{"id":79803,"date":"2025-08-28T09:41:59","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T13:41:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/?p=79803"},"modified":"2025-08-28T12:29:41","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T16:29:41","slug":"conservatives-want-more-kids-yet-offer-only-prayers-when-kids-are-gunned-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/conservatives-want-more-kids-yet-offer-only-prayers-when-kids-are-gunned-down\/","title":{"rendered":"Conservatives Want More Kids \u2013 Yet Offer Only Prayers When Kids Are Gunned Down"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Minneapolis mayor: Children are dead in school shooting\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qpdpA8DlZBY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/worried-over-womens-disinterest-in-motherhood-make-it-something-wed-want\/\">Earlier this year<\/a>, the Trump administration launched a crusade to address falling birth rates in the United States, which they and other conservatives view as a matter of grave concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In order to galvanize families, and women in particular, into having more kids, they proposed everything from $5,000 birthing bonuses to menstruation classes, so people could better track their ovulation cycles \u2013 instead of universal childcare, or other forms of study-backed, government-subsidized assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And none of their proposals involved <a href=\"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/sandy-hook-scarlett-lewis-choose-love\/\">protecting our children<\/a> from the gun violence that continues to plague the U.S., to a degree <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commonwealthfund.org\/publications\/2024\/oct\/comparing-deaths-gun-violence-us-other-countries\">unheard of<\/a> anywhere else in the world.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\u2019ve been reminded, this week, of how dangerous our <a href=\"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/u-s-education-is-under-attack-a-new-battle-in-a-long-war-but-women-are-resisting\/\">schools<\/a> are because of this problem, by a gutting <a href=\"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/shocked-by-school-shootings-an-artist-brings-back-playground-from-hell\/\">mass shooting<\/a> in Minneapolis. As of publication, two children died \u2013 ages 8 and 10 \u2013 and 17 people were injured when suspect Robin Westman (who also died, of a self-inflicted gunshot wound) opened fire during a morning mass at the city&#8217;s Annunciation Catholic School.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of the 17 who were hurt, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cy40znde9eko\">14 were kids<\/a>. Some of them were as young as 6 years old.<\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"block_c524b42b1d13c5b555eacde45b413d01\" class=\"wp-block related-post alignwide\">\n      <div class=\"wrap\">\n    <div class=\"section-title\">\n      <h4>Related<\/h4>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"post-wrap\">\n              <div class=\"thumbnail\">\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/sandy-hook-nonprofit-fights-doj-call-on-faster-triggers-this-will-put-lives-at-risk\/\" class=\"post-image-link\">\n            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Gun-Control-Gun-Violence-Sandy-Hook-Semi-Automatic-Weapons-Triggers-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Gun Control Gun Violence Sandy Hook Semi-Automatic Weapons Triggers\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Gun-Control-Gun-Violence-Sandy-Hook-Semi-Automatic-Weapons-Triggers-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Gun-Control-Gun-Violence-Sandy-Hook-Semi-Automatic-Weapons-Triggers-45x45.jpg 45w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/>\n          <\/a>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"entry-text\">\n          <h3 class=\"post-title\">\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/sandy-hook-nonprofit-fights-doj-call-on-faster-triggers-this-will-put-lives-at-risk\/\">\n              Sandy Hook Nonprofit Fights DOJ on Faster Triggers: \u2018This Will Put Lives at Risk\u2019\n            <\/a>\n          <\/h3>\n      <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n\n<p>&#8220;These were American families,&#8221; Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said during a press briefing. &#8220;Don&#8217;t just say this is about &#8216;thoughts and prayers&#8217; right now. These kids were literally praying.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yet that\u2019s largely what conservatives, including President Donald Trump, had to offer in the wake of the attack. \u201cPlease join me in praying for everyone involved,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/minnesota\/news\/shooting-annunciation-church-minneapolis\/\">Trump wrote<\/a> on Truth Social, with Vice President JD Vance offering a similar call. \u201cMy prayers are with everyone involved in this tragedy,\u201d Attorney General Pam Bondi also <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/AGPamBondi\/status\/1960716027131519061\">posted<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The solution to our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.apha.org\/topics-and-issues\/gun-violence\">gun-violence epidemic<\/a> should be to pass more stringent gun laws. Experts have found that the <a href=\"https:\/\/rockinst.org\/blog\/more-guns-more-death-the-fundamental-fact-that-supports-a-comprehensive-approach-to-reducing-gun-violence-in-america\/\">sheer tonnage<\/a> of guns available in the U.S., and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.americanprogress.org\/article\/debunking-the-guns-make-us-safer-myth\/\">the ease<\/a> with which they can be purchased, makes ours a deadlier, more dangerous nation to live in. And <a href=\"https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC11381453\/\">study<\/a> after <a href=\"https:\/\/everytownresearch.org\/rankings\/\">study<\/a> has shown that gun violence could be curbed significantly through policy prescriptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But for this particular shooting, after praying for peace, conservatives found an alternative scapegoat: Transgender people. Despite the fact that the <em>vast<\/em> majority of mass shootings are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/fact-check\/majority-of-us-mass-shooters-are-cis-men-not-transgender-or-non-binary-people-idUSL1N363273\/\">committed by cisgender men<\/a>, Westman was a trans woman, so some are using this shooting to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/08\/27\/us\/minneapolis-school-shooting-suspect-gunman.html\">further anti-trans agendas<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Attacking a community that is <a href=\"https:\/\/glaad.org\/trump-accountability-tracker\/\">already subject<\/a> to extreme discrimination, while refusing to enact legislation that would see gun violence lessened, and then offering boiler-plate calls for prayer in the aftermath\u2026 None of this does anything to actually help the children they claim to want, the children they claim to care about.