It's Elementary Politics

Here's the latest commentary by CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent Bob Schieffer, as seen on CBS News' Face The Nation:

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Sherlock Holmes solved a mystery when he was the only one to notice what did not happen.

When the watch dog did not bark, he realized the killer wasn't an intruder, but someone the dog knew and that's how he solved the crime.

All of us missed a big story last week when we failed to notice what did not happen in Washington after the latest school shooting.

Remember the outcry after that earlier shooting at Columbine High School? Members of Congress lined up to express shock. Senators were so outraged they passed new gun laws.

We should also add that the gun lobby went to work, too - and the Senate's effort was quickly undone.

But compare that to what happened last week. There was no outcry. This time, Congress didn't bark. There was hardly a peep out of Washington.

And that's the story we missed: The fight over guns is over - and the gun lobby has won.

You could see it coming during the last campaign when the lobby turned up the heat from the presidential race right on down to races for the state legislatures and guns became the subject no one wanted to talk about.

Washington has concluded this is a problem to be solved somewhere else - and last week's silence just made it official.


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