Opinion | Surprise! It’s Not Guns, It’s the …

Oh, wait. In 2017 the House and Senate got together and revoked an Obama-era regulation that had made it harder for mentally ill people to purchase a gun.It’s highly unlikely the background check bill will make it into law. “Color me unclear as to how we get Mitch McConnell to bring it up in the Senate,” said Chris Murphy of Connecticut, one of the Senate sponsors.Sigh. All you can do is keep on trying. It may not make the laws any better, but at least it’ll remind the public that some people in power are worried.We have terrible gun problems in this country not just because firearms are all over the place, but also because of the careless, stupid attitude so many people have toward them.Partly, I blame Congress. (Hey, it’s better than blaming a shortage of steel slat barriers.) Senator Murphy believes the endless rejection of any gun legislation looks like a kind of “moral green light” to potential killers: “I truly believe these young men who have something very dark happening in their minds watch our silence and interpret it as an endorsement.”It certainly helps perpetuate the attitude that guns are a casual part of everyday life, like your wallet or socks — something you wear when you go out to buy a loaf of bread, leave laying around the house and treat in general with less care and discretion than a light bulb.Last year safety inspectors at American airports found 4,239 firearms in passengers’ carry-on bags[1] — almost all of them loaded and a third with a bullet already in the chamber. While a few of those people may have been plotting a crime, it’s pretty clear the vast majority were just incredibly careless with lethal weapons.References^ found 4,239 firearms in passengers’ carry-on bags (www.tsa.gov)

Read more from our friends at the NRA...