There's a script that seems to run in the wake of a mass shooting. The media immediately lashes out at "thoughts and prayers," which seems pretty insensitive considering the victims of this heinous attack were praying at the time, and they push for gun control.
It's timeless. It's inevitable. It's like there's a class in journalism school that teaches them that this is a professional mandate, that they'll lose their press credentials if they don't do it.
So, let's talk a bit about some of that.
For starters, let's start with the former White House press secretary under Biden, Jen Psaki. She only looked good at her job because of who came after, but she landed at MSNBC after she left the White House. It's clear she was on board with Biden's anti-gun push, too.
MSNBC’s Jen Psaki wasted no time at all trying to capitalize on the horrific school shooting at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Wednesday.
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“Prayer is not freaking enough. Prayers does not end school shootings. prayers do not make parents feel safe sending their kids to school. Prayer does not bring these kids back. Enough with the thoughts and prayers,” she tweeted initially.
No, prayer doesn't bring them back. It doesn't bring anyone back. I wish it would. My friend Kim would still be here. Ryan Petty's daughter, Alaina, would still be here. Hell, my mom and dad would still be here if prayer worked that way.
It doesn't.
But that doesn't mean it should be mocked. It's fine to say that's not enough, but that's not what Psaki did.
If that were all she said, it would be too much, but she didn't stop there.
But Psaki wasn’t done yet.
“When kids are getting shot in their pews at a catholic school mass and your crime plan is to have national guard put mulch down around DC maybe rethink your strategy,” she suggested next.
...The vulgarity of Psaki’s utterance was almost — almost — overshadowed by its imbecility. To state the obvious: President Donald Trump’s crackdown on crime in Washington, D.C., an area over which the federal government is legally obligated to oversee and whose citizens have for years lived in fear, has nothing to do with the carnage in Minneapolis. Psaki’s “argument,” if it can be called that, is a total non-sequitur. Especially considering the fact that Trump’s actions in D.C. have undoubtedly saved lives; on Tuesday, the capital recorded its first homicide in nearly two weeks.
Perhaps Psaki believes that some prescriptions designed to prevent a loss of life might not be worth the trade-offs. And, if that’s the case, she ought to be more charitable to those who have the same reservations about her own prescriptions. That may be asking a bit too much, though; a deep thinker, Psaki is not.
Agreed on all counts.
D.C. is safer today than it was before Trump rolled in the National Guard. Many residents are absolutely thrilled by the move because their supposed city leaders weren't doing anything to keep them safe. Now, they feel secure for the first time in ages. For some, the first time in their lives, and Psaki is trying to somehow blame this for what happened in Minneapolis?
Is she suggesting that should be the norm elsewhere? Obviously not, but what efforts are happening in one place have little to no impact on what's going on elsewhere.
But hearing anti-gun stupidity on MSNBC isn't unusual. They might be rebranding, but they're not retreading, so this is going to keep happening.
A lot of people expect better from Fox News, though.
While former Rep. Trey Gowdy got rocked by Cam over his call for red flag laws on the network, he wasn't the only one making such a claim.
Fox News guest: "I know very staunch Second Amendment advocates who totally agree with Red Flag laws. Your right to a gun is not universal. It's not sacrosanct. There are limits on it." pic.twitter.com/UH2i1rEt2C
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) August 27, 2025
GOA's Luis Valdes, a former school resource officer, had...let's just call them "differing views."
As a former School Resource Officer, I can unequivocally state that retired NYPD Ofc. Paul Mauro is wrong.
— Luis Valdes (@RealFLGunLobby) August 27, 2025
Red Flag Orders, nor any other gun control laws stop criminals.
Criminals are criminals because they break the law.
ARM OUR TEACHERS AND STAFF! THAT STOPS CRIMINALS! https://t.co/PxLGr5hC0E
Bingo.
The truth is, our right to a gun is, in fact, sacrosanct. It has to be, otherwise, it will vanish. The only exception is via due process, as with all other rights.
Look, in the aftermath of something awful, it's not unusual to start looking for solutions and looking in the places we've been told repeatedly they rest. I even made some comments that sounded a lot like support for red flag laws after Parkland--I was even down with them for about five minutes until I thought about it, to be completely honest--so I get it.
The issue is that, as Mauro did eventually acknowledge, there are red flag laws on the books in Minnesota. As we see, they did absolutely nothing. This isn't the only state that has had such a shooting while also having red flag laws. The laws are meaningless in and of themselves, and the truth is that planning a mass shooting is already illegal. A lot of people have gone to prison for just planning one, and we've seen it happen.
So no, we don't need anything like that.
But the media likes it when people say just that. They prop them up and give them a platform.
And it's up to us to push back.
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