In the aftermath of the massacre in Uvalde, there are still many unanswered questions, many things we don’t know. For example: What took law enforcement so long to storm the school and stop the assailant? And: What signs were ignored along the way that might’ve warned us that the 18-year-old assailant posed a danger to his community?

One thing we do know, however, is that leftists aren’t serious about protecting our schools. They’re only serious about stripping away our Second Amendment rights. Take the words of Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, for example:

There is no such thing as being “pro-life” while supporting laws that let children be shot in their schools, elders in grocery stores, worshippers in their houses of faith, survivors by abusers, or anyone in a crowded place. It is an idolatry of violence. And it must end.

What laws, exactly, permit such atrocities? “An idolatry of violence”? And this from a woman who believes in the right to abort an unborn baby up until the moment of birth? Where does one start when one’s opponent is so unhinged?

Moreover, when Democrats call for “compromise” on guns, they’re really calling for capitulation. The sticking point has long been the issue of “universal background checks,” which on its face sounds perfectly sensible. In the abstract, we’re all in favor of being able to confirm that the guy buying the semiautomatic pistol isn’t a career criminal or a psychopath. Here, Democrats love to point out, as Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr recently did, that “90% of the U.S. public currently support requiring universal background checks.” That polling claim is actually relatively accurate, but only because the pollsters are too lazy to explain the implications of universal background checks.

What if you want to buy that vintage revolver or that AR-style rifle from a work colleague? Or you want to gift an old varmint gun to a friend or relative? “Universal” means universal, and such private transactions thereby become unlawful.

One area of compromise could be regarding the age of majority. If one must be 21 years old to purchase alcohol or a semiautomatic pistol, why are 18-year-olds able to purchase semiautomatic sporting rifles? Here, our hunting friends might object, but a distinction could be made between traditional long guns, the hunting rifles, and the AR-style sporting rifles with the pistol grip, which seem to be the weapon of choice among psychopaths such as the 18-year-old in Buffalo and the 18-year-old in Uvalde.

The sad truth is that no law will prevent every one of these already illegal atrocities. But another inviolable truth is, as the editors of National Review note, “History has shown that the private ownership of arms is inextricable from the maintenance of ordered liberty.” Republicans, therefore, can’t allow themselves to be bullied into bad legislation.

To their credit, though, Republicans are trying. But so far to no avail. As Fox News reports, “Max Schachter, whose 14-year-old son was killed during the 2018 mass school shooting in Parkland, Florida, said he’s heartbroken after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., blocked a school safety bill named after his son Wednesday.”

That bill, named after two Parkland kids, Alex Schachter and Luke Hoyer, would require DHS to establish a “Federal Clearinghouse on School Safety Best Practices” for use by state and local educational and law enforcement agencies, institutions of higher education, health professionals, and the public.

Furthermore, what about hardening these schools, these softest of targets? Having just approved $40 billion for Ukraine, can we not afford funding to station retired law enforcement and military personnel at every K-12 school in the nation?

Here in the United States, we use guns to protect our president, our congressmen, our governors, our celebrities, our athletes, our banks, our courthouses, our shopping malls, and our college campuses. So ask yourself — or, better yet, ask a Democrat: Why is it that we’re unwilling to protect our precious children with the same determination?