Stocks Drop Sharply; Town Hall on Guns
COSTELLO: All right, let's take a look at what's happening on Wall Street. Don't you know it, the Dow is down 260 points. Of course, these losses started because of what China did early this morning. It kind of like stopped all of its action on its own stock market and that sent everything into a tailspin. Alison Kosik is following the story live from the New York Stock Exchange. Good morning.</s>ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. And as you said, this is because of China, because for the second time in four days, China suspended trading because stocks there fell so much so fast. And there are new indications that China's economy is slowing even faster than we thought. And then you've got the Chinese government devaluing the yuan to try to make its exports cheaper. But the way investors read it is that the move is sending this message that China could be in worse shape than we realize. And because our economies are so interconnected, that's making investors around the world very nervous. And as you can see, they're hitting the sell button with the Dow down 307 points. OK, so what does this mean for a correction? Well, we are less than 100 points from correction territory, meaning 10 percent down from the recent high. But, Carol, it's really going to depend on where the markets close today. But before you freak out, I just want to say, a correction is really a normal part of the markets. You don't want the indexes to go just straight up because that could create a bubble. Think of it this way, the markets actually had a correction in August. I don't know if you remember that. But now we see it falling back into a correction again. But something to consider as you're having your morning coffee and watching all these numbers fall this morning, corrections, once again, are a natural part of market movement. It's kind of like tapping the brakes on a bike or a car. Sometimes you've got to take a breather. One more thing to keep in mind. We are a long way off from a bear market. That would be when the market drops 20 percent from a recent high. Carol.</s>COSTELLO: OK. I'm soaking it in of what you said and I'm feeling more calm. Thank you, Alison Kosik.</s>KOSIK: OK, that -- that was the intention.</s>COSTELLO: I appreciate it. Thanks, Alison.</s>KOSIK: Sure.</s>COSTELLO: Hours from now, President Obama sits down with CNN's Anderson Cooper for a live town hall even on gun control. It's all part of the president's push to make gun safety a top priority during his final year in office. But as you know, not everyone is on board. The National Rifle Association, the NRA, the nation's largest gun rights organization, is snubbing the event, declining an invitation, calling it a "public relations spectacle" by the White House. With me now is Jillian Soto. She will be at tonight's town hall with the president. Her sister Vicki was a teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary the day a gunman entered the building. Her sister was killed trying to protect her students. Twenty-six people, as you know, died that day, including 20 children. Welcome, Jillian, and thank you so much for being here.</s>JILLIAN SOTO, SISTER VICTORIA SOTO WAS KILLED AT SANDY HOOK ELEMENTARY: Thank you for having me.</s>COSTELLO: Thank you. So, as I mentioned, CNN is hosting this town hall, not the White House. Still, the NRA declined the invitation to take part in this town hall. Why do you think it did?</s>SOTO: I think that they're honestly scared that, you know, the president has stepped up and is doing something. And I think they're finally realizing that, you know, there's actions that are being taken that, you know, there are plenty of people who are willing to fight the NRA and go up against them and demand change because nobody wants to join this group. Nobody wants to be a gun violence survivor, whether you lost somebody to gun violence or you are a survivor yourself. No one wants to join that group. So everyone wants to stand up and the NRA is scared of that I honestly think.</s>COSTELLO: If the NRA had accepted the invitation, you're in the audience of that town hall, what would you want to ask the NRA?</s>SOTO: Would they still be on the same side that they are, would they still feel that nothing needs to be done if their loved one was in a classroom and brutally murdered in front of their students? Would they still feel the same way? Would they still feel that nothing needs to happen, that our nation is safe and that we should just put more guns in people's hands and that's going to make it a better place to live?</s>COSTELLO: Well, they probably would say, had your sister been armed, she might have survived.</s>SOTO: Even if my sister was armed, I know her better than anyone. She would never have thought to grab a gun to protect her students. Her -- she would have done exactly what she did that day. She would have tried to hide as many of her kids as she could. She would have been going to that door to lock the door and keep her kids safe. A gun is a distraction. Having a gun on her while she would be teaching would be a distraction. I don't even think she would have taken a teaching job if it was a requirement to carry gun because it's a first grade classroom. You -- there is no place in a first grade classroom, let alone any classroom, even in a college campus, a gun should be.</s>COSTELLO: The issue over guns, it's become so partisan. Some might say hopelessly partisan. So I'll ask you a tough question in light of what happened to your sister. Why bother with this town hall?</s>SOTO: To me it's not hopeless. To me I look at how much has changed in the past three years. You know, we've come so far. We've had so many states pass such amazing gun laws. And we're still fighting. And with -- thanks to the president for taking executive action and keeping -- narrowing the loopholes that keep guns out of dangerous hands we have some hope that we will get this fight done and we are going to continue to fight. We're going to vote for Congress members that are going to help us make it a safer country. And the ones who aren't going to help us, we're not going to vote for them and we're just going to continue to ask people to join us in this fight until we have a safer nation and we know our loved ones are safe whether they're going to the mall, going to school or they're just on the streets and hanging out with their friends. We're going to make this nation safer one way or another. So it's not a hopeless dream for me.</s>COSTELLO: And I'm glad -- I'm glad you brought up that last part because a lot of people say that the president's executive order would not have saved people who died as a result of a mass shooting. But we're talking about many other kinds of deaths caused by guns. Thirty thousand plus died in this country last year alone because of gun violence. You're talking about all kinds of gun violence, not just the kind of gun violence that happens in mass shootings.</s>SOTO: Yes, it's -- gun violence isn't just mass shootings. Gun violence is an everyday occurrence. Eighty-eight Americans are killed every single day to gun violence. And what the president did will narrow down that number. We hopefully will have less Americans killed every day to gun violence because of what the president did. Because with what he did, he's keeping guns out of dangerous hands. There will be background checks that will have to be done and lives will be saved. It may not save everyone's life, but it will save some. And that's what matters. And we're going to continue to fight until we save everyone's life from guns.</s>COSTELLO: Jillian Soto, thank you for being with me this morning.</s>SOTO: Thank you.</s>COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, 17 miners trapped 900 feet underground and rescued. We'll have all the details for you, next.