Kimmel Breaks Out in Tears Over Texas School Massacre: ‘How Does This Make Sense?’ (Video)

Kimmel also calls out policies and politicians that made it possible

Instead of a traditional monologue on Wednesday, Jimmy Kimmel recorded an emotional message for the top of his show during which he talked about the horrific mass murder at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday.

19 children and 2 teachers were killed by a lone gunman while, according to the Associated press, police stood by and let it happen. And talking about it, Kimmel visibly broke down multiple times.

And Kimmel didn’t hold back when he pointed the finger at those he deemed responsible for making yet another mass shooting possible: Republicans.

“Here we are again on another day of mourning in this country. Where once again, we grieve, for the babies, the little boys and girls whose lives have been ended and whose families have been destroyed,” Kimmel said.

“While our leaders on the right, the ‘Americans’ in Congress and at Fox News and these other outlets warn us not to politicize this. They immediately criticize our President for even speaking about doing something to stop it. Because they don’t want to speak about it. Because they know – what they’ve done,” Kimmel continued. “And they know what they haven’t done, and they know that it’s indefensible. So they’d rather sweep this under the rug.”

Kimmel noted that the overwhelming majority — approximately 90% — of Americans support gun control. But despite this, nothing is happening.

“A bipartisan bill passed in the House and has been stalled in the Senate for over a year now. They won’t pass it. Because our cowardly leaders just aren’t listening to us. They’re listening to the NRA.  They’re listening to the guys who write them checks, who keep them in power,” Kimmel said.

“Because ‘that’s the way politics work.’ That’s the idea we settle on, that’s what we tell ourselves. But it doesn’t have to be that way- not for this,” Kimmel added.

“You know, you can tell things are out of whack when the coach of the Golden State Warriors shows more leadership and passion than almost every Republican in Congress,” Kimmel said, referring to Steve Kerr’s angry remarks on Tuesday.

“I say this tonight with the hope, not with an expectation, but with the hope that people like Ted Cruz, and Greg Abbott, and John Cornyn, people who were elected by Texans, will actually listen to it: Instead of going right to ‘gun control laws don’t work,’ and ‘we need armed teachers and guards at schools,” he continued.

“If your solution to children being massacred is armed guards, you haven’t been paying attention to what’s going on. There was an armed guard in Buffalo. There was an armed guard in Parkland. There was an armed guard in Uvalde,” Kimmel noted.

Kimmel went on to describe how similar massacres decades ago in Australia and Scotland were met with increased gun control, and neither country has experienced anything like it since.

“This is the only country where this keeps happening! Firearms are now the #1 cause of death for American children and teens. Number one.” Kimmel said.

Kimmel then singled out Republican Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who, Kimmel said, “is stepping up to comfort the people he serves, who is the NRA. Ted is scheduled to speak at an NRA event this weekend. And here’s the thing: I don’t believe Ted Cruz doesn’t care about children. I don’t. I refuse to believe he is unaffected by this. He’s a father.”

“I bet he went to bed sick to his stomach last night. It’s easy to call someone a monster.  But he’s not a monster, he is a human being,” Kimmel went on. “And some people might not like hearing me say that, but it’s true.”

“So here’s the thing I would like to say to Ted Cruz — the human being — and Governor Abbot, and everyone. It’s OK to admit you made a mistake. In fact, it’s not just OK, it’s necessary to admit you made a mistake when your mistake is killing the children in your state,” Kimmel said.

“It takes a big person to do something like that.  It takes a brave person to do something like that. And do I think these men are brave people? No, I don’t. I don’t. But man, I would love it if they surprised me. I would love it if any of these guys surprised me,” Kimmel added.

Kimmel warned that “this is not a time for moments of silence. This is a time to be loud, and to stay loud, and not stop until we fix this.”

“There have been 27 school shootings so far this year in this country. And it’s May. How does this make sense to anyone? These are our children. And our representatives are supposed to represent us. We want limits on who can walk around with an AR-15. And it damn well shouldn’t be a teenager who works at a fastfood restaurant,” Kimmel continued. “If we can’t agree on that – forget it.”

Kimmel concluded first with a plea to voters: “So if you care about this – and we all do, doesn’t matter what party we vote for – we all care about this. We need to make sure that we do everything we can- to make sure – that unless they do something drastic – that let’s make sure that not one of any of these politicians – ever holds office again.”

Then he closed by playing a clip juxtaposing Republicans calling for increases in guns throughout America with reporting on horrific mass shootings. Watch the whole thing above.

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