GOP Rep. Nancy Mace blasts Republicans for 'silence' on gun violence, 'extreme' abortion stances

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., on Sunday bucked the majority of her Republican colleagues in Congress, calling on fellow GOP lawmakers to “no longer be silent” on gun violence and to find a middle ground on abortion rights.

"Every mass shooting, there’s just silence, and prayers are offered, Easter baskets are offered, but no real solutions," Mace said on "Fox News Sunday."

The GOP lawmaker said she and her children were recently near a mass shooting in South Carolina.

“Republicans can no longer be silent on this issue. And it’s not about the Second Amendment. There are plenty of things that we can be doing besides offering prayers and silence," Mace said.

Potential solutions could include "some sort of Amber Alert, for example, to let the community know there’s been a shooting," she said. "Strengthening our background checks is something that the vast majority of Americans support.”

“Those kinds of common sense things are all things that every American on either side of the aisle can get behind, but yet every time there’s a mass shooting, and they’re increasing every year, every week, we don’t say anything. We want to bury our heads in the sand and hope that it goes away. But guess what? It’s not going away,” Mace said.

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Independent voters ‘cannot support us,’ Mace says

Mace also criticized fellow Republicans and some organizations that oppose abortion for what she called “extreme” stances on abortion rights, especially “when it comes to rape and incest, protecting the life of the mother.”

“The middle, the independent voters, right of center, left of center, they cannot support us,” she said.

“We’ve got 14 counties in South Carolina that don’t have a single OBGYN doctor. So if we’re going to ban abortion, what are we doing to make sure women have access to birth control?" she said.

Mace also questioned how lawmakers would improve adoption services in the country and care for unwanted children.

Last year, she defeated a Republican challenger backed by former President Donald Trump. The South Carolina lawmaker has previously issued blistering critiques of the former president, including saying his “entire legacy was wiped out” following the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. However, she later sought to get back in the former president’s good graces.

Mace has also been one the strongest supporters of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who struggled through challenges from the far-right flank before finally being elected to the House's top leadership position after 15 rounds of voting in January.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: GOP Rep. Nancy Mace slams Republicans over gun violence, abortion