The Democratic Party is selling gun control like Dick Cheney. That's a problem.

There are plenty of routes toward sensible gun policy that aren't egregious violations of elementary liberal principles. Can we try those please?

Sen. Dianne Feinstein is on a mission to curb gun use.
(Image credit: AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

In the wake of the Orlando shooting, the Democratic Party has mounted a major push on gun control policy. On the one hand, it's nice to see the party finally attempting to move the ball on a very important issue. On the other, the way they're doing it is staggeringly awful — pushing a doomed message bill that is blatantly unconstitutional and then selling it with Dick Cheney-esque terror-baiting.

After Sen. Christopher Murphy's (D-Conn.) filibuster shaming Senate Republicans for not allowing a vote on gun policy, there were four options up for a vote: two from Democrats and two from Republicans. All were themselves filibustered and failed. Two had to do with background checks, and there the Democrats were more or less on solid ground. The real problem came with the other two, which had to do with granting the government power to restrict gun purchases to certain people.

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Ryan Cooper

Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.