CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Madeleine Dean

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

With me tonight, Democratic Congressman Madeline Dean of Pennsylvania. She is the deputy whip on the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force.

Thank you so much for coming on to talk about this.

There is so much to discuss. I want to talk about the larger picture of guns in just a moment. But first, I'm sure you have been following these deadly police shootings around the country, in some cases police bodycam video comes out quickly. But as we see in places like North Carolina, there is a law blocking the public from seeing it without a court order.

Should the public see what happens sooner than later no matter what we have there is a question about the police response?

REP. MADELEINE DEAN (D-PA): Always, every single time. Transparency and accountability are of the utmost importance for confidence in the community and justice to be had. So, absolutely, the delay in showing the footage is very puzzling and, of course, troubling to me. But imagine how troubling it is to the family and to the community.

BROWN: So as we know, Senators Booker and Scott, the Democrat and Republican, they're trying to get talks moving on police reform in Congress. How do you accomplish legislation that properly balances the civil rights of all Americans with the safety of police officers who behave professionally?

DEAN: What Congress has to do and really what I mean by that is the Senate has to do is to take up what we pass, the George Floyd Justice In Policing Act.

And I know the Senate is working on it. And I know that Karen Bass, Representative Karen Bass, who's the author of this extraordinary bill, is working with the Senate in order to try to get this passed. It is a combination of bills that will do so many smart things. But the country has been hungering for, for so long.

Imagine, we have not yet made lynching a federal crime. The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act would make lynching a federal crime. It would ban chokeholds. It would ban the no-knock warrant. It would keep a database, a required database of bad actors among police, so that that a police officer couldn't jump one jurisdiction one state to another without telling anybody what had happened in his or her past.

There is so much within the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. I am a member of the Judiciary Committee. And so we passed it last time. George Floyd's brother was there with us and so gracefully and elegantly talked with us and hoped one day we will make progress to reform policing in America, to deal with systemic racism, and to deal with just reforming -- transforming policing.

Think of Daunte Wright, pulled over for we're not sure whether it was registration or an air freshener hanging and he winds up dead, a 20- year-old father, dead. We have to rethink what we're doing about policing in America.

BROWN: Yeah, and in that case, we know the officer said she meant to reach for her Taser. She reached for her gun instead.

One of the big sticking points in the negotiations over the legislation that you were talking about is the issue of qualified immunity. Senator Scott is suggesting a compromise, allowing litigation against the police departments rather than individual officers who are shielded unless there is a proven pattern of unconstitutional misconduct.

Would you be open to that kind of deal if it could get passed if that means it could pass in the Senate?

DEAN: To be very honest, I'm not in the mood to negotiate against the very good legislation we sent over. I do trust that the negotiations of Representative Karen Bass.

[20:05:04]

What we want to make sure is that police officers and the departments are not shielded from wrongful acts. You know that qualified immunity requires a very high standard, showing willfulness of behavior. So I -- I will do the negotiating on that.

Let's talk too about the greater issue, important are, of course, police shootings and the deaths too often of people of color who are in the presence of police officers. But the larger issue, the reason I'm wearing this orange jacket tonight, is that I have cared about the issue of gun violence my entire adult life. Each year, more than 40,000 people die of gun violence in this country. More than half that number is gun violence suicide. We need to talk about that.

Homicides, of course, are very high. In the pandemic, the numbers are worse. In my area of suburban Philadelphia, Philadelphia has suffered a tremendous number of gun violence.

In preparation, Pamela, for being with you tonight I thought I'll do my homework, take a look at the terrible number of mass shootings in this country, which is a shooting episode where four or more people are shot. Here is what happened. I want to show you this.

I was printing the listing off for three months. And I stopped the printer I thought there must be a mistake. There was no mistake. In this country, in addition to individual homicides, accidental deaths, suicides which are so grievous, we've had more than 130 mass shootings in the first quarter of this year. We have to do something about it.

BROWN: That is certainly a lot. And we have covered this issue extensively on this show. As you well know, often there is a mass shooting a lot of media attention, a lot of talk and then it goes away.

And I think it's important to keep the discussion going, because clearly gun violence is not going away in this country. Just last month, you reintroduced your bill banning firearms that can slip by airport metal detectors like those made of plastic.

Right now, in the Senate, there aren't enough votes to get background checks passed. Right now, Punchbowl News says there's a lot of attention being given to red flag laws to keep guns away from the mentally I feel.

What does your party need to do better to make Republicans more open to compromise?

DEAN: Well, I do want to thank you for covering this. We have to cover it until we stop it. This is a moral issue in this country. This is a public health crisis when we have more than 100,000 people every year killed or wounded.

I call it a jetliner a day, souls that either die or are injured as a result of gun violence. And that doesn't even begin to touch the hundreds of thousands who are traumatized.

I'm proud of the president, President Biden, for his executive orders. But we know they are limited. He is dealing with ghost guns. I -- my first bill I introduced as a member of Congress back in 2019 was to update the Undetectable Firearms Act. We have to do so much more.

To your question, you remember we passed both HR-8 and closing the Charleston loophole last Congress and this Congress. What do we have to do? We have to get the Senate to take it up. I guess what seems to be blocking us is the filibuster. We need to have a majority of senators recognize this public health crisis.

And so, what I hope is that senators like senator -- my own Senator Toomey, you recall that he and Senator Manchin back after Sandy Hook tried to pass background checks. I hope that every single senator will say, this is up to every single one of us. We have to stop the slaughter in this country. And the way to do it is through policies that will change it.

BROWN: And you say it's the filibuster blocking it. But beyond that, it's Republicans that that are blocking that legislation. The Biden administration has rolled out its gun control plan.

Do you think it goes far enough?

DEAN: Oh, I think we have so much work to do. As I said, when you have more than 100,000 people a year dying, dying or wounded from gun violence, of course, we have to do more about it. But the very first step is background checks.

You know, there is a group called 97 Percent. And it is an approach to say that 97 percent of Americans believe that background checks are important for the transfer of any gun, for the sale or transfer of any gun. And that is gun owners and NRA members and non-gun owners.

And so, we have to actually listen to public sentiment. We want to make sure that our children are safe. I have children -- more importantly, I have grandchildren. I can't

imagine I have to worry about them as my granddaughter is in school and my other young grandchildren will get into school, or if they would be at church, a theater, a park, or if any of us is at a supermarket.

[20:10:12]

Imagine any of one of us is at risk.

So, Republican senators, Democratic senators have to step up and say, I'm here to save lives.

BROWN: All right. Thank you so much, Congresswoman Dean. We appreciate you coming on the show and sharing your views and perspective on this.

DEAN: Thank you for covering this.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source