Liz Cheney: ‘Need to spend less time banning books,’ more time stopping ‘horrific gun violence’

Former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) urged Republicans to focus on reducing gun violence rather than banning books, in the wake of a school shooting in Nashville, Tenn., that left three children and three staff members dead.

“If we really want to keep our children safe, we need to spend less time banning books and more time stopping the horrific gun violence in our schools,” Cheney tweeted on Tuesday.

Cheney’s comment came in response to a similar remark made by Jenna Bush Hager, a television host and daughter of former President George W. Bush.

“I have a friend in Nashville, so I knew of one of the little girls who was 9, who went to school yesterday and who didn’t get to come home,” Bush Hager told the TODAY show on Tuesday.

“We are worried about giving our kids Judy Blume and other books that are important to the history, to the fabric of our country, and we aren’t worried about sending our kids to schools where they’re not safe?” she added. “Like I just don’t understand what has happened to a country that I know you love, that I love.”

A former student of The Covenant School, a private Christian elementary school in Nashville, shot and killed six people, including three 9-year-olds, before being gunned down by police on Monday. The shooting is the thirteenth of its kind so far this year.

Several Republican-led state legislatures have recently proposed or passed laws facilitating the restriction of books. According to the nonprofit American Library Association, 2022 saw a record number of attempts to ban or restrict library books and resources.