With over 25,000 incidents of gun violence in America this year, including the most violent shooting in American history being just over two weeks ago, there were several gun laws that went to Congress for voting. Without surprise, all of them failed, including ones that would require background checks at gun shows and to prevent those on the terror watch list to buy guns (this bill relating to the Orlando shooter's situation). Since all the bills that would bring in common sense gun laws failed, Congress Democrats felt like enough was enough. They got up from their seats, went to the floor, and sat down for 25 hours. That is right, protesting went all the way to Congress, and it was meant to send a message to those who voted against the laws. Representative John Lewis, a man who was part of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, took a page from a book that he knows all too well. On the matter he said, "We got in trouble. We got in the way. Good trouble. Necessary Trouble. By sitting-in, we were really standing up."
The goal of the Democrats was to prove a point before the July 4 recess. They wanted to come back ready and more determined to push for more gun laws that will make the people safer. But, unfortunately for them, there are a few obstacles they have to face. The first is a Congress with a majority of Republicans, who are all supporters of the 2nd Amendment and the right to own a gun. Since there are more Republicans, there will be more votes against the bills in question than for the bills, leading them to not being passed.
The second obstacle is the National Rifle Association, a huge lobby group in Congress that has paired itself with the GOP members. The NRA has become powerful enough to be the opposition itself, using almost $400,000 to pay members of Congress to support them. A big chunk of that number, around $394,000, is allegedly being sent to Republican Congressmen and women. Also, the NRA prevents any opportunity for people to research gun violence in order to protect the idea that guns can only help and not hurt. This creates a one-two punch that prevents Democrats from passing any bills that would prevent Americans from having firearms.
Whether or not you believe what Congress Democrats did was "professional" or "mature," it was a different approach that may be needed to bring how damaging gun violence is to the people of our country. An admirable effort by John Lewis and company, some can only hope that the effort leads to common sense gun laws in our country. With the protection firearms give our citizens, we must understand that there is plenty of violence due to the freedoms gun owners are given.