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>None of this helped 10-year-old Weston Halsne, who survived the Minneapolis shooting because his equally-young friend <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/minnesota\/news\/minneapolis-mass-shooting-catholic-school-survivor-friend\/\">shielded him from gunfire<\/a>, and was injured in the process. &#8220;It was like, shots fired, and then we kind of, like, got under pews,\u201d he recalled to members of the press. \u201cThey shot through the stained glass windows I think, and it was really scary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Weston added that was praying for his friend\u2019s recovery \u2013 because it\u2019s the only recourse he, a traumatized child, has in the U.S., where people with the power to enact laws that would protect children from shootings like this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetrace.org\/2025\/06\/big-beautiful-bill-atf-silencer-gun-laws\/\">fail to do so<\/a> over and over again.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Conservative politicians and pundits continue to pressure women to bring more lives like Weston\u2019s into this world, into this country \u2013 while at the same time demonstrating a refusal to even<em> try<\/em> to keep them safe. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.security.org\/blog\/a-timeline-of-school-shootings-since-columbine\/\">Over 400 school shootings<\/a> have taken place in the U.S. since the 1999 <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Columbine_High_School_massacre\">Columbine High School massacre<\/a>, with dozens killed, hundreds injured and thousands traumatized by these attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Vance took to X to defend calls for prayer the morning after the Minneapolis shooting. &#8220;Literally no one thinks prayer is a substitute for action,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/jdvance\/status\/1961044761613083022?s=46&amp;t=pqzakFE1K4a5zCDtXamhBg\">he posted<\/a>. &#8220;We pray because our hearts are broken and we believe that God is listening.&#8221; But they aren&#8217;t taking action that could turn this tide. They have opted, once again, to assign blame to anyone besides themselves, and then to pray in the aftermath of tragedies their inaction permitted. All before they go back to calling for more children to be born \u2013 to replace the ones we\u2019ve lost to their cowardice, one supposes.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is an African proverb this situation evokes, one that prominent civil rights activist and former Rep. John Lewis often evoked: &#8220;When you pray, move your feet.&#8221; Our leaders would do well to heed those words. &#x25fc;&#xfe0f;<\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"block_d90ba16bf8747d8019566125b71cbdd5\" class=\"wp-block related-post alignwide\">\n      <div class=\"wrap\">\n    <div class=\"section-title\">\n      <h4>Related<\/h4>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"post-wrap\">\n              <div class=\"thumbnail\">\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/experts-talk-mass-shootings-guns-ties-domestic-violence-toxic-masculinity\/\" class=\"post-image-link\">\n            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/iStock-1215231384-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/iStock-1215231384-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/iStock-1215231384-45x45.jpg 45w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/>\n          <\/a>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"entry-text\">\n          <h3 class=\"post-title\">\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/experts-talk-mass-shootings-guns-ties-domestic-violence-toxic-masculinity\/\">\n              America: Where Men Do the Shooting, And Women Bear the Brunt of Gun Violence\n            <\/a>\n          <\/h3>\n      <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the wake of another school shooting, we\u2019re reminded that Trump and others won&#8217;t protect children from gun violence \u2013 but they still want women to have more, Candice Helfand-Rogers writes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":79804,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"Conservatives have decried falling birth rates, but will not enact policy that protects the children we have now, this op-ed says.","autoblue_shares":[{"did":"did:plc:l2n6ydtigm3gtra4vb4rfl7f","date":"2025-08-28T13:42:15+00:00","uri":"at:\/\/did:plc:l2n6ydtigm3gtra4vb4rfl7f\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3lxhodg5y2j2k","response":"{\"uri\":\"at:\/\/did:plc:l2n6ydtigm3gtra4vb4rfl7f\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3lxhodg5y2j2k\",\"cid\":\"bafyreibid7zi5boxefcc4k7sqojyhue2tdtd2dqwkmyucf5oiwcpp73lqm\",\"commit\":{\"cid\":\"bafyreigsl4yregqqxz5pqeheikqga572tdmy7rtziifbq6fifubfvtzoje\",\"rev\":\"3lxhodg6csb2k\"},\"validationStatus\":\"valid\"}"}],"autoblue_post_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19648],"tags":[21114,19645,20563,19714],"class_list":["post-79803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-gun-violence","tag-opinion","tag-political-accountability","tag-womens-rights"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.3 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>On School Shootings, Birth Rate, Conservatives, Gun Violence<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After a school shooting, we\u2019re reminded that conservatives won&#039;t protect children from gun violence \u2013 but they still want women to have more.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/conservatives-want-more-kids-yet-offer-only-prayers-when-kids-are-gunned-down\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Conservatives Want More Kids \u2013 Yet Offer Only Prayers When Kids Are Gunned Down\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the wake of another school shooting, we\u2019re reminded that Trump and others won&#039;t protect children from gun violence \u2013 but they still want women to have more, Candice 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She earned her B.A. in Journalism &amp; Media Studies at Rutgers University. In her spare time, she enjoys singing with several ensembles in New York City and spending time with her son. Please contact candice@thestoryexchange.org with questions or pitches.","sameAs":["https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/author\/candice-leigh-helfand\/"],"url":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/author\/candice-leigh-helfand\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79803"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79818,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79803\/revisions\/79818"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}