Rep.-elect Maxwell Frost, a March for Our Lives organizer who will soon become the youngest member of Congress, called on Monday for Congress to vote on an assault weapons ban — even if it's certain to fail.
“I think it’s important to put it up for a vote even if it doesn’t pass because it gets people on the record,” the Florida Democrat said on Meet the Press NOW. He called on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to bring the measure, which passed the House this summer, to a vote in the Senate.
"We have to show the American people that this is a problem that our government is working on and we’re going to solve,” Frost later added. His comments come after a mass shooting at a gay bar in Colorado Springs over the weekend, which left five dead and 19 injured.
Frost, at just 25 years-old, will become the first member of Gen Z to serve in Congress. He will represent Florida's 10th District, which is home to the Pulse Night Club, where a gunman opened fire in 2016, killing 49 people and injuring dozens more.
"Seeing what happened here in Orlando ... that same heartbreak came out in our city," Frost said. "My message to the country is this: we don't have to live this way."
Frost, who became involved in politics after the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, said his generation in particular has been shaped by gun violence.
"I call this the mass shooting generation because that’s what we’ve really been through — Columbine, Parkland, Pulse.," Frost said. He went on to list the murders of Trayvon Martin, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, which sparked civil rights protests, as other examples of violence Gen Z has witnessed.
"All this this kind of trauma and living through it on our cell phones and seeing it online, is part of what’s made Generation Z so fed up with not just gun violence, but all the inequities we see," Frost said.
Frost is also entering Congress at a time of transition for the Democratic Caucus, with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other top leaders not seeking re-election to their posts.
Frost said he would support Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., as the next Speaker. Frost also said he supports another term for President Joe Biden in the White House, noting Biden's presidency has sparked high turnout among young voters.
"In the primary, he wasn't my first choice," Frost said, "but what he's shown is that he's working for all Americans.
Frost along with other newly elected members will convene for a new session of Congress in January.