Ted Cruz Defends ’Thoughts And Prayers’ Response To Massacre

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Following a second mass shooting in less than a week, the time in Boulder, Colorado, Sen. Ted Cruz pushed back against Democratic lawmakers with contradictory remarks during a Tuesday Senate hearing on gun violence.

According to the Texas senator, Democratic lawmakers are only focused on sociological "theater."

"All of us lift up in prayer the families in Boulder, Colorado, the families in Atlanta that lost their lives, including the police officer in Boulder, Colorado," Cruz said. "I can tell you in Texas we've seen far too many of these."

Cruz also recalled a number of other similar shootings that have taken place in Texas. "Every time there's a shooting we play this ridiculous theatre where this committee gets together and proposes a bunch of laws that would do nothing to stop these murders!" Cruz exclaimed.

"We will learn in the coming days and weeks the exact motivation of the murderers in Atlanta and Boulder, Colorado," Cruz said. "But we already know this pattern is predictable, over and over and over again, there are steps we can take to stop these crimes. And you know what the steps aren't? The steps aren't disarming law-abiding citizens. Every year firearms are used in the defensive capacity to defend women, children, families roughly a million times a year in the United States."

But despite admitting that gun violence is a serious issue in the United States, Cruz railed against the Democratic lawmakers advocating for firearm regulations. He also claimed Democrats have a "contempt" for prayer.

"The Democrats who want to take away the guns from those victims would create more victims of crimes not less. I agree it's a time for action, and by the way, I don't apologize for thoughts or prayers. I will lift up in prayer people who are hurting and I believe in the power of prayer, and the contempt of Democrats for prayers is an odd sociological thing. But I also agree thoughts and prayers are not enough — we need action."

According to The New York Times, the Violence Project, a database of armed attacks, has unearthed statistics about mass shootings over the last five years. During that time span, a total of 29 mass shootings have taken place in which four or more victims were killed.