Dem whose son was killed in shooting: Gun violence is the real national emergency, ‘not a wall’

Rep. Lucy McBath (D-Georgia) on Friday criticized President Trump’s decision to declare a national emergency to fund his border wall. 

Speaking on CNN, McBath said that there “really is a national emergency,” but on gun violence, not immigration.

“People continue to die every single day,” McBath told CNN’s John Berman. “We know that we’ve got over a hundred people in this country that die unnecessarily to gun violence every single day… that is a public health crisis.”

“That is a national emergency,” she added. “Not a wall.”

{mosads}The freshman lawmaker was inspired to run for Congress following her teenage son’s shooting death. She ousted Rep. Karen Handel (R-Ga.) for a seat been held by Republicans for decades.

McBath said Friday that she would back a national emergency on gun violence, but that she would want such a declaration to go through Congress.

Trump has threatened for weeks to declare a national emergency at the southern border in order to secure funding for his proposed border wall, a key campaign promise, without Congress.

The White House announced Thursday that Trump would avert a second government shutdown by signing a funding bill that provided just $1.375 billion for border security, a fraction of the $5.7 billion he originally demanded from lawmakers.

On Friday, Trump declared a national emergency, and said he would seek to redirect funding from the Treasury and Defense departments to pay for the wall.

After Trump announced his decision on Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) warned Republicans that a Democratic president could use the same powers to declare an emergency on guns.

“The precedent that the president is setting here is something that should be met with great unease and dismay by the Republicans,” she said.