One of the co-hosts on “The View” tried to pin the blame for mass shootings on “the rise in violent Christian nationalism” on the show Tuesday.
Tara Setmayer, who was previously a Republican, made the comments while discussing the motivations behind the shooter in the horrific elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
Sunny Hostin was trying to connect an advertisement from a gun company with a biblical reference to the shooting when Setmayer chimed in.
“It’s part of the Christian nationalism, this rise in violent Christian nationalism, that we have seen, which is also disturbing. They use biblical principles, they pervert them to justify this,” Setmayer said.
“Which is another problem, particularly in Texas, this is a growing movement,” she continued. “It’s God, guns and Trump. Or God, guns and whatever. It’s a part of their ethos.”
Whoopi Goldberg latched onto Setmayer’s claim and went further.
“It’s always been this. This was the way it was down south. They used to use the Bible and say, ‘You’re not people, God doesn’t see you as people, so we don’t see you as people,'” Goldberg claimed.
She went on to say that AR-15 rifles need to be banned because they are meant to kill people.
“I don’t care NRA. You got to give that gun up. You can have your other ‘yee-haw guns’, whatever you want. The AR-15 is not a hunting gun. It is not a gun where you are going to go out and shoot your dinner,” Goldberg said to applause from the audience.
“This gun is meant to kill people,” she concluded. “That’s what it’s for. And you can’t have it anymore.”
Law enforcement authorities have not identified “Christian nationalism” as part of the motivation for the Uvalde shooter. The killer told co-workers at Wendy’s that he planned to save up money to purchase his guns, and before the massacre, sent private messages to an acquaintance online about shooting his grandmother and his plan to attack the school.