Rep. Lucy McBath Lucia (Lucy) Kay McBathThis week: House returns for pre-election sprint House Democrats' campaign arm reserves .6M in ads in competitive districts Black Lives Matter movement to play elevated role at convention MORE (D-Georgia) on Friday criticized President Trump Donald John TrumpOmar fires back at Trump over rally remarks: 'This is my country' Pelosi: Trump hurrying to fill SCOTUS seat so he can repeal ObamaCare Trump mocks Biden appearance, mask use ahead of first debate MORE’s decision to declare a national emergency to fund his border wall.

Speaking on CNN, McBath said that there “really is a national emergency,” but on gun violence, not immigration.

“People continue to die every single day,” McBath told CNN’s John Berman. “We know that we’ve got over a hundred people in this country that die unnecessarily to gun violence every single day… that is a public health crisis.”

“That is a national emergency,” she added. “Not a wall.”

ADVERTISEMENT

The freshman lawmaker was inspired to run for Congress following her teenage son’s shooting death. She ousted Rep. Karen Handel Karen Christine HandelHouse Democrats' campaign arm reserves .6M in ads in competitive districts Black Lives Matter movement to play elevated role at convention QAnon backer Marjorie Taylor Greene wins Georgia GOP runoff MORE (R-Ga.) for a seat been held by Republicans for decades.

McBath said Friday that she would back a national emergency on gun violence, but that she would want such a declaration to go through Congress.

Trump has threatened for weeks to declare a national emergency at the southern border in order to secure funding for his proposed border wall, a key campaign promise, without Congress.

The White House announced Thursday that Trump would avert a second government shutdown by signing a funding bill that provided just $1.375 billion for border security, a fraction of the $5.7 billion he originally demanded from lawmakers.

On Friday, Trump declared a national emergency, and said he would seek to redirect funding from the Treasury and Defense departments to pay for the wall.

After Trump announced his decision on Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Nancy PelosiPelosi: Trump hurrying to fill SCOTUS seat so he can repeal ObamaCare House lawmakers reach deal to avert shutdown Centrist Democrats 'strongly considering' discharge petition on GOP PPP bill MORE (D-Calif.) warned Republicans that a Democratic president could use the same powers to declare an emergency on guns.

“The precedent that the president is setting here is something that should be met with great unease and dismay by the Republicans,” she said.