Just hours after the Wednesday terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California, former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley tweeted that the National Rifle Association was to blame for the violence:
Horrifying news out of #SanBernardino. Enough is enough: it's time to stand up to the @NRA and enact meaningful gun safety laws
— Martin O'Malley (@MartinOMalley) December 2, 2015
His accusation was echoed by Hillary Clinton, who said she refuses to “accept this” as normal, with “this” being gun violence:
I refuse to accept this as normal. We must take action to stop gun violence now. -H https://t.co/SkKglwQycb
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) December 2, 2015
Bernie Sanders, the socialist senator from Vermont who’s also running for president, agreed:
Mass shootings are becoming an almost-everyday occurrence in this country. This sickening and senseless gun violence must stop.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) December 2, 2015
Meanwhile, Markos Moulitsas — founder of liberal website Daily Kos — blamed the shooting on the entire Republican Party:
Yo GOP, kinda hard to talk about "keeping people safe" when your peeps are shooting up America.
— Markos Moulitsas (@markos) December 2, 2015
Liberal journalist Geraldo Rivera agreed, adding that the “mass shooting” proved that “the 2d amendment is stupid!”
Mass shooting in San Bernadino California at a Center for the Developmentally Disabled WTF! The 2d Amendment is Stupid!!! Don't rationalize.
— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) December 2, 2015
Liberal columnist Matthew Yglesias, made fun of Republicans because they offered thoughts and prayers for the victims rather than doing something about what he and the other liberals quoted above perceive as the real problem: the right to bear arms.
This is exactly what a lot of us are thinking https://t.co/cx4fb9Yr2Y pic.twitter.com/xQj2TEFmC7
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) December 3, 2015
Other countries must have fewer mass shootings because their conservative politicians offer thoughts and prayers more vigorously.
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) December 2, 2015
On Friday, the FBI announced that they are investigating the shooting as an act of terrorism. As the Los Angeles Times reports, the FBI has found evidence that one of the shooters — the man, Syed Rizwan Farook — had contact with members from at least two terrorist organizations, Al Nusra in Syria and Al-Shabaab in Somalia. His wife, Tashfeen Malik, had supposedly pledged allegiance to ISIS, the radical Islamic organization currently occupying large swaths of Syria and Iraq.
Despite those reports, leading Democrats and liberals continue to blame the Republican Party, the NRA and the Second mendment for the attack. Here’s what Hillary Clinton tweeted Friday:
This should be common sense—yet Republican senators blocked a bill to stop suspected terrorists from buying guns. pic.twitter.com/Xcbdhb2mp0
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) December 4, 2015
Her rapid response team on Twitter, called The Briefing, made the same point an hour earlier:
Given a common sense measure to keep our country safe, here's how Republicans responded: https://t.co/zloHYoSKE3 pic.twitter.com/TgACxHgXXk
— The Briefing (@TheBriefing2016) December 4, 2015
Her fellow candidate Martin O’Malley repeated his assertion that the NRA, rather than radical Islam as an ideology, should be held responsible:
.@nhpr timeline takes close look at Dem candidates on gun control. Proud to stand up to @NRA, where were the others? https://t.co/noCfycBr0Y
— Martin O'Malley (@MartinOMalley) December 4, 2015
Like O’Malley and Hillary, Markos Moulitsas stepped up his criticism of the proponents of the Second Amendment:
Never mind mass shootings, Republicans want would-be terrorists and criminals to keep their guns https://t.co/DVvJeKAIH2
— Markos Moulitsas (@markos) December 4, 2015
The only person whose Twitter-feed looks noticeably different today is Bernie Sanders. The senator did retweet a message from MoveOn praising him for “acting to strengthen our gun laws.” But he suddenly seems more focused on raising the minimum wage, fighting poverty worldwide, and climate change than he is about the shootings in San Bernardino.
We must substantially increase investments in international aid to Sub-Saharan Africa and other poor regions throughout the world.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) December 4, 2015
Meanwhile, Matthew Yglesias — who mocked conservatives who prayed for the victims — is suddenly concerned that we may experience “a shift into panicky overreaction mode” now we know that the shooters were radical Muslims:
We are now teed up for a shift into panicky overreaction mode. https://t.co/g2f1nSF6cC
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) December 4, 2015
On the day of the shooting, Yglesias was much less mild:
My favorite are the people arguing it shouldn’t count as a mass shooting if people are merely shot, rather than actually killed.
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) December 3, 2015
Every mass shooting since Sandy Hook, mapped. https://t.co/IqqLwO7LC2 pic.twitter.com/AQMoVLpWh9
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) December 2, 2015
And then there is this tweet from Geraldo Rivera. Like the other liberals who declared on day onethat gun laws, Republicans and the NRA were the problem, the progressive talking head sticks to his guns.
USA has betw 300-400 million weapons in private hands-5 to 10 million more are produced each year. How many is too many? How many is enough?
— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) December 4, 2015
And so liberal politicians and journalists continue to blame gun laws (or a lack thereof) for the terror attacks in San Bernardino. The information that has come out — indicating that the shooters were radical Muslims who had broken several gun laws already on the books — hasn’t done anything to change their views.