“Do-nothing” is a word tossed around to describe Congress often, but on Wednesday, Congress did something egregious. It failed America. It failed Newtown. It failed Aurora. It failed the next mass shooting and the next one after that. 

Forty-five senators blocked gun legislation that would expand background checks and ban assault weapons and high-capacity gun magazines. And the government that supposedly has the best interest in its people failed us yet again. Because in this country money wins, principle does not. What’s right doesn’t always win. What the American people overwhelmingly want in their country, somehow, does not win. The National Rifle Association wins, and it sure won Tuesday.

We live in a country where hundreds of people die from gunfire each and every day. Where one of Congress’ very own, former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, of Arizona, was shot in the head, and legislators turn their backs on her when it mattered most. 

Apparently this has no effect on the members of Congress. To let this gun legislation die the same way that thousands do every year from legally and illegally purchased bullets is a disgrace. It is, as President Barack Obama said at the White House, “a shameful day for Washington.”

From the Senate gallery, Patricia Maisch, survivor of the Tucson shooting that severely injured former Giffords and killed six others, shouted “Shame on you” from the gallery when the bill was blocked, and we echo the same sentiment. It’s simple: It’s embarrassing.

But what is most troubling is that we elect these senators to represent us, to push our ideals for our government into meaningful legislation, and they failed to do both. According to a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll, 90 percent of the country supports expanded background checks — something the NRA once supported — so when 41 Republicans and four Democrats voted no, who were they representing? Certainly not their constituents or the American people.

The math is maddening enough. Let’s not forget, the NRA could have as many as 4 million members — the group is known to be generous with that figure — and even 74 percent of its members support background checks. Essentially, the clout of 0.003 percent of this country has managed to put a stranglehold over the rest of us, disregarding our interests, squelching our safety and robbing our nation of its common sense. 

There’s nothing that can bring back the lives lost across the country, at the Century movie theater or at Sandy Hook Elementary School. But what could — and should — have been done in Congress went by the wayside — at least for the time being. Our elected officials failed to restore faith, but that doesn’t mean that America will stop trying.

So what do we do now? We write, we work. We send letters to our senators and representatives expressing our angst and anguish, our disbelief. We reclaim the institution that should be representative of the people’s needs. It is critical that we remind our lawmakers that we want to extend the law to require universal background checks to sales of guns over the Internet and at guns shows, as Obama made clear. 

We will fight for this.  

We will remind them that this law would have had not infringed on anyone’s Second Amendment rights. 

We will remind them that it would have kept unsafe human beings with criminal histories or troubling psychological problems from having the power to obstruct peace, to act unjustly. 

And we remind our country to stand up for what is right in a time when our lawmakers ignorantly choose not to.