With the passing of Veteran’s Day 2018, we’ve passed our annual recognition of our nation’s living veterans and two other events: the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I and the 242nd anniversary of the United States Marine Corps.

Now, we’re looking at getting back to our routines -and the fact that the changes in Congress will doubtless mean a whole new assault on the Second Amendment.

If you’re like me, you’ve probably grown numb to all the alerts, warnings and other important notices regarding that right -especially since about 99.999 percent of them end with “send your vital contribution NOW!”

I’m not after your money, don’t want you to call congress, and am much less likely to run for office than Jeff Sessions is to be invited to the Trumps for dinner tonight.

But it’s no secret that the drumbeat has already begun.

CNN, today’s virtual voice of the left, has already authored a piece entitled “What Democrats Can Do About Guns”- pushing a less threatening-sounding agenda. Among the “bipartisan gun safety measures” the piece suggests are universal background checks and “gun violence restraining orders”. Bump stocks are also atop that list.

According to likely chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, New York Democrat Jerry Nadler, there will be hearings on gun violence. Nadler’s on the record as saying that addressing the nation’s gun laws is something “long past due.”

Unfortunately, mental illness, another problem “long past due” won’t be addressed in those hearings. Recognizing the fact that Congress has systematically dismantled mental health care over the past twenty years doesn’t fit the narrative.

And we can look to Congress to try to “close the gun show loophole” - despite the fact that it doesn’t exist. But we can pretty much anticipate their efforts will create something although it won’t likely do anything more than protect Washington’s well-deserved reputation as the largest exporter of red tape and waste paper in the modern world.

California Game Warden Jake Olsen and family in happier times (above). The Camp Fire wiped out everything (below), and the California Wildlife Officers Foundation is asking for our help. Photos from CalWOF.org

As our nation’s “leaders” reconvene in Washington for the remainder of their lame-duck session, the rest of us can only wait and see what -if anything- the current Congress can accomplish before the new wave of legislators move into town with their own agendas.

On a totally unrelated topic, we received word over the weekend that California Game Warden Jake Olsen, his parents, his wife’s parents, grandfather, uncle and sister had all lost their homes in California’s disastrous Camp Fire. During the actual fire, Warden Olsen was helping evacuate the Feather River Hospital.

The California Wildlife Officers Foundation (CalWOF.org) reached out to us to see if we couldn’t help. If you’re in a position to help, you can visit https://www.gofundme.com/olsen-family and donate.

Your tax deductible donation goes 100% to the Olsen Family to support their recovery.

CalWOF will make all funds available to Jake and his family ASAP.

At this point, the Camp Fire has already been blamed for 29 deaths, making it the deadliest wildlife in California history. More than 200 others are still unaccounted for.

We’ll keep you posted.

— Jim Shepherd