CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. David Cicilline

Interview

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With me now is Rhode Island Democratic Congressman David Cicilline. He is Vice Chair of the House Gun Violence Prevention Taskforce. Thanks so much for joining me.

REP. DAVID CICILLINE (D-RI): My pleasure.

BROWN: You were in the Rose Garden with President Biden less than two weeks ago as he rolled out his first Executive Actions on reducing gun violence.

But I want to show you what the F.B.I. is saying about the suspect in the FedEx killings.

His mom called for help over a year ago worried he tried to die by suicide by cop. He was put on a temporary mental health hold. His shotgun was seized. The F.B.I. checked on him the following month, didn't find signs of violent extremism or any crime and authorities kept his shotgun.

How does all of that happen and the man still manages to walk in and kill eight people with a gun?

[18:10:05]

CICILLINE: It's a great question. I mean, we have to obviously learn about how he got this gun, but the red flag law that you are referencing is one of the things that President Biden signed an Executive Order for the Department of Justice to promulgate and share with state's model red flag legislation to be sure, we keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn't have them.

But as you described in the lead up to speaking to me, we have a gun violence epidemic in this country. Three hundred and sixteen people will be shot every single day, 106 people die at the hands of a gun.

It's a public health crisis. It's an epidemic. It's a level of gun violence that doesn't exist in any other developed country.

And there are things we can do about it. The House has already passed two important bills, universal background checks, and closing the Charleston loophole to make sure that gun sellers have time to do background checks.

But there's a lot more we can do like pass the assault weapons ban, and a number of bills to prevent high-capacity magazines. But you know, the Senate should move quickly on the two bills that are there. But we have a lot of work to do to reduce gun violence in this country.

BROWN: Let's talk about the Senate, because we know, as you mentioned, those two House bills, they are stalled over in the Senate.

Your Democratic colleague, Chris Murphy says he remains optimistic about a path forward, but Republican Pat Toomey, who has co-sponsored legislation in the past tell CNN, it's hard to say if they're making progress, and Senator Manchin, the Democratic swing vote on so many things now will only say he plans to get together and talk on some things with Toomey.

When are the American people going to see both parties sit down and say, here's one thing we can agree on and let's vote on that right now. You've done it in the House in a bipartisan fashion. Why is it not happening in the Senate?

CICILLINE: Well, it is a really important question. Look, the bill that we passed universal background checks, is supported by over 95 percent of the American people, including the majority of Democrats, Republicans and Independents, and the majority of responsible gun owners. So there's no controversy about this.

We know background checks work. Three and a half million gun sales have been denied since background checks became the law, which meant that people who shouldn't have a gun who were not legally entitled to possess one we're stopped, so we know that they work.

The problem is about 20 percent of gun sales happen without background checks. This will close that loophole. It's bipartisan. It is supported by, as I said, 95 percent of the American people.

The only place that seems to be controversial is in the Republican cloakroom in Washington, and I think the Republican Party is going to continue to hear demands from the people of this country that they enact commonsense gun proposals.

Two of them are already in the Senate. We pass them quickly. They're supported by the American people. And I'm sorry --

BROWN: But even -- go ahead. I just want to point out, though, I mean, even Senator Manchin didn't hop right on board, right? He has his own concerns about private gun sales and so forth.

I'm just wondering, we know things are so volatile and bad in Washington among politicians, among lawmakers. Do you think the Democrats should be doing more? Is there anything more they can be doing to reach across the aisle and try to talk with Republicans, get more Republicans on board, try to come up with more commonsense gun legislation?

CICILLINE: Well, I mean, the bill came out of the House with a bipartisan vote, a strong bipartisan vote. So there is Republican support in the House.

But again, this is one in which the American people have made it clear that they expect Congress to act on this. It's wildly popular.

And so of course, we're going to continue to try to work with Republicans, but they have a responsibility to respond to the demands of their constituents, that they can live lives free from gun violence.

And so there's a lot more we can do and we are going to send more bills to the Senate that will help to reduce gun violence in this country. But they haven't even acted on these two proposals, because of the power of the gun lobby, and I think that's what it is, plain and simple.

The Republican Party is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the NRA, and even though they're in a weakened position, but I think, you know, the American people just have to keep the pressure on the Republicans in the Senate and demand that they pass the two bills out of there.

BROWN: To be clear, I mean, Democrats, you know, have also -- more moderate Democrats have also had NRA support, and you're seeing a lot of Democrats, I mean, most, right, I mean, all in the House, you have the Senate now get behind this legislation.

If Republicans are going to stand by what they consider to be a Second Amendment fight after 45 shootings in a month's time, do Democrats need to use whatever time they have before the midterms? Forget hopes of bipartisanship and simply vote their conscience, no matter the political risk. What do you think?

CICILLINE: Well, I think that's what we're doing, and I think you'll see continuously more of that and we are going to continue to pass bills in the House that will respond to this epidemic of gun violence in this country and the senators are going to be responsible for either action or inaction on these bills.

[18:15:12]

CICILLINE: But look, you look at the numbers. This is a staggering public health crisis. We have an epidemic of gun violence in this country, and although we can't stop every shooting, we can pass legislation which taken together can significantly reduce gun violence in this country. That's our responsibility.

And, you know, we will work with any Republicans that are interested in working on this issue. But this notion of you can't pass any gun bills, because of the Second Amendment is simply not true. The Supreme Court has already said you can impose reasonable restrictions on the use of firearms. You can't own a machine gun. You can prevent assault weapons.

So this idea of, you know, you can't constitutionally restrict or impose any regulations on guns, it is just not true, and we have a responsibility to do it.

So you can safely go to church and a synagogue and a shopping mall and a FedEx center without being worried about being gunned down.

BROWN: That would be nice, right? Congressman David Cicilline, thank you very much for coming on the show, sharing your perspective. We appreciate it.

CICILLINE: My pleasure.

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