Following the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk on Wednesday in Utah, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are condemning the troubling rise of political violence in the U.S. That includes Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, husband of former Rep. Gabby Giffords, who was almost assassinated nearly 15 years ago in a politically motivated shooting.
In that attack in 2011, six people were killed and 13 others injured, including Giffords, after a gunman opened fire at an event hosted by the congresswoman in Tucson, Arizona. Giffords was shot in the head and suffered a brain injury.
Just hours after Kirk’s shooting, Kelly sat down with Jen Psaki and called his killing “horrifying.” The Arizona senator said that although the U.S. has experienced political violence “many times in our country’s history,” it appears that the frequency of such events has increased. “It feels like more lately,” Kelly said.
In June, Democratic Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband were killed in a politically motivated shooting. Democratic Govs. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan have also been targeted. And in the lead-up to the presidential election, Donald Trump was the target of two assassination attempts.
The Arizona Democrat said that when he heard news of Kirk’s death, he “immediately thought of Charlie’s wife,” Erika. The senator reflected on the phone call he received about the shooting of his wife, and how Kirk’s wife may have felt hearing the tragic news. “It’s just a horrific thing to hear somebody say,” Kelly said. “In the case of Gabby, she survived. You know, Charlie did not.”
“I think about his parents and his children,” the senator continued. The children, 3 and 1, “are going to grow up now without a dad, and it is just a horrible, horrible thing,” he said.
“This type of political violence in our country is just too common, and it has to end,” Kelly added. In the wake of Wednesday’s shooting, Kelly said, those in positions of power and influence must consider “how much weight” their words carry and make a decision: “Is this the trajectory we want the country to stay on, or [do] we want to get off of it?” Kelly said he believed it was “within our power” to dial down the rhetoric and get the “country to a better place.” You can watch Psaki’s full interview with Kelly in the clip at the top of the page.
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW.
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