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In this opinion piece for the New York Times following this past weekend's Las Vegas massacre, country singer Rosanne Cash gets right to the point of why massacres keep occurring, and who's behind it:

There is no other way to say this: The N.R.A. funds domestic terrorism.

A shadow government exists in the world of gun sales, and the people who write gun regulations are the very people who profit from gun sales. The N.R.A. would like to keep it that way.

The laws we have in place to prevent the procurement of military-style weapons by mentally ill citizens are laughable by the standards of any civilized society. But even those pathetic restrictions would be eased if the N.R.A. had its way. Just this week, the House of Representatives was scheduled to vote on a measure that would loosen restrictions on gun silencers and armor-piercing bullets (the vote was indefinitely postponed after the Las Vegas massacre). Itā€™s not hard to learn about how millions of N.R.A. dollars have spread throughout Congress to influence that vote.

If the proposed law had passed before the mass shooting in Las Vegas on Sunday, and the rifles in the assailantā€™s hotel room had been fitted with silencers, one could safely assume that the death toll would be much, much higher. Those who ran from the concert and survived did so because they heard the gunfire. None of that matters to the N.R.A.

Read the whole thing here. The Mercury's Ann Romano made a similar point in this week's edition of One Day at a Time, though she put a finer point on it.

We hate to be defeatist, but this is yet another example of how the GOPā€”who are so devoted to restricting the freedoms of othersā€”refuse to make gun control a priority.

ā€¦ In short, the GOP has been and will continue to aid terrorists, and... waitasecond. Isnā€™t ā€œproviding material support for terrorismā€ a criminal violation of the Patriot Act? LOCK THEM UP. LOCK THEM UP. LOCK THEM UP.

Also of note is this Washington Post article that explains the NRA and GOP's tactics for keeping guns in the hands of terroristsā€”even as the country screams for change.

A shooter kills, the nation mourns and, immediately, both sides in the debate over guns fall into a well-worn pattern: Gun-control proponents rally their supporters, pressing lawmakers to tighten regulations. Gun rights advocates hang back, waiting for the publicā€™s sorrow and outrage to subside. And nothing further happens, until the next horrific act fuels the next spin of the cycle.

Another critical part of this tactic? GOP politicians scolding mourners not to "politicize" the tragedy, insisting that "now is not the time to talk about this." Much like the way police unions prioritize protecting their members over the public good, the NRA's prime mission is looking out for themselves. And they will continue to get away with it, as long as the government allows. Make no mistake: The GOP is complicit in every murder that's occurred during these repeated massacres, and nothing will change until they are held responsible for condoning and aiding terrorism.