After Rep. Elijah Cummings recessed the Cohen hearings to attend a vote, he and other Democrats went to the floor and voted for the strongest gun legislation in a decade. H.R. 8, the "Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019," passed with a handful of Republican votes.

The legislation mandates background checks be performed on all gun sales, including firearm purchases made privately, whether it be online or at gun shows. This should be a no-brainer to us all, but until Democrats were a majority in the House, all gun legislation lay fallow.

Now that the House has passed it, it is unlikely that it will pass the Senate, given that the NRA opposes it and Republicans are in charge. Elections do have consequences and the one in 2020 may have the most serious consequences of all.