John,

In the aftermath of an Iowa school shooting that left one dead and at least five wounded, Donald Trump stated in a speech this past weekend that the community should:

“Get over it”

Trump’s insensitivity, lack of empathy, and unwillingness to take any action on school shootings is disgusting.

My oldest son’s school experienced a mass shooting in 2019 and five years later, I still refuse to “get over it.” In fact, it is why I am running for Congress and am doubling down after Lauren Boebert moved to run in my district in December.

In May 2019, at STEM Highlands Ranch K-12, Two students armed with guns and other weapons hidden inside guitar cases walked into the school and opened fire on their fellow students.

Luckily, brave students, among them Kendrick Castillo who was killed by one of the gunmen, rushed the gunmen and subdued them, ending the shooting. When the official report from the Douglas County Sheriff arrived, one was killed and eight had been wounded.

Kendrick Castillo being honored by his classmates. His death occurred just weeks before he would have graduated.

That day was the scariest day of my life, and, as an Iraq combat veteran, I’ve had some scary days. My son did not have his phone with him that day and, for two and a half hours, I anxiously waited for news that he was okay. Eventually, he called from a friend's phone and I was overcome with emotion and relief.

I was lucky. But, for hundreds of parents every year, that call never comes.

My opponent Congresswoman Lauren Boebert’s dangerous rhetoric on guns and violence along with her outright refusal to address the issue makes her complicit in this suffering.

In response to the Uvalde shooting, Boebert blamed the shooting at the elementary school on “godlessness that is overtaking America."

And when school shooting survivors took to Capitol Hill and encountered Boebert in the hallway, they gave her a pin of the green converse shoes that Maite Rodriguez (one of the young victims in Uvalde) was wearing when she died.

Immediately Boebert threw away the pin in a nearby trash bin and shook her head no when the activists asked her if she would take action on gun violence prevention.

Every day that Boebert continues to hold office is another day that she has a platform from which she can worsen America’s gun violence problem. For the safety of Coloradans, and all Americans, I am asking if you will chip in $10, $25, $100, or whatever you can spare to take away Boebert’s bully pulpit once and for all?

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