Senator John Curtis Responds to Shooting at Utah Valley University During Charlie Kirk Campus Event

[00:00] Um, Mary and Ron, thank you. Right now,

[00:02] we actually had an interview that was

[00:03] scheduled with Senator John Curtis, and

[00:05] he's joining us live right now. We're

[00:07] not going to be discussing the issues we

[00:09] had slated today. There's a lot of

[00:10] issues going on in Washington, DC. Uh,

[00:13] Senator Curtis, can you hear us right

[00:14] now?

[00:17] >> I sure can. Heidi, yeah,

[00:18] >> thanks for joining us. Uh, I was looking

[00:20] forward to our conversation today about

[00:22] a lot of the issues in Washington,

[00:23] budgets, but right now, uh, we're on the

[00:25] air with live breaking news about the

[00:27] shooting at UVU campus. my son and

[00:29] thousands of others were there live when

[00:31] this happened. Give me your reaction um

[00:34] of what we're seeing today in our

[00:36] political climate and what happened here

[00:37] in Utah today.

[00:40] >> Well, first of all, uh to your son, to

[00:43] the the thousands and thousands that

[00:44] were there, my my my heart just aches.

[00:46] And of course, uh to the victim that

[00:49] just is just something that is I can't

[00:51] quite comprehend. I think to answer your

[00:53] question, for me, this is different

[00:55] because this is my backyard, right? We

[00:58] We've seen these things happen around

[01:00] the country and I always think, well,

[01:02] that will never happen to me. That'll

[01:04] never happen in Utah when it happens so

[01:06] close to home. I think it has an impact

[01:08] that couldn't happen any other way. You

[01:11] are the former mayor of Provo. Like you

[01:13] said, Utah County is home to you. Utah

[01:15] Valley University, a growing university

[01:17] and the largest student body um that we

[01:19] have here in the state of Utah right

[01:21] now. Charlie Kirk has had some people

[01:23] that have been saying that they didn't

[01:24] want him there, starting uh some

[01:26] petitions before he started these campus

[01:28] tours, but he goes to our campuses to

[01:30] have conversations with young people

[01:32] about politics and they debate and have

[01:34] a conversation. Are you concerned that

[01:37] this is going to put a stop to

[01:38] conversations with our young people like

[01:40] this?

[01:43] >> I listen, it's has to impact it, but we

[01:46] can't let it. on the other hand, um it

[01:48] I'm I'm not going to lie, this is going

[01:50] to go through my mind, right, when I'm

[01:51] doing public events, but I think we all

[01:53] have to push past that and realize uh

[01:56] that we are better than this and we have

[01:58] to have these conversations. This was a

[02:00] very important political conversation

[02:02] for Utah Valley and one that we need to

[02:05] have and there are many more out there.

[02:07] Conversations we need to have. We need

[02:08] to come to terms with our differences,

[02:10] but that we can't allow this to happen

[02:13] and we can't allow this to stop us from

[02:14] having these conversations.

[02:17] As we're speaking right now, the

[02:18] Associated Press uh just pushed out

[02:20] information about the shooting, scene

[02:21] that Charlie Kirk is listed in critical

[02:23] condition. He's in the hospital uh in

[02:25] Utah County right now. Senator, uh we

[02:28] saw last It's been more than a year.

[02:31] President Trump uh had an attempt on his

[02:33] life, not once, but twice. Uh the second

[02:36] possible shooter was in court today. Is

[02:38] there a way to break this cycle where we

[02:40] can get away as violence is the option

[02:42] if we disagree with someone?

[02:46] Listen, we we we must and I I reexpress

[02:50] my commitment to address this in a way

[02:52] that deescalates and not escalates this.

[02:54] But I think there's there's too many who

[02:56] are actually escalating this political

[02:58] angst, this violence that that we're

[03:00] seeing. Uh it's not who we are, and this

[03:03] is why this is so impactful to me. It's

[03:04] especially not who we are in Utah.

[03:08] >> After an event like this, mental health

[03:10] is going to be an issue for students on

[03:12] our campus that witness witness this. my

[03:14] son saying that there was thousands of

[03:15] students there standing around the stage

[03:17] when this happened. There's also going

[03:18] to be calls for talking about the Second

[03:20] Amendment. Where does the conversation

[03:22] in your mind go from here?

[03:26] >> Well, I think the questions you've asked

[03:27] are the right questions to ask. This is

[03:29] I mean, we can have the conversations

[03:31] about mental health. We can have the the

[03:33] conversations about firearms, but we

[03:36] really have to change the way that we're

[03:38] addressing and talking about issues and

[03:41] those that we disagree with. I I think

[03:43] we probably all know families who have

[03:45] heated conversations at the dinner table

[03:47] that shouldn't be the type of

[03:49] conversations that we're having within

[03:50] families. Of course, we can disagree. Of

[03:52] course, we can debate. Of course, we can

[03:54] would argue, but but the level of angst

[03:57] that's that's surfacing even within our

[03:59] own families and among friends, it's

[04:01] just a really bad place to be.

[04:04] >> Utah has had a difficult time over the

[04:05] last couple of weeks. A lot of trauma

[04:07] and tragedies we've been dealing with.

[04:09] Uh just a couple of weeks ago we had two

[04:11] Totten officers, Tmont and Garland, that

[04:13] were shot and killed in the line of

[04:14] duty. A third one who survived with the

[04:16] Boxelder County Sheriff's Office. You

[04:19] were able to honor them today. I'm sad

[04:20] that we're even talking about the fact

[04:22] that while we're honoring a tragedy that

[04:24] happened two weeks ago, we're talking

[04:25] about another today.

[04:29] >> So, thank you for bringing that up

[04:30] because I I would hate for this to get

[04:32] lost in the news today. I had this

[04:34] amazing honor of laying a wreath on on

[04:37] on this tomb of the unknown soldier and

[04:40] the what's so important is that we are

[04:42] honoring in Washington DC not those just

[04:45] who die on battlefields across the globe

[04:47] but those right at home and it was just

[04:49] a tremendous honor for me. I spoke on on

[04:52] that Senate floor and would not want

[04:53] that to get lost in the news of today.

[04:57] >> What do you want the Tmont and Garland

[04:59] communities to know?

[05:02] We So listen, first of all, thank you to

[05:06] these two individuals who lost their

[05:08] life and their families and all the

[05:11] officers, not just in that department,

[05:13] but across the state and across the

[05:14] country who put their life at risk at

[05:16] all the all the time. And what I would

[05:18] want them to know is I'm going to do all

[05:20] I can to make sure we don't forget their

[05:22] sacrifice and and that we learn from it

[05:25] and that we make ourselves stronger

[05:26] because of it.

[05:28] >> Senator John Curtis, thank you so much

[05:30] for joining us today. I'll let you have

[05:31] the final word here today. We'll save

[05:33] all the topics we had planned for

[05:34] another day when it feels a little more

[05:36] appropriate. Anything else you'd want

[05:37] people back in your district back home

[05:39] to know about?

[05:42] >> Yeah, listen, my heart goes out uh to to

[05:45] Charlie. I the fact that he's in

[05:48] critical condition actually gives me a

[05:49] little bit of hope that he'll be okay. I

[05:50] I I hope hope that he will. My heart

[05:53] goes out to really everybody was there

[05:55] as you mentioned. They they too are

[05:57] victims today. And uh I hope Utah can

[06:00] quickly heal and move on to be the great

[06:02] state that we know that we are.

[06:04] >> All right, Senator John Curtis joining

[06:06] us from the Russell Rotunda on the

[06:08] complex there of the Capitol today in

[06:10] Washington DC. Thanks so much for your