U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly opened his news conference at the Butler Farm Show grounds Monday with an explanation.

Kelly, R-Butler, co-chairs a committee investigating the July 13 shooting in which former President Donald Trump was wounded, Buffalo Township volunteer firefighter Corey Comperatore was killed and two others also were hit by gunfire. He addressed questions about why the committee has not started work.

It has, Kelly said, with staff doing the background of pulling together the information the committee needs. He then acknowledged the reality of everything done by the House of Representatives in an even-numbered year. All members of the House have duties related to the elections in their home districts.

That might seem a bit coldhearted. How can public servants take time to worry about keeping their own jobs when something as important as an assassination attempt of a former president is being discussed?

But Kelly’s comment points to another critical aspect. When Thomas Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park fired his weapon July 13, he did not just take aim at a former president. That would be tragic and terrible on its own. However, Trump is not just a former president.

He is an active candidate. The July 13 rally featured other active candidates, including Kelly. They were there to share their messages with voters and supporters — perhaps even with supporters of other candidates whose allegiance could be changed by a word here or a position there.

The attack was not just on people. It was on the process. This is how elections work.

Kelly might not have meant to underscore that with his simple explanation of why hearings hadn’t taken place yet or why it was six weeks after the shooting that the committee first visited the farm show grounds, but he did.

Staff is busy doing the behind-the-scenes work that will allow those hearings to proceed. But the greater point might be that democratic elections weren’t a casualty of July 13.

The nation has moved on through the Republican and Democratic national conventions. Those involved are not just legislators like the committee members attending their party events. It also involved delegates. Pennsylvania sent GOP delegates to Milwaukee and Democratic delegates to Chicago.

If the process were halted or allowed to stumble along the way, that would be a win for the guy with the gun. It would tell others the way to achieve their ends in America is to circumvent the process through violence.

That can never be the takeaway. And, if that means taking a few more weeks to get a committee from the Capitol to the Butler Farm Show grounds, so be it.

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