The twisted irony of using the CFPB as a tool to encourage the unchecked spread of automatic and semi-automatic weapons notwithstanding, Mr. Kennedy’s knee-jerk reaction to the banks’ attempts to impose curbs on gun violence is emblematic of the reaction of Republicans throughout the entire Congress:

Senator Michael D. Crapo, the Idaho Republican who heads the banking committee, sent blistering letters in late April to the top executives at Citigroup and Bank of America, accusing them of using their market power to manage social policy. He told them not to go any further and warned them against developing ways to monitor gun transactions through their payments systems...[.]

Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, whose state suffered the most recent high-casualty massacre at the Santa Fe High School near Houston, has also weighed in to carry the NRA’s water against the efforts of these banks. Other Republicans, egged on by the NRA and the gun manufacturers, have even issued blackmail-style threats against those financial groups taking a stand against gun violence:

At a meeting with the Securities and Exchange Commission this month, a departing Republican commissioner, Michael Piwowar, assailed Citigroup executives over the bank’s gun policies. Mr. Piwowar, according to Bloomberg News, warned that the bank could struggle to get Republican support on the commission for easing derivatives regulations.

The NRA, for its part, has issued blistering statements against the banks that include intentional whiffs of anti-semitism, accusing “financial elites” (a.k.a. Jews) of attempting to make policy as opposed to “citizens and elected officials.”

Phony astro-turf organizations of the firearms industry such as “Gun Owners of America” orchestrated fake “grassroots” campaigns last month urging Republican Congressmen not to vote for the repeal of Dodd-Frank regulations which have up to this point constrained, in part, the activities of major banks and financial institutions. It’s almost amusing to see the far-right NRA urging Republicans to vote with Elizabeth Warren as a way to “punish” the banks.

But it’s important to understand that these Republicans don’t leap to do the bidding of the gun lobby out of any fealty or loyalty to the “Second Amendment.” Most are career politicians or lawyers far more comfortable getting fat eating lavish dinners with their mistresses in D.C. or being entertained and schmoozed on yachts. Although some may have purchased a gun to whip out and impress their constituents at town hall meetings, most would be hard pressed to explain where its safety catch is, or what type of ammunition it uses. What they are deathly afraid of, however, is being primaried by a rival in their district or state seen as more “pro-gun” than themselves and backed by the NRA. No number of school shootings in faraway places will change that, as long as their constituents continue to believe it “can’t happen here.”

The Republican Party and its members in the United States Congress have permanently sold their souls—out of fear, political expediency, or both—to the gun manufacturers, lock stock and barrel. Their collective response to even the most meager efforts by the financial industry to curb gun violence shows the absolute futility of expecting any meaningful gun regulation from the GOP—ever. And nothing better illustrates the fact that if we really want to stop our children from being butchered in their schools by deranged gunmen, armed to the teeth, the only solution is to vote Republicans out of office.

All of them.