It was nearly a month ago when Republican policymakers in Tennessee took an unprecedented step that they said would help protect local children and families: They put ridiculous new restrictions on drag shows.
There wasn’t any real point to their efforts — it wasn’t as if drag shows were hurting anyone or creating a dangerous public menace — but GOP officials became the first in the nation to advance the cultural crusade anyway. Watching the developments unfold from Capitol Hill, Rep. Tim Burchett was delighted with his home state’s new restrictions.
“We don’t put up with that crap in Tennessee,” the Republican congressman said a few weeks ago.
But while Burchett saw drag shows as “crap” that the Volunteer State couldn’t bare to tolerate, the GOP lawmaker appears to have a very different attitude toward deadly school shootings. USA Today reported:
Rep. Tim Burchett, a Tennessee Republican, described the school shooting in his home state as “a horrible, horrible situation,” but it’s not something he thinks Congress needs to address. “We’re not gonna fix it,” he told reporters Tuesday. “Criminals are gonna be criminals.”
As part of the same set of comments to reporters, the congressman went on to reflect on something his father told him. “[I]f somebody wants to take you out and doesn’t mind losing their life, there’s not a whole heck of a lot you can do about it.”
As a factual matter, it’s important for the public to realize that the substance of Burchett’s argument — to the extent that anyone would fairly characterize this as an “argument” — is plainly wrong: Advanced countries around the world have taken steps to prevent routine mass shootings, and their policies have proven quite effective. The United States, where the leading cause of death among children is gun violence, could adopt similar measures to save lives. Politicians like Burchett prefer not to.
Just as notable is the jarring fact that Republicans…
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