After the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting , Katrina vanden Heuvel , editor of '' The Nation '' , called on politicians to " move beyond thoughts and prayers " . In her post , vanden Heuvel referred to a press release by Paul Helmke , then-president of the Brady Campaign , who offered his thoughts and prayers but also stated " it is long overdue for us to take some common-sense actions to prevent tragedies like this from continuing to occur . " In October 2015 , following the Umpqua Community College shooting , President Obama said that " thoughts and prayers do not capture the heartache and grief and anger that we should feel , and it does nothing to prevent this carnage from being inflicted some place else in America next week or a couple months from now . " The White House subsequently announced that Obama would continue to take more executive action on the subject of gun control
Umpqua Community College shooting
Umpqua Community College shooting
Thoughts and prayers