Former vice president Al Gore on Sunday likened those unsure of climate change to the Uvalde, Texas, police officers widely criticized for not intervening in a mass shooting that claimed the lives of 19 elementary school students and 2 teachers.
Gore said "climate deniers" are similar to the "almost 400 law enforcement officers" who waited "outside an unlocked door while the children were being massacred," during an appearance on MSNBC’s Meet the Press.
"They heard the scream, they heard the gunshots—and nobody stepped forward," Gore said.
Gore has a financial interest in government-backed subsidies for green companies that aim reduce carbon emissions. A fund he cofounded is heavily invested in such firms, raising $55 million in financing for electric battery company Proterra in 2017. Last year, he lobbied President Joe Biden to put climate concerns front and center as part of his administration's infrastructure bill push. The legislation passed with tens of millions of dollars allocated for electric vehicle subsidies.
In addition to his business dealings, Gore has a history of making outlandish statements. In 2008, the former vice president predicted all the ice on the North Pole would melt by 2013. He also claims to have invented the internet.
Texas officials have called the Uvalde Police Department’s response to the Robb Elementary School shooting an "abject failure." Had they acted, officials said, police could have stopped the shooter and saved lives.
Around 39 percent of Americans are not concerned about the effects of climate change in their lifetimes, according to a 2021 Pew Research poll. After having compared those Americans to the disgraced cops, Gore made a call for national unity, saying climate change "shouldn't be a partisan issue."
Gore currently runs a $36 billion investment fund dedicated to environmental and social sustainability. That fund, the Washington Free Beacon reported in May, has invested in companies that profit from Chinese slave labor and aids the Chinese Communist Party in censoring the internet.