Republicans Made School and Church Shootings Normal. We Don’t Have to Accept It.
Until we stop electing Republicans, school and church shootings will not stop.
How many more communities need to be torn apart before we admit the truth? How many more parents must bury their children? How many more Americans must die in classrooms, churches, supermarkets, and concert venues before we face the reality staring us in the face?
We don’t have a mystery on our hands. We’re not in the dark about why this keeps happening. We live in the wealthiest nation on Earth, where mass shootings happen with horrifying regularity. And we also live in the wealthiest nation on Earth where one major political party has pledged itself, body and soul, to the gun lobby.
That’s not a coincidence.
Republicans have chosen their side. They’ve chosen the National Rifle Association over grieving families. They’ve chosen campaign contributions over the lives of schoolchildren. They’ve chosen to defend weapons of war over the most basic right of all—the right to live.
And here’s the hard truth: school and church shootings won’t stop until we stop electing Republicans.
The Republican Record: Blood on Their Hands
Every time tragedy strikes, Republicans step in front of cameras to offer “thoughts and prayers.” They bow their heads, feign sorrow, and then return to business as usual: blocking any legislation that could save lives.
Consider the record:
Universal background checks are supported by nearly 90% of Americans. Republicans block them.
Red flag laws could stop dangerous individuals from obtaining firearms. Republicans block them.
Assault weapons bans could reduce the slaughter we see in schools and churches. Republicans block them.
Safe storage laws could prevent children from finding guns in their homes. Republicans block them.
This is not a matter of public opinion being divided. The overwhelming majority of Americans—Democrats, independents, and even many Republicans—support common-sense gun laws. The problem is that Republican politicians don’t represent the people. They represent the gun industry.
And the cost of their allegiance is paid in blood.
The Human Cost They Refuse to See
It’s easy to get lost in numbers. Statistics pile up: over 600 mass shootings in America last year alone. Guns are now the leading cause of death for children and teenagers in this country.
But behind every number is a story.
A classroom where desks are left empty.
A Sunday service cut short by screams.
A grocery store aisle turned into a graveyard.
Mother collapses in grief as they’re told their children aren’t coming home.
Republicans want us to look away. They want us to numb ourselves to this pain, to accept it as “the price of freedom.” But let’s be clear: this isn’t freedom. This is fear. This is a society held hostage by the selfishness of politicians who would rather protect assault rifles than protect children.
The Big Lie About Guns
Republicans justify their inaction with a tired refrain: “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” But if that were true, why does this crisis exist only here? Why don’t children in Canada, the U.K., or Japan endure active shooter drills as part of daily life?
The answer is simple: they don’t have a Republican Party. They don’t have politicians blocking every single attempt to regulate firearms. They don’t have leaders who confuse worship of the Second Amendment with worship of God.
The Republican Party has built its identity around a dangerous lie—that more guns make us safer. The evidence says otherwise. States with stricter gun laws have fewer shootings. States that loosen regulations see more deaths. The math isn’t complicated. But Republicans have turned gun ownership into a twisted badge of loyalty. They don’t want solutions, because solutions would expose their lies.
Democrats Have Solutions—Republicans Block Them
We know what works. Every time Democrats gain ground, they push forward life-saving legislation:
The Brady Bill brought background checks.
The 1994 assault weapons ban reduced mass shooting deaths.
The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, passed under President Biden, strengthened background checks for young buyers and helped fund red flag laws.
These aren’t hypotheticals—they saved lives. But every step forward is met with Republican resistance, lawsuits, and sabotage.
Republicans love to say “this isn’t the time” whenever tragedy strikes. But if not after a massacre, when is the time? Their delay is deliberate. It’s a tactic. They stall, hoping we’ll move on, hoping the outrage will fade. And too often, it does—until the next mass shooting reminds us that nothing has changed.
Breaking the Cycle
We have to break the cycle. And that starts with being brutally honest:
Republicans will never fix this problem.
They will never stand up to the gun lobby.
They will never put children over campaign donations.
If we want change, we can’t wait for Republicans to find their conscience. We have to vote them out.
That means showing up—not just in presidential elections, but in every election. State legislatures write gun laws. School boards set safety policies. Governors sign or veto reforms. Every ballot matters. Every seat counts.
Republicans are counting on us to lose focus. They’re counting on fatigue. They’re counting on despair. But despair is a luxury we can’t afford. Too many lives are on the line.
The Moral Choice
At its core, this is not about politics. It’s about morality.
Do we value guns more than children? Do we believe the right to own an AR-15 is more sacred than the right of a teenager to come home alive from school? Do we believe worshippers deserve to pray in peace, or do we shrug and say “that’s just the way things are”?
Republicans have already answered these questions. Their answer is clear: guns come first.
Now the choice is ours. Do we accept their answer—or do we fight back?
It’s not enough to grieve. It’s not enough to post outrage on social media. It’s not enough to wait for the next tragedy and repeat the cycle.
Here’s what we must do:
Vote: Every election, every level of government. Register, show up, bring others with you.
Organize: Join local groups fighting for gun safety. Support movements like Moms Demand Action and Everytown for Gun Safety.
Hold Republicans Accountable: Call them out every time they block reforms. Name their complicity. Refuse to let them hide behind empty platitudes.
Support Survivors: Lift up the voices of families and communities devastated by gun violence. Their stories keep this issue alive.
Stay Loud: Don’t let the news cycle bury this. Keep talking, keep writing, keep demanding change.
The Republican Party has shown us who they are. Now we have to show them who we are:
We are parents who want our children to be safe while in school.
We are worshippers who want our churches to be secure while in God’s presence.
We are citizens who refuse to live in fear.
And we are voters who will not reward politicians who trade our lives for campaign checks.
The Bottom Line
If we want school and church shootings to stop, we have to stop electing Republicans. It’s as simple as that.
This isn’t about hating one party or loving another. It’s about survival. It’s about refusing to let our nation be defined by violence. It’s about believing that America can be better than this.
The bloodshed will continue as long as Republicans hold power. But it doesn’t have to. The power to end this nightmare lies in our hands.
The question is no longer whether we can stop it. The question is whether we will.
And history will remember our answer.
We need a change in our culture too. Most Americans, 70 -80%, want stricter gun regulation. I began my gun control calls, letters and emails to my representatives about 45 years ago. I also donate money!
Yet, we never get those regulations. We need a national campaign like the one that finally made smoking uncool. At one time I remember pediatricians were starting something. But I haven't seen anymore about it.
And we have to hold churches accountable. I left the Catholic Church because I was sick of the American Bishops focus on abortion, abortion, abortion. Some priests and bishops have actually encouraged their congregations to vote Republican because they are "prolife." Yet, they are silent about the morality of gun ownership. I had finally had enough in 2005, after a teenage girl was murdered in Colorado. The gunman took girls in a classroom hostage. The police responded quickly. He shot her as the girls were escaping. About a week later, another adult male took 13 Amish girls hostage. He shot all of them. Seven died. The Sunday after these murders, my church made a beautiful, candlelight memorial to the victims. The candles weighed on me for another week or two before I realized how angry I was. I stopped going to Mass and a week or two later my husband stopped too. I miss the community and the ceremony but I don't miss the hypocrisy. OUR RIGHT TO LIFE DOESN'T END WITH OUR FIRST BREATH.
I don't know, Dems have lined their pockets with $$ from the NRA also, they had plenty of time (decades actually) to make sweeping changes and failed to do so.
Just like they had decades to modify Roe v. Wade and failed to do it.
Decades to pass dreamers/ immigration legislation.
Politicians like to keep issues around to run on, too few are about real solutions.
Now look at the mess we're in.