I mourn for Charlie Kirk’s family.
I didn’t agree with almost anything he said, but he had a right to speak. Just as he had a right to go on a work trip and return safely to his wife and two young children at home in the state we share, Arizona.
Just as Melissa Hortman, the Speaker of the Minnesota State Legislature, deserved to be safe at home with her husband and her dog. Instead they were all three shot dead together one night in June.
Just as President Donald Trump had the right to campaign without fear of being assassinated, as two different people tried to do last summer.
Just as I had the right to meet with my constituents safely on January 8, 2011—the day when instead I, a young congresswoman in a purple district, was nearly assassinated. Eighteen other people were shot and six were killed.
Our stories are unique, but what Charlie Kirk, President Trump, Melissa Hortman and I all have in common is that someone who wanted to kill us had a gun.
We can and should talk about political violence, and its toxic relationship to political rhetoric. We can and must talk about social media’s role in these moments. We all, as individual Americans, need to do a better job considering our words and their impact. But anyone who responds to preventable tragedies like this—tragedies that over time begin to erode the very fabric of our country—by refusing to face the problem of gun violence and crime head-on is missing the point.
What we share, and what puts all of us in danger—from elected leaders to little children, like those shot while praying in church in Minnesota a few weeks ago—is the overwhelming prevalence of guns in this country and the loopholes that make it appallingly easy for dangerous people to access them.
In America, we now have more guns than people. Many states take sensible steps—background checks, extreme risk protection orders, and safe storage laws—all policies that help reduce gun crime and gun deaths. Other states—like Utah, which year after year receives a F grade in the annual Gun Law Scorecard released by my organization, GIFFORDS—do far too little to save lives. Utah has expanded gun access in recent years, and gun deaths have increased along with that, soaring by 45% from 2014 to 2023, according to the CDC.
I was gutted to learn that Charlie Kirk died yesterday in Utah—and it’s also true that in Utah, someone dies from gun violence every 20 hours. Too many families know the pain of having a loved one killed by guns, in that state and across the country.
In fact, mere hours after Kirk’s shooting, at least two students were shot at a high school in Evergreen, Colorado.
Americans of both political parties desperately want this violence to end. Our research suggests that the vast majority of Republican voters want to close loopholes that allow criminals and dangerous people to get their hands on guns. When you ask parents what they want most for their children’s education, they tell us again and again that keeping their kids safe from gun violence is their top priority. The American people are far more united than their representatives in Washington. Our polling shows 88% of Republicans support background checks on all gun sales, 75% support laws to get untraceable ghost guns off the streets, and a surprising 81% support requiring a license to own a gun (just like Americans need licenses to drive cars). Yet somehow Congress refuses to act.
It is physically very hard for me to speak due to my injuries from the bullets that hit me that day in January, and after watching yet another political shooting violently steal someone’s life before our eyes, it’s even harder to find words. So I want to speak plainly to my former colleagues in Congress, both the House and the Senate: Do something. Take action. Pray also if you want, but understand: your job is action. Nobody goes to the polls to elect someone to pray for them. We vote because we trust the people we elect will pass sensible, moderate policies that make our country a better, safer place to live and raise a family.
We may never be able to eliminate all gun violence. But we must realize that all gun violence is preventable. We know what to do to make our country safer for all of us, and our elected representatives can do it immediately. Come to the table, as Republicans and Democrats, to pass solutions to the epidemic of gun violence that’s killing both of us. There’s no shortage of policies with a history of bipartisan support: closing background check loopholes, supporting violence intervention programs, funding law enforcement—including the brave agents at the ATF who catch violent criminals and crack down on the small percentage of gun dealers who break the law—among many others. Above all: prioritize American lives over the donations and profits of gun industry CEOs.
When I was shot, my friend Judge John Roll was killed. He was a Republican. We didn’t always agree, but we still worked together for the good of our state. Also killed was Christina-Taylor Green. She was only nine years old and had just been elected Class President at her elementary school. Their families will never be whole again, just as the Kirk family will never be whole again, and I hold them all in my heart.
I call on my colleagues in Washington to show courage, not cowardice. I call on them to show loyalty to our country and our common values, and to do the single most important thing they can for their constituents: keep them safe.
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