In a lot of ways, Shannon Watts is the gift that keeps on giving. While she somehow made it to the top of the heap that passes for the gun control crowd these days, she did it while potentially being the single dumbest advocate they could possibly have found. I’m serious, her stupidity on anything related to firearms is impressive.
Her latest escapade is in trying to spin the White Settlement shooting as somehow being the fault of pro-gun legislation in Texas.
.@KenPaxtonTX shouldn’t be shocked by the church shooting in White Settlement. As Texas Attorney General, he specifically made sure that guns are allowed inside churches in the state: https://t.co/wBlzuBpGZt #txlege https://t.co/lLGfMgYD2S
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) December 29, 2019
Now, Cam smacked Shannon around on Sunday, of course. And, also of course, I agree with everything he said. The idea that a law barring guns inside of churches would have dissuaded this individual from carrying out this attack is beyond ridiculous. Anyone with an IQ north of room temperature should be able to see that.
However, even if you didn’t, there’s also the fact that Watts assessment of the law is so completely off-base as to be completely and totally wrong.
You see, the law in question does a couple of things. One is that it allows churches in Texas to have a volunteer security detail. This comes in the wake of Sutherland Springs, a mass shooting that took place before the law was passed–and, incidentally, an example of how potential mass killers don’t skip mass killings just because they’re not legally allowed to carry a gun somewhere–and it allows churches that can’t afford professional security or off-duty police to also be protected.
More than that, though, it also makes it so churches who opt to forbid the carry of firearms are required to tell their congregations that guns aren’t allowed. This allows parishioners to determine whether or not they want to endorse this or not. Since this is Texas we’re talking about, I suspect a lot of churches have decided not to take that path lest their pews be really empty on Sundays, but they have that option.
In other words, they leave the ultimate authority on the issue of carrying up to the churches.
While the law allows armed citizens to be armed in their places of worship, Watts fails to note that it wasn’t a blanket decree that churches are powerless in the face of. They have the option to be gun-free zones.
It just so happens that this particular church wasn’t one of those, and that worked out for the best.
What Watts really wanted was another Sutherland Springs. She wanted to see a bloodbath and, frankly, she’s pissed she didn’t get it. Instead, her life’s work is completely and totally undermined by the reality of the situation. So, she lashed out as best she could think to lash out.
Unfortunately for her, there’s absolutely nothing she’s saying that has even an approaching relationship with the truth. The fact of the matter is that the law she’s decrying saved countless lives. People are going to celebrate New Year’s Eve that Shannon Watts and her crowd would have sentenced to death had they gotten their way.
So, she’s going to lash out like she did in this tweet, and who really cares if it has any relationship with the truth or not? She and her fan club sure as hell don’t.
