Roundtable: San Diego's Response To Orlando Shooting

San Diegans react that shock and sadness to the Orlando massacre. There are very different reactions from President Obama and presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. I'm Mark Sauer, the KPBS Roundtable starts now. Welcome to our discussion, the week's top stories. I'm Mark Sauer, joining me at The Roundtable A Hall opinion, director of the San Diego you did Tribune, Thom Senzee and Chris Jennewein. Reverberations continue from the deadliest mass shooting in American history. Early Sunday morning and again on the club -- gay nightclub left 50 dead and more than 50 injured. More questions arise. How many were in the nightclub, Chris? It began at 2 AM, there were more than 300 people in the nightclub. It was a Latin night at the nightclub, Omar Mateen entered with the pistol and an assault rifle. He was confronted by a uniformed police officer, who was working the club, a gun battle began, the police officer was outgunned. He left and called for reinforcements. Very quickly, the Orlando police SWAT teams arrived, and then it became a hostage situation. Police were pulling people out of the club. The shooter went into a bathroom with several hostages. Then there was, almost 3 hours of negotiation, during which time in an eerie development, he actually texted and photo -- -- posted on Facebook. Then he said he would attach explosives to the hostages. That didn't hot -- happen. At that point, the sweat -- SWAT team fired stun guns crashed walls and stormed the nightclub. Then they shot and killed them. You said three hours, national debate has been an enormous about this. A key question is, if this killer was acting on a radical religious belief or hatred of gays or just his own unique madness. Will we ever get the answer? That's a good question. This is unlike any other shooting. The nuance emanates so much from the shooter, it's a violent nuance, there are so many dynamics at play. There are questions about his struggle with sexuality, he may have been gay or bisexual himself. That's not clear yet, his ex-wife told a network reporter that she always wondered and she wasn't surprised to hear that that was a possibility. Of course, someone who calls 911 in the middle of a massacre to say, I forgot this is for ISIS, and in the same breath pledges is a leases -- Allegis to Hezbollah, it's a grab bag. It's a thing of convenience or last-minute idea. The picture is emerging of a very troubled individual, he was born in York to Afghan immigrants, but raised in Florida. Many troubles in school. At one point he was suspended. 48 days, for fights and bullying. He said he wanted to be a law enforcement officer, but failed at that. He was employed by a private security firm and had been a prison guard. He failed per minute training to become a prison guard. He may have taken the flag of -- flag about basis to justify his intentions. The Islamic State welcome Tim to the cause. When you have the shootings, unless there is a note, what you are left with this speculation. What you see on the presidential field, both the day it happened, and then larger speeches and longer speeches on Monday. Was how the two presumptive nominees described him. Trump, six, singly called them in Islamic terrorists. Hillary Clinton, used many more words, talking about how we had a troubled past, highly targeted the gay community, what was the main factor, was he acting as an Islamic terrorist, was he acting as a radical, was he acting out of hatred for the LGBTQ community? Both of those stats have become part of the conversation. We will get to that in detail. Tom, nationally in Orlando, the reaction. It's been a unifying force. Our community has a history of having to come together on it -- a second's notice. We do that, fairly well. What's been most encouraging, is that there have been so many people who have suddenly found themselves in alliance with their fellow Americans, who are LGBT. That has been an interesting aspect. What about in San Diego, hate crimes, attacks, nothing on the scale, but the police keep records and have had a unit directed specifically to these crimes. We've had a progressive Police Department here, in terms of its support for the LGBT community. That has to do with the local activist community, Nicole Murray Ramirez has been a leader in the community. I spoke to a transgender officer who's a liaison officer, who is going to provide uniformed police officers with the panel engagement. We've got a Navy seal, former Navy seal who is an author and transgender activist Kristin back who is going to be there. Our Police Department has been on the cutting edge. Some of the numbers, locally, there were 13 referrals of hate crimes to Bonnie Dumanis office. 12 of those resulted in cases being filed and 12 of those were resulting in convictions. In 2014, the number of hate crime State Line -- statewide did decrease to 12%. In line with that, I wanted to get to a couple of soundbites. Support from local efficient nurse -- here's Mayor for -- Faulconer. All of us felt sadness. When we heard the news, early this morning, we stand together all of us with Orlando. Here in San Diego, we see so many people come out tonight to abandon solidarity. San Diego does not support hate. San Diego does not support bigotry. San Diego does not support terror and will fight it every single day and every single night. Before we get to Todd Gloria, is that with the mayor needs to say? Yes. The Mayor's response was speedy and appropriate. Monday morning, he gathered three dozen local community leaders and members of the business community, members of LGBTQ and police officers to talk about police presence and how it would be beefed up both on foot patrols