You’ll never guess why we have so much shooting

Perhaps you missed it, but this week the House of Representatives held its first hearing on gun violence in eight years.

I know, I know. You’ve had a lot to keep track of, what with everything from the meltdown in Virginia to Jeff Bezos’ selfies.

But about the hearing. Testimony centered on a bill that would make it harder for people to buy guns without thorough background checks. Supporters pointed out it’s ridiculously easy to get lethal weapons from an unlicensed seller who is not going to check to see if a purchaser has a record of violence, stalking or involuntary commitment for mental illness. Amazing, right? Opponents hugged the Second Amendment and argued that the real reason we have so many deaths by gunfire is ... Well, guess: A) Guns

B) Bullets

C) Immigrants

Yes! Are we living in the age of Trump or what?

“I hope we do not forget the pain and anguish and sense of loss felt by those all over the country who have been the victims of violence at the hands of illegal aliens,” said Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican who read a short list of people who had been shot by undocumented immigrants. Better background checks, he contended, “would not have stopped many of the circumstances I raised, but a wall, a barrier on the southern border may have.”

Is there anything that the wall wouldn’t solve? Nearly 40,000 Americans died in gun violence in 2017, the last year for which we have records. But if only there’d been a huge concrete slab dividing us from Mexico, they’d be fine.

There are a lot of lawmakers prepared to say almost anything, in their role as worker bees for the National Rifle Association. But it was sort of surprising that the lead ranter was from Florida.

We’ll just had the first anniversary of the Parkland high school shootings in which one student with a gun took the lives of 17 people. We just passed the second anniversary of the fatal shooting of five people in the baggage claim area of the Fort Lauderdale airport. Which came six months after 49 people were shot to death at a nightclub in Orlando. And it was just a couple of weeks ago that a young man walked into a bank in Sebring, Fla., pulled out a pistol, forced five women to lay on the ground and shot each one in the head.

All in Congressman Gaetz’s state. All the gunmen were native-born Americans. Perhaps Gaetz feels the border situation was sending dangerous vibes across the Gulf of Mexico and spurring them on.

Americans are very, very strongly in favor of good background checks, and it does seem likely this bill will pass the newly Democratic House. Beyond minor technical fixes, that’ll be the first time either chamber has done anything about the issue of gun violence in years.

Oh, wait. In 2017 the House and Senate got together and revoked an Obama-era regulation that made it harder for mentally ill people to buy guns.

It’s highly unlikely the background check bill will make it into law. “Color me unclear as to how we get Mitch McConnell to bring it up in the Senate,” said Chris Murphy of Connecticut.

Sigh. All you can do is keep on trying. It may not make the laws any better, but at least it’ll remind the public that some people in power are worried.

We have terrible gun problems in this country not just because firearms are all over the place, but also because of the careless, stupid attitude so many have toward them.

Oh — and obviously, because of those caravans of immigrants.