Does anyone in Congress work?
Note: This has been updated to report that the third shooting victim has died.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Just hours after U.S. Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the leading Republican negotiator on gun legislation, announced, “I’m done talking” with Democrats, three people were shot and killed in yet another multiple victim shooting – this one at Saint Stephen’s Episcopal Church in a Birmingham suburb.
According to an early report by NPR, Episcopal priest the Rev. Kelley Hudlow said she was “stunned,” adding, “It is shocking … .”
No, it isn’t. What is shocking is Cornyn behaving like a petulant child. It makes me wonder if anyone in Congress works, and more importantly, even understands the gravity of their jobs.
While Cornyn folds his arms, bullets keep flying.
And what of us? Thanks to Citizens United, we are definitely outnumbered. So we do what we can. Inaction is not an option, but the last two decades have proven we will tolerate a very high rate of death – even among children – by weapons of mass destruction. Every American is at risk of finding themselves in the midst of a mass shooting. Even if one still doesn’t believe that, this they can count on – for those wishing to see the government of the United States live to see its 250th birthday in four years, Congress needs to do its job.
It isn’t looking good.
© Michael M. Barrick, 2022. “Protect Kids” Photo by Tim Mudd on Unsplash; Book Bags Photo by Heather Mount on Unsplash
The Appalachian Chronicle 
Today I handled a very potentially lethal instrument. My automobile. I used it by exercising my First Amendment right to assemble in a gathering. To exercise that right, my car was titled, registered, insured, safety inspected, and I had to pass a competency test to be licensed.
Why not guns?
Oh, if I would fly a jet airplane, I would need much more stringent operator licensing requirements. There is a difference between a shotgun and an AR-15.