Right now, according to a report on CBS News, there are 700,000 people in our country on the terrorist watch list. They aren’t allowed to fly, but they are allowed to buy an AR-15 assault weapon, the weapon of choice for mass murderers.

This past weekend, 50 people were slaughtered in a night club in Orlando with an AR-15. The shooter is linked to ISIS and was under suspicion by the FBI.

The AR-15 was one of the guns used to kill 14 people in San Bernardino, Calif. It was the weapon used to kill nine people at Umpqua Community College in Oregon.

It was the weapon used in the slaughter of 12 people at a Colorado movie theater in 2012.

And in 2012, 20 first graders and six adults in Newtown, Conn., were shot down with an AR-15.

The assault weapon ban instated in 1994 lapsed in 2003. Although numerous attempts have been made in the past 13 years to reinstate the ban, time after time the bills have been defeated in Congress.

Colt, one of the makers of this weapon, describes it as being manufactured for our armed forces.

So why is it on the streets and readily available to anyone?

The National Rifle Association spends millions lobbying Congress to defeat any bill that increases public safety in the United States, according to a 2014 report from the Pulitzer Prize-winning Center for Public Integrity.

In the first three months of 2014, the NRA spent $800,000 lobbying Congress to oppose any form of gun control. And it was successful. Below is a list of proposed legislation that was defeated.

• H.R. 751, the Protect America’s Schools Act of 2013

• H.R. 274, the Mental Health First Act of 2013

• H.R. 329, the Strengthening Background Checks Act of 2013

• H.R. 575, the Second Amendment Protection Act of 2013

• S. 54, the Stop Illegal Trafficking in Firearms Act of 2013

• S. 374, the Fix Gun Checks Act of 2013

• S. 146, the School and Campus Safety Enhancements Act of 2013

• S. 174, the Ammunition Background Check Act of 2013

• S. 480, the NICS Reporting Improvement Act of 2013

• H.R. 138 and S. 33, the Large Capacity Ammunition Feeding Device Act

• H.R. 142 and S. 35, the Stop Online Ammunition Sales Act of 2013

• H.R. 437 and S. 150, the Assault Weapons Ban of 2013

According to a report from PBS, our own senator and Pickens County native Lindsey Graham also opposes the ban on assault weapons and expanded background checks, but he does think the mentally ill should not be allowed to buy them.

Approximately 75 percent of Americans polled want assault weapons off the streets.

I would be very surprised to see any sensible legislation to keep assault weapons out of the hands of terrorists pass unless the public could form a public interest lobbying group that could exceed the millions of dollars the NRA uses to control votes on public safety issues.

It is also doubtful that any campaign finance reform act would pass. In other words, as long as the votes of some members of Congress are bought and paid for the public must rely on a miracle for meaningful change, and there is no school, church, restaurant, movie theater or club that is safe.