Originally Posted by Guest

We will never have any more gun control legislation except for perhaps a ban on bump stocks. If any good has come out of this latest tragedy that is it. I'm sure that Congress will pass a bill addressing the issue of bump stocks and the president will sign it.

But the reason that we won't have any other legislation is that no one in Congress really wants it. if they brought a bill to the floor that says simply, "The 2nd amendment is hereby repealed", most of those who voted in favor of it would not be re-elected. And they all know that.

Members of Congress would never vote to take away the rights of millions of Americans. They would pay the price which is why any type of gun limiting legislation will never get to the floor. If it did get to the floor, they would have to show who they are. Our representatives and senators would prefer not to vote on anything. Every time they vote, they lose support from a percentage of their constituents. That's why most of the controversial bills die in committee.

The Democrats would never bring this to the floor because not only would they have to vote for it, but if it passed, they would lose a tool with which they use to attack Republicans.

You have to remember, these elected representatives care very little about the people they represent. What they care about first is being re-elected and second getting and keeping their party in power. They do this through all kinds of legislative trickery that the public never sees.

They can stand up and make speeches all day long, but unless they are forced to vote on something, they don't show their true feelings. Sometimes even when they do vote, they are voting against what they believe in or what their party stands for. For example, the party puts forth a bill that they want to be passed. A Congressman knows that the majority of people in his district are against this idea and he stands to lose votes if he votes in favor of it. Once the party leaders know that they have enough votes to pass the bill, they will allow this Congressman to vote against it. He can then can his no vote knowing that the bill will be passed and he can save face with his constituents. This also makes him even more beholden to the party leadership. so it's sort of a quid pro quo.

This is only one example of how Congress works. Most legislation that might affect the outcomes of elections gets killed in committee. That public never sees any of these committee votes so they have no idea where their representative really stand on issues.