Vice President JD Vance was criticized after he lashed out at MSNBC host Jen Psaki for saying that "prayer is not freaking enough" to end school shootings after a shooter killed two children and wounded 17 others during the first week of classes at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis.
Psaki spoke out on X shortly after the shooting occured, to stress that "thoughts and prayers" don't actually address or prevent mass shootings and gun violence overall:
""Prayer is not freaking enough. Prayers does not end school shootings. prayers do not make parents feel safe sending their kids to school. Prayer does not bring these kids back. Enough with the thoughts and prayers."
You can see her post below.
Vance responded soon after, accusing Psaki of "attacking" those who offer thoughts and prayers after these tragedies:
"We pray because our hearts are broken. We pray because we know God listens. We pray because we know that God works in mysterious ways, and can inspire us to further action."
"Why do you feel the need to attack other people for praying when kids were just killed praying?"
In a follow-up post, he added:
"Of all the weird left wing culture wars in the last few years, this is by far the most bizarre. ‘How dare you pray for innocent people in the midst of tragedy?!’ What are you even talking about?"
You can see what Vance wrote below.
But people were quick to remind Vance that prayer isn't action—and that prayer alone won't actually address the epidemic of gun violence nationwide that has resulted in the U.S. once again leading the world in mass shootings.
According to the Mass Shooting Tracker, there have been 339 mass shootings in the U.S. as of this writing—thousands of lives have been altered forever because nothing has been done to promote comprehensive gun control laws even though the rest of the Western world has largely figured this out.
Nor has Vance backed efforts to address gun violence nationwide, prompting many to call him out.
Psaki's remarks echo those of Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who criticized politicians who offer "thoughts and prayers" after deadly school shootings.
In remarks to reporters, Frey noted that "thoughts and prayers" didn't do anything to protect the children who died because they were quite literally killed while praying during a morning mass.
Stressing that children "should be able to go to school or church in peace without the risk of violence and their parents should have the same kind of assurance," Frey offered his condolences to all who've been impacted. He added that "these are the sort of basic assurances every family should have every step of the day regardless of where they are in our country."
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