“We’re not gonna fix it.”

With five words Tim Burchett Tennessee’s Second Congressional District Representative in the U.S. House went viral.

It was a master class in what not to say in the face of a tragedy that involved another school shooting, this one near the capitol of his home state.

But Burchett – whose district includes Grainger and Claiborne counties in the Lakeway Area – went on to compare the situation to a lesson he learned from his father, a World War II veteran.

Essentially, Burchett said his father told him that if someone wants to kill you and is willing to sacrifice their own life, there’s very little you can do to stop them.

He went on to add that any congressional attempt to address the issue would only “mess things up.”

Mess things up? Wait. What?

You mean worse than they are now?

Burchett is currently cannon fodder for the national media; he put a mournful, defeated, shrugging face to another in a long line of national tragedies.

Is it deserved?

Yes. He said what he said. He’s a congress member who should be able to articulate what he believes with a microphone in his face.

What does he believe?

He doesn’t believe Congress won’t fix the problem. He believes that Congress can’t fix the problem.

He believes that no matter what level of legislation is created to address mass shootings, Congress can’t legislate the hearts and minds of man.

He believes, essentially, that evil is as evil does.

He’s wrong.

Congress can enact legislation to make positive strides in the battle against the mass shooting epidemic in this country. They’ve done it before.

Waiting periods, background checks, raised age limits for certain types of weapons are just a few ideas that can help while maintaining the core purpose of the Second Amendment.

A serious push to address mental health care in this country would help without affecting the Second Amendment at all.

And that’s the goal: HELPING.

You can’t solve the problem. As his Daddy told a young Burchett, evil exists and we can’t eliminate it.

But no law eliminates the thing it regulates.

We have laws against speeding and people speed.

We have laws against stealing and people steal.

We have laws against tax evasion and people evade taxes.

If Burchett proposed eliminating all laws that haven’t “fixed” the problem, he’d be rightfully laughed out of congress.

Look, this isn’t rocket science. The more legal hurdles we create – things like waiting periods, back ground checks and yes, the banning of certain types of weapons – the more chances we give our law enforcement community to find and stop the potential shooter before it happens.

In other words, the more a potential shooter has to operate outside the bounds of the law, the more chances they have to be caught in the act.

Would some of these things be an inconvenience to legal, lawful gun owners and hobbyists? Yes.

If it means less American families have to go shopping for tiny coffins each year, a few inconveniences, even large ones would be worth it.

Finally to all members of Congress:

We don’t send people to congress to shrug their shoulders and give up.

America is a special place with grand and wonderful ideals.

But it is also a place of big and difficult problems.

It may not be easy to solve those problems while protecting our grand ideals, but we didn’t send you up there because it would be easy.

You’re supposed to be our best. You’re supposed to be our leaders.

For goodness sake, lead.

Get in a room with Republicans and Democrats. Share ideas and thoughts and beliefs. Find the places you can work together. Stop spending 24/7 looking for the places you can tear each other apart.

It’s a problem with hearts and minds? It’s a mental health issue?

Where’s the legislation to resurrect this country’s mental health care system. What’s the plan?

If we don’t have a plan, who are the leaders working night and day to create one.

Do the work. Lead.

Don’t you dare stand on the Capitol steps, shrug your shoulders and tell us there’s nothing that can be done.

Don’t tell us you’d only mess it up.

Children are dying at school.

They’re dying at church.

They’re dying at parades and parks and all of the places that people in other countries around the world can go freely without having to watch their backs.

Mass shootings are a serious problem in this country, a problem that is claiming not only the lives of children, but adults as well.

But we’re not going to try and “fix it” because we’re afraid to “mess it up”?

That attitude is beneath the dignity of the halls of Congress.