The condemnation of "thoughts and prayers" seems to have really taken off once people realized that these are conservative markers, and most people do not want to be conservatives any more. (The fact that the outgroup is responsible for the situation has not changed, of course.)
I am sure that it easier to convince conservatives to pass laws against violent media than against guns, for instance. That might be empirically wrong, but people in NO political camp pick their policy preferences based on empirical data. It is always the other way around.