On Monday night a number of Democratic members of the House of Representatives protested a moment of silence for the victims of the Orlando shooting. The moment of silence was scheduled by the House’s Republican leadership, which refuses to consider any possible action on gun control, leading Democratic representatives like Jim Himes of Connecticut to accuse them of hypocrisy and driving Himes and others to opt out of what they feel is basically a face-saving photo op. Himes, whose home district is near Newtown, the site of the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting, argued that remembrances like this are “obnoxious expressions of smug incompetence” from a Congress that is so beholden to NRA money that it won’t discuss even minor new gun laws that are supported by a majority of Americans, despite the ridiculous amount of gun violence in the US. Since that protest Democrats in the Senate ran an almost 15 hour filibuster that ended with the GOP agreeing to allow votes on gun control next week; those votes aren’t likely to enact significant changes, but it’s the closest thing the gun control side has had to a victory in what feels like forever.
Amid the aftershocks of the Orlando tragedy and this recharged effort to enact new gun control measures, The GOP Arcade has released its latest game: Thoughts and Prayers, a free browser game and scathing indictment of the “smug incompetence” that Himes railed against. We don’t want to spoil anything about the game, so take a few moments to experience it for yourself. Next time somebody in power who refuses to make it harder for people to buy what are essentially machine guns offers up nothing but “thoughts and prayers” to the families of mass shooting victims, remember how effective that strategy is in this game.
To play Thoughts and Prayers, click here.