Journalist Igor Volsky's #thoughtsandprayers campaign has been garnering headlines as politicians reacted to the news of yet another mass shooting in California on Wednesday.
Volsky, a contributing editor to ThinkProgress.org took to Twitter to highlight that the response to the 355th mass shooting in the United States this year was all too predictable, echoing the sentiments of President Barack Obama, who stated that these tragedies have become "routine" as a lack of gun control laws being brought in.
Using a website that keeps track of the voting records of different representatives on gun laws, Volsky quoted the tweets of many elected officials who spoke of sending their "thoughts" or "prayers" to those involved, alongside how they voted when it came to the proposition of gun control or the money they received from the National Rifle Association (NRA) for their political campaigns.
Those highlighted ranged from Senators to Representatives, and even the newly-elected speaker of the house Paul Ryan.
Got $3,000 from NRA during the 2014 election cycle. Unlikely to address gun problem with anything other than prayer https://t.co/lQ1CxtNnk4
— igorvolsky (@igorvolsky) December 3, 2015
Got $4,000 from NRA during the 2014 election cycle to address gun violence by "praying" https://t.co/geXCXRDHDS
— igorvolsky (@igorvolsky) December 3, 2015
Got $2,000 from NRA during 2014 cycle to keep #SanBernadino victims in his prayers and little else https://t.co/IxDGYJPhHn
— igorvolsky (@igorvolsky) December 3, 2015
Got $7,450 from NRA during the 2014 election cycle to address gun violence by "praying for peace" https://t.co/RsVMK3u2ju
— igorvolsky (@igorvolsky) December 3, 2015
Johnson "benefitted from more than $1.3 MILLION from gun rights groups" https://t.co/H2j4d2h3y7 https://t.co/6m0B0fq8nK
— igorvolsky (@igorvolsky) December 3, 2015
Volsky's tweets also shed some light on the sheer size of the budget that the NRA has available to them to contribute to the election campaigns of officials around the country.
In 2012, NRA spent *$19.7 MILLION* on independent expenditures for candidates to only tweet #thoughtsandprayers in response to gun violence
— igorvolsky (@igorvolsky) December 3, 2015
NRA spent $30,650,008 in independent expenditures during the 2014 election cycle. You read that right. $30,650,008.
— igorvolsky (@igorvolsky) December 3, 2015
The New York Daily News similarly highlighted the reaction of the politicians on their front page on Thursday morning.
Bingo. pic.twitter.com/QToGmomPQg
— ¡Gabe! Ortíz (@TUSK81) December 3, 2015
Speaking on MSNBC, Volsky said that almost three years on from the Sandy Hook tragedy "here we are having the same conversation, and these lawmakers are having the same exact reaction they had then, and to all of the shootings we've seen since".
.@igorvolsky: "The NRA pays [lawmakers] to only think and pray about gun violence & not do anything else about it" https://t.co/BnvqNhnaeK
— All In w/Chris Hayes (@allinwithchris) December 3, 2015
