AUTHOR’S NOTE: I wrote this op-ed as a former teacher, principal, and family advocate because every child deserves protection.
Like clockwork, Republicans issue heartfelt condolences and prayers to grieving families and the Minneapolis community after yet another mass shooting in America — this time tearing through the stained glass windows of a church where children and their teachers sought solace and sanctuary during their first week of school.
The political conservatives promise prayers and talk about “thoughts” and “support.”
When Condolences Become a Broken Record
“Cindy and I are lifting up in prayer the students, families, and staff impacted by the horrific shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis. We are deeply thankful for the swift action of first responders and stand alongside this community as more details unfold,” Pro Life, Republican Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma posted on X.
But these types of familiar phrases ring hollow when such tragedies recur with unrelenting frequency, and with so little meaningful change.
This Minneapolis attack marks not only another wound on our national soul but, chillingly, the fifth school shooting of 2025 — and we’re not even done with summer.
We’ve normalized blood spilled inside institutions where children learn and where congregations gather. That fact alone should strip public officials of any pretense that words alone suffice.
Words matter. But they matter most when they lead to action and policy changes that protect people’s lives.
And yet, instead of taking this moment to reframe America’s approach to gun violence, many political leaders retreat behind ritual phrases and partisan absolutions.
“The White House will continue to monitor this terrible situation. Please join me in praying for everyone involved,” President Donald Trump posted. Hours later, he announced that the White House would lower the flag to half-staff.
“Thoughts and prayers” won’t stop bullets—or save lives. Support independent journalism that demands action and accountability.
What Americans need now is policy change — and less symbolism.
Beyond Condolences: What Real Reform Requires
First, we must enforce meaningful background checks. It’s not enough to say “thoughts and prayers” while loopholes allow shooters to slip past scrutiny. Universal background checks — closing the “gun show” and private?sale loopholes — remain widely supported yet continuously blocked.
Second, we must end the legislative logjam that protects gun manufacturers, enshrining immunity even when their products cause predictable carnage. Firearms are not absolved by law when they are used en masse to slaughter, be that in classrooms or worship halls. If we are serious about accountability, the legal immunity that shields sellers must go.
Third, investment in community?based prevention and mental?health resources is imperative. We cannot believe that building mental health infrastructures is “too hard” or “too expensive.” It is, instead, an ethical and budgetary necessity. Let us fund programs that counsel children, support grieving families, strengthen schools, and foster safe, restorative environments.
This public massacre in a church makes one thing clear: no one is safe. No community or faith is immune—not Jewish congregations, not Black Episcopalians. Your political affiliation—Republican or Democrat—won’t shield you from bullets.
Churches are meant to offer sanctuary and peace. A 10-year-old witness said he and his classmates had never practiced a mass shooting drill in the sanctuary. He said his friend was a hero for taking a bullet for him, just after he felt hot gunpowder graze his neck as they both dove under the pews. His friend was shielding him from the bullets.
But Republicans don’t want to be political.
That vulnerability is a national moral failure.
From Brady to Parkland: Lessons in Action
Still, history offers hope. In the early 1990s, lifesaving legislation like the Brady Act — which instituted background checks — passed precisely because the public demanded it. More recently, America enacted bipartisanship?driven reforms following Parkland, led by young advocates. Those successes prove that legislation is possible when citizens insist on action.
Notably, Senator Lankford voted “no” on the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act in June 2022—a major Senate-backed package that included enhanced background checks, expanded mental health and school safety funding, and support for red-flag laws. If he didn’t like the amendments, he could have voted to amend them or drafted and proposed new legislation. But he has not. He, like the rest of the Republicans, has offered more thoughts and prayers.
Fourteen of the victims today are between the ages of 6 and 15. Are their lives not valuable enough to pass common-sense gun reform?
So, if Republicans are sincere when they say “We stand with you,” let them act. Let them stand with the communities–the mothers and fathers who have lost children. Let them stand with educators, students, worshipers—not with gun lobbyists. Let them introduce, advocate for, and pass legislation that saves lives, protects institutions, and honors grief by preventing it in the future.
In the meantime, each “condolence” statement echoes emptily. Until we replace ritual sympathy with real policy, we condemn ourselves to repeat these tragedies, again and again — like clockwork.
We’re naming the hard truth: “thoughts and prayers” won’t stop bullets.
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