Congress' Handling of America's Gun Violence Epidemic; Record- Setting Dorian Stalls
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Commentator. Good to see you both this morning. So, Congressman, I want to start with you on this because we heard from the president there is, this isn't really going to change anything. I -- we know that the Senate is not due back until a week from today. They'll be back on the 9th. Republicans are certainly not moving without a clear sign of support from the president. So in terms of not changing anything, does this mean that we are stuck where we're at, where there's not even a conversation, let alone any movement on talk of gun control legislation?</s>CHARLIE DENT, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Erica, I'm not convinced that the Senate will not move. I know my senator, Pat Toomey, is engaged in some pretty serious conversations with the White House and others in the Senate. I believe Senator McConnell is going to be under tremendous pressure to move something. The House has passed a universal background check bill. Toomey-Manchin in the Senate is out there. I suspect they're going to put something -- I think they're going to be under pressure to put something on the floor. Whether it passes or not is another matter. Now, of course, you have the president out there who's a wild card. You know, he has very few fixed policy positions and they shift. And I think that's what we're seeing on -- on the universal background check issue. He can't seem to make up his mind if he's for them or not. And, it's true, these universal background checks may not have prevented any of these recent tragedies, but they are good policies. So I think it's not a very good argument to say, oh, they wouldn't have stopped anything. But I think the American people are demanding some action and the president and I think the Senate are going to have to respond. I mean clearly in the polling, the American people want to see something done. And there is broad support -- 93 percent in this last poll from Quinnipiac, which was released on just Thursday, support universal background checks. Ana, as we look at this though, those numbers and the will of the American people don't seem to come into play very often these days.</s>ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, they don't, because so many political officials are being held hostage by the NRA. The power of the NRA over Republicans in particular and this president, we saw that after the El Paso shooting. He talked about tightening up background checks, something that's got huge majority support. And, after a call with the head of the NRA, he changed his mind. Look, you know, I -- I wish I was as optimistic as Charlie is. Maybe I'm suffering from the hurricane blues. But I think that it was a moment of strange honesty when he said nothing's going to change, nothing's going to happen. If nothing happened after 20 little kids were shot and killed in Sandy Hook, if nothing happened after almost 20 teenagers were shot and killed here down the road in Parkland, no, I don't think anything's going to happen now. And I am sick of politicians offering their thoughts and prayers. We didn't send them to Congress to pray. We sent them to Congress to address the national crisis we are facing. And what we have going on with these mass shootings is a national epidemic. So get off your duffs and do your jobs and leave the thoughts and prayers for the rest of us who don't have the power to legislate.</s>HILL: I feel like we need a beat after that, Ana, I -- just -- just to let it sink in. And I think your passion is important and we need to hear it. And there has been much said. As we know, thoughts and prayers are important. And I know that they help people in so many ways through so many different situations. But to your point, they do not change what is happening. At least that's not what I've seen. And yet we know -- I'm sure that many of you have seen this now from -- from Texas State Representative Matt Schaefer, who said, he says no to red flag pre- crime laws, no to universal background checks, no to bans on AR-15s or high-capacity magazines, no to mandatory gun buybacks. What can we do? He goes on to write on FaceBook Saturday, yes to praying for victims, yes to praying for protection, yes to praying that God would transform the hearts of people with evil intent. There's got to be something in between the two there, though, Charlie. I mean, really --</s>NAVARRO: Yes to voting them out. Yes to voting them out.</s>DENT: Yes, that's --</s>NAVARRO: If they're not willing to address a problem like this, vote them out.</s>DENT: Well, I think it's pretty easy. Look, I can't understand why somebody would say something like that. Universal background checks, you know, 90 percent support. They can be done. I'm in a pro -- in a pretty strong Second Amendment state here in Pennsylvania. We have something close to universal background checks and we did this in the 90s with the Republican legislature and a Republican governor. That's -- and it will not infringe Second Amendment rights. A red flag law, everybody agrees we need to do something there. Obviously there's civil libertarian concerns that have to be addressed. But that can be done. We could talk about raising the age to buy firearms to 21 in all cases. That's not a hard thing to do. You know, banning the bump stock, they should do that thing legislatively. I know it's been done administratively. There are all sort of things that they can do that wouldn't infringe on the Second Amendment. There should be a -- maybe a debate about limitations on magazine capacity. I mean let's at least have the conversation. It's absurd to say we can't talk about any of this.</s>HILL: It is so important to have the conversation. And one thing we've been talking about in our conversations this morning is the fact that perhaps hearing from more law enforcement officials and people who are dealing, as we saw on Saturday, law enforcement officials were targeted and shot at. Perhaps hearing more from them could, in fact, move that conversation forward. Listen, before we let you go, Ana, you are right there in Florida. As we know, a proud Floridian as well. And you've been tweeting a lot about Dorian that is headed your way, with a good amount of humor, which is what I always expect from you and love about you. But things are -- things are serious there. So, what is the sense -- just give us a sense, how are people handling it right now, especially if this continues to shift and now it's just sitting out there?</s>NAVARRO: Well, look, I'm in Miami. We're -- we live on the verge of hysteria on a normal day, so you can imagine how we behave when a hurricane is coming. It's been nerve-racking. I think I'm not the only one who's been sitting at home watching the little blip on the screen and eating her way through the hurricane supplies and drinking my way through everything that's not tied down. It's a -- you know it's -- it's -- you're happy that -- as a Miamian, I'm happy that we're out of the cone of silence (ph), but you can't be happening to see what's happening everywhere else and to know the level of anxiety and nervousness that's going on all over Florida, the east coast, and what's happening in the Bahamas, which, you know, it's almost part of Florida where -- they're -- they're not part of the United States, but if you live in Miami, if you live in south Florida, it's somewhere that you go to and that you're so familiar with. And so it's -- you know -- and you realize, you look at the screen, and you realize, but for the grace of God that could have been us. And so it's -- it's just awful.</s>HILL: Well --</s>NAVARRO: It's awful, and I -- I hope people will help the victims and the people affected by this, because it's going to be devastating.</s>HILL: Ana, I'm so glad you said that because it is such a reminder that we are all neighbors in this and we are all so close and that a lot of help will be needed, and we will certainly stay on top of that and let folks know as well how they can help. Thank you both for being with us.</s>NAVARRO: Thank you.</s>HILL: Really appreciate it. And a quick programming note for us here at CNN, join CNN and 10 Democratic presidential candidates for an unprecedented town hall event on the climate crisis. All ten will take the stage on one night to address the critical issue. That's Wednesday right here starting at 5:00 p.m. Eastern. Want to go back now to John Berman as we continue our coverage of Hurricane Dorian. And John is live there in Florida at Jensen Beach.</s>JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, Erica, and you can see the water starting to come up here on the beach. High tide actually isn't for four more hours right now. And you can see the water has been coming up right here. The wind is pushing it, as Chad Myers was telling us, ever so closer, which means the storm surge here, it is beginning even now with the worst of the storm not expected for 24 hours. We're going to check in and get the latest on the forecast with Chad when we come back.