Porn is the 'root cause' of school shootings, Republican congresswoman says
Republican Representative of Tennessee, Diane Black, recently blamed the rising number of school shootings in the United States on pornography. The Congresswoman added that pornography in the country was a contributing factor to the deterioration of the family and violent movies and also gun violence in schools, according to reports.
Black reportedly made the remarks during a listening session with local pastors last week, according to HuffPost. An audio on the statement was obtained by the news portal and was posted online on Tuesday.
"How many of you when you were in school ever had an experience where a kid came to school with a gun? . . . Never happened," Black said during a listening session with ministers at Safe Harbor of Clarksville, according to reports.
"Why do we see kids being so violent? What's out there? What makes them do that? Because, as a nurse, I go back to root cause. And I think it's a couple things," Black said in the audio.
"Pornography. It's available. It's available on the shelf when you walk in the grocery store. Yeah, you have to reach up to get it, but there's pornography there," the Congresswoman added. "All of this is available without parental guidance."
The 67-year-old Tennessee lawmaker brought in mental illness into the discussion. "And I think that's a big part of the root cause, that we see so many young people that have mental illness get caught in these places," Black said.
The congresswoman, however, did not detail in the audio why she thought pornography contributed to rampant school shootings in the country. Black's campaign spokesperson, Chris Hartline, while talking to CNN on Tuesday said: "I think the context is pretty clear. Diane believes the breakdown of families and communities plays a significant role in instances of school violence."
Black's comments were criticized by many on social media, including Moms Demand Action founder Shannon Watts, who said that "despite all of the data and experts at her disposal, (Black) chooses to blame 'grocery store pornography' for school shootings. And she doesn't mean the magazines that glorify guns."
There have been at least 21 school shootings in the United States so far in 2018, the deadliest being the Parkland massacre. Nikolas Cruz, a former student of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, opened fire with his legally-bought AR-15 rifle, killing 17 people on campus. Most of the victims of the carnage included students and teachers.
Latest reports state that more people have been killed in mass shootings in schools in the country than American military servicemen so far this year.
At least 31 people in the United States have been killed in school shootings so far in 2018 while 29 military service members died in the same period of time, according to an analysis of the Department of Defense data.