One mass shooting that did not happen last month was in Anacortes, Washington at an LGBTQ Pride parade. I published a story Saturday about how that mass shooting almost happened —about a member of an extremist Christian sect that preaches that God's wrath against gay people should be meted out here on Earth by men.

He has a history of animal cruelty and threatening neighbors with violence, and he owns 13 military style assault rifles. He was arrested and his rifles confiscated after he made credible threats to shoot up Anacortes Pride.

Frighteningly, the very same day my story came out here on Medium and in the Los Angeles Blade, a preacher at the same church he attends stood up and live streamed a sermon calling for gay people to be shot in the head.

Then the congregation prayed. They pray a lot. As they encourage ownership of assault rifles and preach (literal words here) "death to faggots." One day, somebody they radicalize isn't going to get arrested in the nick of time. And a lot of people are going to die.

And prayer isn't going to do anything to bring those people back to life.