Ocasio-Cortez Attacks 'Thoughts & Prayers' for New Zealand Shooting Victims
Radical New York Democrat responds to Christchurch terror attack that left 40 dead
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Radical New York Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has responded to Friday's mass shooting attack in Christchurch, New Zealand by attacking the use of the phrase "thoughts and prayers," as words of sympathy for the victims.
In what looks set to be the country’s worst-ever mass shooting, New Zealand officials have now confirmed at least 49 people have been killed, with another 48 victims, including children, being treated in Christchurch Hospital after a gunman, or gunmen, opened fire on Friday prayers at two mosques.
New Zealand's chief of police confirmed an Australian citizen and three others have been arrested the following the attacks, with one of the gunmen already being charged with murder.
People around the world have united in expressing their sympathies for the victims of the attacks and their loved ones.
Ocasio-Cortez was quick to politicize the incident by attacking the sentiment felt for those affected and twisting the events in the Australasian nation to link the attack to American gun legislation.
“At 1st I thought of saying, ‘Imagine being told your house of faith isn’t safe anymore.’,” she tweeted.
“But I couldn’t say ‘imagine.’ Because of Charleston. Pittsburgh. Sutherland Springs.
“What good are your thoughts & prayers when they don’t even keep the pews safe?” she concluded.
At 1st I thought of saying, “Imagine being told your house of faith isn’t safe anymore.”
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 15, 2019
But I couldn’t say “imagine.”
Because of Charleston.
Pittsburgh.
Sutherland Springs.
What good are your thoughts & prayers when they don’t even keep the pews safe?pic.twitter.com/2mSw0azDN8
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According to Breitbart, for the past few years, many advocates of gun control have responded to mass shooting events by openly mocking the expression “thoughts and prayers.”
Last year, for example, liberal comedian John Oliver, who hosts Last Week Tonight on HBO, reacted to the mass shooting at the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parklands, Florida, by saying (via Newsweek):
“Thoughts and prayers, fuck your thoughts and prayers, it’s a mental health problem, yeah but it’s also a gun problem and then someone says, ‘Now is not the time to talk about gun control’ and everyone moves on until it inevitably happens again.”
Following a backlash on Twitter to her comments on the New Zealand shootings, Ocasio-Cortez later backtracked on exactly what she meant in her tweet, claiming she was criticizing the American National Rifle Association:
(“Thoughts and prayers” is reference to the NRA’s phrase used to deflect conversation away from policy change during tragedies. Not directed to PM Ardern, who I greatly admire.)
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 15, 2019
New Zealand has more restrictive gun laws than those in the United States.
It is not yet clear how the murderer, or murderers, obtained the weapons used in the attack.
A report by the New Zealand Herald indicated that an armed Muslim man “chased the shooters and fired two shots at them as they sped off” from one of the sites targeted.
Ocasio-Cortez also re-tweeted a claim that President Donald Trump had inspired the shootings:
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The ideological motivations of the shooter, or shooters, were not yet clear, though a manifesto suggested an attraction to socialism, white supremacy, and “eco-fascism,” as well as a hatred of Muslims.
