Will we see change?

Wondering out loud if soon, FINALLY, we will see some action from members of Congress that could help, even if only a little, to curb the gun violence issues that plague our country.

I will not enumerate the many, many instances where it seemed that we had finally reached that crossroads where Senators and Congressmen located their morals and decided to defy the gun lobby and the many voters who cherish their Second Amendment rights.  There have been too many such times and too few solutions arising from them.

To add to the dismay of so many, especially those who lost loved ones in the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas just a week ago, we're now learning so much about the delay in confronting the attacker, who's responsible, and who actually made the first advance to putting a stop to this horrific attack.  As one would expect, lots of finger-pointing and even cries from the Governor of Texas, the head of the entire state government, that he was "misled," to use his word about all of this back-and-forth, depending on who is presenting the information.

The national media has done its job to get to the bottom of all of this, but it does not restore the lives of these children and their teachers.

Back to Congress for a moment.  There's a bipartisan informal working group of Senators who are discussing ways to offer meaningful legislation to address this ongoing issue.  Surprisingly, Texas Senator John Cornyn, who generally does not support efforts to curb gun violence, is a member of this group, and has the apparent support of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who also has not acted proactively in such instances.  

But let's hope this time will be different.

Saw a piece over the weekend that described in some detail how some of the parents of kids killed in the Sandy Hook shooting were able to successfully sue a gun manufacturer for damages.  The number of obstacles preventing accountability was staggering.  Most of them were based on a law passed when George W. Bush (himself a former governor of Texas, where owning guns is quite common) was President.  The photos shown of the signing ceremony depicted numerous men and women who are still members of the Republican caucus of the Senate.

And if you're like me, you remember a few years ago when several sporting goods sellers, like Dick's and Wal-Mart, announced that they would no longer sell assault-style weapons.  I don't know whether they have held firm to that policy, but I'm afraid it's going to come down to entities other than Congress to do the right thing.  Because these weapons are being purchased by the attackers legally in most every instance, changing laws governing gun purchases and ownership may not be enough.

Hoping for change, but not betting on it.