The Republican presidential contenders’ responses to the mass shooting in Charleston, S.C., varied subtly, reflecting the theme of the campaigns they have been running.
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas was one of three presidential candidates to address the Faith and Freedom Conference in Washington, D.C., Thursday. He was the only one to open his remarks with prayer and request for a moment of silence to mourn the murder of nine African-Americans who were gunned down while worshipping Wednesday evening inside Emanuel AME Church, a black church established in 1816. Dylann Roof, a 21-year-old white man, was arrested on suspicion of the shootings.”
“Today the body of Christ is in mourning. I want to begin by just reflecting on the horrific tragedy of last night,” Cruz told a packed hotel ballroom. “A sick and deranged person came and prayed with a historically black congregation for an hour, and then murdered nine innocent souls. Christians across our nation — Christians across the world — believers across the world, are lifting up the congregants at Emanuel AME.”
Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida didn’t address the incident in his remarks, sticking with his standard stump speech, which was well received by the crowd. But Rubio’s campaign pointed to a tweet he posted early Thursday morning expressing his grief over the shooting. “Saddened by the news from Charleston. The victims and their families are in my prayers today.” Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky did choose to discuss the mass murder, though differently than Cruz.
“We had this shooting [Wednesday] in South Carolina. What kind of person goes in a church and shoots nine people? There’s a sickness in our country; there’s something terribly wrong. But it isn’t going to be fixed by your government,” Paul said, as part of remarks that focused on enhancing individual freedom and diminishing Washington’s power. “It’s people straying away, it’s people not understanding where salvation comes from.”
Mass shootings like what occurred in Charleston can make responding politically tricky for Republicans. They tend to be strong supporters of the Second Amendment guaranteeing the right to keep and bear firearms, but engaging in a debate about gun rights and whether an armed congregant might have saved innocent lives by being able to take out the shooter in the aftermath of the murders at the Emanuel AME Church is politically tricky and could appear insensitive.
President Obama, reflecting the opinion of most Democrats, responded by subtly but unmistakably calling for more federal gun control laws. The president has pushed more firearm limits after previous mass shootings, only to be rebuffed by members of both parties.
“At some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries. It doesn’t happen in other places with this kind of frequency. And it is in our power to do something about it. I say that recognizing the politics in this town foreclose a lot of those avenues right now. But it would be wrong for us not to acknowledge it. And at some point it’s going to be important for the American people to come to grips with it, and for us to be able to shift how we think about the issue of gun violence collectively,” Obama said.
For Republicans, there is the added political element of South Carolina’s position as a crucial presidential primary state (the same is true for Democrats). Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor who entered the 2016 contest on Monday, and businessman and entertainer Donald J. Trump, who declared his candidacy on Tuesday, both canceled previously scheduled campaign events in light of the shooting. But aftershocks from the incident could linger long after campaigning in the Palmetto State resumes, probably next week, forcing the candidates to discuss it.
“Columba and I mourn today with the Emanuel AME Church and the families of the victims of this terrible crime. Our hearts are broken at the senseless loss of life. Our prayers are for the community that has lost its pastor and a brave leader. May the families and the city of Charleston be lifted up by the prayers of our entire nation,” Bush said in a statement issued by his campaign.
For retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, the only major presidential candidate who is African-American (and Republican), the Charleston church shooting hit close to home. In a prepared statement, Carson said that “someone close to me lost relatives last night in that tragedy,” while making biblical references in discussing his hope that Americans can emerge from the tragedy more unified.
“We must remember that we are a pluralistic society with many components and many beliefs. If we are to live together peacefully and with prosperity, we must learn the true meaning of tolerance, and that it goes in both directions,” he said.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who is expected to announce for president on Wednesday in New Orleans, called the shooting an “act of pure evil,” going to say as part of his statement: “Mankind’s capacity for evil is horrific.”
Disclosure: The author’s wife works as an adviser to Scott Walker.
