It's just Round One

President Obama took it on the chin when a Senate amendment to strengthen gun background checks and limit magazine clips failed 54 to 46. Obama made his displeasure clear in his tone and grim facial expression as he scolded lawmakers, "All in all, this was a pretty shameful day for Washington. There are no coherent arguments for why we didn't do this. The gun lobby and its allies willfully lied about the bill. "

SENATORS fear the N.R.A. and the gun lobby. But I think that fear must be nothing compared to the fear the first graders in Sandy Hook Elementary School felt as their lives ended in a hail of bullets or the fear that the little children who survived the massacre must feel every time they remember their teachers stacking them into closets and bathrooms to hide.