and car patrols, by patrols in Hillcrest and there would be better security at nightclubs, that's a big question. If we are going to a similar location, what's the risk for me. The mayor struck the right tone, he said we are all in this together. Councilman Gloria said the same thing. His point that resonates, if we stay home, the bad guys win. Let's hear what Todd Gloria and opened a consummate has to say. I asked of you, let's fight together to make sure that there is not another Orlando, that there's not another Sandy hook, that there's not another Aurora, this happens too much. We should find a way to stop it., Right? Almost a call to arms there, bringing everyone together. A call to arms, I think we all know that he actually said something more explicit later, he's talking about lunch control -- gun control. This was a minor watershed moment. Before we leave this segment, NPR had a story talking about [ NULL ] Muslims, what they're saying after the shooting themselves in an interesting position there, have you read or talk to folks about that? I want to give you license to say clear comfortably. That is an acceptable way to describe people whose orientation is different than what we think. What do these people have to say? I heard today on KPBS and NPR, the correct way, according to assumed progressive is to look at the fact that Islam is supposed to support people who are oppressed and leave the sin to be board -- leave it to God. He's saying there's a natural necklace between Islam and the LGBT. I heard a quote from the shooter's father. That said the same thing. We are going to move to another aspect. Some in the LGBT community lamented that the national discussion rapidly morphed into a talking point for the presidential candidates. They spoke about the tragedy very differently. Here's Hillary. Where does this stop? The Orlando killer, one of the center -- San Bernardino killers, the Fort Hood killer, they were all US citizens. Are we going to start treating all Muslim Americans differently? I we going to start subjecting them to special surveillance? Are we going to start discriminating against them because of their faith? Obviously, that was President Obama. I think we do have Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump let's see if we can get that. On Sunday Americans woke up to a nightmare that's become mind numbingly familiar. Another act of terrorism, and a place no one expected. A madman filled with hate, with guns in his hands and just a horrible sense of vengeance and vindictiveness in his heart. Apparently, consumed by rage against LGBT Americans., By extension, the openness and diversity that defines our American way of life. That was Hillary Clinton. Will get to Donald Trump in a moment. Matt, there were a lot of differences in the way these candidates approached us, Trump was widely criticized for congratulating himself in a tweet that he predicted this. The response on Twitter, was quite strikingly different. Hillary street, that first day, woke up to hear the devastating news, she also sent that out in Spanish. Donald Trump sent out a handful of tweets, saying really bad shooting, horrific incident and then appreciate the congrats for being right on radical terrorism. I want toughness and vigilance. They are both trying to project strength and solidarity, where their differences occur is on their approach to immigrants and on guns. Reporter: Made a point that he is a strong supporter of the Second Amendment, he also said he was going to meet with the NRA to talk about suspected terrorist and the ability to get guns. Clinton said, she kind of talked about trumps wall, how he wants to keep immigrants out and if you are an immigrant from a country that condones or suspect did condone terrorism. You should not come into the country. Hillary Clinton tried to use write a more inclusive tone. This, it seems that these are quite different responses. I saw some Republicans criticize Donald Trump., Saying, he felt the desk test, when the city -- when the president sits of the desk. What do they have to say. There was extensive criticism within his own party, that Trump wasn't showing the sensitivity to the families and to the horror of the situation. What was really simply using the health political gain, it was all about. I was right, you need to vote for me, not how can we prevent this. He didn't immediately say it's an Islamic terrorism. He mentioned a bad -- ban on Muslims coming in. We have found, this was a troubled person, with a history of violence, who appears to have taken the ISIS flag, at the last moment, as a way to justify his actions. I think what happened was, you saw Republicans focusing on is this terrorism that we can fight or the Democrats focused on is this something we can control. Is it gun control, is it better surveillance that is the answer? We did talk about that bite from Donald Trump. If we don't get tough, if we don't get smart and fast, we are not going to have our country anymore. There will be nothing, absolutely nothing left. One point I want to make, Trump and other folks on the Republican side, NRA supporters, say what you need a good guys with guns at an event like this. People in the community need to report that they know in somebody's been radicalized. You said we had an armed security who engaged. Todd Gloria Monday night criticized the FBI, this person was known, the FBI had investigated him several times. It may turn out that we have a failure, or a lack of diligence in following up on someone who respected. It turns out that he went to a gun store, two weeks before the massacre with his wife, that was not rape ported. A gun seller was disturbed by the guys presidents -- presence and reported them. He shot him down. That's