'Moment of Silence' at DC Tree Lighting for Mass Shooting Victims

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan called for a moment of silence Wednesday night at the annual Capitol Tree Lighting ceremony held at the U.S. Capitol, after the mass shooting of 14 people in San Bernardino, Calif.

“Please keep the victims and their families in your prayers right now,” Ryan said, adding that he hoped the 74-foot tall spruce tree would be “a light in the darkness here in our Capitol.” (See the video below.)

The New York Daily News was quick to criticize GOP leaders who offered their prayers to the victims in the wake of the mass shooting, with a huge front-page headline: “God Isn’t Fixing This.”

“As latest batch of innocent Americans are left lying in pools of blood, cowards who could truly end gun scourge continue to hide behind meaningless platitudes,” the cover reads.

Meanwhile President Obama weighed in with his initial thoughts, during an interview with CBS as news of the shootings reached the White House. “We don’t yet know what the motives of the shooters are but what we do know is that there are steps we can take to make Americans safer,” Obama said in the interview. “We should never think that this is just something that just happens in the ordinary course of events because it doesn’t happen with the same frequency in other countries.”