Gary Franks: How about offering thoughts and prayers ‘before’ a tragedy?

We offer our “thoughts and prayers” after a tragedy like the one in Uvalde, Texas. It is noble. But it seems misplaced and at times perfunctory.

Why not do something that has worked in America’s past — religious observance? Let’s give thoughts and prayers before a tragedy.

For decades, we have been sliding in the wrong direction on faith. We are great at offering thoughts and prayers for victims and their families after the horrific event, but imagine if each of us could do something to help prevent it.

Some may belittle and even chuckle about school prayer despite the fact that no one has died in a mass shooting in any school where prayer or a moment of silence for the purpose of meditation or prayer is practiced.

Public school children cannot pray to start their day, yet members of Congress can.

Yes, congressmen and women and senators pray before starting their day. There has never been a killing of any member of Congress (in the House or Senate chambers) where there was prayer since the first Congress in 1789. (There was one shooting that wounded three members of Congress in 1954 by a Puerto Rican nationalist.)

Gallup polling reports that from 1937 to 1999, church membership hovered around 70%. Since 1999, however, it has been declining dramatically while school prayer in public institutions was abolished via the Supreme Court in the 1960s. Both are bad omens.

Gallup polls today would show church membership is at an all-time low. Most Americans no longer hold a church or religious affiliation membership. We are at 47%.

At the same time, the number of mass shootings and suicides have been rapidly climbing.

In 2010, 19,392 suicides were committed involving guns out of a total of 38,000 suicides. In that same year 11,078 people were killed by guns in non-suicide deaths.

Clearly suicide, which is rarely discussed, is a major problem. Self-hate to the point of killing oneself is often what mass shooters do or would do if not stopped by law enforcement.

So, we can “do something” — each of us can “do something” and we can start doing something now.

It only takes a small amount of time to reflect, meditate, pray, attend religious services, instead of merely attending church at a funeral when it is too late to make a difference.

Racism and antisemitism also play a role in senseless gun deaths. The country, like Buffalo, needs more racial integration in workplaces. Segregation will ease upon the closing of the racial economic gap. That will help end racial strife.

Let us keep in mind that mass shootings in places of worship are hate crimes meant to both kill and terrorize while making other worshipers fearful.

There is also drug-related crime that has targeted a disproportionate number of Black people, victims of turf wars and gun fights of aggression and revenge. Protecting our southern border would reduce the illegal flow of drugs that have all too frequently landed in our inner cities. This has resulted in more gang-related gun violence, murders and random killings of the innocent.

In criminal cases of all kinds the prosecutors, police, jury and judge all look for the motive. We never focus on the method of wrongdoing and try to eliminate the means. The cutting of all trees and elimination of rope (mainly in the South) would not have prevented the murder of Black people, though lynching would have been reduced.

Yet a much bigger problem exists that disproportionately affects the white population. It has gone unspoken, but is omnipresent — suicides. White people account for 80% of all U.S. suicides. Blacks and Asians rarely commit suicide.

There have been far more suicide gun deaths than in the aforementioned cases of gun violence combined. That is just another reason why America must declare war on mental illness, increase intervention projects and establish more counseling outlets. With roughly 400 million guns in America, depression and anger can not be ignored.

Politicians have a role. We pray for them and we are thankful for the efforts and leadership of Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and John Cornyn, R-Texas. Yet each of us can make a personal contribution to mitigating this problem.

Lastly, during this same two decades of religious decline, major military decisions have been off the mark. We fell victim to 9/11, thought there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and believed sanctions would deter Russia from invading Ukraine. They were all mistakes that have proven costly.

Changing these negative trends would be as simple as putting God first. After all, you have to follow God in order for God to lead you.