Tom Cotton turns tables on CNN's Dana Bash on guns, brings up Harris' past remarks on school shootings

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Tom Cotton reminds CNN's Dana Bash of Harris' past comments on school shootings in tense interview

GOP Senator Tom Cotton pushed back during a CNN interview when he was asked about a comment from JD Vance after the Georgia high school shooting.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., turned the tables during an interview with CNN's Dana Bash on Sunday, invoking Kamala Harris' past rhetoric on "demilitarizing" schools in a tense on-air exchange.

Cotton appeared on CNN's "State of the Union" to discuss the tragic Apalachee High School shooting in which two teachers and two students were killed last week. The GOP lawmaker attempted to set the record straight after Bash asked him about an Associated Press headline last week that implied that JD Vance had dismissed school shootings as a "fact of life."

The AP headline was later replaced after Vance's team and online critics deemed it blatantly misleading, noting that at a rally in Phoenix last week, Vance remarked on the school shooting, "I don't like that this is a fact of life…" before calling for heightened security for schools.

Sen. Tom Cotton on CBS' ‘Face the Nation.’ (CBS)

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"Do you accept that school shootings like this are just a way of life now?" Bash asked Cotton.

"Absolutely not and JD Vance doesn't either," the Republican lawmaker fired back, rebuking the Associated Press for distorting the quote.

Cotton went on to praise the school officers on site who approached the 14-year-old shooter and took him into custody, before highlighting Kamala Harris' recently unearthed comments about her support for removing police officers from schools. 

"Here's what we also know about that shooting even if we're still gathering all the facts. It wasn't as bad as it might have been because there was a police officer on school premises that was able to neutralize the shooter. Kamala Harris wants to take police officers out of schools. She's said it in the past," Cotton said.

A memorial is seen at Apalachee High School after the Wednesday school shooting, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, in Winder, Ga.   (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

A video from 2019 surfaced last week showing Harris declaring her support for removing police officers from schools in an effort to "demilitarize" campuses during her time as a California senator.

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"That's her position," Cotton told Bash. "That's not surprising, because she's consistently taken positions against law enforcement throughout her career as a San Francisco liberal. If that police officer hadn't been there, if Kamala Harris had gotten her way, many more students and teachers might have been killed."

Family members of school-shooting victims condemned Harris' 2019 comments, including Ryan Petty and Andrew Pollack, two dads who lost their respective teenage daughters in the tragic Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018. 

"Wreckless. Radical. Kamala wants to make schools less safe. Your kids aren’t safe with Kamala Harris in office," Petty, who lost his 14-year-old daughter Alaina Petty in the 2018 shooting wrote on X.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event in Detroit, Michigan, US, on Monday, Sept. 2, 2024. (Emily Elconin/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

"This is sickening. My daughter was killed because Parkland didn’t have enough security. We need more school resource officers — not fewer!" Pollack, whose 18-year-old daughter Meadow Pollack was killed in the same shooting, wrote.

Harris was quick to call for action against gun violence in the aftermath of the shooting.

"Our hearts are with the students, teachers, and families impacted by this shooting, and we are grateful to the first responders and law enforcement on the scene," Harris wrote on X. "This is a senseless tragedy — and it does not have to be this way. We must end the epidemic of gun violence in our country once and for all."

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It is unclear whether Harris still supports removing police officers from schools. Her campaign did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

Fox News' Emma Colton contributed to this report.