Happens nowhere else other than the United States of america. This epidemic of mass slaughter. This scourge of School Shooting after School Shooting. It only happens here not because of coincidence, not because of bad luck. Of but as a consequence of our inaction. We are responsible. For a level of mass atrocity that happens in this country with zero parallel. Anywhere else. As a parent, it scares me to death that have this body doesnt take seriously the safety of my children. That seems like a lot of parents in south florida are going to be asking that same question later today. We pray for the families and for the victims. We hope for the best. Senator chris murphy joins me now. What goes through your head when you see a story like this and you represent the people you do and you have the job you have . I mean, my heart drops to my stomach because i know what this community is going through and what its about to go through. When Something Like this hits you, and you lose this many kids in such a short period of time, the ripples never end. People always ask me how newtown is doing. It will never ever recover. Many families have moved away. The trauma of the kids who survived to the sister, the friends those who stepped over the dead bodies as they left the school are with you forever. You have to realize after the tv cameras are gone from parkland, after people moved to the next story, their grief is just beginning. For those of us who lived through this is what we think about on days like this. I have covered probably, i dont know, probably 20 of these at this point. I was in las vegas, in orlando, san bernardino. Im sure you have sat there and watched a number of these. Theres a kind of learned helplessness. You feel like youre sitting in a car in neutral and gunning the engine as you watch this transpire. Do you feel that way . I dont feel helpless. I dont feel helpless because as i said on the senate floor, the responsibility for this lies in our hands. It is congress that has applied a kind of quiet unintentional endorsement to the murders. These are copycat killings. Used to be there was a greater diversity of weapon used. Not anymore. Its an ar15 every time. Theres a deadliness to the weapon thats unique. Talk to those of us how have seen the crime scene reports from sandy hook. By doing nothing about it, by refusing to have debate about criminalizing the purchase of these weapons, were sending this just very strange perverse signal to these unhinged young men contemplating crimes of violence that if it comes with no condemnation from the highest levelses of government, then maybe theyre green lighted. I know whats not what my colleagues mean to do but people listen to what we say and do. When we do nothing, it has impact. That is a very different way of thinking abouting this than ive heard before and very different than talking about the restrictions on the statutory side. Youre saying theres a kind of implicit symbolic tacit, i dont know, approval, winking and nudging, to ration of this ridgelized mass slaughter because you and your colleagues dont do anything on the lawside . While have to ask ourselves why this is happening in the United States and nowhere else. We dont have the details about this young man. This profile exists in every country. There are disaffected deeply troubled young men in every first world nation. Only here do they go to weapons of mass destruction to try to deal with their inner turmoil. Some of that is because they have access to weapons here that you dont have access to other places. Some of it is because of a celebratory culture of violence that yes, is endorsed by the United States congress when we dont take seriously our obligation to make sure kids like there dont have weapons like this. So no, i dont think that inaction sack explicit endorsement. But i think it is part of the story as to why these young men make the decision to do this had a decision na kids like them dont make in other countries. We have later in the show mark fullman, from mother jones who has covered Mass Shootings and particularly the copycat nature you mentioned. Im saying this live on air as we cover this about whether covering it makes it worse. Whether essentially weve created a doom loop of imitation here. Should we ignore these . No, you shouldnt ignore them. Ultimately this will move this country to action. And ive seen of the antigun Violence Movement get stronger and stronger every year. And i think we have to look at what happened today that you didnt cover. There were 90 other people who died from gunshot wounds today. None of that gets covered. It still happens week after week, day after day. So theres no evidence that not covering shootings prevents them because nobody at the National Level covers what happens in chicago every night. It continues to happen in large part because they have access to weapons that other countries dont have access to. When i look at congress at this moment in our history and the president , and i look at sti statistics and i look at america, between opioids and guns about 100,000 americans are dying a year. 65,000 and 35,000. Its a shocking thing when you look at these two. There seems like theres something fundamental broke in. The levels of representation with the government that those two inspectors grind on creating the trauma and death and grief that they do with essentially no response from the government. Yeah, and this week were going to be talking about putting 25g billion to a wall to protect ourselves from a fictional enemy. We are screwed up in our priorities here about how to best protect the american citizenry. On this issue of gun violence, it is merely a question of political power. We get stronger year after year. We saw the exit polls in virginia which tells you more and more americans have moved the issue of gun violence up their list when they go to the polls. Openfully theyre doing the same thing for the opioid epidemic. Our priorities are screwed up and only the voters can change that. Why are those priors screwed up and what conversations what are the conversations