Jimmy Kimmel Fights Back Tears While Delivering Powerful Plea for Gun Control

“They should be praying for God to forgive them for letting the gun lobby run this country.”

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

In the wake of the worst mass shooting in US history, Jimmy Kimmel on Monday delivered a scathing monologue calling out congressional lawmakers who send their prayers instead of working for increased gun control measures. The Las Vegas native specifically called out President Trump and Republican leaders Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan for failing to act “because the NRA has their balls in a money clip.”

“The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, the speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, a number of other lawmakers who won’t do anything about this because the NRA has their balls in a money clip, also sent their thoughts and their prayers today—which is good,” Kimmel said.

“They should be praying,” he continued. “They should be praying for God to forgive them for letting the gun lobby run this country because it is so crazy.”

Kimmel also showed the images of senators who just days after the Orlando shooting in June 2016 voted against a bill that would have closed certain gun sale loopholes. “These are the 56 senators who didn’t want to do anything about that,” he said.

The powerful plea comes on the heels of similar emotional speeches from Kimmel over Republican attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate