Charlie Kirk

Floor Speech

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Ms. PETTERSEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today following the horrific events of last week in my community and the rise of political violence nationally.

Last week I was sitting in my office in a meeting when the phone lit up. Charlie Kirk had been shot at an event in Utah. Seconds later, my phone lit up again. There was an active shooter at Evergreen High School, which is not far away from my house.

Our schools are supposed to be our safest places, and, unfortunately, that is far from a reality in the United States. What happened in Evergreen High School is every parent's worst nightmare. I felt shocked and horrified as I waited minute by minute not knowing how many lives might be taken.

I couldn't help but think: What if that had been my kids' school?

My heart breaks for the two students who continue to fight for their lives in the hospital, the parents who are at their bedside not knowing if they will ever come home again, and for the kids and the educators who will carry this trauma forever.

Throughout the day, as I went back and forth thinking about the two tragedies, the one in Evergreen and the assassination of Charlie Kirk, I couldn't stop thinking about his two kids who will have to grow up not having their dad and his wife, Erika, who lost her husband and partner.

Charlie Kirk was exercising one of the most foundational pieces of our democracy: engaging in free speech and debating his political views in a public space without being threatened or silenced, and he was targeted because of this.

Before this assassination, in April, Governor Josh Shapiro's house was set on fire, endangering his entire family. Just 2 months after that, two Democratic lawmakers, Melissa Hortman and John Hoffman, were gunned down in their homes. Tragically, Melissa died alongside her husband, Mark.

Nobody should be killed for their views. This is not how we settle our differences. I can't help but feel that we have lost our way as a country.

The radicalization and easy access to firearms has been a lethal combination that doesn't just impact one party, one State, or one community. This impacts all of us, and any one of us and our families or someone we love could be affected.

Donald Trump doesn't take this moment to unite us as a country. Instead, he has chosen to fan the flames. He refuses to bring us together to unequivocally denounce all of the political violence that we have faced. Instead, he has weaponized this moment and this tragedy to go after people who disagree with him.

Right now, so many of us are questioning who we are as a country and wondering how we got here. I know that we are so much better than this, and I have to have hope that our country can find its way again. We must build the future that our kids deserve, where we are safe at school, the movie theater, the grocery store, where we can go to a political rally without worrying about getting shot, and where we can disagree with the President and the political party in charge without being targeted.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues, if they continue to reel from the death of Charlie Kirk, the shooting in Evergreen, and the killing of Melissa Hortman and her husband, are you going to stand by while someone's father, someone's son, and someone simply exercising their right as an American continue to get gunned down while our kids get shot in classrooms?

We face a choice at this moment, and I personally ask you to join me in actually doing something about it. Let's choose a future where we keep guns out of the hands of people who are a danger to themselves or others, working together on bipartisan solutions that are overwhelmingly supported by both parties and by our voters in our districts.

Let's choose a future where our kids come home safe from school and where we don't continue to lose countless innocent lives.

When is it enough?

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