A day after a gunman killed six people at a Christian elementary school in Nashville, Sen. Josh Hawley took to the Senate floor to denounce the shooting as a hate crime against Christians.
“We must also tell the truth about what happened yesterday in Nashville,” Hawley said. “This murderous rampage, this taking of innocent life, was a horrific crime, but more specifically, it was a hate crime. A crime that according to Nashville police, specifically targeted, that’s their word, targeted, the members of this Christian community, the members of this religious institution.”
Under federal law, a hate crime is one motivated by race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability.
Nashville police have said the shooter “targeted” the Covenant School, which is a private Christian school, according to the Tennessean, and are reviewing a “manifesto.” But police have not offered specific details about the reasons the school was targeted. The shooter, who police say was a 28-year-old transgender man, attended the school when he was a child.
The Nashville shooter was killed by police, and is therefore unable to face legal charges.
Hawley’s comments are part of the deadlocked debate over gun laws in America, where the aftermath of a shooting often feels as if it’s playing out according to a script.
Gun control advocates, and many Democratic members of Congress, renewed their call for more restrictions on guns after reports that the shooter used two assault-style weapons (a pistol and a rifle) and a handgun. There have been 130 mass shootings already this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more people are wounded or killed, not including the shooter.
But Republicans have remained steadfast in their opposition to efforts to tighten gun laws, like the assault weapons ban being pushed by President Joe Biden. In 2021, Sen. Bob Casey, a Pennsylvania Democrat, introduced a bill called the Disarm Hate Crimes Act, which would prevent someone who has been convicted of perpetuating a hate crime from owning a firearm. The bill had no Republican co-sponsors.
Instead, Hawley appears to be adopting the rhetoric often employed by Democrats after a shooter targets a minority community — like shootings at an LGBTQ club, or in a neighborhood with a high population of Asian Americans — and placing it in the larger context of the culture war.
“I would call on those corporate partners, who are so quick to weigh on social issues,” Hawley said. “Now make your voice heard, condemn this crime as the hate crime that it is. This is a time to be heard, this is a time to be clear about what has happened and is unfolding before our very eyes.”
Along with sponsoring a resolution to denounce the shooting as a hate crime, Hawley wrote a letter to the Department of Homeland Security and FBI, calling on them to investigate the shooting as a hate crime. He said people need more evidence and facts about the motive of the shooter.
The DHS and FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hawley’s speech echoes some of the response to the shooting in conservative media, where commentators have latched onto the identity of the shooter, who was transgender, adding fuel to a push by conservatives to restrict transgender rights, a movement often influenced by religion.
He did not mention that the shooter was transgender, and instead used female pronouns to describe him.
Hawley said the Senate has to condemn “rhetoric about days of vengeance and genocide, rhetoric directed against religious believers of whatever background, whether they’re Presbyterians, like the students and teachers and employees targeted yesterday, or some other Christian affiliation, or orthodox Jews, or Catholics or whatever background.”
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COLUMBINE STUDENT’S FATHER 12 YEARS LATER !!
“Guess our national leaders didn’t expect this. On Thursday, Darrell Scott, the father of Rachel Scott, a victim of the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colorado, was invited to address the House Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee. What he said to our national leaders during this special session of Congress was painfully truthful.
I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy — it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies! Much of the blame lies here in this room. Much of the blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves. I wrote a poem just four nights ago that expresses my feelings best.
Your laws ignore our deepest needs,
Your words are empty air.
You’ve stripped away our heritage,
You’ve outlawed simple prayer.
Now gunshots fill our classrooms,
And precious children die.
You seek for answers everywhere,
And ask the question “Why?”
You regulate restrictive laws,
Through legislative creed.
And yet you fail to understand,
That God is what we need!
“Men and women are three-part beings. We all consist of body, mind, and spirit. When we refuse to acknowledge a third part of our make-up, we create a void that allows evil, prejudice, and hatred to rush in and wreak havoc. Spiritual presences were present within our educational systems for most of our nation’s history. Many of our major colleges began as theological seminaries. This is a historical fact. What has happened to us as a nation? We have refused to honor God, and in so doing, we open the doors to hatred and violence.
And, though many/few continue to PRAY for America, since God has been kicked to the curb in this country, I question not just if God is listening, but of more concern, is God removing his hand of protection from over His country!
Democrat, Socialist/Communist party President, JOE BIDEN says,” Sometimes revenge can be sweet and outright wicked without letting the enemy know that you plan mischief in your mind while outwardly you maintain a sweet smile that crushes them.” from PENLIGHTEN WEB SITE
Only JOE BIDEN and his puppet masters knows.
Ultimately the issue is spiritual. No matter what words or phrases you might use, in the end it boils down to God versus Satan, light versus darkness, good versus evil. And until and unless that is recognized, we can tilt at windmills all we like and accomplish the same results that Don Quixote did.
A crime that according to Nashville police, specifically targeted, that’s their word, targeted, the members of this Christian community
Let’s see what, if anything happens. Though I wouldn’t count on it.
Wut-they-gunna-do, roast the dead killer over a pit of fire? I’m thinking that is possibly already on-going.
Not with Biden’s Dept of just us..
” When the GOVERNMENT FEARS THE PEOPLE, THERE IS LIBERTY. When the people fear the Government, there is TYRANNEY.” Author of Quote- Unknown.
”Don’t do as we do, DO AS WE SAY.” Author of quote, unknown.
“…. more specifically, it was a hate crime.” It may just be me, but all the clamor to label some killing a “hate crime” is ludicrous, especially in light of the fact that few, if any, of the Evil doers survive the event! It would seem only common sense that where or how the dead are MURDERED is irrelevant, as the killing act is already the ULTIMATE “hate crime.”
HELL Will freeze over before the Flipping Bumbling Idiocy does a damn thing of the sort.
These days Christians are the only group that is fair game for haters. The DOJ has no intention of prosecuting anyone who victimizes followers of Christ. Merrick Garland is a democrat operative, and we all know that means he views Christians as the enemy. The new protected class in America are the deviates who want to force the rest of us down into a phycological hell hole and this administration is all in.
Christians, whites, males and conservatives.