AP Photo/Yakima Herald-Republic, TJ Mullinax, File

The idea behind our system of government is that we elected people to go and represent us at the various stages of government so our voices can be heard. It doesn’t always work out in our favor, mind you, but it’s nice to know that at least you’re opinions aren’t being dismissed out of hand.

Despite that system being in place in Connecticut, when it comes to gun rights, it might as well not.

Conservative lawmakers who support gun-owner rights showed their numbers in the state House of Representatives on Tuesday and Wednesday, voting against firearms-safety legislation that was overwhelmingly approved.

In votes Tuesday regulating untraceable so-called “ghost” guns, and requiring the safe storage of firearms in the home, conservative Republicans made up the bulk of the opposition. The legislation passed 127-16, and 108-36, respectively.

A third bill was approved Wednesday after a five-and-a-half hour debate. Second Amendment advocates in the House spoke against a measure requiring that firearms be locked when unattended in autos. All three bills head to the Senate.

“I think the ghost gun bill represented a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist,” said veteran Rep. David Labriola, R-Oxford. “I don’t think it would protect the public in any significant way. It was mainly feel-good legislation.”

Other opponents included Rep. Bill Buckbee, R-New Milford; Rep. Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford; Rep. Charles Ferraro, R-West Haven; Rep. Jay Case, R-Winsted; Rep. Nicole Klarides-Ditria, R-Seymour; Rep. Craig Fishbein, R-Wallingford; Rep. Ben McGorty, R-Shelton; Rep. J.P. Sredzinski, R-Monroe; and Rep. Joe Zullo, R-East Haven.

Speaker of the House Joe Aresimowicz, D-Berlin, said that opponents were counter to widespread public support of gun control. “Their point of view is truly out of line with the average voter in the state of Connecticut,” he told reporters earlier on Wednesday.

In other words, if you’re pro-gun in Connecticut, you’re not a factor.

At all.

Now, I don’t expect the Northeastern U.S. to be a pro-gun haven. It’s not, and we all know it. While some states are better than others when it comes to gun rights, none of them are going to be mistaken for Texas or Arizona anytime soon.

However, the sheer magnitude of the defeat is almost mindboggling.

I’ve got a friend who is from Connecticut. He now lives in Florida and routinely talks about how far to the left his home state has gone and why he’s happy to have escaped (yes, he’s used that word a time or two). Now, of course, we can see why. It’s a state completely and totally run by people who think creating laws is somehow the highest form of art or something.

No, seriously. Check out this quote:

“These three bills are a logical extension and complement the post-Sandy Hook laws,” [Rep. Livvy] Floren said, adding that she is disappointed that the General Assembly seems to have made little headway in the issue of mental-health program to counsel and treat people from becoming violent.

The logical extension? I hate to break it to Floren, but Sandy Hook wasn’t committed with a “ghost gun.”

What she means by this, of course, is that it’s building on the anti-gun momentum that started post-Sandy Hook in the state and will continue until it’s virtually impossible to own a gun in the state. While an argument can be made that safe storage laws might keep guns out of the wrong hands on occasion, most of the rest of what they’ve passed had nothing to do with that tragedy.

It didn’t need to, either.

For people like Floren, passing laws is a “logical extension” of what they’ve already done because that’s all that matters. The only important thing is to pass more laws, particularly anti-gun laws, and screw gun owners in the state.

If you’re one of the unfortunate few who is pro-gun in Connecticut, do yourself a favor. Move.