We Deserve A Vote

We deserve a vote. Plain and simple.

I have my own views on whether we need additional gun control laws; I've made them pretty clear in this forum (click on the label 'guns' at the end of this post) but I'll run through them one more time:

• I support the right of people to bear arms; I do no believe all guns need to be banned.
• I do not believe the government is planning on confiscating everyone's guns.
• I believe in background checks for all gun sales, and I believe all states should fully participate in the background check program.
• I would prefer that we don't have weapons and ammunition options that allow sick evil bastards to murder lots of people in a very short period of time.
• I believe there is a significant difference between firearms and bathtubs.

Here are some other things I strongly believe in:

• Gun control legislation - whether advocating for more of it or less of it - should come to a vote on the floor of the House and Senate, without any unrelated amendments. Just gun control, and a vote.
• I believe that all of our elected representatives should go on the record when it matters, and actually record a vote, in their name, for posterity, on gun control. They should not be able to hide behind the filibuster, or behind a microphone, saying what they want without having any accountability to us.
• I believe that the leadership of the House and Senate should bring gun legislation forward, regardless of whether they have the votes or not, because we deserve to know where the people we elect really stand on this issue.  (Frankly I feel this way about most legislation but that's a whole nother conversation).

There are a dozen or so conservative Republicans who have suggested a filibuster on gun legislation.  While it appears that some of their counterparts may be moving away from this idea and are now willing to actually vote, I would ask the rest of them this:

What are you afraid of?   If you are on the right side of this issue, shouldn't you be proud to vote down anything new gun legislation that comes before you?  If you are confident you're acting with the support of your constituents, as opposed to acting on the advice of the NRA, ALEC, gun manufacturers or other lobbying organizations, why won't you stand up and vote against proposed gun legislation?  If you truly believe that there is no need to change existing gun laws, why not say so when it matters?

Our political process makes it very easy for our representatives to hide from making hard choices, and very easy for their leadership to fail us.  According to many polls, support for broader background checks is as high as 91%; as many as 61% believe we need stricter gun control laws; more than half believe we need to control guns more than we need to protect the rights of gun owners; as many as 70% believe it's OK to restrict gun rights in some way; as many as 72% believe there should be a mental health check for all gun buyers.

We've made our opinions clear. We deserve to know if Congress is listening to what we say we want, or if they're listening to what someone else wants. 

We deserve a vote.