The battles rage. Republicans versus Democrats, conservatives versus liberals, right versus left and so on. There’s always something in the forefront to exchange blows over, whether it’s on Capitol Hill, on the opinion pages or on social media.

Presently the hottest topics are radical Islamic terrorism and gun control. With that, the House floor played out a circus of over-aged juveniles this week.

Democrats claim they want no one on the no-fly list to be able to buy a gun. Republicans aren’t on board with that standalone measure. The feel-good theme sounds reasonable, but that should not preempt inquiries.

Is there more than one kind of no-fly list? Are the lists accurate? And if not, is there a short timeframe path in place for a citizen to alert Washington of the error and timely get off of said list?

What’s the guarantee that nasty politics won’t manifest and people’s names will be submitted by an administration with an axe to grind wherein innocent citizens are targeted as we’ve seen with the present administration and the IRS (which is still skating free)?

Republicans, for one, are concerned with the inaccuracies on the no-fly list. It’s telling that with this concern being public this week, no Democrat has even mentioned that there is anyone taking action to clean up that list ASAP.

Ted Kennedy (deceased), Nelson Mandela (deceased) and author-columnist Stephen Hayes are on that list. How obvious does a problem have to be?

Democrats this week accused Republicans of not going along with them because the “right” is being “hold hostage by the NRA” and they want to arm terrorists.

Both are bunk.

Of course the NRA donates more to Republicans than to Democrats, but that money hardly funds the party to any significant extent.

The Federal Elections Commission report released March 9, 2015, tracked the NRA donations for the 2014 election cycle at $809,462. The majority went to PACs, with a small portion to individuals. The individual amounts ranged from $2,500 to $9,900, and it’s noted that John Barrow, D-Geo., received one of the $9,900 contibutions.

In contrast, Tom Steyer, a San Francisco billionaire and former hedge fund manager, was very open about pooling $50 million of his own wealth and gathering at least $50 million more to fund specific politicians who agreed with his pet projects. He spread multi-millions around for the Massachusetts and Virginia governorships; Terry McAuliffe and Ed Markey respectively.

Democrats would say such big money is needed to combat the Koch brothers who, for instance, gave $500,000 to the Heritage Foundation in 2012. Interestingly, The Koch brothers are Libertarians, not the tight-right as rumored.

The allegation of wanting armed terrorists is simply immaturely inane.

Republicans want the bad guys using the guns to be obliterated. Guns don’t walk into schools or nightclubs, or onto the streets of Chicago and kill people. People do that.

Democrats need to tread lightly on that nonsense for a second reason.

President Obama’s once-appointed Attorney General Eric Holder knowingly “walked” 2,000 guns to Mexican criminals including cartels (yes, they’re terrorists) that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Mexicans and at least one U.S. citizen, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. The guns were simply “lost” under the ruse called “Fast and Furious.”

President Obama asserted executive privilege over the F&F-related documents; a federal judge said “no;” and Holder had to testify before Congress.

That testimony at the least was proven duplicitous.

Democrats declare they had to “sit in” because Republicans won’t allow a Senate vote on their idea of a gun-control bill. They ignore the bills that so far have not passed, but they press on, making big headlines indicating that “we’re looking out for you.” Their actions were instantly accompanied by ads for campaign dollars.

Such cries ring hollow. They have short memories of the bills ignored by onetime Senate majority leader Harry Reid.

Politifact fact-checked and confirmed that as of July 29, 2014, Reid had 352 bills sitting on his desk. They were destined to die a natural death because he refused to bring them up for a vote.

In January 2014, National Review reported House Republicans had passed 200 bills that were sitting on Reid’s desk. They were designated “dead on arrival.”

“Reid has refused to bring up measures that would almost certainly pass with bipartisan support, such as legislation approving construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, or the aforementioned medical-device-tax repeal. He has also refused to consider legislation to impose new sanctions on Iran: A majority of Senate Democrats support the idea, but it’s strongly opposed by the White House.”

There were no filibusters or sit-ins raising hell on the Senate floor because Reid mandated his unprecedented “nuclear option” precluding such democracy.

Obama likes to cite the “do-nothing Congress” while hiding behind his “do-nothing Senate.”

Think about all of this when you see such antics to rile the citizenry against each other.

Betty Arenson has lived in the SCV since 1968 and describes herself as a conservative who’s concerned about progressives’ politics and their impacts on the country, her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She says she is unashamed to own a gun or a Bible, couldn’t care less about the color of the president’s skin, and demands that he uphold his oath to protect and follow the Constitution of the United States in its entirety.