Texas governor says church shooting should be put in context of Nazism, other horrific events

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said that the church shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas, on Sunday that left 26 people dead should be “put in the context of history.”

Abbott said during an interview on Fox News’s “Outnumbered Overtime” that while many Americans think violence in society is “heavy right now,” people should consider other “horrific events” and put Sunday’s mass shooting in historical context.

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“Remember, even though we’re facing these severe tragedies — whether it be what happened in Sutherland Springs, or what happened in Las Vegas, or what happened in New York last week, or what happened in London earlier this year — we have acts of evil taking place, and because they are close in time to us right now, we think this is something heavy right now,” Abbott said.

“But put this in the context of history. Look at what happened with Hitler during the horrific events during that era and Mussolini,” he added.

The Texas governor called the mass shooting in Sutherland Springs a symptom of “evil” that has permeated mankind since biblical times.

“Go back in time before that to the earlier ages, the Middle Ages, when people committed horrific crimes, and when you go back through the history of the Bible, there was evil that took place from [the] earliest stages of the Bible to post-New Testament, so evil is something that has permeated this world,” Abbott said.

Sunday’s shooting during worship services at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs left 26 people dead and at least 20 others injured. An armed civilian pursued and shot the gunman, who authorities say killed himself.

President Trump, who is currently in Asia for a 13-day, five-nation tour, tweeted his condolences after being briefed on the news Sunday.

“May God be w/ the people of Sutherland Springs, Texas. The FBI & law enforcement are on the scene. I am monitoring the situation from Japan,” Trump wrote.