The shooting of 26 people in a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, is so beyond tragedy it’s terrifying and sad. There would be no timely death for 26 innocent people but certainly, if there was, a place of worship is not it. That said, tragedy tends to reveal the best and worst in people and this shooting is no exception. Based on their reactions so far, it appears liberals are so dedicated to their ideology that they can’t weigh this event with any kind of measured logic: Every event, even tragic, evil ones, must fit neatly into the progressive narrative, no matter how much the opposite is true.
So far, the Left has embraced two parallel reactions to the Sutherland Springs church shooting. First, Christians must be even dumber than they thought because they are known for being dedicated to prayer and often, in the wake of such tragedies, offer “thoughts and prayers” online and to people who are hurting. And now, look, what “thoughts and prayers” have given Christians here: they were murdered doing just that thing. After every single similar tragedy, the Left makes it known they loathe this response because after all, it seems too complacent and timid, compared to sending angry tweets on Twitter or offering gun control legislation.
The murdered victims were in a church. If prayers did anything, they’d still be alive, you worthless sack of shit. https://t.co/iGHxPrYrLN
— Wil ‘Ban the Nazis’ Wheaton (@wilw) November 5, 2017
That progressives might disagree or even mock the sentiment “thoughts and prayers” because they don’t understand it seems reasonable; that they would appear viscerally angry at a group of people who do this and were murdered while essentially doing this, seems beyond crazed.
Why mock Christians when they’re down? Because most liberals think the answer to every problem, the solution to every bad situation, lay within government: More legislation. More money to programs. More padding to the behemoth bureaucracy that is our federal system.
Uttering thoughts and prayers seems prosaic and pointless when we can strike down the Second Amendment or simply legislate for more gun control. Conservatives believe, while the government is useful and has its place, it doesn’t resolve everything — and some even believe there is a place for prayer and spirituality. Go figure.
The second reaction to the Sutherland Springs shooting is, of course, to advocate more gun control.
In some cases, like that of the Las Vegas massacre, a second look at gun laws and tactics, such as the bump stock, is essential. In other cases, like this one, it might be wiser to look at the circumstances surrounding the attack and the biography of the shooter — at least what we know right now.
According to CNN, the shooter, Devin Patrick Kelley, had “assaulted his wife and stepson on multiple occasions, according to the US Air Force. The assaults took place between 2011 and 2012, and as punishment he received a bad conduct discharge, 12 months in a military prison and a reduction in rank.” Kelley’s record of domestic violence should have barred him from legally owning the gun he used in the massacre, but “The Air Force acknowledged on Monday it did not appropriately relay Kelley’s court martial conviction for domestic assault to civilian law enforcement, preventing it from appearing in the federal database that licensed gun dealers are required to check before selling someone a firearm.”
So somewhere between an abusive, violent man and a federal bureaucracy that botched Kelley’s background check, there lay significant responsibility. There were laws in place to bar Kelley from carrying out the massacre he did; the gun control debate is moot here. Not to mention, it was a man with a license to carry a firearm, who shot Kelley.
Narrative: NRA let lunatic buy guns and commit massacre
Reality: Feds botch background check, mass shooter stopped by NRA member
— Will (@Oil_Guns_Merica) November 7, 2017
While a massacre like this is undeniably tragic almost beyond comprehension, it’s frustrating that progressives steer a narrative immediately following such events not based on facts, but a preconceived narrative — one that is almost always, later completely debunked.
Nicole Russell is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist in Washington, D.C., who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota. She was the 2010 recipient of the American Spectator’s Young Journalist Award.
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