The Left Blames Guns Instead of Mental Illness After Minneapolis School Shooting

This week tragedy struck in Minneapolis, Minnesota. While parents and their children were excited to begin another school year, a lone gunman killed two children and critically injured several others during a school-wide Mass at Annunciation Catholic School. Robin Westman’s senseless and inhumane acts also caused a lifetime of trauma and fear for the victims’ families and the survivors.

Unfortunately, progressives once again have doubled-down on simply blaming guns instead of acknowledging the part that the shooter’s identity issues and mental health issues played in the crime.

No one in our communities should feel unsafe, especially our children in a school or church service.  Ambassadors with the Project 21 black leadership network are responding in the aftermath of this horrendous tragedy.

Linda Lee Tarver

Dr. Linda Lee Tarver, Project 21 Ambassador

Like clockwork, progressives have turned a heart-wrenching tragedy into a referendum on guns. Guns do kill, but not by themselves.

The transgender killer of two innocent children was mentally ill (gender dysphoria), suicidal and angry with President Trump. The Left has mainstreamed this particular mental illness and has virtually ignored the high suicide rate and the alarmingly high mass shooter rate among the small transgender population. I posit that this is not a gun control issue, but points to the bad liberal policy to issue guns and gun permits to mentally ill individuals who experience unusually high suicide rates.

The smoking “gun” lies solely with the Left — both its unwillingness to fortify schools with armed security and armed teachers, and its refusal to acknowledge transgenderism as a mental illness.

Craig DeLuz

Craig DeLuz, Project 21 Ambassador:

While many are quick to condemn the tools of violence, we must not ignore the violent rhetoric that incites such chaos. Guns don’t shoot themselves; they are wielded by hands inspired by radical, violent words.

It is the responsibility of a society to understand that the true origins of violence lie not in the instruments used, but in the toxic ideologies that empower individuals to act upon their most destructive impulses.

Terris Todd

Terris E. Todd, Project 21’s Director of Coalitions and Outreach:

The indoctrination camps of progressive ideologies remain at the core of the spiritual and moral decline we are witnessing throughout our communities and nation. Instead of acknowledging a young man who obviously was impacted by a stronghold on his mental state, the Left would rather spew out the same old tired talking points and emphasize controlling guns over healing the soul.

When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice. When the wicked rule, they mourn.

Evie Harris

Evie Harris (aka Shelly E), Project 21 Ambassador:

Ban ALL transgender procedures & transgender affirmation programs for minors. Remove ANY funding from ANY institution that promotes trans-affirmation.

Arm ALL schools, churches and other soft targets, just as government buildings have armed security even when they’re closed.

Transgenderism is a mental illness. Medical and psychiatric exploitation should fall under fraud, waste and abuse statutes, and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Project 21 believes in the right of law-abiding, mentally healthy individuals to own guns, and has outlined why this right is particularly important to black communities in the publication “What the 2nd Amendment Means for Black America.”