Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York attempted to shift blame for the assassination of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) founder Charlie Kirk to Second Amendment supporters Thursday.
Kirk was fatally shot during a TPUSA “Prove Me Wrong” event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday, in which he would take questions from attendees. Ocasio-Cortez said members of Congress who opposed gun control had no right to “finger-point” after Kirk’s assassination. (RELATED: ‘In A Bad Place’: Scott Jennings Questions If It Is ‘Safe To Be An Outspoken Conservative’)
“People can finger-point all they want. Look at the record, look at the actions of what we are doing,” Ocasio-Cortez told reporters in front of the Capitol building. “I don’t think a single person who has dedicated their entire career to preventing gun safety legislation from getting passed in this House has any right to blame anybody else but themselves for what is happening.”
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The National Rifle Association (NRA) and the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) issued statements condemning the assassination of Kirk.
Ocasio-Cortez also invoked the killings of Democratic State Rep. Melissa Hortmann of Minnesota and her husband. The accused killer of Hortmann claimed he was acting on behalf of Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota in a letter to the FBI, according to the New York Daily News.
Ocasio-Cortez also invoked the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol building when responding to reporters, joining other Democrats, including Democratic Sens. Adam Schiff of California, Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Ocasio-Cortez called for regulating conservative media while also characterizing pro-Hamas protestors as “peaceful” despite dozens of arrests.
Democrats in the House refused to allow a prayer for Kirk after news of the shooting on Wednesday, shouting down a request by Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, triggering an angry outburst from Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida.
“Y’all caused this!” Luna, a former Director of Hispanic Outreach at TPUSA, shouted. “You fucking own this!”
Kirk founded TPUSA, an organization for conservative college and high school students, in June 2012, according to the organization’s website. He also hosted “The Charlie Kirk Show,” a podcast that later became a radio show on the Salem Radio Network, according to his biography on the TPUSA site.
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