Any time there is a tragic shooting in America, you can predict what will happen next. Like clockwork, politicians — almost always Democrats — use the incident as a platform to criticize gun ownership and push for more gun control laws on citizens.

Those on the left tend to assume they hold the moral high ground on this issue. They also assume anybody who disagrees with them must be heartless or hateful.

But the issue is far more complex than this, as one pastor in Texas just made clear.

Pastor Frank Pomeroy is now running for state Senate in Texas, and he’s calling out Democrats who have politicized recent mass shootings in their rush to push more gun control legislation.

They should listen. Pomeroy lost his daughter to the November 2017 Sutherland Springs shooting, which took place at the First Baptist Church where he serves as pastor.

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In a Thursday interview with Fox News’ “Fox & Friends,” the Republican candidate revealed his frustration with politicians who scrambled to make recent shootings all about guns instead of focusing on the people.

Watch the latest video at foxnews.com

“I think the catalyst that really put me into the race was, after the El Paso shooting and the Dayton shooting, the humanity aspect of that situation was lost,” Pomeroy told Fox.

That’s something that the pastor knows perhaps all too well. His 14-year-old daughter, Annabelle, was among the 26 people killed when a man opened fire at the rural Texas church before leading police and armed citizens on a chase.

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It was no doubt extremely difficult for Annabelle’s father to move forward and reject hatred after that tragedy, but his role as a community and church leader apparently gave him an important perspective on the healing process.

“It was immediately politicized and talking points were brought up that I think should’ve been put to the side for a week or two and concentrate on the people rather than being re-elected or elected, as some of those with that voice was trying to do,” he said of the Aug. 3 El Paso shooting.

Indeed, politicians including Democratic presidential candidate and former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke made strong gun control pushes after the incident, with O’Rourke saying he would consider Australia-style mandatory gun buybacks, essentially a form of confiscation.

“Rather than going in and speaking mercy and grace and loving these people, it immediately went to the talking point of the inanimate object, ‘Oh, we have to have gun control,’ and they went to speaking about the guns in America rather than healing the local people of that area,” Pomeroy said.

“We need to make government be for the people again, and people need to realize that they’re important to us, not just for votes but that we care about you, we want you to grow up in a society where you don’t have to be living in fear. There’s more to life than just existing. We should be able to live with joy and have fun,” the pastor continued.

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While Pomeroy did not spell out all of his Second Amendment views during the interview, “Fox & Friends” reported his church in Texas permitted lawful concealed carry by the congregation, although none of those armed citizens was present when the 2017 shooting occurred.

The candidate has a long road ahead of him in order to win next year’s election, especially considering that he’s running against an incumbent in a strongly Democratic district that stretches from the Mexican border to Austin.

Regardless, his message is solid. Violence and murder did not suddenly arrive when guns were invented. Crime begins in the hearts of the perpetrators — and if we want to move forward as a society, we should talk about people instead of what they hold in their hands.

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