There might have been a time in America when the massacre of 19 school pupils like those slain yesterday at Uvalde, Texas, would have brought the country together — in grief and prayerful humility. Same with the racist murders that took place earlier in the month at Buffalo, New York. One would think that the instinct among Americans would be to reach out to one another in comfort and condolence.

Yet that is not the America of today. Instead of sympathy and condolences, the Democrats are reacting to the latest tragedy by stoking a bonfire of blame, screeching coarse insults, and questioning motives. Witness what happened when Ted Cruz, whose vote in the Senate could be key on any action in Congress, posted on Twitter that he was “completely sickened and heartbroken,” that he was “lifting up in prayer.” 

Did he get a sympathetic note from across the aisle? Not a chance. One member of Congress sent him an off-color note, calling him — with a coarse epithet — a “baby killer.” That was from Ruben Gallego of Arizona. The chances that he might be, say, censured in the House for talking that way about a fellow member of Congress are zilch. That’s how some Democrats talk. They are not interested in reaching out to anyone.

This has been apparent for years in respect of the House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and the Senate majority leader, Charles “Chuck” Schumer. Mr. Schumer is from a city where the Second Amendment in effect does not exist. He was on the Senate floor today blaming Republicans for this massacre, oblivious to the fact that the other states of the Republic understand he wants to deny to them the Second Amendment rights now denied New Yorkers. 

The latest ploy by Democrats is maligning leaders who plan to address the National Rifle Association at its annual meeting this weekend at Houston. President Trump is among those slated to speak. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez questioned Mr. Cruz for being “slated to headline a speaking gig for the NRA” and mocked him for praying after the shooting: “You can do more than pray. Faith without works is dead.”

The press also took up complaints from the left about the NRA’s political donations. When, after Uvalde, Senator Romney observed that “grief overwhelms the soul,” a writer for the Atlantic, Jemele Hill, quibbled with the $13 million in donations Mr. Romney had received from the NRA over the years. “Grief does not overwhelm the soul nearly as much as $13M from the NRA overwhelms your bank account,” Ms. Hill speculated.

Blaming the NRA — America’s oldest civil rights organization — for the Uvalde attack is not only inaccurate, but counterproductive. The NRA is dedicated to defending the article of the Rights Bill that jurist St. George Tucker called “the palladium of our liberties.” It is as much a part of the Bill of Rights as the First Amendment’s protections of free exercise of religion, free speech, and freedom of the press.

Moreover, the contours of the Second Amendment vouchsafing from infringement the right of the people to bear arms is expected to be delineated by the United States Supreme Court within weeks. The case arises from New York, where the rights spoken of in the Second Amendment essentially don’t exist. In respect of New York City, the rights have been totally infringed, even for the most law-abiding New Yorkers.

All this to say that it’s a moment for our politicians to think of the people of Uvalde County. Its citizens deserve the respect of the legislators. Uvalde’s citizens, like all Americans, know their own interests. They voted overwhelmingly for the Republicans in 2020, and they don’t need to be lectured by the Democrats. Let the politicians get hold of themselves and come together to condole with those who are grieving in Uvalde County.