More on the gun debate

The NRA pours poison into our ears at CPAC ...



And Patkland students debate with lawmakers at CNN's town hall on gun violence. Democratic congressman Ted Deutsch of Florida made this opening statement, which I thought was really good ...

"A lot of people have told this community, people from all around the world, that it's too soon - it's too soon to get together, to have this kind of forum, it's too soon to talk about preventing another tragedy like the one that struck our community from happening anywhere again, it's too soon to talk about getting weapons of war out of our communities.

It is not. It is not too soon, it is too late for the 17 lives that were lost, it is too late for the grieving families, too late for the injured, too late for the 3,300 survivors of what happened. Senator Rubio and Senator Nelson, we represent these fine people. We will not be judged by what we say here tonight, by the quality of our answers, or by any back-and-forth in words. The folks in our community don't want words, they don't want thoughts and prayers, they don't want discussions. They want action and we owe it to them ..."



As with so many other issues, from our treatment of the environment to our treatment of the less fortunate, the Republicans, now in control of every facet of our government, have cast their lot with power, money, and individual self-interest at the expense of community. This gun debate shows us the conservative soul and it's not pretty.