Between the lines: 'Anything' to stop gun violence

Will dramatic week make a difference in gun culture?

What a week.

No matter your political affiliation, if any, last week was one to remember in the annals of American politics.

First, the U.S. Senate, responding to a filibuster led by a fed-up Democrat whose constituents include the families of the slain children of Newtown, Conn., voted on gun-control measures.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., with help from Democratic colleagues, filibustered the Senate for 15 hours, dramatically insisting on the votes that were finally granted on Monday.

The Senate majority turned all the bills down, those advanced by Democrats and those that came from Republicans, but they actually voted on legislation intended to address gun violence, rather than leaving it buried in some unattended calendar.

There was even the prospect by week's end of movement on a different, bipartisan bill, although hope waned.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine attempted to appease both sides with a version of legislation to keep people on the no-fly list from getting guns, but the 52-46 procedural vote for it fell short of the 60-vote majority needed to pass.

"Let us not miss an opportunity to get something done," she had pleaded from the Senate floor.

Meanwhile, on the other end of the Capitol, House Democrats literally staged a 1960s-style sit-in in the well of that venerable institution, demanding a chance to vote on gun-control measures.

They didn't get the chance, at least not last week; but they delivered a message to their colleagues and to their collective constituents, mostly via social media.

Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga. and an icon of the Civil Rights movement, led the sit-down along with Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Mass. They were joined by dozens of other Democrats, including some from the Senate in what turned out to be almost 26 hours of protest.

They, too, were pleading, as Sen. Collins did on the Senate side, for Congress to get something -- anything -- done about gun violence.

These efforts come in the wake of the latest mass shooting in America, this one perpetrated by a man wielding an automatic rifle in an Orlando nightclub against mostly gay, mostly Puerto Rican victims.

Yes, there is concern about the motivations of the gunman and what role international terrorism may have played. Whatever the motivation, his easy access to such deadly weapons should cause even the strongest of Second Amendment advocates to pause.

Forty-nine people died. Another 53 were injured.

It was the worst mass shooting in American history, or will be, until someone else with one of those killing machines takes aim on some other crowd of innocents.

Why this terrible event might make a difference isn't totally clear.

The carnage at Newtown's Sandy Hook Elementary School, when 20 children, 6- and 7-year-olds, and six adult staff died at an assassin's hand, should have been enough.

It wasn't, no more than all the other deaths at high schools or on college campuses or in a movie theater or church were.

And those are just the mass murders, not the everyday toll gun violence takes in community after community in this gun-toting country.

Nevertheless, this time, something seems different.

Through their disruptive efforts, maybe those in the minority in the Senate and in the House have found a way to direct the voices of Americans concerned about gun violence toward action.

That's what the House occupation and those impromptu speeches to the assembled crowd in the wee hours of a Washington night were all about. As colleagues held the House floor, others were rallying the universe of people from both parties who want to see something -- anything -- done to curb gun violence.

There is, of course, evidence that most people, upwards of 90 percent in some instances, support efforts in the works now to curb access to guns. The push for expanded background checks has just that kind of backing, yet legislation has been blocked.

Realists say don't expect any real change. In the end, they discount the possibility that this Congress or its successor will be any more able than past assembles to do something -- anything -- about gun violence.

Instead, they'll wrangle about the disruption, the unseemliness of Democratic members of Congress engaging in civil disobedience, or the idea that they're asking to waste time on bills that can't pass.

Nevertheless, this bell won't be unrung. The pressure on Congress to do something -- anything -- about gun violence will continue.

Commentary on 06/26/2016

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