The Senate and Gun Control: Cowardice and Greed Trump the People's Interests

Newtown parents: How cold are the hearts of the Republican caucus?

As we watch the stunning reports of events in Boston, the incredible cowardice and greed of primarily -- but not entirely -- Republican senators hasn't slipped from my mind. To not do the will, the broadly expressed will of the American people on the issue of guns is the height of cowardice and greed.

Some are opining now, after the fact, that there was never a chance of passage. I find that remarkable, probably only because I remain naive in these matters. I assumed there was a breaking point, a point after a transformational tragedy where the country's politicians had no choice but to come together and finally get the courage to change the way we do business in the U.S. Boy, was I wrong.

I do also blame the four Democratic senators that also voted no, but I don't hold them as responsible as I do the Republicans. If the Republicans had, no matter how grudgingly, decided they had no choice but to support the gun bill, that would have offered cover to the blue-dog Dems from Western and Southern states. Instead the blue dogs had to protect themselves. That's how I view it. Doesn't totally exclude them -- Begich (AK), Heitkamp (ND), Baucus (MT), and Pryor (AR) -- but it's somehow less depraved.

The only way to characterize this is to call it what it is: unforgivable. If you have any way to help get each and every one of these senators out of office, do it. I'm lucky that my state, California, has leaders in gun control, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer. So I might have to work to primary Montana's Max Baucus out of office in 2014, just to make a contribution.

I feel this is a new front in the culture war, and I hold out hope that the new generations, the millennials and even younger, will turn the corner on gun craziness, just like they've moved on concerning gay rights, DADT, immigration, women's reproductive rights, and more. Whether or not that's true, I'm adding this issue to the culture war. It's where it belongs.

Shame, shame, shame on these cowards. For power and money, they'd just as soon everyone live in increasing danger as guns and bullets sell with a viral enthusiasm. It's not a world I want to live in, not a world I want for my children.

Thanks Huffington Post for this screen shot of how proud McConnell is that guns will never be properly regulated. Good on you, Minority Coward Leader.