There’s a pretty good chance that the Republicans and Democrats in the Senate who are huddling together in an attempt to come up with some type of gun control legislation that can get 60 votes will actually get their way, but whatever they come up with isn’t going to look anything like the package of anti-gun legislation that was rammed through the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday.

The “Protecting Our Kids Act” features things like a ban on the sale of “large capacity” magazines and raising the age to purchase a firearm to 21, stands no chance in the Senate… and that’s according to Democrats themselves.

None of the House bills will get signed into law but they are meant to “put pressure on the Senate who can’t even pass background checks” a senior Democratic aide told The Early.

Which makes today’s hearing an act of political theater, with clowns like Rep. Eric Swalwell taking center stage to grandstand and demonize all those who reject Democratic talking points and their “ban our way to safety” approach.

Speaking directly to Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Swalwell said: “If you say we’re trying to ‘dramatically change the country,’ if trying to make sure that no more kids are put in the ground with a Superman coffin means ‘dramatically change the country,’ guilty. That’s why we’re here.”

Trey Ganem, owner of SoulShine Industries, a company that makes custom caskets, designed free custom caskets for 19 of the 21 victims of Uvalde — including Superman caskets.

Swalwell questioned why his Republican colleague is uninterested in making significant changes to gun laws after the most recent school shooting.

“Why aren’t you trying to dramatically change the number of dead kids going into the ground, Mr. Jordan?” he asked. “Who are you here for? The kids? Or the killers?”

“My Republican colleagues are here for carnival games,” Swalwell added.

Given that even Democrats acknowledge that the House proposals approved by the Judiciary Committee are going nowhere in the Senate, I suppose Swalwell is right about “carnival games”; he’s just wrong about who, exactly, is responsible for putting those games together. Today’s hearing was an opportunity for Democrats to preen in front of the cameras, but it most certainly wasn’t about taking substantive steps to save lives. The only real benefit to those of us who don’t buy into the idea that if law-abiding gun owners disarm then crime will disappear is that we were once again reminded of what the Left’s end game on guns really is.

Rep. Mondaire Jones said Thursday Democrats will abolish the Senate filibuster and pack the Supreme Court in order to pass more restrictions on guns, as the House prepares to advance a package of gun bills next week.

Jones, D-N.Y., made the comments at a House Judiciary Committee markup on a package called the “Protecting Our Kids Act.” The emergency committee meeting was called by Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., in response to the mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York, in recent weeks.

“Enough of you telling us that school shootings are a fact of life when every other country like ours has virtually ended it. Enough of you blaming mental illness and then defunding mental health care in this country. Enough of your thoughts and prayers,” Jones said during the emotional hearing.

“You will not stop us from advancing the Protecting Our Kids Act today,” he added. “If the filibuster obstructs us, we will abolish it. If the Supreme Court objects, we will expand it. And we will not rest until we have taken weapons of war out of circulation and our communities each and every day.”

“Weapons of war” in this case means the most commonly-sold rifle in the country, and taking them “out of circulation” sure sounds like gun confiscation to me. And it won’t be the filibuster that stops the House gun control package from getting to the White House, it’s Jones’ fellow Democrats like Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, both of whom have been resolute in keeping the filibuster in place. Democrats have tried using COVID, infrastructure, the Green New Deal, abortion, and now gun control as excuses to nuke the filibuster, and none of them have cause Manchinema to budge. But Jones can’t lay any blame on his fellow Democrats (at least not publicly) because the whole point of today’s Judiciary hearing was to try to goose the Democratic base to get energized about November. Rather than acknowledging the fact that some Democrats aren’t willing to go nuclear on the filibuster, Jones and his fellow gun prohibitionists on the Judiciary Committee smeared Republicans, gun owners, the firearms industry, and anyone else who disagrees with them as uncaring monsters who are on the side of murderers. I don’t know how effective that will be at ginning up Democratic enthusiasm, but I can guarantee the demonization from the likes of Swalwell and Jones in today’s hearings lit a fire under an already energized Republican base eager to take back the House and Senate this fall.