Waiting on Congress

‘We have to have action” in the wake of the Florida school massacre, President Trump said Monday. Good for him, but the ball is mostly in Congress’ court.

Trump added that he even told the National Rifle Association’s leaders “we have to do something,” and they agreed.

The president has vowed new regulations to ban bump stocks. And he backs “comprehensive background checks,” better reporting of people with mental-health issues and raising the age to buy assault weapons.

That’s great, but most of that requires Congress’ OK, and the NRA has diligently pushed Congress to do nothing in the wake of past mass shootings — with success even when Democrats controlled both houses in the early Obama years.

It’s easy to see both parties again yielding to the demands of their bases — Democrats demanding legislation that can never win majority support, Republicans bottling up even moderate measures for fear of the NRA’s wrath.

But that’s not what the public wants, as Trump clearly sees.

Yes, avoiding tragedies like Parkland requires officials to enforce existing law and act on red flags like those from Nikolas Cruz. But that doesn’t remove lawmakers’ duty to do their own jobs better.

Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel, who was so very slow to reveal damning details of his office’s failures in the months before the massacre and when the shooting started, even now refuses to accept any blame for the screwups. He’s a perfect lesson for Congress in how not to proceed.