Shameful Day for Congress

This week the United States Senate defeated a proposal that would have expanded background checks for people who wish to purchase guns at gun shows and over the internet.  For procedural reasons the compromise bill required 60 votes to pass.  The final vote was 54 votes in favor and 46 votes opposed.

Four Republicans had the courage to vote against their party's wishes and do the right thing.  Four Democrats voted against this law.  Without getting into details, if those four Democrats had voted for the bill, there would have been at least 59 votes for it (Senator Reid did vote against it simply to keep the options alive for the future).  Certainly one more person would have had the courage to do the right thing under those circumstances.

These people were happy about how the vote came out.

So was this man.

And this human piece of person.

Let's get serious.  What happened this week was shameful.  President Obama used the right word. 

When 90% of our population supports common sense legislation that requires people who buy guns at gun shows to undergo a background check, that should not be controversial. 

The green ribbon is worn to support gun control in our society.  After the vote that defeated commonsense reform, this is the colour of ribbon that will be worn in the days to come more often than we would like.

 But as the President said, this fight is not over yet.  Not by a long ways.