like when you talk about your colleagues about that . Well, i think we are ignoring these two epidemics for different sets of reasons. I think on the gun violence question, it really is a matter of political power. The gun lobby controls congress right now. Behave to break their grip. On the issue of opioid epidemic, its about stigma, discrimination. People who think this isnt a Public Health problem but we need to change the way people think about it. There are specific problems plaguing each of these debates that need to be solved independently. Theres a way in which this people look at this. Im watching peoples reaction. Im having the reaction. I have three kids. Youre a father of children. And you know, its really difficult to you process emotionally even for incredible distance. Theres a fundamental failure of the most sacred duty of the government to protect people, protect kids in this kind of place. And the argument youre going to hear, it will already start is that well, you dont know the particularities and you take it out and theres ebola people and what do you do in the face of that argument . Well,ing this idea that you cant regulate evil is ridiculous. Thats the core functionality of government to try to regulate evil instincts. You cant every stop every single act of evil doing bug you can certainly make it less likely. We know from the data that in states and communities that have looser and laxer gun laws, there are more gun crimes committed. In states like connecticut, weve seen 40 reductions in homicides. Were not going to symptom every bad act from happening but we have enough data to know there are policy tools at our disposal to dramatically change the trajectory of violence in this country. We are absolutely shirking our most basic foundational responsibility when we allow evil to act unabated in this country as we are with inside the debate over gun violence. I want to show up a tweet from your colleague senator marco rubio talking about this. He said it was a day i believe if im not mistaken, a day that you pray never comes and then a mother of a newtown victim said, oh, please, you had a chance after newtown. You did squat because you were doing immigration and didnt want to lose votes for your constituents. You looked at us and said you couldnt act. Sleep tight with the blood on your hands. Do you get viscerally angry about this with your colleagues . I do. I do. Im not someone who shout and scream but the reason that i sat on the floor for 15 hours was because i couldnt taking this inaction any longer. And the reason that i get hangry when people send out thoughts prayers and nothing else, theyre meaningless if youre not willing to put action behind your faith. So yeah, a lot of these senators are really nice to the victims of gun violence when they come into their office. And then when they leave, they go back to the business of doing absolutely nothing. And that is infuriating to mel back, a good friend of mine. That is infuriating to me. My hope is it is infuriating to the voters of florida who decide to send somebody to washington who recognize that orlando, parkland are not inevitable. Theres a consequence of inaction. Its a matter of changing representation to get a different outcome. You talked about organization and about virginia. You have it does seem like theres always been ans a symmetry of the organization between the forces in this country that want to maximal little loose Regulatory Regime for weapons and people on the other side who want something stricter. You say youve seen evidence of that he evening out. What do you mean by that. I mean, lets talk specifically about those virginia exit polls that showed 18 of republicans came to the polls with their number one issue being guns but 19 of democrat whos came to the polls their number one issue was guns second only to health care. Weve seen the number of activists show showing up to town halls to Campaign Headquarters grow to the point where i think in 2018, we have more activists than the gun groups do. Youve seen spec races turn on there issue. Look at the senate race in New Hampshire where kelly ayotte was blasted for voting against a backgrounds checks bill. Thats one of the reasons she lost her seat. You slowly see the issue turning. It is a social change movement not unlike the others that took decades in order for us to start withining legislative fights. Its changing but certainly slow. Final question and ill let you go. The nra spent more money trying to elect donald trump than anyone it had ever. And he tonight didnt say anything. There was a tweet about thoughts and prayers i believe. Do you want to hear from the president of the United States on this issue . I dont know. I dont know. I mean, id be worried to ask more from for more of President Trumps thoughts on Mass Shootings. I worry that he would make it worse, not better. If i thought he was going to offer thing that was real, actually consolation, id be willing to hear more. Im not sure whats that we would get. Senator chris murphy of connecticut, thank you for your time tonight. Thanks, chris. Again, to recap what we know what happened today, the gunman killed 17 people, murdered them including sounds and teachers. 15 injured people are being treated right now in area hospitals. The shooting at the Marjory Stoneman high school began shortly before school was dismissed for the day. A warning sopt of the footage were about to show you is disturbing. Holy [ gunshots ] oh, my god oh, my god. [ screaming ] the gunman was on the loose for more than an hour in that school. Students who were able to leave ran or walked out with their hands up to indicate theyre not a suspect. That image youre seeing is an image thats familiar. Almost in its own perverse way iconic in america. The Helicopter Shot of the people evacuating a mass casualty situation with their hands up. We know what that looks like and all can instantly recognize when we see that flashing across our screens what has happened in america on the day we see that. Others sheltered in place, barricading themselves, hiding from the shooter. Some parents were texting their children during the lockdown. Police apprehended the suspect nearly two hours after the incident began. The suspect was placed hill handcuffed on a stretcher and taken to an area hospital. Hes being led knee broward central almanac of american politics ing. Nikolaus cruz expelled last year for disciplinary reasons was armed with a semiautomatic rifle. We have a shooter in custody. He was taken into custody i believe about an hour after he left stone man douglas after he committed this detesticle act. We have 17 confirmed victims. 