House Speaker Mike Johnson has accused California Governor Gavin Newsom of attacking religion and declared that “the human heart” and not guns are to blame for mass shootings in America.
In the wake of Wednesday’s tragedy in Minneapolis, Newsom and other Democrats criticized the notion of sending “thoughts and prayers” in response to the shooting, which left two children dead and another 17 victims injured.
Tensions escalated on Thursday, when White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt slammed her Democratic predecessor Jen Psaki for “deriding the power of prayer” after the former Biden aide declared “prayer is not freaking enough” to deal with America’s gun violence.
“I saw the comments of my predecessor, Ms. Psaki, and, frankly, I think they’re incredibly insensitive and disrespectful to the tens of millions of Americans of faith across this country who believe in the power of prayer,” Leavitt told reporters.
But Newsom, who has become Donald Trump’s biggest online troller in recent weeks, clapped back on social media, posting a clip of Leavitt’s comments and pointing out that the children killed this week “were literally praying as they got shot at.”
Asked about this on Fox News on Friday morning, Johnson, a committed evangelical Christian, slammed the California Governor.
“Gavin Newsom is ridiculous. He’s becoming a caricature of something. I don’t have words to respond to that; I can not believe he has gone that low to get attention,” Johnson said.
“It’s incredible to me that Jen Psaki and Gavin Newsom and others would attack religion and diminish the faith of millions of Americans at a time of such great tragedy,” he added.
“At the end of the day, the problem is not guns, okay, Jen Psaki? The problem is the human heart.”
Wednesday’s tragedy took place at the Annunciation Catholic School, when a 23-year-old former student opened fire on children as they prayed during mass.
The shooter was identified as 23-year-old Robin Westman, formerly known as Robert, who committed suicide in the parking lot behind the school.
In the lead-up to the attack, Westman posted disturbing videos to YouTube featuring guns, ammunition, and a manifesto-like notebook with anti-Semitic, anti-Catholic, and political messages.
Among them were phrases like “Kill Donald Trump”; “for the children” and “6 million wasn’t enough”, a reference to Jews who died in the Holocaust.
Asked on Fox whether there ought to be “some sort of accountability on the transgender front”, Johnson replied: “I think so. I mean, there’s a common denominator to so much of this, right?”
“The last one of these school shootings that we all saw and remember was another transgender. I mean, this is a mental health component to this that cannot be overlooked, and I think lawmakers and policymakers need to look at that very carefully,” he said.
Johnson’s comments come despite research showing that 98 per cent of school shooters are men, most of whom identify as cisgender.
Wednesday’s shooting was also the 268th to take place this year in America, a country that has more guns than people - or 120.5 firearms for every 100 residents.
But the tragedy has once again reignited the debate about gun control, with Democrats once again calling for action.
Some reforms were made under Joe Biden in 2022, when Congress passed bipartisan laws that expanded background checks, regulated ghost guns, created new federal firearm offenses, and encouraged “red flag” laws.
But more serious reforms—such as banning assault weapons—have always been blocked, particularly by Republicans defending the Second Amendment.
“There are a lot of common sense solutions… that do not involve taking away the rights of law abiding citizens,” Johnson said on Friday, without citing specific examples.
“Now is not the time to politicize.”
