When Reps. Thomas Massie and Lauren Boebert took Christmas-themed photos of their family, the usual suspects howled. They went on about how it was in poor taste because there’d been a school shooting–though no one has been able to tell me what the appropriate waiting period is–and then the furor seemed to die down.

For a little while, we didn’t really hear much of anything.

Now, all of a sudden, it springs back up.

From Al Jazeera:

The holiday season is known for its celebration of life, togetherness, and giving. But for some US politicians, spreading Christmas cheer has come to mean promoting an increasingly dangerous gun culture. In what appears to be the latest GOP trend, Republican leaders have been posting their Christmas greetings with portraits of their families posing with military-grade guns.

On December 4, Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky tweeted a Christmas greeting with a photo of himself and his grinning family in front of a Christmas tree, armed to the teeth with assault weapons powerful enough to lead a small militia.

The image was posted just four days after 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley allegedly killed four of his fellow students and injured seven others at Oxford High School in Michigan in what was this year’s deadliest school shooting. Just one day before the shooting, Crumbley was caught by teachers searching for “ammo” on his phone. Massie captioned the photo with his wish for Santa to “please bring ammo”.

Despite receiving backlash for the display of callous indifference towards the innocent lives lost, Massie’s post inspired Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado to share her own gun-filled Christmas family photo, featuring her young children.

Frankly, I find it humorous that the semi-official propaganda arm of every Islamic terrorist organization on the planet thinks its opinion on the Second Amendment actually matters.

Spoiler: It doesn’t.

Yet it seems strange for this to pop up after such a silent period. It’s been a little while since this happened and while I didn’t figure everyone got over it, there was enough other stuff going on that I figured they’d decided it wasn’t that big of a deal.

And if it was just this one story, I wouldn’t think otherwise.

The problem is, it’s not the only one.

US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made waves when she posted a video outlining her accomplishments during 2021. She also used the opportunity to take a swipe at Republicans using their children – and their guns – as culture war props ahead of the Christmas holiday.

On Wednesday, Ms Ocasio-Cortez posted a video that highlighted the accomplishments of her and her team throughout 2021. The video garnered attention online, particularly after an Atlantic writer, Molly Jong-Fast, pointed out that it was “smart” and something “every congressperson and senator” should do.

After Ms Jong-Fast made the post, Ms Ocasio-Cortez retweeted it and took a shot at Republicans who have been posing with their children and guns in photos ostensibly meant to be Christmas greetings.

“Instead of clickbait with guns in front of Christmas trees, we decided to actually tell you what we accomplished for the community and country this year,” Ms Ocasio-Cortez wrote.

Of course, at the end of the day, Ocasio-Cortez didn’t really accomplish a damn thing. She found some stuff to toot her own horn about, but that won’t actually do anything for the American people.

Then again, considering what she considers an accomplishment, that’s for the best.

It’s interesting that AOC doesn’t seem to understand what clickbait actually is. It’s the practice of using a semi-deceiving headline in an effort to try and get you to click the link.

A Christmas photo isn’t clickbait.

What’s interesting in both is this sudden interest the anti-gun left is showing in Christmas. Al Jazeera refers to it as the real war on Christmas, as an example.

However, people have been taking Christmas photos with things they enjoy for ages. It’s not the most common thing, sure, but it’s not unusual. For Massie and Boebert–both outspoken proponents of the Second Amendment–to take a pic with firearms is about as unsurprising as AOC saying something socialist.

You just kind of expect it.

But why now? Why renew this push now when the outrage had already subsided and nothing new is going to be gained? My guess is this is an attempt to deflect at least some attention away from the Democrats failing to pass the Build Back Better bill. That’s a huge bloody nose and rather than address that, it’s far better in their mind to scream about how Republicans are waging a war on Christmas.

Frankly, their concern would have more merit if they’d at least pretended the holiday meant much of anything to them previously. You can’t downplay people’s concerns over what sure looks to a lot of people like overt attacks on Christmas, then get bent out of shape because someone took some Christmas card photos you don’t approve of.

The truth of the matter is that they don’t give a damn about Christmas.

What they care about is pushing guns into the fringe. They figure if people don’t see them, don’t feel as if they’re a normal part of life, then banning them becomes that much easier.

Instead, I’d recommend everyone take a photo with their guns in front of the Christmas tree. Sure, I know they’ll be lost in that tragic boating accident a week later, but it’ll still send the signal that our guns are here to stay, they’re part of our life, and folks should just go ahead and get used to it.