The talk show host teared up while demanding action from politicians during Thursday's episode of 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!'
Jimmy Kimmel is demanding change.
Following the tragic shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 dead and 14 others injured on Wednesday, the 50-year-old talk show host teared up while calling for action against gun violence on Thursday's episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Kimmel kicked off the show by playing a clip of President Donald Trump's response to yet another mass shooting in our country, in which he exclaimed, "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 then explained what Trump should do to "fix that" moving forward.
"Children are being murdered," Kimmel said. "Don’t you dare let anyone say it's too soon to be talking about this. Because you said it after Vegas, you said it after Sandy Hook, you say that after every one of these (eight, now) fatal school shootings we had in this country this year. Do something. We still haven't even talked about it. You still haven't done anything about this. Nothing. You’ve literally done nothing."
"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," he added. "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."
Kimmel continued on, begging Trump to use "the common sense" he promised he was going to bring to the White House during his election campaign.
"Tell these congressman and lobbyists who infest that swamp you said you were going to drain, force these allegedly Christian men and women who stuff their pockets with money from the NRA year after year after year to do something now, not later," Kimmel urged. "You've done worse than nothing. You like to say this is a mental health issue, but one of your very first acts as president, Mr. Trump, was actually roll back the regulations that were designed to keep firearms out of the hands of the mentally ill. You did that."
"I agree, this is a mental health issue," he noted. "Because if you don’t think we need to do something about it, you're obviously mentally ill. Every reasonable American, Republican or Democrat, knows that something needs to be done. Something. And we're not doing anything. What we need and what you can do to ease our pain and prevent future pain is something."
Watch his full late-night monologue below:
According to CNN, alleged gunman Nikolas Cruz,19, was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder and is being held without bail. The names of the 17 victims of the school shooting were released late Thursday, which you can see here.
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