The Register's Editorial

Has there ever been a time where the American people were so poorly served by Congress?

Collectively, the 535 individuals who make up the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate have proved to be a dysfunctional, hyper-partisan, self-serving bunch who are utterly incapable of addressing one of the most critical issues of our time: Gun control.

That was never more clear than this past week as Congress failed, in a spectacular and subversive fashion, to pass the sort of legislation that in years past would have easily garnered broad, bipartisan support.

On Wednesday, frustrated Democratic members of the House, including Iowa’s Dave Loebsack, launched a dramatic, 25-hour sit-down strike, protesting the GOP leadership’s refusal to call for a vote on gun-control legislation. The Democrats squatted on the floor, clutching blankets, waved signs and sang “We Shall Overcome.”

It was a symbolic act of protest — an act of civil disobedience intended to raise awareness and rally public support for their cause.

Republicans were scornful and headed for home at the first opportunity. U.S. Rep. Steve King of Iowa — never one to mince words, even when those words aren’t supported by facts, logic or reason — tweeted: “I've had it with the gun-grabbing Democrats and their sit-in, anti-2nd amendment jihad. I'm going to go home and buy a new gun.”

It’s not clear why King feels an urgent need to add to his arsenal. The Democrats were simply trying to force a vote on a bill amendment that would prevent suspected terrorists from purchasing guns. This is a concept that, according to a recent CNN poll, has greater support among Republicans than Democrats.

House Speaker Paul Ryan labeled the sit-in a “publicity stunt” that threatened to stop the House “from carrying out the people’s business.” He said this, mind you, after blocking a vote and declaring the House to be in recess until after the July Fourth holiday.

In the Senate, a half-dozen gun-control measures, three backed by Democrats and three sponsored by GOP lawmakers, failed to pass. One of them, sponsored by Iowa’s Chuck Grassley, would have actually made it easier for certain people with a history of mental illness to acquire a gun.

On his website, Grassley rationalized this idea by pointing out that military veterans make up “99 percent of the names listed on the ‘mental defective’ category for the National Instant Criminal Background Check System,” which means they are barred from buying a gun. Grassley’s amendment would have enabled those individuals to buy a gun as soon as they were discharged from an involuntary commitment and declared to no longer pose a threat to themselves or to others.

Apparently, that’s what passes for “gun control” in the GOP today.

Early in the week, Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa sent out a press release claiming she had “voted to prevent terrorists from obtaining weapons.” In fact, Ernst opposed a bill amendment that would have summarily denied suspected terrorists of the ability to buy a gun. She voted in favor of two competing measures that would have prevented those individuals from obtaining a gun for up to three weeks, during which time the FBI would have to confirm the individual’s identity, establish whether the person had an actual connection to terrorism, and decide whether to file an emergency petition in court to block the sale.

Grassley and Ernst also voted to kill a proposed amendment, sponsored by a fellow Republican, that would have given the U.S. attorney general the power to block individuals on the no-fly list from purchasing a gun. The Iowa senators then voted for a much weaker amendment backed by the National Rifle Association. As Grassley himself described it, this measure would have constructed a process through which the government would have to “first prove in court” that a person had been “correctly” placed on the no-fly list before permanently blocking a gun sale.

That amendment had zero chance of being approved and was created for the sole purpose of providing a bit of political cover for Republicans, and that’s exactly how it was used. After the vote, Grassley sent out a press release headlined, “Grassley votes to block terrorists from buying guns, while respecting the Constitution.” Ernst again congratulated herself on voting to “keep weapons out of the hands of terrorists.”

The week ended without a single piece of gun-control legislation being approved by either the House or the Senate. That's despite the fact that polls show an astounding 92 percent of Americans favor expanded background checks on gun buyers; that 87 percent of them oppose gun ownership among felons and people with mental health issues; and that 85 percent of them want to ban people on federal watch-lists from buying guns.

Whatever opportunity the current Congress had to enact such laws seems to have been squandered. By the time our senators and representatives are back in session next month, gun control will have even less chance of passage, thanks in part to the attention-deficit disorder that afflicts Congress, the media and much of the public. Even in the wake of a mass shooting, many of us lack the ability to maintain the focus or sustain the sense of outrage that's needed to win the approval of gun-control legislation.

Granted, it shouldn't take a mass shooting to get the attention of lawmakers. But gun violence is now a routine part of every-day life in America. In the days following the Orlando shooting, six people died and 44 others were wounded in 12 mass shootings across America.

Perversely, it’s the increased prevalence of gun violence that dulls our sensitivity to it and inhibits legislative action. Each mass shooting sharpens the political divide in Congress and leads to an even greater proliferation of guns. In the five days following the Orlando shooting, one online gun store in Pennsylvania claimed to have sold more than 30,000 AR-15 assault weapons. That's an average of 250 per hour from a single retailer.

Until Congress finds the courage to pass meaningful restrictions on gun ownership, the cycle of violence will continue to repeat itself.