CNN’s resident MAGA pundit Scott Jennings was called out for giving what a fellow panelist called a “cop-out” response to the deadly Catholic school shooting in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
A shooter opened fire Wednesday outside a mass at Annunciation Catholic School, pepper-spraying bullets through stained glass windows while children sat in the pews. Two children ages 8 and 10 were killed, while 14 adults and three children were injured.
Afterward, the school’s principal Matt DeBoer told the media in an emotional address, “We lost two angels today, and please continue to pray for those still receiving care. We can’t change the past, but we can do something about the future. There’s an African proverb that says, ‘When you pray, move your feet.’ So, I beg you, I ask you to please pray, but don’t stop with your words. Let’s make a difference and support this community, these children, these families, these teachers. Never again can we let this happen.”
During that evening’s CNN’s NewsNight, host Abby Phillip played a clip of DeBoer’s statement and asked the panelists what needed to happen to prevent future mass shootings.
“I don’t think it happened because of guns,” Jennings said. “I think it happened because somebody who was clearly suffering from severe mental illness… and the mental illness was encouraged.”
The shooter—identified by police as 23-year-old Robin Westman, who previously went by Robert—posted rambling videos online and wrote “Kill Donald Trump” on gun magazines, as well as racial slurs. Westman died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound shortly after attacking the school mass.
Jennings said the shooter was “obviously in a dark, dark place,” and regardless of the broader epidemic of gun violence in the U.S., “the issue today is quite obviously mental illness.”
His fellow panelists, however, said Jennings was being overly simplistic.
“The problem is that this issue can’t be isolated in the vacuum of today,” said Bakari Sellers, a former Democratic state representative in South Carolina. “Mental illness is a cop-out for today.”
Later in the conversation, he added: “The problem is: It’s the guns.”
“The accessibility of weapons is something we have to deal with,” he said. “Mental health resources is something we have to deal with.”
Seller also pushed back on Jennings’ claim that liberals who demand more than “thoughts and prayers” are vilifying people of faith.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey told reporters after the shooting, “Don’t just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now. These kids were literally praying. It was the first week of school. They were in a church. These are kids that should be learning with their friends. They should be playing on the playground. They should be able to go to school or church in peace without the fear or risk of violence. And their parents should have the same kind of assurance.”
Sellers said Frey was right that without action, thoughts and prayers “ring hollow.” Jennings, however, said he had a “negative reaction” to Frey’s comments.
“I think thoughts and prayers are the most solid on days of tragedy for people who live their faith every day,” he said. “And I think on a day like today, particularly in a church community, there are probably people praying harder for comfort today than they have ever prayed in their life.”
People on the left are “denigrating the idea that they might want to pray today,” he said.
“I love how the GOP believes that that’s God’s only party, right?” Sellers shot back. “But you have people of faith on both sides. There are people of faith on both sides who are giving their prayers, but who also believe that action is required.”
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