AP Photo/Lynne Sladky

With Democrats pushing through their universal background check bill, H.R. 8, they appear convinced they’re passing legislation that matters. They’ve couched their rhetoric in the drapings of working to combat mass shootings.

However, in an op-ed, Congressman Richard Hudson (R-NC) disagrees.

We all share the same goal to end gun violence in this country. But in the course of this debate, House Democrats say they want to “do something” to end gun violence and anyone who disagrees with their policies doesn’t care. That’s simply not true.

I know that in my heart that folks on both sides of the aisle care about the victims of gun violence and the children in this country.

It’s a shame that in their rush to “do something”– anything – Democrats have made this critical debate a partisan show. Last week, my Democrat colleagues rushed to pass two partisan pieces of legislation that would have done nothing to stop some of the most prominent mass shootings in recent memory. H.R. 8 would not have stopped Newtown. H.R. 8 would not have stopped Parkland. It would not have stopped Las Vegas, or Sutherland Springs, or San Bernardino or many other tragedies. But the proponents of gun control don’t want you to judge them based on outcomes; they want you to judge them based on intentions.

Instead of working together to do something and pass common sense solutions that can actually help prevent tragedies—like supporting local law enforcement, ensuring laws and protocols are followed, improving mental health and implementing my concealed carry reciprocity—gun control proponents are targeting law-abiding citizens.

Hudson, of course, is right about how H.R. 8 wouldn’t have stopped any of the high-profile mass shootings in recent years. All of those were committed by people who had no criminal record to speak of, thus passed the required background checks. So the Democrats answer is to require more of the same background checks that failed to prevent these tragedies?

Sure. That makes sense.

But with Democrats, the answer is always to pass more gun control laws. Parkland wasn’t a failure of the Broward County Sheriff’s Office under disgraced former sheriff Scott Israel. Sutherland Springs wasn’t a failure of a system that should never have permitted the gunman to purchase a gun from a dealer. It’s never anyone’s fault but the gun and gun owners, except maybe the National Rifle Association.

That’s why the only answer simply has to be gun control.

Democrats have yet to work with anyone on any other potential fixes. It’s either gun control or nothing with them, and so they pass H.R. 8 and do absolutely nothing else, despite those measures being much easier sells in a post-Parkland world. Why is that?

In my more paranoid moments, I find myself wondering if it’s because they think those measures might work and if they do, they’ll lose their best fuel for gun control. After all, support for gun control skyrockets following a mass shooting. If alternative measures like additional support for law enforcement and better mental health screenings worked, there’d be no need for new gun control laws.

But that’s just paranoia talking.

Right?