Why is it still "Thoughts And Prayers?

The Republicans' love affair with guns.

It is still happening, and it is getting worse. I am speaking about mass shooting incidents. The Gun Violence Archive defines mass shootings as “having a minimum of four victims shot, either injured or killed, not including any shooter who may also have been killed or injured in the incident.” According to the Gun Violence Archive, as of August 2, 2025, there have been 493 mass shootings in the U.S., resulting in 1,694 killings since the beginning of the year; that’s 1,694 calls for “thoughts and prayers” from Republicans. Thoughts and prayers don’t stop mass shootings; only stricter gun control can. How did we get here?

Start with the one-sentence 2^nd Amendment, “A well-regulated militia, being necessary for the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed,” which has undergone some fatal interpretations. The arguments we hear today seem to overlook the “well-regulated militia” part and focus only on “the right of the people to keep and bear arms” thanks to the National Rifle Association. But the NRA wasn’t always like that.

The NRA was established in 1871 in part to improve the marksmanship skills of men who might be involved in future wars and in part to promote the British sport of elite shooting and rifle clubs. The NRA supported the Gun Control Act of 1968. One of the NRA’s main goals was to teach about gun safety. But things changed in the 1970s when some of the membership forced the organization to focus less on the sport and more on opposing “gun control.” In 1975, the NRA started the lobbying group, the Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA). Two years later, Harlon Carter, a lobbyist who did not believe in compromising for gun legislation, was elected the NRA’s executive vice president. He installed Neal Knox, a hard-liner, to head the NRA-ILA. “The new marching orders were to oppose all forms of gun control across the board and lobby aggressively for gun owners' rights in Congress and the legislatures” (NPR, 10/10/17). It has been that way ever since.

It was in the 1980s that the NRA affiliated itself with Reagan’s Republican Party. Interestingly, it was in 1981 that there was an assassination attempt on President Reagan, which badly wounded him and his press secretary, James Brady. One would think that this attempt on Reagan’s life would call for more gun control. But the Republican Congress gave in to the NRA and passed the Firearms Owners’ Protection Act, making it easier to buy, sell, and transport guns across state lines. Then in 1987, the Brady Bill was introduced in Congress. It would require background checks before gun purchases. The NRA strongly opposed it, and the bill did not pass until 1993, under President Bill Clinton’s administration.

By the 1990s, radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh and Alex Jones encouraged their listeners to take up arms against the government to stop socialism and the imposition of martial law. A Supreme Court ruling in 1997 sealed the partnership between the NRA and the Republican Party when it held that it was unconstitutional for the federal government to require states to perform background checks. The Republican members of Congress and the NRA were now speaking with one voice.

Today, we again find Republican members of Congress in favor of unlimited gun ownership and opposed to universal background checks, although, according to the McCourtney Institute for Democracy’s latest poll, 86% of all voters, including 80% of Republicans, support requiring all gun purchasers to go through a background check. As usual, the Republican members of Congress do not represent their constituents.

Gun violence has reached epidemic proportions. Are we on our way to finally realizing that “thoughts and prayers” won’t solve our gun violence problem? After every mass shooting, the Republicans seem to say, “Now is not the time to talk about gun control.” They have given the same response after nearly every mass shooting in the U.S. since the Columbine High School shooting. With more than 493 mass shootings so far this year, more than two every day, when do Republicans think it will be the time to talk about gun violence? It has been almost 13 years since the Sandy Hook tragedy, which remains the deadliest elementary school shooting in modern U.S. history. It has been nearly eight years since the mass shooting in Las Vegas, which killed 60 people, the largest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. If now is not the time to talk about gun control, when is? Republicans, very simply, do not want to face the issue.

Speaking of mass shootings, after a series of mass shootings in 2019, President Trump stated what many people erroneously believe. “I don't want people to forget that this is a mental health problem.” That’s bullshit! This attempt at scapegoating the mentally ill is meant to deflect the reasons mental health experts have stated are contributors to mass shootings. As American Psychological Association President Rosie Phillips Davis, Ph.D., said in response to mass shootings, “[W]e are facing a public health crisis of gun violence fueled by racism, bigotry, and hatred… Routinely blaming mass shootings on mental illness is unfounded and stigmatizing… One critical factor is access to, and the lethality of, the weapons that are being used in these crimes. Adding racism, intolerance, and bigotry to the mix is a recipe for disaster” (APA, 8/4/2019). These are the systemic problems we should be addressing.

Until and unless we as a nation put our resources into addressing these issues, we are facing an increase in the frequency and intensity of mass shootings. The Democrats are ready; the Republicans, as usual, are not. The time for “thoughts and prayers” is over. Now is the time for action, and Republicans in Congress need to face the facts.

Resist. Stay strong. We’re in this together.

This is a revised version of an article appearing in Adrian's The Daily Telegram (2021)