Buried in the gun deal is a significant advance

It’s easy to despair watching Congress debate gun legislation, especially given that even with reforms our country will continue to be saturated in guns. By some counts there are about 400 million guns in the United States. Legislating — particularly given the Senate filibuster — is maddeningly slow and difficult.

Combine that with the GOP’s longtime unwillingness to consider real reform to the nation’s gun laws, and it’s surprising that Congress looks ready to pass a somewhat bipartisan gun bill at all.

Yet the bill that a bipartisan group of senators rolled out this...