Former Vice President Al Gore likened on Sunday climate change deniers to law enforcement responding to the elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
Gore, a climate change activist, said, according to the New York Post, that there are steps that can be taken to remedy the climate, but a "broken" democracy is stymieing efforts. In the face of upcoming midterms, Gore urged voters to back "pro-climate" lawmakers in the House and Senate.
"We've got an election coming up. And this is time for all of us to step up," Gore said in an NBC News' "Meet the Press" appearance.
"The climate deniers are really in some ways similar to all of those almost 400 law enforcement officers in Uvalde, Texas, who were waiting outside an unlocked door while the children were being massacred. They heard the screams, they heard the gunshots, and nobody stepped forward," the former vice president under President Bill Clinton said.
Gore's comments came following new video footage of law enforcement officials seen waiting in the hallway of Robb Elementary School for more than an hour while the gunman carried out a rampage, killing 21 people.
Gore said the 50-50 divide in the Senate and Democrats' narrow majority would not be enough to combat climate change, adding that this "shouldn't be a partisan issue."
"Confronted with this global emergency, what we're doing with our inaction and failing to walk through the door and stop the killing is not typical of what we are capable of as human beings. We do have the solutions. And I think these extreme events that are getting steadily worse and more severe are really beginning to change minds," Gore added.
"We have to have unity as a nation to come together and stop making this a political football."
But Gore noted that in order to solve the "climate crisis," Americans will need to "pay attention to the democracy crisis."
"The same reason we can't pass legislation to, for example, reinstate the ban on assault weapons is the same reason that we can't pass climate legislation. We have a minority government. We have the filibuster, still, which ought to be eliminated. We have big money playing much too large a role in our politics, lobbyists for the fossil-fuel industry," he added.
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