Obama Unveils Gun Plan, Reaction Rolls In
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, President Obama has made no secret he wants to do something about gun violence with a concrete set of proposals. Some with executive and some with work that Congress is going to have to do but many of the things are left unanswered. And my next guest has a lot of those answers and is trying to work through those as well. He's New York's commissioner, Ray Kelly. Thanks for coming in.</s>RAY KELLY, COMMISSIONER, NEW YORK POLICE DEPARTMENT: Thank you.</s>BANFIELD: I know you were in D.C. for the event yesterday and I know you're still getting your head around what -- it seems to be put together in warp-speed time. But just from what you do know, your reaction to the president's actions?</s>KELLY: My reaction is certainly positive. I think it's something that's been overdue. Mayor Bloomberg has led the charge in this area. And the president, I think, in essence supported everything that the mayor has put forward.</s>BANFIELD: One of the big criticisms is that while assault-style weapons sound terribly menacing and the big items include Newtown and the Aurora shooting, et cetera, et cetera, the bigger problem is actually handgun violence, and what happened yesterday does not address that. Is that not a grave concern to you? You're the commissioner of a city that deals with happened gun violence ad nauseam.</s>KELLY: Absolutely. That's the major problem of urban policing these days, concealable hand guns. Even so, I think what happened yesterday is a move in the right direction. And also the background check for all weapons exchanges or all cells, I think can -- it has the potential tension for reducing handgun violence. There's no easy answer here. There's no magic bullet. It's complex. No question about it.</s>BANFIELD: And by the way, it's hard to even determine what constitutes an assault weapon.</s>KELLY: Right.</s>BANFIELD: It used to be defined by law from 1994 to 2004 under that ban. It's no longer defined by law yet. But what will an assault weapons ban actually ban?</s>KELLY: Well, we're going to see what Congress comes forward with. In 1994, there were 19 specific types of weapons or 19 specific weapons and a broader definition. It was able to take, you know, the --</s>KELLY: -- a folding stock, those sorts of things were incorporated in the definition, really a weapon of war, and I think part of the 1994 ban has to do with the cosmetics of it, people were frightened by the look of these weapons. Whether or not that remains, I think it's one of the challenges for Congress to put a reasonable definition together.</s>BANFIELD: And then when the president seeks to make -- access to mental health better and also the sharing of mental health data more ubiquitous, doesn't that open an extraordinary can of worms in terms of privacy issues. For instance, if I want to go to a psychiatrist and have suicidal thoughts, I could end up in a federal registry?</s>KELLY: I think it's an issue and a challenge. We're going to se what Congress comes up with. One in five people are supposedly -- have some sort of mental issues in this country. So do they go into the database? What is the criteria?</s>BANFIELD: Isn't the irony, commissioner, that if that's how we're going to expand the definition of those being reported, they are just not going to go. They are not going to the doctor and, hence, we're driving more of those people under the ground and making them harder to track?</s>KELLY: Yes. I think, in general, what the president did with the executive orders yesterday was to require first federal agencies to put more information into the database. There's a lot of information in the federal government that's not available. The NIBC, National Instant Background Check. Also to require other agencies, state agencies to put information, but I think is a good think. But your concern about privacy is a real one.</s>BANFIELD: It's very, very complex as to how they are going to get around this while respecting the privacy rights, which is not outlined in the Constitution, however privacy is a big issue for the country. Lastly, there have been a number of people -- I'm not going to say of your ilk, but certainly in law enforcement. Some county sheriffs who have said, we're just not going to follow what the president's laws are. We're not going to enforce them. What do you make of that? How do you react to your counterparts who say that?</s>KELLY: I'm not certain what they're saying. As far as the federal law enforced by federal agencies. I don't know what the sheriffs are talking about. I assume most are going to follow the law.</s>BANFIELD: How about confiscation of weapons of those who have perhaps have made threats to psychiatrists and they report those reports to local law enforcement, and the action is they have to confiscate those weapons. What if the sheriff says, no, that's a Second Amendment infraction, not going to do it?</s>KELLY: That's way down the road here. We've got to get a piece of legislation that works and see what Congress does with it. I don't know if we can predict what the reaction will be.</s>BANFIELD: You have a lot to read I think still.</s>KELLY: That's right.</s>BANFIELD: We are all just sorting through this as we all begin to learn more what these executive actions and congressional measures will contain. Thank you, Commissioner Kelly. It's good to see you.</s>KELLY: Thank you.</s>BANFIELD: And Commissioner Kelly has been working hand in hand with the mayor, Michael Bloomberg, of New York City. We're happy to report that Mayor Bloomberg will join Anderson Cooper tonight on "A.C. 360." That starts at 8:00 p.m. sharp right here on CNN. We're back after this.