encouraging. I think the take away, this is hard. Democracy and freedom are hard. It's not easy, it's a battle between security and freedom. The FBI twice investigated him, they cleared him. Imagine, take that to other comparisons, if you're accused of a crime and you get cleared, should that get -- hangover you? Terrorism is a different discussion. What makes this issue right for gun legislation, is that we have so many complications here, it's an attack on the gay community in the name of the Islamic State, at a time when guns are a major issue. It was only in 2012 after Sandy hook and the death of 20 first-graders and six adult staff members. The conversation now is, if we couldn't have changes to how we manage guns then, how do we expect to have it now. One big difference is that, this was an attack on the gay community and if you look back at 2012, the president of this country didn't even support same-sex marriage. Think about how quickly that has changed. In 2013, very sue sport -- use few state-supported it. There is strong advocate and members of the gay community who will lobby for this. This week, the American medical Association are pushing for a public health crisis. Chris, is gun legislation ever going to happen in Congress? We had filibusters, we had the speaker of the house shouted down by Democrats. The Sacramento legislators acted swiftly. Are we going to see it? The number of promising developments happen this week. There will be a vote in Senate on Monday on four different bills, two from the Republicans into from Democrats, amendments to another bill in the Senate. This would be focused on gun control, it's possible, the man behind the filibuster, Chuck Murphy of Connecticut, thinks there's a chance of 60 votes on some piece of legislation on Monday. Among the things that are considered, prohibiting people on the no-fly list from buying guns. Right now, you might be on the no-fly list, a potential terrorist and a danger, but you can buy a gun. The argument is the no-fly list may contain the names of innocent people and to prevent them from buying a gun is a -- is seen by the NRA and the gun lobbyists as tragedy. That could get overturned, Trump is behind that. This is one area where he differs with the GOP leadership. Let's talk about the state, there were some high points and legislation that was quickly passed by committee here. There were a lot of it bills that got approval at a committee level in Sacramento, about eliminating regulating the cell of -- sale of guns, outline ammunition Megan nation -- rounds. When the shooter has to reload, you have time, according to some. We have an editorial running in Sunday's newspaper, the tenor of this conversation has to change. People are vicious, calling NRA lobbyists crazy vicious and heartless., Saying they were murdered because of the organization. The way to have this discussion, is simply. People on both sides need to realize we're going to protect the Second Amendment, we are not taking guns. That's what the conversation has to be. There need to be changes that will make this a safer place. The way to do that is civilly. I used to say that my favorite amendment is the First Amendment. As a journalist that's not surprising. I used to believe, and I still do, if I want my favorite amendment to be respected. I have to respect the other amendments. Here's the thing, to Matt's point, doctors talking about it as a public health crisis. Did you know that in Florida, there's a law that a doctor cannot speak to a patient, not even a child about gun safety. There's a long -- a law in Florida. That leads me to the Centers for Disease Control has been banned from studying gun issues. There's an analogy with cigarettes back in the 60s. The NRA and the gun lobby is concerned about what happened in the 1960s, when the Surgeon General said, smoking is harmful to your health, there's research that shows that it leads to cancers. That began a long-term decline in smoking, the NRA and the gun lobbyists say if the government says there's a clear, public health danger in the way that we now allow guns to be sold and used, that could be the beginning of even more, restrictions. We do have one more bite from Andrew Bowen from KBS interviewing Michael Schwartz. San Diego County gun owners support the rights of the same, trained law-abiding gun owner. If somebody has can -- committed a violent crime and is now a felon, they are unable to buy a firearm. That's a convicted violent fallen, that's not our membership, that's not the people we represent. A lot of gun owners have been concerned about this. A lot of talk about this weapon. And assault type weapon. They were banned for time, that's been gone for decades. Will that band come back. What do people need to walk around the streets of America with assaults rifles? The NRA will time on its website that the AR-15 , which is in -- a type of assault weapon is the most popular rifle sold in the United States. They say that people need, there are legitimate reasons to have an assault rifle, protection, it's often used in training and competitions. It's used in hunting, when you really look at this. There's probably a business concern. Because it's the most popular rifle, the AR-15 and other assault rifles represent big Ms. this -- big business for gun shop owners. It's been a great discussion, I appreciate it, this is a nexus of a lot of aspects. I'm sure we will see a lot more on this tragedy and this discussion as the election year progresses. That does wrap up another week of stories at the KPBS Roundtable. I would like to think my guests. A reminder, all the stories we discussed today are on our website KPBS.org. We close with the San Diego Gay men's progress -- chorus performing.