Florida State Senator Kelli Stargel votes against assault weapons ban, claims “thoughts and prayers” are enough to stop school shootings.

In a despicable but not surprising development, Republican State Senator Kelli Stargel voted against a moderate and sensible ban on assault weapons after the recent school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 dead and many more injured.

Adding insult to injury, the Florida lawmaker went on to suggest that “thoughts and prayers” are enough to stop school shootings. Speaking on the floor of the Florida Senate, Stargel said:

Thoughts and prayers are really the only thing that’s going to stop the evil from within the individual that is taking up their arms to do this type of massacre.

The stupid, it burns.

The following is an extended transcript of Stargel’s remarks:

If I thought for one moment that if we banned assault weapons, that all of these tragedies would end, you would have me. I would be with you. But are we going to ban fertilizer, which is what they used in the Oklahoma City bombing? Are we going to ban pressure cookers, which is what they used in the Boston massacre? Are we gonna ban the multiple handguns that were used in other assaults? Are we gonna ban the sawed off shotguns [that were] used in Columbine? It’s not the weapon. It’s the evil from within. And unfortunately, Senator Stewart said at the very beginning of her debate, when we say “thoughts and prayers,” it’s frowned upon. And I take real offense at that because thoughts and prayers are really the only thing that’s gonna stop the evil from within the individual who is taking up their arms to do this kind of a massacre. So I will continue to do the thoughts and prayers…

Writing for Raw Story, David Badash reports:

Senator Stargel in 2014 argued extensively to regulate beer and require it be sold only through distributors. She was not as concerned about regulating guns. Her reasoning: “Higher beer production and higher consumption go hand-in-hand.” Apparently allowing easily-accessible guns is an entirely different matter.

In other words, Senator Stargel is more than willing to regulate beer, but when it comes to assault weapons, only “thoughts and prayers” are required.

Immediately after the Florida school shooting, one of the students surviving the massacre, Cameron Kasky, spoke out, taking aim at Republican politicians and others who only pay meaningless lip service to dead kids while going ballistic if some conservative Christian baker is asked to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple.

Kasky, speaking with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, declared:

There is a segment of this society that will shrug this off and send their thoughts and prayers but will march for hours if they have to bake a rainbow wedding cake.

It’s as if Kasky was talking directly to Senator Stargel. Her ridiculous assertion that “thoughts and prayers” are enough to stop school shootings is an insult to every student killed or injured in the school shooting.

Bottom line: Florida State Senator Kelli Stargel voted against a modest and sensible assault weapons ban, while claiming that “thoughts and prayers” are enough to stop school shootings.

Watch the video below via The Washington Post –