Lawmakers should not use the killing of Charlie Kirk as an "excuse" to not have to face their constituents for the hard questions of representative democracy, former Rep. Conor Lamb (D-PA) told MSNBC's Alicia Menendez on Monday evening.

This comes as Congress takes steps toward allowing senators to pay for their own security out of their taxpayer office budget — a welcome and needed reform, Lamb concurred, and one that further drives his point home.

"I thought that this statement from Senator [James] Lankford really sort of hit the nail on the head, which is when we're talking about protecting judges and protecting individuals, it's not just their personal safety, it is really declaring to the nation that we believe that these tasks are hard, that there should be intense debate, that we have very different perspectives,'" said Menendez. "It strikes me, Congressman, you have members who are saying, I'm not sure we should do town halls because I'm not sure that I can be safe talking to my own constituents. I mean, there is a price that democracy itself, and by virtue of that, each of us as a citizen is paying for this culture of fear."

"I agree with you totally," said Lamb.

"And you know, I don't like the fact that we're going to have to spend government money to protect these members of Congress, but it's long past time that we do," he continued. "I mean, it's been dangerous for members of Congress for years. Your average member of Congress gets no official security protection. They finally have some money in their budget. But even that's not the same as, like, Capitol Police, or obviously what the president has."

"But we need people out doing these town halls," he added. "They need to face their constituents and answer questions about the things they say, like when a Republican member of Congress goes out there and says that the left is a terrorist organization or the enemy. And you can't give in to them under whatever circumstances right now, like they shouldn't have an excuse to not go out and answer questions from their constituents about that because they're afraid of being attacked. They should have the security. And if they choose not to do their job by holding town halls after that, it's on them. And constituents can understand that."

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