Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s comments condemning finger-pointing and the importance of gun safety legislation are going viral in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s death.
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Speaking with reporters on Wednesday, AOC began, “I think what has just transpired is tremendously disturbing. It is the latest evolution and instance of political violence in the United States, and it must end.”
When asked what message she had for lawmakers amidst the “rhetoric that has been put out in the media,” she replied, “Beyond rhetoric, we need to talk about action.” She emphasized that it’s in lawmakers’ hands to do something against gun violence.
“Every single day, there are people in this building that continue to vote against doing anything,” she said. “They vote against universal background checks. They continue to support legislation and also remove any way to block the mentally ill, to block extremists, to block people with histories and records of domestic violence from getting guns in their hands. So are we going to do something about this or not?”
Pointing to the Colorado school shooting that happened the same day, and a shooting at a Catholic school that happened a week earlier, she asked, “Are we going to do something? Or are we going to argue over rhetoric?”
Kirk’s death quickly stoked controversy on Capitol Hill and across the nation. After a moment of silence was held for Kirk’s death on the floor of the US House of Representatives, a shouting match broke out. Florida Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna could reportedly be heard yelling at Democrats, “Y’all caused this!”
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The same day, in a statement from the Oval Office, Donald Trump furthered the finger-pointing. “For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals,” he said. “This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today.”
And despite not knowing who the suspect was yet or their intentions, conservative voices echoed the sentiment online. Libs of TikTok, a prominent right-wing account, declared “THIS IS WAR,” while Elon Musk called the left “the party of murder.”
In response to the “Democrats caused this” rhetoric, AOC struck back. “People can finger-point all they want. Look at the record. Look at the actions of what we are doing,” she said in a clip that is now going viral across social media. “I don’t think a single person who has dedicated their entire career to preventing gun safety legislation from getting passed in this house has any right to blame anybody else but themselves for what is happening.”
“When a politician tries to blame words for inaction, they need to look at their action and their record,” she said in the same clip.
“Enough of this. This is horrific. This is awful. And the assassination of Charlie Kirk risks in uncorking of political chaos and violence that we cannot risk in America,” she ended.
Across social media, many are applauding AOC’s take.
Democrats reinforced her point. “Our entire party has been screaming and begging for gun control for decades but yet we are now suddenly to blame for his death. Puhlease,” one wrote.
“The people constantly begging for gun control are not the ones responsible for gun violence, it feels insane I have to say that,” another said.
Still, some conservatives argued, “It’s not about the guns.” “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people!” one wrote.
What’s your take? Let us know in the comments.
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