The current clamor for sensible gun control legislation is not about gun control.

Don't get me wrong – the left will take any and all advances against the Second Amendment, and our constitutional right to bear arms, but that is not what is advancing the current narrative.

No, division and deflection are fomenting the current gun control narrative.  By getting out in front of the narrative, and the facts, leftists are attempting to secure the moral high ground.  They, and they alone, care about these victims.  Republicans, by deduction and assertion, are responsible for the deaths.  This is a despicable political ploy, but sadly, we need to come to terms with the fact that nothing is below the Left.  Nothing.  (See this story, for example.)

Within minutes of the church shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas, Chelsea Handler tweeted:

Innocent people go to church on Sunday to honor their God, and while doing so, get shot in killed. What country? America. Why? Republicans.

Not to be outdone, Barack Obama stated, in what is being described by the media as a solemn tweet:

We grieve with all the families in Sutherland Springs harmed by this act of hatred, and we'll stand with the survivors as they recover. ... May God also grant all of us the wisdom to ask what concrete steps we can take to reduce the violence and weaponry in our midst.

Democrats are framing the narrative.  They are the good guys.  We are standing in defense of guns and killers.  Neither the merit of their subsequent proposals nor the merit of our argument in opposition will mean a hill of beans.  Perception (that they craft) is reality.

The (real) reality, though, is, as evidenced by this shooting, Steve Scalise's shooter, Rand Paul's attacker, and almost certainly the Las Vegas shooter, that the divisive narrative itself and not guns is what is motivating these almost exclusively leftist shooters to target those they've been convinced (by the media) are the enemy of the people.  Aren't these activists justified if Republican policies are killing people?

There is an underlying narrative being planted by the media that I believe is a precursor to 2020: Donald Trump's election has created division among the people, and the country's only hope is a repudiation of hate and a restoration of love and solemnity.

Look for the left to stoke ever more division and for its media acolytes to lay said division at the foot of Republicans generally and President Donald Trump, specifically.

I believe that Democrats have abandoned any pretense of working to craft an affirmative message in an appeal for votes.  Assume, then, that there is no other tactic they're not prepared to advance to re-secure political power.

Division and deflection.  We have only begun to see the depths of deceit from the Democrat playbook.