Ted Cruz’s Argument Against Gun Control Could Do With Some Self-Awareness

Less than 24 hours after the tragic mass shooting in Boulder, Colorado, a Senate panel gathered to debate gun control measures. The hearing was scheduled before the Boulder shooting, and before last week’s shooting in Atlanta that left eight people dead, including six women of Asian descent.

The timing of the hearing might seem like a bleak coincidence, then, until you remember that this is America, and pretty much any discussion of gun control is likely to take place in close proximity to a mass shooting.

That’s a fact that Senator Ted Cruz seemingly accidentally pointed out during the hearing, while he was attempting to argue against gun control. (Or rather, against substantial gun control—he’s pushing to pass his own bipartisan but tepid bill aiming to protect the Second Amendment for “law-abiding citizens.”)

“Every time there’s a shooting, we play this ridiculous theater where this committee gets together and proposes a bunch of laws that would do nothing to stop these murders,” Cruz said.

Cruz really seems to have no self-awareness regarding just how awful it is to have to start a sentence with “Every time there’s a shooting.” That’s not a sentence anyone should be saying but Cruz said it twice, following up his accusations of “theater” by saying, “What happens in this committee after every mass shooting is Democrats propose taking away guns from law-abiding citizens.”

“Every time there’s a shooting.” “After every mass shooting.” Ted Cruz, do you really not see the problem here?

I’m sure it’s a total coincidence that gun rights groups donate more money to Ted Cruz than any other member of Congress except one. (Congratulations to Mitt Romney for holding that title.)

Cruz also used his time during the hearing to attack Democrats for being anti-religion just because they’re tired of hearing Republicans’ “thoughts and prayers.” Cruz calls this objection to prayer “an odd sociological thing.”

He then went on to say that thoughts and prayers alone are not enough which has, obviously, always been the point. But sure, talk more about that political “theater” you hate so much. After every mass shooting.

(image: Andrew Harnik – Pool/Getty Images)

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Vivian Kane

Vivian Kane (she/her) is the Senior News Editor at The Mary Sue, where she's been writing about politics and entertainment (and all the ways in which the two overlap) since the dark days of late 2016. Born in San Francisco and radicalized in Los Angeles, she now lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where she gets to put her MFA to use covering the local theatre scene. She is the co-owner of The Pitch, Kansas City’s alt news and culture magazine, alongside her husband, Brock Wilbur, with whom she also shares many cats.

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