Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) on Friday invited a gun control activist and Parkland, Fla., school shooting survivor to be his guest at President Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday.
Cameron Kasky, 18, was a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School when a gunman killed 17 people on Valentine’s Day last year.
{mosads}After the shooting, Kasky and several other survivors co-founded the Never Again MSD group to advocate for stricter gun laws. He also helped organize last year’s March for Our Lives anti-gun violence rally in Washington, D.C., that attracted thousands of participants.
Kasky was also one of five student activists featured on a cover of Time magazine last March.
“In the face of unimaginable tragedy, Cameron Kasky has shown remarkable strength,” Swalwell said in a statement Friday. “He stands at the forefront of the fight for action to address gun violence … I’m proud to have Cameron join me at the U.S. Capitol, nearly one year after he faced a horror no kid should endure at school, to continue this fight, because there is no right more important than the right to live.”
Kasky said he was excited to join Swalwell at the State of the Union so that they can discuss the “horrific epidemic” of gun violence.
“Rep. Swalwell is one of the most effective change makers out there these days and I’m proud to stand alongside him in this fight,” Kasky said in a statement.
Swalwell, a potential 2020 presidential candidate, has become an outspoken advocate for stricter gun laws, calling last year for a ban on military-style semiautomatic rifles.
The California Democrat said in Friday’s statement that he remembers being at his congressional orientation in 2012 when 27 people were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
“As Republicans stymied all efforts since then, I started to grow frustrated — but the clear, loud, unwavering voices of the Parkland generation have inspired me to renew our efforts,” Swalwell said.
Lawmakers typically invite people to the State of the Union who have gained national attention.
Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) has invited an undocumented worker who was fired from her job at Trump National Golf Course in Bedminster, N.J., after going public about workplace violations.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) announced on Thursday that they will bring D.J. and Wendy Corcoran, whose son Pierce was killed in a car crash.
The driver, charged with criminally negligent homicide, was later identified as an immigrant in the country illegally.
“The tragedy the Corcoran family has endured is one no family should ever have to experience,” Blackburn said in a statement. “The attendance of Pierce’s parents at the State of the Union serves as a reminder that we as a Congress have a duty to keep the American people safe.”