Connecticut Congressman Jim Himes sent the right message Monday when he walked off the floor of the House of Representatives rather than participate in the empty gesture of another moment of silence in response to a mass shooting, this time in the wake of the massacre at an Orlando nightclub.

This region’s 2nd District Congressman Joe Courtney, his fellow Connecticut Congressman John Larson and Congressman Peter Welch of Vermont joined Himes, who initiated the protest. All are Democrats. All showed fortitude in taking a difficult action that will open them to criticism.

“To be in that chamber, which has the ability to do something meaningful in stopping these kinds of events, and to see over and over again, instead, this pro forma ritual is the best leadership can do, it just reached the point where Congressman Himes was totally correct to say, ‘Enough!’” Courtney told us.

Democrats are asking for a debate and vote on basic reforms that have broad public support. But when South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., rose to raise the issue after the moment of silence, the Republican speaker, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, gaveled him out of order.

Clyburn’s district includes Charleston, where a year ago a gunman walked into a historic black church and murdered nine people. According to FBI Director James Comey, an administrative error within the National Instant Criminal Background Check System failed to detect the gunman’s admission to a narcotics offense. While that error would have allowed the killer to buy the murder weapon in any event, the incident also brought attention to the federal rule that permits a gun sale to go forward if the background review takes longer than 72 hours. The Charleston killer purchased his gun after the 72-hour limit had passed.

Democrats are seeking a debate and a vote on a bill that would close the loophole and require a finished background check before a gun sale.

They also want a vote on a proposed bill that would prevent people who are on the FBI's terrorist no-fly list from buying guns. Rep. Peter T. King, a New York Republican and chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, is promoting that legislation but his leadership continues to block it.

Finally, Democrats want a vote on a bill prohibiting anyone convicted of a hate crime from purchasing firearms.

In our opinion, this is not enough. We would like to see reinstatement and strengthening of the federal ban on semi-automatic rifles, the assault weapons law, which expired in 2004. Congress should also close the loophole that allows Internet and gun show sales of firearms to proceed without background checks.

However, the basic reforms Democrats seek to push to a vote would be a step in the right direction and should be able to garner bipartisan support.

But in kowtowing to what has become, in Himes’ words, “a cult of guns,” the Republican leadership in Congress is unwilling to take up a debate on any gun reform measure. They toe the National Rifle Association line that any move to reduce gun violence is a step toward elimination of Second Amendment rights.

Instead they show their empathy for the victims of gun violence — 13,286 people killed in the U.S. by firearms in 2015, including 475 who died in 372 mass shootings that also wounded 1,870 — with moments of silence.

Maybe it makes these congressmen feel better and doesn’t offend the NRA or endanger their receiving the money it spends on its loyal political supporters, but it doesn’t do a damn thing to slow the bloodbath.

This editorial has been updated to correct that South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn's district includes Charleston.