I’m about to repeat myself, but at my age that’s not supposed to surprise anyone. Anyway, you’ve been warned.

Once again, in Washington, there has been an attempt to attach an unrelated amendment to a guaranteed-to-pass piece of legislation. This time it was a bunch of U.S. Senators trying to attach some gun legislation to the annual defense authorization bill. The amendment would have expanded the rights of gun owners.

I am pleased to report the amendment attempt failed — not because I oppose most gun legislation, but because I oppose the practice of attaching unrelated amendments to more widely supported legislation in the hopes of getting a free (often unnoticed) ride into law. If a proposed law cannot garner enough votes to pass on its own merits, then it deserves to fail. There should be no way in which it can become law by riding the coattails of other, totally unrelated legislation.