This past Thursday, Jimmy Kimmel spoke in light of the recent Florida school shooting which killed 17 and injured a dozen more. The powerful message brought Kimmel himself to tears as he scrutinized Trump and our congressmen for their ability to turn a blind eye to the eighth school shooting thus far.
Throughout the monologue, Kimmel referenced Trump’s statement on the Parkland shooting. His statement brought a lot of controversy, per usual, as he refused to mention guns. “We are all joined together as one American family and your suffering is our burden also,” Trump said in his speech. “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.” Despite the late-night host saying he agreed with a majority of Trump’s statements, Kimmel called upon Trump’s “buddies” Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, and Marco Rubio for legal reform in order to prevent future massacres.
Kimmel did not hold back from addressing the issue by exclaiming, “It is amazing to me that if one illegal immigrant causes a car accident, we’ve got to build a wall to keep the rest of them out,” putting into perspective the severity of the subject at hand, gun control. The fact that a young teenager has access to a semi-automatic weapon is disgusting, which is why the need for gun control is prevalent in today’s society. Kimmel stated, “You 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.”
By the end of the segment Kimmel encouraged viewers to visit Everytown.org and demand change as, “children are being murdered.” Although politicians may not think now’s the time to talk about gun control, Kimmel and the majority of Americans may think otherwise.