Gun reform organization Mothers4Democracy/MothersAgainstGregAbbott commemorated the mournful 11th anniversary of the tragic Sandy Hook elementary school shooting by releasing an ad that portrays a child dying while numerous adults, presumably capable of lifesaving action, offer up only “thoughts and prayers” as assistance.
The Mothers org takes its name from its fervent opposition to Texas Governor Greg Abbott and his supporters in the NRA-ILA (Institute for Legislative Action), which celebrates Abbott’s pro-Second Amendment activity in articles whose approbative titles sometimes bear exclamation points (Governor Abbott Signs Key Pro-Second Amendment Bills into Law!).
[Abbot has an A+ rating from NRA-PVF for his “steadfast defense and support of the Second Amendment,” having signed “more than two dozen pro-gun bills into law.]
Today is the 11-year mark of Sandy Hook and still nothing has changed. We just released this video @DemocracyMoms with our partners called Thoughts & Prayers. We hope you follow us there and donate to the cause to help us get this on the air. #gunreform https://t.co/DY98A3nvEB pic.twitter.com/ftbg0Soj96
— Mothers4Democracy/MothersAgainstGregAbbott (@MomsAGAbbott) December 14, 2023
The one-minute spot shows a young girl reaching for a floating toy and falling into a swimming pool, on the bottom of which she remains at the narrative’s end.
“Thoughts and prayers” — the most common and cliched political reaction to mass shootings, especially of children — is presented as a painfully futile response, which the ad demeans as the opposite of meaningful action.
Instead of jumping into the pool to save the child, each adult prays for her as the peril increases. Neither drowning, nor car wrecks, nor cancer is the leading cause of child fatality in America, the ad reveals — that distinction belongs to death by gun violence.
“Thoughts and prayers are meaningless,” the spot asserts, “when you can act.”
.jpg){kind=link}