Rep. Tim Burchett (seen above while having a word with fellow GOP colleague Marjorie Taylor-Greene during a House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing on freedom of speech and whether Twitter censored tweets about Hunter Biden’s laptop) is naturally a Capitol Hill focus for reporters this week. The reason for this shining light is not a positive one, given that Burchett’s home state of Tennessee is reeling from the Nashville school massacre, in which a shooter killed four people (including a 9-year-old girl) before turning the gun on themselves.
Burchett remains very much in line with the GOP colleagues who simply tweet about thoughts and prayers in the face of these tragedies and call it a day. Marjorie Taylor Greene even suggested that “hormones” were responsible, and “[e]veryone can stop blaming guns now.” In other words, there won’t be much serious discussion about gun control on Capitol Hill, and Burchett offered his blunt words on the subject. Essentially, he feels like there’s no action that could possibly improve this situation:
“We’re not gonna fix it. Criminals are gonna be criminals, and my daddy fought in the Second World War, fought in the Pacific, fought the Japanese, and he said, ‘If somebody wants to take you out and doesn’t mind losing their life, there’s not a whole heck of a lot you can do about it.’”
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) on school shootings:
“We’re not gonna fix it.” pic.twitter.com/yZZCbJleUA
— Brennan Murphy (@brenonade) March 28, 2023
Yes, this sentiment is pretty much that article from The Onion in slightly different words.
literally the onion headline https://t.co/gvIXJvawyd pic.twitter.com/JW1vAI2gIw
— Marlow Stern (@MarlowNYC) March 28, 2023
On social media, people are not here for this further inaction and are disgusted that Burchett seemingly likened the act of going to school to WWII. They are sick and tired, not only of being sick and tired, but by Burchett’s metaphorical shrugging. Would Tennessee actually vote him out of office, though?
Or, and hear me out @timburchett ZERO children have died in a school shooting in Great Britain since 1996 because of strict gun regulations. ZERO!
So yes, we can fix it you just don’t want to. pic.twitter.com/13kR3WG0vM
— DutchessPrim
(@dutchessprim) March 28, 2023
Republican Rep. Tim Burchett just said the quiet part out loud:
“We’re not gonna fix it.” Vote. Them. Out. pic.twitter.com/N8QRBFKgLO
— Aaron Parnas (@AaronParnas) March 28, 2023
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) says Congress isn’t going to fix school shootings.
They are literally shrugging their shoulders and saying ‘oh well’ about our kids being murdered while learning equations.
It’s time to vote people in willing to protect us and pic.twitter.com/ROEUgKD0OH…
— Ryan Shead (@RyanShead) March 28, 2023
NEW: Republican Congressman from Tennessee Tim Burchett discusses gun violence after Nashville mass shooting, “we’re not going to fix it.”
Absolutely pathetic. Vote them out. pic.twitter.com/IcvKLxImKM
— Kaivan Shroff (@KaivanShroff) March 28, 2023
Apparently going to school as a child is the equivalent of WW2. Also, Tim isn’t going to attempt to change that. pic.twitter.com/9dUqRFUh7o
— Aurora N.O.R.E.alis (@travishastweets) March 28, 2023
Did I just hear #GOP #Tennessee Congressman #TimBurchett compare 9 yo dead school kids to WWII soldiers fighting Japanese in the Pacific?
“If somebody wants to take you out and doesn’t mind losing their life there’s not a whole heckuva lot you can do about it.”#MorningJoe @MSNBC pic.twitter.com/1KMXkF6vzg— SkeeterBombay (@SkeeterBombay) March 28, 2023
I’m going to play this tweet every day. This is a Republican’s response to children being shot by assault weapons.@DNC, please don’t let this one get away like you normally do.
Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN): pic.twitter.com/CbnJXyyalO
— Paul Gundlach (@PaulSGundlach) March 28, 2023
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) on school shootings in general: “We’re not gonna fix it.” So, Republicans don’t even want to try to tackle the problem. pic.twitter.com/EuN7tov39X
— Just Vent (@JustVent6) March 28, 2023
Burchett will be up for reelection in 2024 in a very red district.