Pay No Attention to GOP Willingness to Ban Bump Stocks. It's Their "Get Out of Jail Free" Card. And It Still Might Not Happen.

The Republican openness to consider banning the bump stock -- something unknown to nearly all of us until Vegas -- is a contemptible head feint. Yeah, we'll ban something!! And then leave all other gun "rights" in place, including the "right" to have lots of military rifles with up to 100-round magazines. Horrifying still.

Yes, the bump stock turns this semi-automatic military-style rifle into an
automatic. But without it, this rifle is horrifically lethal and can still be
altered to kill plenty of people. (It's what it was designed to do.)

We're going to hear the litany of reasons why we can never and should never limit guns and their availability, and, yes, it's Democratic Sen. Diane Feinstein of California who's offered the bill to eliminate bump stocks, but she's only attempting to seize the moment in the aftermath of the Las Vegas horror.

But realize that, one, she may not succeed (watch that, folks), and, two, it throws a bone to the gun control people, a bone without any meat on it.

We will still remain a horror in the eyes of civilized nations. We will still be in the thrall of the NRA and its Republican stooges. We will still be left counting the dead and turning the page.