Of policy positions. Were seeing Something Like that. But where it goes all the way down the roads into these sick smears, that is a problem for our society, and i think we all have a role to play to solve it. Brian stelter, thank you. Thank you for the conversation. Thanks to our International Viewers for watching. For you cnn newsroom is next. For u. S. Viewers, new day continues right now. Good morning. Welcome to our new day. One week after a deranged gunman turned a school into a war zone about 100 survivor office that High School Massacre will march to the State Capitol in florida and take their gun reform fight to lawmakers. There has already been a suffering on of a setback here. The republicancontrolled house, listen to this, they voted to refuse to debate an assault weapons ban and instead they voted to debate a bill that declares pornography a Public Health risk. So President Trump tweeting his support for strength epping background checks for gun purchases and directing the Justice Department to draft a ban on on bump stocks. This comes as he will hold a listening session at the white house today with mass shooting victims, though we dont know exactly who. Cnn will hold a special townhall meeting tonight with the survivors, the parents, and politicians to find solutions on gun violence and school safety. Will our nations elected officials choose children over guns . Thats what the parkland students are asking today. Lets begin our coverage with cnns dianne gal better live in tallahassee with our top story. Reporter we are inside the the civic center. The kids are getting breakfast, 100 stone man douglas students, waking up, getting breakfast before a full agenda. I talked to kids who said they might have gotten an hour, two hours of sleep. They are excited, nervous, ready to take on the meetings with Florida State lawmakers, republican and democrats. A lot of them say because it is the oneweek anniversary, theres a little bit of sorrow in the day. But they are taking the memory of those students and their teachers who passed in that massacre and say even though they have already suffered a setback, they feel their message will resonate. They just want to throw it away. They want to sweep it under the rug. We are here saying you cant sweep anything under the rug anymore. Reporter survivors of the florida High School Massacre voicing outrage after the states Republicancontrolled Legislature voted against a measure to propose a ban on s i semiautomatic weapons. The next step is going to be on them. Its going to be their fault. Its going to be on them and its going to be their fault. Reporter nearly all 71 lawmakers who struck down the bill have an a rating from the nra. Instead of debating guns, lawmakers choosing to begin on a debate on a bill that declares pornography as a Public Health risk. Dozens of students from douglas high traveling 400 miles by bus. The rallying cry, never again, as they hope to pressure lawmakers into taking action on gun control. Our message for the politicia politicians, if you arent with us, youre against us. Were trying to save the lives of innocent children. We need to strive for change. We have fall especially victim to lazy legislation for far as long. Reporter governor rick scott promising to unveil a legislative plan by friday. My goal is to come up with something that will move the needle and make parents feel comfortable that their kids are going to a safe school. Reporter President Trump tweeting his support for strengthening background checks for gun purchases after a National Poll shows an overwhelming number of americans want it to happen. Earlier in the day, mr. Trump directed the Justice Department to propose regulations that would ban bump stocks. A process that has been ongoing since the las vegas massacre. Were working very hard. Were going to come up with solutions. Its been many, many years and there have been no solutions. Were going to come up with solutions. Reporter there trumps only action on guns since taking office was to undo restrictions on Mental Illness. This as the president s son don jr. Comes under scrutiny for liking two twitter posts pushing conspiracy theories about the Florida Shooting survivor david hogg and his father being a former fbi agent. Its gusting so many people think it is true. It is honestly sad. We have a right to live just as we have the right to bear arms. Reporter President Trump will hold a listening session this afternoon with parents, students, and teachers from past u. S. Shootings. And the white house also indicated that he may be open to lowering the age excuse me, raising the age to buy an ar15 style weapon but stopped short of saying he would be in favor of rein stating that assault weapon ban. The kids hearsay that sounds great but thats talk. They want action. Action is what they will be demanding when they leave in half an hour to march to the state lawmakers. Thank you very much for the reporting from the scene. Joining us to talk about it are john avlon and david gregory. David, those kids will martin blocks very soon and theyre going to go meet with the governor who has suggested that he does want to come up with a proposal by friday. He has said they will meet with state reps. Of course they had the setback yesterday. Kids were hoping that the state legislature would vote to even start debate on on banning assault weapons. They did not do that. However, today is a new day, and those kids are taking their message to lawmakers. There is a lot of activism. I think it is different than we have seen in the past. I think those who want to see something done that is real at the state or federal level have to recognize this is about achieving whats possible with those who may be less inclined to pass any kind of gun control measures. And its also about harnessing power. This is about a longer term strategy of on creating enough energy and activism that isnt just about the immediate aftermath of a horrible event like