There are a number of members of the House of Representatives for whom I have tremendous respect – Nancy Pelosi, Hakeem Jeffries, Adam Schiff and many more – but perhaps my favourite is Jamie Raskin.  Mr. Raskin has gone through hell and back since first being elected to represent Maryland’s 8^th district in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2017, and still he retains his integrity, sharp intellect, humanity, and humour.  For those who may not know, Raskin’s son, Tommy, committed suicide on New Year’s Eve 2020.  Raskin buried his son on January 5^th, 2021, the day before the attempted coup at the Capitol.  Then in 2022, for the second time in his life, Jamie was diagnosed with cancer.  Fortunately, after undergoing chemotherapy, his cancer is in remission, but he’s had a hard time, with certain members of the House and the media actually mocking him for wearing a head covering when he lost his hair due to the treatments.  He continued to work diligently, despite his serious health issues and was an important member of the January 6^th committee.

Yesterday, Jamie Raskin published a humorous, yet relevant guest post in The Washington Post that I want to share with you today … I think you’ll find it spot-on for how Republicans respond to mass shootings.

A handy manual for Republicans commenting on mass shootings

By Jamie Raskin

29 January 2024

On the day Mike Johnson (R-La.) became House speaker, 18 Americans were massacred and 13 injured by a mass shooter in Lewiston, Maine — but Johnson’s comments the next day already showed deft command of what is obviously the GOP’s Mass Shooting Rhetorical First-Response Protocol. In the event that Johnson is deposed and another Republican is chosen as speaker and needs a primer — and for the benefit of all members of Congress following National Rifle Association message discipline — I have compiled this guide.

Beginning with a quote from Johnson, it assembles phrases that have worked well to bury the vast majority of mass shootings in the United States — including the more than 600 recorded in 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive — in pious nonsense, logical contradiction and legislative inaction. Please copy and paste as needed.

In the immediate aftermath of the mass shooting, you say:

“Prayer is appropriate in a time like this, that the evil can end and this senseless violence can stop.”

If the mass shooter uses an AR-15 to kill children in a public school, you say:

“We had AR-15s in the 1960s. [But] we didn’t have those mass school shootings. … We actually had prayer in school during those days.”

But if children are massacred in a Christian school where they have just prayed (or worshipers are killed in a church, mosque or synagogue), you say:

“We’re not going to fix it. Criminals are going to be criminals.”

If no police or armed security personnel were inside the school during the mass shooting, you say:

“We can arm and prepare and train teachers and other administrators to respond quickly.”

If armed staff, police officers or security guards were present but were unable to halt the massacre, you say:

“We must particularly thank and honor our law enforcement and first responders who continue to face skyrocketing violent crimes across the nation.”

If the mass shooter has a history of mental illness, you say:

“We are working to address that anger and violence by going to its root cause, which is addressing the mental health problems behind it.”

If the mass shooter has no recorded history of mental illness, you say:

“We need to return to God.”

If the killer’s weapons were legally obtained, you say:

“I stand behind efforts to enforce our existing laws better.”

But if anyone suggests the existing laws are not sufficient, you say:

“Criminals and mass murderers will ignore any new gun-control law just as they ignore the strict gun control laws in our nation’s most violent cities.”

If you are asked why the United States is a global outlier in gun violence, you say:

“I’m sorry you think American exceptionalism is awful. You’ve got your political agenda.”

If you are pressed for solutions and can no longer avoid proposing action, you say:

“Something has happened to our society, and I go back to abortion. When we decided it was okay to murder kids in their mother’s wombs, life has no value to a lot of these folks.”

If families or communities who have lost loved ones are demanding change in government’s approach to gun safety, you say:

“Too often tragedies are politicized for partisan gain, and we have seen many seek to leverage these crimes and their victims to push for radical left-wing policies.”