I won’t burden you with another essay calling for meaningful gun legislation in the wake of the horrific events in Uvalde, Texas. I don’t have any insights that other commentators haven’t already offered, nor do I have any solutions to the mess. Back before 2012, I had long said that we wouldn’t see any meaningful gun legislation until, I posited, a gunman shot up a room full of little kids. Then came Sandy Hook, and nothing was done. If murdering 20 little tiny kids and six staff members couldn’t rid the GOP of their NRA shackles, I feared nothing would.

I own multiple firearms myself, so I’m not preaching as some lefty against all weapons. But as we live in the only nation on Earth where we see such mass violence, including dozens of school shootings, what conclusion shall we draw? Shall we judge that we are smarter than every other country? Or perhaps we might take a clue from the other nations where they don’t have to regularly mourn the loss of classrooms of kids?

But as I said, nothing is going to change. And that breaks my heart. The gun nuts (and by that, I mean only the truly extreme folks that strut about with AR-15s slung over the military-style clothing they bought while yelling “Let’s Go Brandon,” and whining about any restrictions on weapons being a slippery slope that ends in tyranny) and their lackeys are in charge.

I would, however, like to bring your attention to a wee bit of hypocrisy by the aforementioned NRA, as was reported recently. The NRA is holding their first big post-COVID convention in Houston this weekend. The event, which they brag will “showcase over 14 acres of the latest guns and gear,” will also feature an address by former President Donald Trump. Yes, they will meet roughly 275 miles away from the mass murder site in Uvalde, to sing the praises of all things guns.

But guess what you can’t do at the convention when Trump is speaking?

You can’t carry a gun.

At the NRA convention.

Now, a reasonable person can understand that the Secret Service would be very unhappy with any venue allowing guns where a president or former president is speaking. In fact, it would be rather stunning if they didn’t.

But what is stunning is that the NRA appears to have happily accepted this ban on guns at their own event. We’ve heard no yelps about government overreach. We’ve heard no shouting to the heavens about usurpation of fundamental rights. No, the NRA has meekly complied with the entirely reasonable rule that you can’t carry guns around Trump. Heck, the Secret Service won’t even let the attendees carry firearm accessories and knives, ammunition, laser pointers, pepper spray, toy guns and backpacks. The NRA has rolled over to “big government” without a grumble or a single shout of “freedom!” They allowed an absolute gun ban to be put in place by the very same big government they yelp about, and not a word of protest was heard.

The roster of NRA speakers is an impressive array of GOP biggies, including Texas Governor Greg Abbott (who, back in 2015, upon learning that Texas was second in the nation in gun sales, behind California, tweeted that he was “embarrassed” to be second, and stated “Let’s pick up the pace Texans.”

When I was a military cop and carried an actual M-16, we were equipped with four magazines, each holding 30 rounds, so we patrolled with 120 bullets on our person. The murderer in Texas (I’ll never say his name) came to the school with at least seven 30-round mags. He wasn’t there to sport shoot or to target practice. He was there to hunt children for sport, with more firepower than the Air Force though was needed by cop.

Even as we differ on the details of what reasonable gun legislation might look like, can we at least agree that it should have raised some eyebrows when the murderer bought an assault rifle and 400 rounds of ammo the day after his birthday?

As I said, I have no answers, only questions. I have no hope that we can get even the simplest of common-sense legislation passed. No one, outside of the military or law enforcement, needs a high-capacity magazine. We learned that in the mass shooting in Las Vegas, the murderer was able to fire 100 rounds in less than 10 seconds, without having to stop and reload. That’s how deadly such magazines are. And in the mass murder event that wounded Gabby Giffords, the gunman was tackled and prevented from further killing when his 33-round magazine emptied, and he had to stop to reload. A smaller magazine would have compelled him to reload even earlier and we can only sadly ponder whose lives might have been saved.

I close this rant with no hope for the future of gun legislation and no hope that the GOP will ever free itself from the NRA’s clutches. I wish I could be optimistic, but when the murder of little kids isn’t enough blood, I can’t imagine what ever could be. I’m so sorry.

Hal Bidlack is a retired professor of political science and a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who taught more than 17 years at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.