Hillary Clinton joined in the chorus of Democrats calling on Republicans to pass gun control after the horrific weekend mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton.
Although she has given up on running for office, Hillary Clinton couldn’t resist joining in with the virtue signaling of 2020 Democrats who have taken advantage of the tragedies to bash President Trump and push for new gun laws. Clinton said Sunday that “thoughts and prayers are not enough” and demanded that Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) take up gun control legislation that passed the House in February.
Clinton calls for gun control
Clinton’s tweet followed back-to-back shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton Ohio this weekend that killed more than 30 people and injured dozens in less than 24 hours. While the El Paso shooter was linked with a white nationalist manifesto that cited a “Hispanic invasion” of Texas, the shooter in Dayton appeared to be a leftist and Elizabeth Warren supporter.
Considering the disparate ideologies at play in these two monstrous acts, one would think that a conversation on mental health in America might be in order. But on the left, the shock and horror brought forth an ugly display of virtue signaling, as Democrats sought to pin the blame on Trump for stoking “racism,” and on Mitch McConnell for refusing to pass the Democrats’ gun control legislation.
“With two mass shootings in America in less than 24 hours, thoughts and prayers are not enough. We need action. The House has sent common-sense gun safety legislation to the Senate. Demand that @senatemajldr and your Republican elected officials join Democrats to pass it,” Clinton tweeted.
With two mass shootings in America in less than 24 hours, thoughts and prayers are not enough. We need action.
The House has sent common-sense gun safety legislation to the Senate. Demand that @senatemajldr and your Republican elected officials join Democrats to pass it.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) August 4, 2019
Some Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), called on McConnell to cut the August recess short to pass the bills in an emergency session. The “background check” label is deceivingly innocuous: the bills, which passed the House in February, would require universal background checks for all gun purchases and transfers, effectively criminalizing private gun sales. McConnell has said he is open to “bipartisan” solutions that don’t infringe on the Second Amendment.
McConnell, who was treated Sunday for a fall at home left that him with a fractured shoulder, expressed his condolences to the victims and reached out to senators in Texas and Ohio, but leftists denounced his “thoughts and prayers” as not good enough. Angry gun control supporters gathered outside McConnell’s Louisville home on Sunday night, where one protester expressed a wish to “stab the motherf****r in the heart.”
Guns, or something more?
For his part, Trump has signaled support for background checks and “red flag laws” to keep guns away from people considered to be at risk of committing violence. But in a Monday speech from the White House, Trump condemned white nationalism and laid the blame with “mental illness and hatred,” as well as a culture of violence encouraged by violent video games, rather than firearms.
Clinton and her husband Bill insisted that the blame lies with the weapons, rather than the individuals controlling them. “People suffer from mental illness in every other country on earth; people play video games in virtually every other country on earth. The difference is the guns,” Clinton tweeted.
To put a different spin on Clinton’s claim, guns have been part of American culture since the Founding, but mass shootings weren’t always this frequent or this deadly. Something changed, and it wasn’t the guns.
Years ago, people didn’t have to fear getting shot by a random stranger in public. Maybe — just maybe — taking religion and morals out of public life wasn’t the best idea. But the Democrats will never admit that, since they’re committed to abortion, secularism, and moral relativity. It’s more expedient for them to fearmonger and punish law-abiding citizens for the acts of a few deranged monsters.
Maybe instead of trying to take Americans’ freedoms away, Democrats could try actually addressing America’s crisis in morals and mental health. But that would require them to stop moralizing and start governing. And that seems unlikely.
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