Since the events of last weekend, a major focus of the press has been whether Moscow Mitch will call the Senate back into session to deal with gun control.  After all, there are several bills that the House has passed regarding background checks, etc., that would be useful starting points for Senate debate.

It has become pretty clear that Moscow Mitch intends to stay in his turtle shell and hope that — as in the past — other issues will gain media attention and the focus on Republican inaction on this issue will pass.  But there is one thing that Democrats can do to highlight the Senate’s failure and that is for the House to return to Washington to take another look at gun control.

Technically, it’s not necessary because — as discussed above — the House has already done its part.  But, unfortunately, the House passed its bills in the ordinary course of business — meaning that the media paid those bills little attention as they were passed.  The purpose of recalling the House into session is not a need to pass new bills (although we should do that as well) but to demonstrate that the House is doing the People’s business while the Senate is standing in the doorway and blocking up the halls (with apologies to Bob Dylan).

So, starting as soon as the House can reconvene, we need big committee hearings at which experts can testify about the rising number of mass shootings by White Nationalists, the lack of any legitimate reason for owning a high capacity magazine, and why gun violence seems to be unique to the United States and to suggest some empirically-proven remedies to gun violence.  Following these hearings — with Democratic leadership holding daily news conferences about the absent Senate and the absent President — the House can pass a new round of bills again followed by press conferences insisting that the Senate take up the bills.

In a period of divided government, the advantage belongs to those who take the initiative and frame the debate.  If Democrats are willing to return to Washington and get back to work, and the Do Nothing Republicans make it clear that they would be anywhere but Washington because they do not want to deal with the need for reasonable gun control, it is possible that the pressure will reach the points when even a Republican Senate leadership that is much better at saying “No” than saying “Yes” will have to finally pass something or face the consequences of their inaction.