Resolution Designating November 4, 2025 as the "National Day of Remembrance for Victoria Leigh Soto"

Not long after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, US Senator Rick Scott of Florida put forth a resolution designating Mr. Kirk's birthday (October 14, 2025) as the "National Day of Remembrance for Charlie Kirk."

As is well known, Charlie Kirk was a staunch defender of gun rights, even going so far as to rationalize the deaths of innocents as a price for protecting the Second Amendment: "It's worth it. I think it's worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights." In a tragic irony, Charlie Kirk was killed while answering a question about gun violence.

While I disagreed with Charlie Kirk on virtually every major issue, I take no joy in his passing. Indeed, the tendency of people across the political spectrum to gloat about the deaths of their real or perceived enemies, or make glib statements about how the deceased "got what they deserved" or "the world is a better place without them," is part of the profound sickness of our time. People so wrapped up in echo chambers and so robbed of their basic human decency that they cannot see how their righteous cruelty feeds into the digital hate culture makes more murders inevitable--including murders of people that they admire and approve of.

If the Republicans want a national day of remembrance for Charlie Kirk, so be it. They have the right to recognize individuals they consider to be heroic.

If I were in the United States Senate, I would move to designate a national day of remembrance for my hero: Victoria Leigh Soto. Ms. Soto was a 27-year-old first grade teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School who died shielding her students from the bullets of a crazed assassin who never, ever should have had access to guns. As a classroom teacher myself, I wonder every day if I would have the courage, integrity, and unconditional love for my students to do what Ms. Soto did on December 14, 2012.How unfortunate that we live in a society that makes all teachers (along with all mall shoppers, religious ceremony attendees, movie goers, and pretty much everyone who leaves their home for any reason) wonder about this. 

Victoria Leigh Soto received a number of accolades after her death, but a national day of remembrance would perhaps force our society to have meaningful conversations about whether it is in fact "worth it" to have a number of gun deaths each year to protect an interpretation of the Second Amendment that the founders (who lived during a time when single-shot, muzzle-loading muskets and flintlock pistols were the most common types of guns) would have found absurd.   

For information on how to keep the heroic Victoria Soto's memory alive, visit Teamvickisoto.com.    

Victoria Leigh Soto, American Hero, died tragically while shielding her first-grad students from the bullets fired by a disturbed young man who never should have had access to guns in the first place. 

RESOLUTION

Expressing support for the designation of November 4, 2025, as the ‘‘National Day of Remembrance for Victoria Leigh Soto’’.

Whereas Victoria Leigh Soto was a champion of education, personal integrity, and unconditional love;

Whereas Ms. Soto consistently promoted the values of kindness, love of neighbor, the importance of civic engagement, and the defense of innocent children;

Whereas Victoria Leigh Soto was recognized by her first-grade students at Sandy Hook Elementary as a dedicated, creative, and endlessly caring teacher who made learning an adventure;

Whereas Victoria Leigh Soto left a lasting impact on every child who had the privilege of being in her classroom;

Whereas Victoria Leigh Soto had a firm belief in the transformative power of early childhood literacy, and understood that books were tools that unlocked imagination, fostered understanding, and opened doors to new opportunities;

Whereas Victoria Leigh Soto willingly and heroically sacrificed her life in an attempt to shield her precious students from an unimaginable act of violence;

Whereas Ms. Soto’s life’s work has contributed to reminding our society of the folly of placing the love and protection of weapons above the love and protection of children; and

Whereas Ms. Soto’s life work, especially her passion for education and her unconditional love for her students, cost her her life by means of an assassin’s bullet on December 14, 2012: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Senate—

(1) supports the designation of November 4, 2025, as the ‘‘National Day of Remembrance for Victoria Leigh Soto’’;

(2) recognizes Victoria Leigh Soto for her contributions to childhood education and public service; and

(3) encourages educational institutions, civic organizations, and citizens across the United States to observe this day with appropriate programs, activities, prayers, and ceremonies that promote civic engagement and the principles of faith, love, and family that Victoria Leigh Soto championed.