Hurd represented Uvalde, Texas from 2014-2021. Here is a taste of his piece at The New York Times: We are not helpless, and if the people we elect to address our country’s tough challenges think nothing can or should be […]
guns
Gerson: The GOP spin on guns is “wrong–morally and legally”
Here is Michael Gerson’s recent Washington Post column: Is the slaughter of innocents the unavoidable price of freedom? A significant group of Americans believe it is. In a recent CBS-YouGov poll, 44 percent of Republicans agreed that mass shootings are […]
There were twelve people killed in mass shootings this weekend
Here is Dennis Romero of NBC News: The first weekend of June marked a greater number of mass shooting deaths in the United States than the previous three-day weekend, which ended with Memorial Day. The tally for weekend violence through […]
At least Marjorie Taylor Greene believes Christian nationalism exists
She makes no bones about it. She is a Christian nationalist. Watch: It is worth noting that this is a different rhetorical strategy from the one employed by Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano. Here is a taste of Eliza Griswold’s […]
Mastriano compares gun control to Nazism
He is a “historian with a doctor in history.” No historian worth his salt would make such a sloppy and manipulative comparison. Watch: Mastriano’s claim here has been widely debunked and/or problematized. Also here. Also here. Get up to speed […]
A short history of the National Rifle Association
Robert Spitzer, a scholar of U.S. gun policy and the NRA, divides the history of the organization into three phases: Phase One: At first the group was mainly concerned with marksmanship. It later played a relatively constructive role regarding safety-minded gun […]
Watch Ted Cruz spin
Watch: Cruz seems to be on the ropes here, but then the reporter mentions “American exceptionalism.” Ah! There it is! Cruz pounces. You can almost see the light bulb (or perhaps the trigger) go off in his head. He now […]
There have been 15 mass shootings in the United States since Uvalde
Yes, you read that correctly. Here is Annabelle Timsit at The Washington Post: After a shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Tex., that claimed the lives of 19 children and two teachers last week, many politicians, public figures and […]
Do guns have ANYTHING to do with mass shootings? No, according to Ted Cruz
In Cruz’s world, gun violence happens because of “the elites who dominate our culture,” the media, corporate leaders, Hollywood, homelessness, gangs, “radical” district attorneys, “cultural sickness,” despair, isolation, “sick souls,” broken families, absent fathers, declining church attendance, social medial bullying, […]
What we have said about guns and gun control over the years
Despite what I have heard from a few folks in the last day or two, I think we’ve been pretty consistent over the years: May 28, 2021: When it comes to the Second Amendment, Matt Gaetz has no clue March […]
On abortion, the Trump court evangelicals need the Supreme Court. On gun violence, all they have are “thoughts and prayers.”
If you read my Current piece on Thursday or Dan Williams’s piece today and want another example of the inherent contradiction in the Christian pro-life movement, just read the recent e-mail Trump court evangelical Paula White-Cain’s “National Faith Advisory Board‘ […]
Which lawmakers get the most contributions from gun rights groups?
From Axios: Sen. Ted Cruz (TX): $442,000 Rep. Steve Scalise (LA): $396,000 Sen. John Cornyn (TX): $340,000 Sen. Lindsey Grahan (SC): $284,000 Sen. Mitch McConnell (KY): $247,000 Rep. Devin Nunes (CA): $228, 000 Sen. Ron Johnson (WI): 223,000 Rep. Kevin […]
What Beto did
In case you missed it, yesterday Texas gubernatorial candidate (and U.S. Senate candidate and presidential candidate and former Congressman) Beto O’Rourke disrupted Texas governor Greg Abbott’s press conference on the school shooting in Ulvade: Watch: In addition to Abbott, Lieutenant […]
Nicholas Kristof: Gun reform that could save 15,000 lives
It’s pretty simple stuff, but don’t expect many GOP Senators to buy in. Here is a taste of Nicholas Kristof’s piece at The New York Times: Let’s just acknowledge that what we’re doing isn’t working, and we need new approaches. […]
“Are you going to put your own desire power ahead of our children?”
Steve Kerr is the head coach of the Golden State Warriors. They are playing in the NBA Western Conference finals right now. Kerr’s father, Malcolm Kerr, was assassinated by Islamic terrorists in 1984. He was the president of the American […]
“The gun is our Moloch”
My friend Christopher Jones just reminded me (via his Twitter feed) of this 2012 Garry Wills piece at New York Review of Books: Wills wrote in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting. It is worth revisiting today. 18 elementary […]
On “thoughts and prayers” and “God-given rights”
I know I just reposted this piece a few days ago after the Buffalo shooting, but it continues to represent my thinking about these mass shootings. Here is what I wrote at The Washington Post in August 2019: In the […]
What. Are. We. Doing?
At least fifteen kids dead. (Addendum: Now CNN is reporting 18 dead–mostly 2nd and 3rd graders). Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut speaks for many of us: