McCollum on H.Res. 719 Honoring Charles “Charlie” James Kirk

Mister Speaker, 

I join all my colleagues in this body, my constituents, and the American people at large in denouncing all forms of political and ideological violence.

Democracy relies on the core principle of nonviolence. 

We settle our disputes with ballots, not with bullets.

But as a social studies teacher, I can also recount a dark history of times when we lost our way as a nation, and violence was used to silence the voices of debate and sow division.

The political violence that led up to and followed in the wake of the Civil War included a violent assault between Members of Congress and the assassination of President Lincoln. 

The assassinations of President Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy—and the shooting of George Wallace—took place during a brutal response throughout the nation to the organized, nonviolent Civil Rights Movement. 

This year we have seen a resurgence of horrifically violent attacks that have targeted politicians and community leaders on all sides of the ideological spectrum.

My vote for the resolution before us today is a vote to roundly condemn these attacks.

I condemn the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

I condemn the assassination of Minnesota Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, and the shooting of Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette.

I condemn the attack on Governor Josh Shapiro and his family whose home was lit on fire while they slept inside.

I condemn the assassination attempts on President Trump during last summer’s campaign.

All of this has happened within little more than a year. 

But since I was elected to office in 2000, I have witnessed a building wave of political violence.

In 2011, my friend and former Representative Gabby Giffords was shot at a community event, and one of her staff members and five others bystanders were killed. 

In 2017, a shooting at the Republican Congressional baseball team practice severely wounded Leader Steve Scalise. 

In 2020, extremist militia members attempted to kidnap Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer. 

And on January 6, 2021, this institution and its Members—on both sides of the aisle—were targeted by violent and antidemocratic insurrectionists who attacked the Capitol.

These attacks against our leaders and institutions do not exist in a vacuum. 

America’s crisis of political violence comes in the context of a rise in hateful rhetoric used against our neighbors and the normalization of gun violence in our communities.

This Congress has failed to act on common sense gun control measures that could make us all safer and decrease the likelihood of political assassinations, school shootings, and the tragedy of everyday gun violence in this nation.

I know that we are divided on this issue, as we are on many others. But we cannot continue to ignore the danger posed by the proliferation of weapons of war in our society. We must come together on solutions to protect our communities and de-escalate the violence in our society.

Today as I vote for this resolution to condemn the assassination of Mr. Kirk, I have to express how disappointed I am that we still have not brought to the House Floor the resolution that honors the victims and survivors of the mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic School that took place three weeks ago.

I equally condemn that violence, which took the lives of two children as they sat in church pews that day celebrating the start of a new school year. 

If there is a Biblical truth that we seek to be inspired by today, let it be the principle of nonviolence espoused by Christ and embodied in Saint Paul’s letter to the Romans:

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. [Romans 12:21]

Let us then pursue what leads to peace and to building up one another. [Romans 14:19]