A Vote for a Republican Is a Vote for Continued Gun Violence

If Americans favor gun control -- and they actually do, by hefty margins -- then the reason we don't have it is our recalcitrant Republican Congress. Throw them out, folks, plain and simple.

Would these leaders of Congress allow passage of one gun-control law? Nope.

People are right to be grief-stricken by the Orlando massacre. But are they right to acquiesce to the inaction of Congress, long after it's been made clear that gun violence has spiraled out of control?

No. Let's hear from one ostensible gun-ownership advocate by way of a comment on a Roger Cohen op-ed:

If one could not purchase or possess a weapon of mass destruction, an assault-type weapon and large capacity magazines, such a horrific crime could never take place. Yes, a determined killer could still kill, but if the most lethal weapon they could obtain was a revolver or pump shotgun the numbers would be dramatically reduced, likely on the order of 10% of what we are seeing now in these tragedies. Why is this even an issue? I am a gun owner many times over, but have never seen the need for such a weapon, and never will. Our politicians should have their feet held to the fire on this. Whether terrorism or some other form of murderous insanity, no surveillance system will ever be able to fully protect us, and no further arming of the populace will ever make us safer, it will only make us more vulnerable. If this terrorist had not passed a background check all he currently would have to do is go to a gun show and buy the weapon from one of the numerous "private sellers" wandering the floors with assault weapons slung over their shoulders and For Sale signs hanging off the gun..no questions asked, no background check required, none. This needs to stop, period.

What part of that statement makes you stand up and say, "No! We have a constitutional right to military-style assault weapons!"? I'd say, if after Orlando, you still feel good guys with guns are a winning strategy, then God help you. And God help us all.

Throw the bums out. By bums I mean Republicans. And please, don't say Democrats are no better. Sure, we have our Blue Dogs in states like Montana and West Virginia. But a strong Democratic majority in both houses of Congress is our only hope of altering the trajectory of senseless death we've been on for what seems like an eternity -- even though such hopeless violence on such massive scale is a recent phenomenon.

And, finally, don't say we don't have gun control because Americans don't support it. Here:

Americans don't favor gun control per se. But when asked about specific policies, it appears Americans favor the changes we need. If Republicans are resisting the will of the people, throw them out. Period.