MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace: When will GOP ‘wake up and realize it has blood on its hands?’

MSNBC host Nicole Wallace on Thursday questioned when the Republican Party will “wake up and realize it has blood on its hands” for its inaction on gun violence following the mass shooting at a Florida high school.

“Democrats who are for gun control are fine doing more for the mentally ill, but Republicans who are for doing more for the mentally ill never want to have a conversation about gun control,” the “Deadline White House” host said. “When is the Republican Party going to wake up and realize it has blood on its hands?” 

The MSNBC host accused the GOP of being “held hostage” by the National Rifle Association (NRA), referring to its massive contributions to lawmakers who are now insisting that Democrats should not use the latest mass shooting as an opportunity to push for new gun laws.

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Wallace, who served as communications chief for former President George W. Bush’s White House, has previously argued that the Second Amendment is solely a protection for citizens to bear arms against foreign militias. 

Republican lawmakers have faced backlash this week from critics hammering their response to Wednesday’s shooting at a high school in Florida, which left 17 students and faculty dead along with more than a dozen injured. 

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday charged that Congress is complicit in the nation’s gun violence epidemic, denouncing Republicans’ refusal to consider new limits on firearms in the aftermath of the Florida shooting.

The New York Daily News snapped at Republican lawmakers who expressed their condolences for the shooting Wednesday, tweeting out dollar amounts they received from the NRA for their campaigns and their “grades” on gun issues by the group.