Jimmy Kimmel Gives Emotional Monologue About Parkland School Shooting & Gun Violence

Jimmy Kimmel used his platform, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, to make an emotional plea against gun violence after the school shooting in Parkland, Florida.

JIMMY KIMMEL SPEAKS ABOUT GUN VIOLENCE IN MONOLOGUE

A 19-year-old gunman carried a loaded AR-15 rifle into a Florida high school on Wednesday, where he shot and killed 17 students and faculty members. He blended in with other students as they fled and escaped, but was arrested without incident later that day.

Kimmel teared up when describing the horrific event, and then shared a clip of president Donald Trump‘s response. He said: “We are all joined together as one American family and your suffering is our burden also. No child, no teacher should ever be in danger in an American school. No parent should ever have to fear for their sons and daughters when they kiss them goodbye in the morning.”

Kimmel agreed with the sentiment, and followed up that what the country needs is gun reform. He then offered his thoughts on what should be done. “So, here’s what you do to fix that,” he said. “Tell your buddies in Congress—tell Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, Marco Rubio all the family men who care so much about their communities—that what we need are laws. Real laws that do everything possible to keep assault rifles out of the hands of people who are going to shoot our kids. Go on TV and tell them to do that.”

The host also asserted that it wasn’t “too soon” to be talking about gun violence, which is often an excuse made to brush off the subject. “Children are being murdered,” Kimmel said, near tears. “Do something. We still haven’t talked about it. You still haven’t done anything about this. Nothing. You’ve literally done nothing.”

Kimmel also criticized Trump for quietly rolling back all Obama-era laws making it more difficult for those with mental illness to purchase firearms. “Actually, you’ve done worse than nothing. You guys like to say this is a mental health issue. But one of your very first acts as President Mr. Trump was to actually roll back the regulations that were designed to keep firearms out of the hands of the mentally ill. You did that,” he continued. “Your party voted to repeal the mandates on coverage for mental health. So, I agree, this is a mental illness issue because if you don’t think we need to do something about it, you are obviously mentally ill!”

For the end of his monologue, Kimmel encouraged viewers to visit Everytown.org, an anti-gun violence organization to donate and learn more. But more than that, he urged viewers to take action. “Whatever you do, do something,” he said. “Because I, for one, am very, very, very, very, tired of this.”