12 vips within the building. Two victims are outside just outside the building. One victim is on the treat at the corner of pine island and two folks, people lost their lives at the hospital. While students sought safety, s. W. A. T. Teams he conducted room by room searches to assure there were no other shooters. Dozen of parents rushed to the scene. Many informed their kids if they escaped the worst have been taken to an off site location. President trump tweeted out his condolences and reportedly offered federal assistance to governor rick scott. Tammy leitner joins me now from parkland, florida. What is the scene down there right now, tami . Chris,s been hours since gunman Nikolaus Cruz terrorieiz the school. We have an active scene. Theyre still going through with the bomb squad securing the school. Parents are still showing up out here at the school, not all parents have been able to make contact with their loved ones. And weve been speaking with students all afternoon. Im here with hector navarro. Hector, youre a senior, 18 years old. You were there today whether he gunshots rang out. Why dont you take me through what happened. Well, obviously, it started off as a normal day like any other day would. We had a fire drill Second Period just a normal one. Followed procedure. Went to our designated zone. We had another one when it came 30 minutes before the bell. Obviously we were suspicious. We didnt think anything of it though. Then as soon as we were lining up for the fire drill, we heard shots ringing. And its like something ill never forget, just hearing those shots on campus. That obviously there shouldnt be shots moo. Reporter at this point, you were with about 100 other students and several teachers. The whole group ran, is that right . We all started to go towards this little area against the fence in the canal. And we were trying to get as far away as possible. So you guys are running away from the classrooms. Yeah, we were running on the field, running through the gates. And then at one point, me and a bunch of other students decided to hop the fence and run with the rest of the class, but not in such a confined area. So you guys were worried about getting stucking there in the school with the shooter and so you ran away from school . Yeah, pretty much. We didnt want to be there. No one wanted to there be after hearing the shoots. I know youre okay. Youre not sure about all of your friends at this point. Not at all. I have several people that i have not been able to get in contact with. Im really sorry about whats going on. Hopefully youll still hear from them. My prayers are out there. And my prayers are with the families of students that lost their lives today. Its all love for me. All love from everybody in the community. We all come together as one to try to get past this incident. Tough thing. Thank you for talking to us. I appreciate it. Chris, you know, there are still 15 people injured in the hospital. 17 people that were killed in the School Shooting. Some of them teachers, some students. A lot of families, a lot of students, a lot of teachers and an entire community grieving this evening. Chris . Tammy leitner, thank you. Hector, thank you for taking time. I appreciate that in parkland, florida. Mark fullman is the National Affairs editor at mother jones. He wrote about the race to stop School Shootings and has been writing about the specific ways in which Mass Shootings like this School Shootings, lone gunman are a sort of zing phenomenon. Whats your thoughts watching this unfold today and hearing the news about it tonight . Hi, chris. Im sorry to be with you yet again for this subject. My heart goes out to all the people in florida suffering from this terrible attack. You know, its still early. I want to to be careful. Theres a lot of migs information in the media events. This is the case weve seen over and over again. These do not happen in a vacuum. This person planned this attack meticulously. He was using tactical gear, tactics weve seen in previous cases. And i think its important for the American Public to realize that there are often behavioral warning signs that precede these attacks. People need to speak up and reach out for help. Theres a myth about Mass Shootings the shooters snap. They think about doing this for long periods of time and carry them out. There are things that can be done to intervene. What are those things . Well, you be know you hear people making threats or behaving erratically. Often, especially in a school setting, teachers, administrators other kids are often really important in terms of speaking up when they hear something or see thing that makes them feel uncomfortable. Theres a lot more awareness of this problem now. There have been a number of cases thwarted with the very snow where kids have spoken out when they were worried about a kid. From early indications in the reporting on this case, this was a person who was disgruntled and probably acted in threatening ways before, was expelled from the school had apparently an obsession with firearms. Common signs in these cases. There seems like a representply indication effect. Theres gun violence in america which grinds on day after day and the majority of gun fatalities in the country are suicides when you just look at homicides there are many. Most are not done in this fashion obviously. Theres this sort of zing phenomenon which there is evidence is a kind of replica replicating phenomenon. What does that mean . Theres a socalled copycat problem with the attacks.