ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez responded to the mass shootings that left dozens dead and injured at a mosque in New Zealand by saying that “thoughts and prayers” were pretty much worthless and by then suggesting that only gun control could cure the problem.

This, as the New Zealand Herald reported: “A well known [armed] Muslim local chased the shooters and fired two shots at them as they sped off.”

In other words: It was a gun fired in self-defense that very likely kept further carnage from occurring.

On top of that, New Zealand has some pretty strict gun control laws. Licenses to own or operate a firearm are required, as are police background checks for anyone over the age of 16, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Yet Ocasio-Cortezwrote this on Twitter, as reported by Breitbart: “At 1st I thought of saying ‘Imagine being told your house of faith isn’t safe anymore.’ But I couldn’t say ‘imagine.’ Because of Charleston. Pittsburgh. Sutherland Springs. What good are your thoughts & prayers when they don’t even keep the pews safe?”

She followed that tweet with another: “(‘Thoughts and prayers’ is a reference to the NRA’s phrase used to deflect conversation away from policy change during tragedies. Not directed to PM Ardern, who I greatly admire.)”

The bodies haven’t even been cleared from the scene — the families haven’t even been fully informed of their loved ones’ whereabouts and conditions — and already, the left is demanding gun control.

Already, the left is mocking prayers as worthless, pretending government is the only solution to a condition of the heart and the only suitable solution to combatting wickedness.

Let’s remember: Murder cannot be stopped by stripping the means of defending against murder from the hands of the law-abiding — or by mocking and scoffing the real solution to all that ails, prayer.

Socialists and leftists like Ocasio-Cortez like to pretend they can regulate away violence by cracking down on gun ownership. But it’s all a lie. It’s all a deception aimed solely at growing government by taking away what Founding Fathers saw and implemented as a check on tyranny, the Second Amendment.

• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.