Conservatives let mass shootings happen

After the San Bernardino shootings, people are talking about how conservatives have nothing to offer but empty words and gestures. The Daily News conveyed this idea with its provocative cover:


A good cartoon made a similar point:



"Who cares? Let 'em die," said every Republican to himself. "That's fourteen fewer votes for Democrat candidates, and $14,000 more in NRA donations for us."

"Prayer shaming"

Conservatives started crying about "prayer shaming," their latest attempt to silence people pointing out their lies and hypocrisies. The following posting puts that argument to rest:

It’s Not “Prayer Shaming.” It’s Hypocrite Shaming

By Rebecca WatsonI don’t think that the New York Daily News is “prayer-shaming.” To think that is to miss the point entirely: these politicians aren’t just praying for the victims, if they’re even actually praying at all. No, they’re Tweeting about praying for the victims of a circumstance that they themselves could prevent but choose not to. That’s not being a good Christian—that’s just being a huge hypocrite. That’s like praying for your aunt to recover from skin cancer while stuffing her in a tanning bed. “Stop struggling, Agnes, this is going to give you a healthy glow!”

And to really make the analogy work, in this case the tanning salon would be paying you to bring your aunt in. Because that’s the big problem, here: the National Rifle Association’s ridiculously wealthy and powerful lobby that has the GOP on the payroll. Gun control is the fastest way to fix this problem—it’s what Australia did in 1996 just days after a gunman murdered dozens of people. They cut gun homicides by nearly 60% and gun suicides by 65%, with no increase in other kinds of homicides and no increase in robberies and home invasions.

Of course, if we want to know more about the science of what works and what doesn’t work with regards to gun violence, we’ll have to lift the current ban on the CDC studying it. Oh that’s right, 20 years ago Republicans passed restrictions on gun violence research to make sure that no money accidentally went toward gun control advocacy.

So please remember all that the next time you hear a politician whine about prayer-shaming after citizens beg them to do something about the unbelievable rash of mass shootings happening in the US. It’s not prayer-shaming—it’s hypocrite-shaming.For more on gun control, see Republicans Allow Guns for Terrorists and The Magical Power of Guns.