South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham was called out by the popular progressive Facebook page Being Liberal after its admin team posted a photograph of a "donation" check to Graham's campaign.
The check, made out to Graham, offered "thoughts and prayers" instead of an actual campaign donation alongside a note excoriating the Senator for his inaction on comprehensive gun control measures that could signficantly curb mass shootings.
The text of the note reads:
"I hope this donation of thoughts and prayers is as effective in your re-election campaign as it is in stopping mass shootings."
The image itself originally made the rounds on social media back in 2018, but Graham and his fellow Republicans were again mocked online for their gun rights stance after the image went viral again.
In the wake of several mass shootings—including a racist White nationalist act of domestic terrorism that left 10 mostly elderly Black people dead at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York and a shooting by an 18-year-old with an AR-15 that murdered 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas—the GOP has increased their pro-gun sales rhetoric. Republicans are blocking gun control measures with the filibuster in the Senate and voting against them in the House.
But the public is pushing back.
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This week, Graham criticized the Democratic-led House of Representatives for passing a wide-ranging gun control bill in response to recent mass shootings.
The bill would raise the age limit for purchasing a semi-automatic rifle to 21 years of age and bar the sale of ammunition magazines with a capacity greater than 15 rounds.
It passed a mostly party-line vote of 223-204 but is doomed to fail in the Senate due to a firm Republican opposition to comprehensive gun control measures and the refusal of two Democrats, Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema and West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, to support efforts to abolish the filibuster, which currently requires Democrats to reach across the aisle and secure 60 votes to pass any legislation over a simple majority.
Graham called the House-passed gun control bill "an extreme constitutional overreach" and promised the measure "will go nowhere in the Senate.”
However, Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene criticized Graham after news outlets reported he is involved in bipartisan Senate negotiations on gun legislation.
Greene attacked him, saying he “wants to make sure that your tax dollars are helping people in Ukraine to defend themself, but he stands ready to vote for all of Joe Biden’s gun control bills.”
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