r ones who are giving kevin day leon, for example, a hard look over feinstein. they like olsics. what is complicated about him,

senator mendoza were roommates until a few months ago. so thatte compli his case to women, in particular. >> we hea you, scott, talk about kevin and diane feinstein. we'll be watching that. any other big endorsements that, you know, you think could come down this weekend? >> well, it's tough. because, you know, a candidate needs to 60% of the vote of the delegates. and in a governor's race, fxa le, you have four democrats who are well known. getting to 60%, that would be a big deal. but ie really don't e that is going to happen. it matters most tese endorsements down where people' araying as much attention. they don't know the candidates as well as they do in the governor's race. >> katie,tr speaking of dt races, one thing democrats are hoping for nationally is to pick up some congressional seats. we've seen at least seven

districts that are held by republicans in california being targeted. how much energy behind that thin we >> i think that is a lot of energy. people feel like they have a ats they ome of the might not have in the past. i think we're going to see a lot of momentum aro after seeing already signs and teachers for candidates.ese candidates, for instance, challenging tom mcclintkear sacramento. that's a big part of this weekend. because they're excited, for instance, they might be able to seat or darryl issa's something like that. >> scott, i mean, in that race, for example,yo have several strong democratic candidates vying and others there's, you know, more than several. is that a concern for party leaders? how do they navigate that? i don't think the party chair wants to be seen as pushing utprogressive democrats of any races. >> it is a real problem.

because, you know, i the top two primary system we have in california. the top two finishe in primary go on to november. and so let's say orange county around fullerton, you have five or six democra running. and they're well funded. and so the question becomes are they going to slip t vote so much that two republicans sneak in, which is, you know, in november. i think what you might see is if any of the candidates get an endorsement, that the others are going to be hencouraged,l we say, to maybe run for another office at some other timeto 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. >> great. well, that is senior politicsed tor scott schafer. kqed katie orr. thank you so much. >> thank y >> thank you. you can find more of our coverage at kqed.org/newsroom.

thank you for joining us.

y captioning sponsored bwnet >> sreenivasan: on this edition for sunday, february 25: the coinuing debate over guns, and the release ofushe latest hointelligence committee memo. and in our signature segment, saile fear and violence loom, the youth of el ador find work and hope. next on pbs newshour weend. >> "pbs newshour weekend" is made posble by: bernard and irene schwartz. the cheryl and philip milstein family. sue and edgar wachenheim, iii. dr. p. roy vagelos and diana t. vagelos. the j.p.b. foundation. the anderson family fund. rosalind p. walter barbara hope zuckerberg. corporate funding is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individuai and group ment products. that's why we're your retirement company.