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  • 7 months ago
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) spoke about the shooting death of Charlie Kirk.
Transcript
00:00Living in a time of extraordinary and growing political violence in the United States.
00:07I mean, you were on the steps here on January 6th when a mob attacked this Capitol.
00:16Just a couple of months ago, a Democratic lawmaker was assassinated in her own home.
00:21Yesterday, Charlie Kirk, assassinated in broad daylight in front of thousands of people.
00:28It really, at this point, is not about the political stride.
00:35This is about the emergence and uncorking of violence that we're talking about.
00:40And it has absolutely gotten to a point that is where we need to really look towards our leaders to lower the temperature.
00:51And also lead by, I believe, in my view, ensuring that we have gun safety and laws against violence in the world.
01:00You were a very high profile member of Capitol Hill.
01:04Pardon?
01:05You were a safe on Capitol Hill and senior district.
01:08I, from the moment I was elected, I have felt that I accept a certain level of risk in doing this job and in continuing to do this job.
01:24This should not be a level of risk for anyone, not for me or anybody, any American.
01:30No American should feel like they are taking a risk of sending their kids to school.
01:36No American should feel like they are at risk going to a music festival, going to a synagogue, going to a church, or showing up to work.
01:43And I think that, that's, that, that I feel the way I think many Americans feel.
01:50Yesterday, the president and his speech, she was very critical of left wing violence.
01:56What do you think of that message?
01:57And do you agree with them that that left wing violence is a problem?
02:00I believe that we need to be very clear about the facts on the ground.
02:04There was a horrific political assassination or shooting yesterday in which a young man died.
02:13The FBI has not caught the assailant.
02:18The FBI and the individual responsible has not been apprehended.
02:24There is no understanding, as we know publicly, of who this individual is, what their motivations were, where they came from.
02:33And for any politician, whether it is a, whether it's a pundit on television, which I saw on Fox News, and it was extremely disturbing.
02:43Using rhetoric of vengeance and violence, whether it is a member of Congress, whether it is the president of the United States.
02:50To assume and assert and cast blame when the FBI has failed to even apprehend the assailant is absolutely an irresponsible action.
03:03We must come together.
03:04Our responsibility is to deescalate this environment, to reduce the level of chaos that is at risk right now in this country, so that we can, first and foremost, increase the level of safety that people can feel in this country.
03:23And then we can forward it together.
03:25Do you think on that specifically Republicans are saying that Democrats too often refer to them as Nazis, dictators, is that the kind of rhetoric that you think there should be less of?
03:36Or do you think that criticism is placed?
03:38I believe that if we want to stop the scourge of violence in this country, we must do our jobs and pass common sense gun safety reforms in the United States, period.
03:53What do you think about the use of the word Nazi?
03:56And I, here's what I believe, because to be honest, we are in an environment of escalated rhetoric, but a person who hears this rhetoric should not be able, if they have a history of domestic violence, if they have a history of descending into what seems to be, you know, a violent spiral, should not have access to a gun.
04:22And the idea that one would weaponize this environment when people are able in some states to get a gun who should not.
04:35It's not about taking away people's right to a firearm.
04:38It's about ensuring that we have responsible gun laws in the United States of America.
04:44And anything else is a deflection.
04:46I'm sorry.
04:47It simply is because we want to talk about arguing about rhetoric.
04:51I mean, you, people can point the finger till the cows come home, especially in this place.
04:57But the fact of the matter is, we should not have the right, people shouldn't, we shouldn't have the, an environment where people can so easily mow down others when they have a mental break, when they have a history or whatever we may be seeing.
05:12A lot of the, of what we've seen in this recent shooters have been emotionally disturbed and mentally disturbed people.
05:20Congresswoman, what do you think of the discussions of specific measures to protect people here on the Hill?
05:25And does that come at the expense of openness?
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