Each time there is a mass shooting involving a mentally or emotionally ill person - which is the case in most mass shootings - Democrats call for tougher gun safety laws while Republicans are quick to say guns aren't the problem, but mental illness is.
So it seemed a bit discordant Wednesday when the majority GOP Senate voted to join the majority GOP House in revoking a common-sense Obama administration rule designed to stop people with severe mental problems from buying guns. President Trump is expected to sign the bill - in keeping with his and the GOP congressional support of the National Rifle Association.
There still is another law barring gun purchases to people "adjudicated" as mentally defective, but that law can only be enforced if the medical ruling has been added to a federal court database. To facilitate better vetting, the Obama administration created the Social Security rule requiring the Social Security Administration to add to the national gun purchases background check database about 75,000 people currently on disability support for schizophrenia, psychotic disorders and other problems to the extent that they are unable to manage their financial affairs and other basic tasks without help.
As if the congressional bill were not bad enough, the Tennessee General Assembly will soon be considering a bill to remove silencers from the list of weapons regulated for having "no common lawful purpose."
Morristown, Tenn., Republican Rep. Tillman Goins has titled the legislation the "Hearing Protection Act."
Silencers - gun advocates prefer the term "suppressors" - have a months-long permit process and can be tracked with a serial number. The gun lobby doesn't like that, arguing that hunters (who need their ears to track game) need to protect their ears and can't be bothered to take the time to put in ear plugs before taking a shot.
But the truth is that silencers already are legal to use for hunting in Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama. They just carry that oh-so-onerous serial number, waiting period and $200 permit fee. And after all, hunters are terribly overburdened with regulations - wink, wink, nod, nod.
What this ridiculous legislation really will do is make extra gun shop sales - and make them faster, easier and more profitable.
It also will make the jobs of police officers in urban settings harder.
You might remember that Chattanooga police experimented for a time with a network of microphones and sensors around the city to triangulate the location of gunfire. Such systems help police get information faster - especially in an era when many people can't or don't report gunshots in their neighborhoods. Now those shots may simply go unheard.
This bill and the rule killed by Congress offer just the newest evidence that our lawmakers believe they owe the NRA more than they owe us - the public.