CNN "The Lead with Jake Tapper" - Transcript: Interview With New York Congressman Tom Suozzi and New York Congressman Peter King

Interview

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TAPPER: We're back with our politics lead and dwindling hope that congressional leaders will take any action to try to prevent the next mass shooting.

Two congressmen from New York, Democrat Tom Suozzi and Republican Peter King, both from Long Island, say they have a bipartisan plan to change that.

They join me now.

Thanks so much for joining us.

Congressman King, let me start with you because your party controls everything. So Republican leaders in the Senate have indicated there's no appetite for the Manchin-Toomey background check bill, expanding background checks to online sales and gun shows.

[16:40:03]

Is your plan -- your plan is also for background checks. Is it different?

REP. PETER KING (R), NEW YORK: No, mine actually includes that.

In fact, it as the King-Thompson bill. Now it's Thompson-King bill. It is identical to Manchin-Toomey. But in addition to -- that's the background check bill, basically, which also includes gun shows.

It expands it to Internet sales. But then also the terrorist watch list bill. We have the assault weapon ban. And then Tom is very interested in the whole thing, the bill involving red flags.

So, basically, that's it. This isn't rocket science. We put together the four most basic proposals that probably 80 percent of Americans agree on.

TAPPER: But would it even come up for a vote in the House?

REP. TOM SUOZZI (D), NEW YORK: That's really up to Speaker Ryan.

And we have to see if we can put pressure or, really, more importantly, something that I feel is very different right now is the young people that are trying to bring pressure all over the country. If they can keep it up, maybe they will put the pressure on.

As Peter pointed out, over 80 percent of Americans support every single one of these initiatives. But this is what the public wants. They want Republicans and Democrats to work together to actually solve something. And this is an issue that it's very clear on.

TAPPER: What a crazy concept you have just brought up.

Yesterday, Senator Joe Manchin, who also like you guys tries to be bipartisan, he told me they're only one way Congress will move on any gun legislation, and that is if President Trump gets specific and gets behind it.

Take a listen.

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TAPPER: Do you agree? Does President Trump need to do this?

(CROSSTALK)

KING: And Joe Manchin, by the way, he's a great guy. I have great respect for Joe Manchin.

Yes, he does. The president, he has moved the ball. He has definitely shaken things up, but he has got to follow through. And whether he goes all the way or not, he has got to move the ball downfield somewhere, because, otherwise, we're going to be doing the same thing a year from now.

And there will be more kids killed in the meantime. By the way, on the idea of the kids, I give Tom credit for it. Both of us are doing it, but it was really -- it was his idea to start. All the high school kids are having a massive rally Long Island on March 24.

SUOZZI: So we're having -- Peter and I Gates both be involved in a rally, Democrats and Republicans. We want all the kids from Long Island to come to I and send a very clear message from our part of the country that we're all on board with basic things like the basically, like the assault weapons ban, like the red flags, going after folks with mental health issues and trying to take their guns away from them.

We have to work together on this thing.

TAPPER: The most controversial item of the four that you just mentioned is probably the so-called assault weapons ban, banning some forms of semiautomatic weapons.

And I don't sense that there's the support for that provision in the House or the Senate to even get a vote on it. Would you be willing to drop that component to get the other three?

SUOZZI: We're going to do whatever we can to get something done.

The bottom line is, that is very hard to get that brought up by a Republican Congress. But it is what the people want. I first became the mayor of my hometown 25 years ago. Peter first became a congressman 25 years ago.

That's when the Long Island Railroad massacre was, when Carolyn McCarthy's husband was killed. We have been talking about this stuff for such a long time. We had some laws that expired. We have got to get back to just recognizing that there are some basic things that we need to work get together. Everybody is afraid of the NRA.

TAPPER: Is that what it is? Is that the problem? That people are afraid of the NRA?

KING: They are. And, again, part of the problem too is that they're afraid of primaries. And the primary, you get a small turnout. And the hard core is always going to turn out. The NRA has a mailing list. It is not so much the money, to be honest with you. There's a lot of big contributors around.

TAPPER: It's the votes more than it is the money.

KING: It's the vote.

But also, again, my district went for Barack Obama twice by four points and five points. Donald Trump carried it by nine. When I'm out in the district, a diner, bowling alleys, people do support these measures. This is a district that went for Donald Trump.

And, again, basically what you call the old ethnic Democrats, or blue- collar Democrats and Republicans. And they want this bill. This is not considered radical. Maybe it's our part of the country, and I realize that different states have different cultures.

But we're not asking to take away anyone's gun who is not a criminal and doesn't have a mental history.

SUOZZI: And this is a little off topic, but it's kind of on the topic.

The big problem in our country is that so few people vote in these primaries; 10 percent of the voting public votes in the primary. And for Republicans, it's the far right, for the Democrats, it's the far left.

As a result, if you're afraid of a primary, and that's the only way a lot of these elected officials can lose because they're in safe seats, the Republicans are pulled to the right. The Democrats pulled to the left. And nobody does anything in the middle.

Gerrymandering of safe seats, then participation in primaries is what is pulling everybody apart from each other. It's not that everybody is a bum and nobody is anything good. It's that there's a systemic problem related to gerrymandering these safe seats and these primaries with very little participation.

TAPPER: Without taking position on the legislation, I know that there are a lot of people out there who want Democrats and Republicans to work together and accomplish something.

KING: The actual details are not essential. If we can move this ball down and get any or all of this through, it's going to save some lives.

TAPPER: All right. Thank you, Congressmen. Appreciate it, both of you.

KING: Thanks, Jake.

SUOZZI: Thank you.

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