Democrats are exploiting the murders for political gain, but the shooter himself was likely a Democrat
Democrats like Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes and state Rep. Jonathan Brostoff (D-Milwaukee) are blaming Republicans for the murder of five people at the Molson Coors facility in Miller Valley in Milwaukee on Wednesday.
But the Democrats should have waited before all the facts were known before pointing fingers. Not only is it highly unlikely the governor’s proposals would have prevented the shooting, but the shooter himself was likely a Democrat.
The police have identified Anthony Ferrill, a 51-year-old Milwaukee man, as the shooter at Molson Coors. Ferrill signed a petition in 2011 to recall Republican Governor Scott Walker.
Had Democrats waited for the shooter to be identified before using the tragedy for partisan politics, they might have thought twice about blaming Republicans for five murders committed by a likely Democrat.
Brostoff even wrote in his press release:
“We have a governor who specifically called a special session of the Legislature this session in order to address gun violence. And yet, time and again, bought-and-paid-for Republican politicians in this state do everything they possibly can to block simple and popular reform measures from making their way through the political process, all while more and more Wisconsinites die as a direct result of their antipathy and inaction. So today, I have one question for any politician who continues to block these life-saving reforms: how many NRA dollars are Wisconsin lives worth?”
Not satisfied with just accusing Republicans of selling lives for campaign contributions, Brostoff took to Twitter to try to score political points with dead bodies. “There are many Wisconsin leaders fighting for gun violence prevention, and all of us are Democrats,” Brostoff posted.
Brostoff was joined by his colleague Rep. Greta Neubauer (D-Racine) in blaming Republicans.
“I’m angry that Republican Leadership in the Senate and Assembly won’t allow us to take action on common sense gun safety laws,” Neubauer said. “The people of Wisconsin deserve better.”
Chiming in from Madison, Rep. Chris Taylor (D-Madison) took a break from fighting the Air Force to criticize Republicans for the shooting. “We could stop the proliferation of such incidents if the majority party had any courage at all,” Taylor wrote. “They don’t.”
Rep. David Crowley (D-Milwaukee) even justified politicizing the tragedy in his statement.
“We talk about not politicizing a tragedy, but the tragedy is political. The tragedy is that this continues to happen – and we at the Federal, state, and local levels continue to allow it to happen,” Crowley said. “Our city, these families, their friends and co-workers, are all grieving. But to talk about not politicizing a tragedy is to cheapen and normalize these horrific events.”
These Democrats were not alone. Several Democratic candidates for president also attempted to exploit the tragedy for politics, and the media chimed in by trying to link Republican refusal to follow the gun control plans of Gov. Tony Evers to the shooting at Molson Coors.
Now that the shooter has been identified, and we have learned he is likely a Democrat, will the Democratic elected officials decide to take back their statements? Or does that require a sense of shame these politicians clearly lacked when they tried to exploit the tragic murder of five people for partisan political gain before any of the facts were known?