this. It is about taking it to an election cycle and creating voters who become single issue voters on this particular issue. That is a longer term strategy for change that we just havent seen yet. We have seen billionaires, you know, like Mike Bloomberg in new york saying he will go toe to toe with the nra in expanded election cycles. We just havent seen the kind of impact. This is a new start with a new group of activists who might have some impact. Look, i like that point, actually. Because, we are spending time doing what we should calling on people to attack the kids. And there is a lot of b. S. Going on to take the momentum out of these kidss efforts. Its not just about them. 97 of people polled said they want something to make this different. I have never heard of a number that high on policy level. This is on background checks. It is not on gun control but on background checks. The nra does kill you with money. But they dont lead the league in donations. They lead the league in getting people out to go out to politicians and say, john, you do what you do what you feel to do but i will get you in you dont do what i want in the next election. The most important words you just said are in your primary. This is a play to the base strategy that benefits from polarization and hyper partisanship and allowed the nra to hijack a party and move away from a clear broad consensus to the american people. This is a decisive issue. We had an assault weapons ban in this country. Kids do have the opportunity to elevate the debate in a way that didnt occur after sandy hook. President trump deserves credit for taking a step yesterday apparently on bump stock. And background checks. And he may be open to raising the minimum age. Lets stay tuned to see what the actual follow through this. At least he is not talking typical nonsense like it never happened. At least hes on the right side of momentum. Thank god for small mercies. But i do think we dont want to default. This will be a long fight. But 97 , that number is staggering. This is going to be real politics that gets this done, not wishing and hoping. But the door is open. I think its really a waste of time to spend time on the da tpherb de souzas. These conspiracy theorists. Yes. This is nonsense, ugliness. It exists. It exists out there on social media every day. But thinking people are going to on reject that. There has to be Mutual Respect on both sides, people who are for gun rights who see this not only as a slippery slope but a proxy. These are small seed conservatives, people who support populist politicians who believe in government overreach generally and see guns as the core American Issue on which to fight. Thats why they have been organized. And thats not a completely misguided principle because there was an effort on the left to ban handguns for a long time. There has to be some respect for that. And go to work on things to make sense. Seatbelts. We made driving in a car a lot safer on the highways with seatbelts with those kind of regulations. It has to build on that momentum and why a kid with this kind of record with Law Enforcement should be able to get a done should be a problem for anyone who is a supporter of gun rights or not. I dont think he was part of the well regulated mill issue sha that the Founding Fathers were initiateng. You need to find a way to find common ground. There needs to be compromise on both sides. We need reality checks. Why should 18yearolds be able to get a weapon of war when they cant buy a beer. I think its worth calling out the extremes. I think they can actually consolidate the sensible center. When you see someone who wants considered them a card carrying member like de souza, bitter ugly cynicism, it is not even what would jesus do to denigrate the kids on social media. And it helps clarify the debate. So i dont think we should simply dismiss that. So the kids had a setback yesterday where they went to the statehouse and they were in the gallery watching as the lawmakers decided not to even take up this debate. 3671. That was the vote . That was the vote. They would not even debate on an assault weapon ban. Obviously, guys, we have been talking about this, they have to be in this for the long haul. This was the first setback. There will be others. But there will also be steps forward. So they will have to steel themselves that obviously they started with the assault ban. Thats a hard one. Thats ambitious. Thats hard to start with. What they were debating was a slap in the face. They were debating porn as a public risk instead. That demanded the attention with the kids in the audience. Right. Exactly. But where i think the president has been constructive so far, as john said, we have to give him his due with the caveat he was constructive when it came to immigration. What happened . I am still looking for what happened to the immigration debate. I dont mean to be factious about that. This president had uniquely, when he complained about other people not doing things. Now he said he wants to do it on guns. How do we strengthen background checks . The wall street journal this morning talks about strengthening the federal back ground check that is an existing bill that democrats opposed on principle grounds because there were concealed carry laws that were part of that across state lines that they oppose. Bump stocks is a way to remedy it. The debate over banning assault weapons is one that will have to be joined again. That has a troubled history. Remember the 1994 midterm elections and the shell lacking that the democrats took. It was because of that assault weapons ban. There is a deep history politically of how much they want to take on. My father ran and lost in 1994. He would not shut up about it was the right move. People vote on this issue. They will vote against you. The question is will people vote for you, people doing the same thing. Gentlemen, thank you both very much. We are talking about the kids this morning. Because