GOP Congresswoman: Porn Is The ‘Root Cause’ of School Shootings

Diane Black, a congressional representative from Tennessee’s Sixth District, who is now running for governor of that state, believes that she has identified a major reason why school shootings have been on a rapid rise in recent years: porn. The 67-year old, four-term Republican House member is also the 11th-richest member of congress, according to data compiled by The Center for Responsive Politics, with an estimated net worth as high as $125.6 million. Perhaps not surprisingly, Black is rated by the site OnTheIssues, which assigns numerical scores to the ideological views of elected officials, as a “hard core conservative,” only slightly to the left of Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz on the site’s scale. Speaking at a meeting of local Christian clergy in Tennessee last week, Black herself raised the issue of school shootings, and offered her view as to the factors leading to what data has shown to be an increase in school gun violence in recent decades. “Pornography,” she said, identifying what she believed to be a significant cause of school shootings, according to a report on The Huffington Post. “It’s available on the shelf when you walk in the grocery store,” she said, apparently referring to Cosmopolitan magazine, which the National Center on Sexual Exploitation has labeled as porn. “Yeah, you have to reach up to get it, but there’s pornography there. All of this is available without parental guidance. I think that is a big part of the root cause.” Black cited no evidence or data linking the alleged accessibility of porn to gun violence of any kind, including school violence. Those interested may listen to audio of her remarks on the topic of school shootings supposedly caused by porn by visiting this link.  Nor did Black specify why she believed viewing of porn would cause boys to take up arms and gun down their classmates. According to data compiled by the site Statista, of 97 school mass shootings between 1982 and February of this year, two were initiated by a female shooter, one by a male and female together and 94 by male shooters. Black added that she also sees additional causes of mass school shootings, including mental illness and family breakups.  One cause that Black did not list as a factor behind increased school shootings was the availability of firearms. On her campaign website she boasts of receiving an “A+” rating from the National Rifle Association, and also claims that “liberals have called for banning and confiscating all guns.” A study published by the Journal of Child and Family Studies last month found that there have been more deaths and injuries as a result of mass shootings in schools in the first 18 years of the 21st century than there were over the whole course of the 20th century. Photo by United States Congress / Public Domain