And this is the way things will be until we get a Congress brave enough to take on the NRA.
After the shooting at University of California, Santa Barbara on Friday, a rampage that left six students dead, many parents and politicians found the federal government’s past responses to similar tragedies to be one of the culprits. “Have we learned nothing?” Richard Martinez, father of one of the victims, said. “These things are going to continue until somebody does something, so where the hell is the leadership?”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Calif.) had a similar response on CBS’s Face the Nation. “Congress will be complicit if we fail to act.”
The statements felt familiar — we’ve heard similar exhortations for Congress to pass new gun legislation after many mass shootings. However, we also hear arguments for loosening gun restrictions, arguments that have proved far more successful. Since 13 people were killed at Columbine High School in 1999, Congress has passed one major law strengthening gun control in the aftermath of a mass shooting.
In other words, it doesn’t matter how many Americans lose their lives in senseless mass shootings, as long as Congress keep their jobs, everything’s okay.