to have a group of survivors like this is unique in what we have seen so far. They are old enough to make the case for themselves. Thats exactly what is going to happen tonight. You will have some of the students from Marjory Stoneman douglas. They will be at a cnn townhall. Kaylee hartung is live. This should be an important night. Reporter it should be, chris. How many times over the past week have we thought, something feels different in the wake of this saol shooting. Thats been in large part, as you mentioned, because of the outrage and the passion of the students, the survivors of stone man Douglas High School have shared with us. Many will bring it here to the bb and t center. A chance to begin a conversation with elected officials and hopefully effect change. Thousands are expected to attend. Were talking about students from stone man douglas, their parents, teachers, and administrators who will have the opportunity to confront lawmakers. Among those lawmakers, congressman ted deutsche, the democratic representative of the district that includes parkland. Many students say he has been a tremendous resource to them. And Democrat Bill nelson as well as republican marco rubio. He comes here with a spotlight on him. Teenagers have not been afraid to call him out for the millions of dollars hes accepted from the nra. I wouldnt expect them to hold back with him tonight. There will be a National Spokesperson for the nra for them to question as well. We should mention that President Trump and floridas governor rick scott were also invited to attend but declined the invitation or the opportunity to be here via satellite. Alisyn, we expect this to be a moving and a powerful evening. Kaylee, good for marco rubio, senator rubio, for agreeing to go and confront these students. As you point out on, not everybody did. So it will be fascinating to see what happens tonight. Thank you very much for the preview. Minutes from now, about 100 students who survived the deadly attack, will begin their march toward the State Capitol in florida. One student tells us about their never again message they are bringing to lawmakers, next. And when youod sugar is a replace one meal. Choices. Or snack a day with glucerna. Made with carbsteady. To help minimize blood sugar spikes. You can really feel it. Now with 30 less carbs and sugars. Glucerna. Was a success for lastchoicehotels. Comign badda book. Badda boom. This year, were taking it up a notch. So in this commercial we see two travelers at a comfort inn with a glow around them, so people watching will be like, wow, maybe ill glow too if i book direct at choicehotels. Com. Who glows . Just say, badda book. Badda boom. Nobody glows. He gets it. Always the lowest price, guaranteed. Book now at choicehotels. Com okay. So just minutes from now, about 100 survivors of the florida High School Massacre will begin their march to the florida State Capitol. They will spend the day meeting with dozens of lawmakers, including governor rick scott as they push for a change to gun laws. Joining us now is shooting survivor kyle and Florida State senator lauren. They are two of the organizers of this trip to tallahassee. Thank you for take this time. I know you have a busy day. Kyle, what message are you bringing to the governor today . I ultimately want to accomplish to make sure we have Mental Health restrictions in place so people who are not mentally stable cannot acquire womens. I want 100 to make sure we have deeper background checks. As a fellow republican, it is i really understand the slippery slope for legislation and that quickly legislation can become worse and worse of a situation and we really have to fine the line in the sand for this issue. I think that is really an important point. Lets just underscore that. You consider yourself a republican. You understand the slippery slope. Yes, maam. You dont want all guns taken away. I understand thats your position. Uhhuh. These two things you think, what, could have stopped the tkraepblg at your school . 100 if we had these in place he would never been able to acquire a weapon. These are logical things that have is to be in place. There is no orbgt against it at this current point in time. Tell us more about that. You want a counselor to be able to flag a gun seller . How are you going to connect the Mental Health problem with gun sales . Heres what i think. I think we have to come in with specific and very, very set guidelines as to why what entails someone who is not mentally stable. This is a discussion we have to have. Senator, tell us what your role is with all of these kids today. I am the facilitator. These incredibly bright, eloquent children and i connected right after the vigil on thursday. And i asked them what is your vision for change and how can we help make that happen and help you heal . So they said they wanted to come to tallahassee. And we set up meetings with legislator legislators, getting buses, food, all the things they needed to come to htallahassee. Different students have different point of view. We will be working the process and working to bring tpaurbd some significant change in florida law. Kyle, were you there in the gallery yesterday as some of the students were watching the state lawmakers vote not to take up a debate about banning assault weapons . I was not there, but i heard about it and read about it. They simply did not want to have a discussion about the topic. Having a discussion will never hurt. That is the first step to change. If there is an issue, we have to move forward and at least talk about it. Senator, how do you explain fellow lawmakers not even wanting to have a discussion . I think that that was a procedural issue. And i think that there are discussions that are being had. And i understand that there is still a lot of feelings on both sides of this issue. And so i am working to try to make sure that we have a product in these next 11 days that i can bring home to these students, to their fa