These gutless Republicans are more afraid of the NRA than guns in the wrong hands

We aren’t supposed to worry about no-fly lists any more than we are supposed to worry about assault weapons or ammunition clips or background checks or gun-show loopholes the size of Trump Tower. So even when Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s “no-fly, no-buy” bill made it to the floor Monday, it never stood a chance.

These Republican Senators did have to raise a hand on this day and get marked lousy in front of the country, the men and women who basically tell us we’re supposed to worry more about someone unjustly placed on a no-fly list than about a gun getting into not just the wrong hands, but the worst hands. At least they had to announce themselves, in formation, starting with old Lamar Alexander and then Kelly Ayotte, Republican from New Hampshire, scared silly about losing her own re-election bid because of Trump. Good. Let her lose, and big.

Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, who led a long, honorable filibuster about guns last week, had a bill of his come to a vote on Monday, one about expanding background checks. Murphy, a rising star of his Democratic Party, had no chance either. At least he forced these people from the other side of the aisle, so many of them in the pockets of the NRA, out into the open.