Megan Rapinoe Urges People to Speak Out After Texas Elementary School Shooting

Megan Rapinoe called on Americans to urge their congressional representatives to change what she described as "insane" gun-control laws or vote them out of office.

Rapinoe said Wednesday "our whole heart goes out to everyone in Texas" after 19 children and two teachers were killed in a shooting at Robb Elementary School on Tuesday, per Cesar Brioso of USA Today.

The massacre came less than two weeks after 10 people were killed in a racist attack on a grocery store in Buffalo.

"We're living in an insane country when it comes to gun control and gun laws," Rapinoe said. "I mean, there's literally a mass shooting every day. It actually struck me when we went to a moment of silence today because we just did one three f--king days ago for a different mass shooting in a different city. It's literally the definition of insanity."

Rapinoe was speaking after her OL Reign won 1-0 against the Kansas City Current in the NWSL.

She also spotlighted the common denominator in many recent mass shootings: high-powered rifles.

"I think it's like every single mass shooting now it's just an AR-15," Rapinoe said. "It's just f--king insane."

Rapinoe echoed comments from Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, who made an impassioned speech for change on Tuesday:

"The entire country is being completely held hostage, as Steve Kerr said last night," she said. "And I mean, quite literally, hostage, in a hostile environment, where you can go to church, you can go to the grocery store, you can go to school and end up dead, by whatever it is, 50 senators or 400 (congresspeople) or whatever, whatever the number is, it's just completely insane."

The California native added she believes it's time for people to take a stand against the politicians who aren't willing to consider reform to gun laws.

"I urge people to use their voice and vote or to call their representatives or to badger their representatives, or to vote them out if they don't change this, because we're just quite literally being held hostage in this country for no reason whatsoever," Rapinoe said. "The only reason that an AR-15 exists is to murder human beings. It's not used for anything else. And it's obviously very effective and it's just heartbreaking."

Rapinoe was selected for Time's 100 Most Influential People list in 2020 for her work on gender pay equality, racial justice and LGBTQ rights.