Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., didn’t hold back during a tense interview on CNN’s State of the Union with Dana Bash.

The exchange, centered around last week’s tragic shooting at Apalachee High School, quickly turned into a pointed critique of Vice President Kamala Harris’ stance on law enforcement in schools.

Bash opened the discussion by referencing a misleading Associated Press headline that suggested Sen. JD Vance had brushed off school shootings as a “fact of life.” Cotton swiftly rebuked the headline and the narrative, defending Vance’s remarks, which had been twisted by the media.

Vance’s actual comments called out the harsh reality of school shootings, lamenting that they should never be accepted as normal. Cotton, clearly frustrated by the media’s spin, stated, “Absolutely not and JD Vance doesn’t either.”

The interview quickly shifted gears when Cotton praised the quick actions of school officers who had confronted and subdued the 14-year-old shooter. He used this moment to highlight Kamala Harris’ past rhetoric about “demilitarizing” schools, citing a resurfaced video from 2019 in which Harris, as a California senator, voiced support for removing police officers from school campuses.

“Kamala Harris wants to take police officers out of schools,” Cotton said, directly linking her stance to the potential for greater tragedy at Apalachee High had there been no officer present. He underscored her long history of opposing law enforcement, a hallmark of her time as a “San Francisco liberal.” Cotton’s warning was clear: if Harris had her way, the situation at Apalachee could have been far worse.

Family members of victims from previous school shootings, like the fathers of two girls killed in the Stoneman Douglas High School massacre, have also blasted Harris’ past comments. Ryan Petty, who lost his daughter Alaina, didn’t mince words, calling Harris “reckless” and accusing her of wanting to make schools less safe. Andrew Pollack, who lost his daughter Meadow in the same shooting, echoed the sentiment, demanding more—not fewer—school resource officers.

Meanwhile, Harris issued a brief, boilerplate statement on social media, condemning the violence and calling for an end to the “epidemic of gun violence.” Notably absent was any mention of her 2019 position on school police officers.

As the campaign season heats up, her failure to address this glaring contradiction is telling. Fox News Digital sought comment from Harris’ camp about whether she still supports the removal of police from schools, but received no response.