As predictable as conservative political cartoonists drawing crying Uncle Sams after this week’s school shooting in Parkland, Florida, Republicans tweeted out “thoughts and prayers.”
Thoughts and prayers are very nice. I’m not against thoughts and prayers. I am against only offering thoughts and prayers. Republicans are bad about offering thoughts and prayers while aiding a lobbying organization that opposes all methods of gun control, or even gun sense.
After the Las Vegas shooting, we were told it was too soon to talk about it. But, there was talk of ending the sale of bump stocks, a device that basically turns a semi-automatic weapon into an automatic weapon. It’s been five months since the Vegas massacre, but I guess it’s still too soon because we’ve yet to see any effort in ending the sales of bump stocks.
Incredulity has been expressed at the fact a 19-year-old can’t buy a drink, can’t buy a handgun, but in Florida, he can purchase a semi-automatic AR-15, the gun of choice for mass shooters. That’s the law and there’s nothing illegal about it until he starts shooting his former classmates. Will we see Republicans, who control the House, Senate, Presidency, and even the governorship in Florida, do anything about this? Looking at the financial contributions from the NRA to Republicans, all we can expect are more thoughts and prayers while creating laws that make it as easy as possible to kill dozens of people in a manner of minutes.
While Trump’s lawyer pays off porn stars to shut up, the NRA pays of Republicans to tell us to shut up about gun control. The porn star was a lot cheaper and has higher principles.
Senator John McCain is the granddaddy of receiving money from the NRA. He’s taken $7,740,521. But, he did offer thoughts and prayers.
Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina has accepted $6, 986,620 from the NRA. He also offered thoughts and prayers.
Roy Blunt, Senator from Missouri, got $4,551,146. He too offered thoughts and prayers.
Cory Gardner, Senator from Colorado, got $3,879,064. He sent his thoughts and prayers.
Iowa Senator Joni Ernst took $3,124,273 and gave us thoughts and prayers.
Indiana’s Todd Young got $2,896,732 and gave thoughts and prayers.
Louisiana’s Bill Cassidy received $2,861,047 and also gave thoughts and prayers.
Those numbers are just from the Senate. I didn’t include contributions to the House. But you can check out the list at The New York Times. Among the highest recipients of NRA funds in the House, 95 out of 100 are Republican. The top two Democrats in the Senate are Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Patrick Leahy of Vermont, who rank 52nd and 53rd — behind every Republican but Dan Sullivan of Alaska.
The NRA spent over $50 million to elect Trump, and there are questions about some of that money coming from Russia.
In Florida, Senator Marco Rubio has received $3,303,355, and Governor Rick Scott, along with Rubio, has an A+ rating from the NRA, which means they belong to the NRA.
When asked about gun control, Rubio said it was too soon to talk about it after the Parkland shooting “because people don’t know how this happened.” Yes, we do, Marco. A kid bought a semi-automatic weapon, which is legal because politicians like you allow it, and he took it to a school and shot 17 people. That’s what happened.
Don’t expect solutions from these people. Do not expect gun sense, common sense, or any sense. Do not expect results.
But they will give you lots of thoughts and prayers.
Here’s the video.
I want to thank everyone who has donated in the past. Your support helps me continue creating cartoons and columns with a little less stress in my life. Between competing syndicates with much larger resources, timid editors, and Trump supporters who attempt to intimidate the editors who do publish anything that criticizes their idol, it’s a challenge to make a career out of this. So your support (if you can) is appreciated. Want to help me continue to create cartoons and keep doing what I’m doing (pissing off conservatives)? Look to the right of this page and make a donation through PayPal. Every $40 donation will receive a signed print (please specify which print you want or I won’t mail one). All donations will receive my eternal gratitude
CLAYTOONZ 
“What a skank.”
“SKANK” is waaaaay too mild a word to describe these NRApublicans.
Each and every one of them should be Charged, Tried, and Convicted as Accessories to Murder, with One Count of Murder for Each Mass Shooting Death that Occurred In All The Years That Each NRApublican Has “Served” (the NRA) In Congress.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Maybe what we need is a Social Media Campaign like #METOO to counteract the NRApublicans’ Blockage Of Sensible Gun Control. If we can take down Harvey Weinstein then we should be able to take down Wayne LaPierre and all the NRA GOP Flunkies.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Great idea. How do we get it rolling?
LikeLiked by 2 people
Not sure.
Still not clear how #metoo got started.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’d think the first step would be to get a good hashtag. The element that made #MeToo so prevalent was it’s universality. So many women had a story to tell, & #MeToo let them easily connect even if they didn’t want to tell their own story.
It also helped that it was short & catchy.
So, easier said than done. All I could think up was #SOS or #SaveOurSchools. But, I think it should have something more to do with kids.
Do you all have any ideas?
LikeLiked by 2 people
How about #OurKids, or even shorter #RKids. “Save” is implied.
People who don’t have children or grandchildren can use it too, because, you know, “It takes a Village … “
LikeLiked by 2 people
That’s pretty good too. I’d say #OurKids would be better, only because #RKids isn’t immediately understood. Someone would have to explain it. You want it to be immediately recognizable to as many people as possible.
LikeLiked by 1 person