New Zealand PM Talks Gun Control, Christchurch With Colbert After Uvalde School Shooting: ‘Everyone Said, Never Again’

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern appeared on gun control with Stephen Colbert shortly after the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

At least nineteen children and two adults were killed after an armed man, suspected to be 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, targeted the elementary school on Tuesday.

Colbert first addressed the tragedy in his monologue, telling his audience that he had learned about the shooting shortly before coming out to tape the show.

“And while we can add our prayers for the dead, there is nothing that can ever be said that can approach the immeasurable grief of those families,” he said. “But while we’re at it, let’s pray this time our leaders show a modicum of courage in trying to prevent this from ever happening again.”

“But prayers won’t end this. Voting might,” he continued. “So when you vote, ask yourself this question: Who, running for office, has publicly stated that they are willing to do anything and everything in their power to protect your children from the criminally insane number of guns in America?”

Arden, who passed gun control legislation following the 2019 Christchurch mosque shooting, later joined Colbert to discuss how New Zealand managed to curb gun violence.

“Why was New Zealand able to do that when we can’t do so much as pass universal background checks for people with a history of mental illness or violent behavior even though 91 percent of Americans approve that?” Colbert asked the prime minister.

Arden explained that while she can only speak to her experience in New Zealand, she is still impacted by gun violence happening overseas, adding, “I think of them not as a politician—I see them just as a mother, and I’m so sorry for what has happened here.”

“And then I think about what happened to us, and all I can reflect is: We are a very pragmatic people. When we saw something like that happen, everyone said, ‘Never again,'” she explained. “And so then it was incumbent on us as politicians to respond to that.”

Arden shared that while Kiwis have “legitimate needs for guns in our country,” including pest control, “you don’t need a military-style semiautomatic weapon to do that — and so we got rid of that.”

She noted that while her country’s approach to gun control is not perfect, as guns are still “misused,” New Zealand politicians “saw something that wasn’t right, and we acted on it.”

Watch above, via CBS.