AP Photo/Jeff Chiu

In the wake of Parkland, as well as any other mass shooting, gun control groups come out of the woodwork to step up and make gun control proposals. They do it before the bodies of the slain are even cold, and yet they’re given a pass by the media and society. It is what it is.

They push and push for things like “assault weapon” bans, waiting periods, or whatever. But then, historically, little happens. Attention shifts away from the shooting and the groups’ moment in the sun is over.

Right now, anti-gun groups are trying to shift the conversation away from mass shootings and onto other things.

Unable to achieve major federal gun legislation in the wake of the nation’s notorious mass shootings, U.S. gun-control groups are shifting their focus to state laws that keep guns out of the hands of those at risk of being violent or suicidal.

The approach comes as groups such as Everytown for Gun Safety acknowledge that a powerful gun lobby and entrenched American views about gun rights have made it nearly impossible to effect change in Washington. Instead, they see stronger opportunities to intervene in the shootings that account for most of the gun-related deaths in the United States. Everytown last week began a campaign to educate people about red flag laws, mechanisms in numerous states that can remove guns from people who pose a danger to others or themselves.

“If you truly want to continue to reduce gun deaths in this country, you have to talk about gun suicide and the tools for preventing gun suicide,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown. “It’s fair to say that it’s sort of 2.0 for us. This is just a new chapter.”

Now, bear in mind that this isn’t a case of it being the next step.

So far, they’ve gained no ground on the federal level to speak of as AR-15s are still legal, for example. There are still no universal background checks. There’s no win there for them.

This isn’t a case of having won and looking for the next fight. This is a case of losing and now trying to reframe their focus.

In the process, though, they betray just how much of a lie they were selling.

“We don’t want your guns, we just want to make sure a mass shooting doesn’t happen again,” they’d say (not a direct quote, mind you). Anti-gunners would routinely try to present themselves as focused on this issue, that they weren’t looking to continue the attack on the Second Amendment.

We called it crap at the time.

Yet this pivot shows that it’ll never be enough for them. Their new focus on suicide is nothing more than an attempt to use a different issue to advance their anti-gun war because their previous efforts failed.

“Who can oppose suicide prevention?” they probably thought to themselves.

The truth is, they don’t give a damn about those who take their own lives, just like they never cared about those slain in mass shootings. They don’t like guns, and they’ll never like guns, so they’ll use any argument they can to reduce our ability to get and hold onto our firearms. Period.

If they were principled, they’d just admit it for a change.