Expanded background checks for gun sales fails in Senate

[Taco John]

Expanded background checks for gun sales fails in Senate, delivering blow to Newtown families and Obama

WASHINGTON – Compromise legislation to expand mandatory background checks for gun sales -- a key element of the federal response to the elementary school massacre in Newtown, Conn. – failed Wednesday afternoon in the US Senate.

The inability of President Obama and Democratic leaders to round up the required 60 votes in favor of enhanced background checks dealt a striking defeat to a major initiative of the president’s second term, falling short despite numerous pleas and trips to Washington by families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School victims, whose children were murdered five months ago by a lone gunman with a semi-automatic assault rifle.

The Senate voted Wednesday afternoon to block the first of nine amendments to Obama’s gun control bill, a compromise forged between senators Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, and Pat Toomey, a Republican from Pennsylvania to expand background checks for gun buyers.

Despite the bipartisan negotiations, the amendment failed when only 54 senators voted to proceed, falling six votes short. All New England senators voted yes except for Senator Kelly Ayotte, a Republican from New Hampshire.

“Shame on you!” a spectator in the gallery yelled out in the chamber, prompting a gavel for order.

Erica Lafferty, 27, the daughter of Dawn Hochsprung, principal of Sandy Hook who lost her life in the shooting, said she was disappointed by the vote “but the fact that it got to the floor is good.”

“I’m confident that it will be back, and I also know that I will be here when it does come back,” Lafferty said. “We’re not going away.”

Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican, praised Manchin and Toomey for their efforts during the debate preceding the series of votes.

“You did the right thing,” McCain said. “What they have tried to do today I think is an act that should be appreciated by those of us who many times avoid taking the tough decisions.”

Senator Christopher Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat in favor of gun control, spoke out against the outsized influence of the gun lobby.

“The longer that I’ve spent in this place, the more I’m convinced that there are people who actually do believe that we should just go back to the days of the wild, wild west,” Murphy said, “that we should usher in a new era of gun control Darwinism in which the good guys have guns, the bad guns, and we just hope that the good guys shoot the bad guys.”

Because of senate procedural rules, a 60-vote threshhold was required for each of the nine amendments to proceed. The other amendments include an assault weapons ban and limits on high capacity magazines.

The gun debate has been marked by intense lobbying on both sides, big-spending influence campaigns targeting individual senators, and some vitriolic attacks, particularly by some groups opposed to firearms restrictions.

Groups beyond the National Rifle Association, the traditional representative of the gun lobby, have played a major role in the debate. The National Association for Gun Rights used email alerts, online videos, and a Facebook page to convey mocking imagery that targeted individual senators.

In a series of Facebook posts, the group showed Obama as a puppeteer, controlling the strings of Toomey. Stamped in red ink is, “Toomey Sold Out Your Gun Rights.”

The gun rights group similarly depicted all 16 Republicans who voted last week to prevent a GOP filibuster and move forward on the gun legislation debate. The 16 also are shown with their faces on sticks, tagged by Facebook users with unfriendly names. Senator Lamar Alexander, of Tennessee, is “Socialist.” Senator Tom Coburn, of Oklahoma, is “communist #9.” Senator John Hoeven, of South Dakota, is “Judas Bastard.”

Senator Kelly Ayotte, of New Hampshire, is “liberal [expletive] 1” while Senator Susan Collins, of Maine, is “liberal [expletive] 2.”

Polls show that nearly 90 percent of Americans support a strong system of background checks for gun purchases. But the looming failure of gun-control legislation illustrates how vocal minorities are exerting strong influence on congressional debates by targeting individual senators with outside pressure, channeled through Internet organizing.

Some of that organizing directly targets senators who seek compromise.

“NO DEALS, NO GUN CONTROL,” the National Association for Gun Rights blasts on its website.

Few have experienced as much heat as Collins, a Maine Republican who has built a reputation for being moderate and open to compromise. A host of groups in recent days have taken out ads in Maine trying to win her over, including groups supporting gun-control legislation.

Organizing for Action, an offshoot of President Obama’s campaign network, ran an ad Friday on the Bangor Daily News website with this message: “Tell Senator Collins: It’s time to close background check loopholes.” That ad came a day after a full-page ad from the National Rifle Association that asked, “Will Obama’s gun control proposals actually work? His own experts say, ‘No.’”

The group on Monday posted a doctored and unflattering photo of Collins with her eyes bulging as if she were a zombie. Within an hour, 5,413 people liked it on Facebook and 490 people had commented on it.

Senator Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, Wednesday morning criticized the president for using the Newtown, Conn., families “as props.”

At a breakfast with reporters sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor, he said the legislation would not have prevented the Sandy Hook shootings, and he criticized the vote as being mostly for show.

“A lot of things in Washington are window dressing, it’s a dog and pony show, it’s a parade, it’s theatrics, it’s histrionics, all to show people that something bad happened — which it did. Something terribly tragic happened,” he said.

But, he added, “None of the proposals really would have addressed the tragedy.”

http://www.boston.com/politicalintel...E3M/story.html

[BucEyedPea]

Look at Biden's face....like he's gonna cry.

Obama is still campaigning to prevent Congress from getting more Republicans.

[RNR]

Originally Posted by AustinChief

Whole lot of "meh" from me as well. I can see both sides here and in the end it didn't matter one bit if it passed or not. Do nothing bill basically.

I enjoy it whenever these shitbags lose~

[Calcountry]

Originally Posted by WV

Hahaha....suck it Joe Manchin. You're going to lose your job for sure now! Failing the libs and pissing off gun owners.

That doesn't work for me, somebody has to tell SNL, that Obama reads a tele prompter, this cat was looking straight into the camera, Obama NEVER EVER does that, he looks left, pregnant pause for grandeur, then looks right.

[BucEyedPea]

Oh, we're going to keep our passion and send the right people to Congress, Obama. We really are going to get organized to make you a lame duck you incrementalist gun grabber.

[BucEyedPea]

"The emotions we all felt since ...."
Yeah we should pass laws during an emotional period, pass laws when there is hysteria. Not on reason, not on if the new law is effective, but because it feels good.

[Calcountry]

Originally Posted by mlyonsd

Don't pretend this is over.

The next mass murder with a firearm and the hand wringers will be back out.

Eventually they will convince a stupid public that it is better to take rights away from law abiding citizens than actually punishing criminals that use guns to commit crime.

Bet ya can't wait.

[Calcountry]

Originally Posted by LiveSteam

Omaha to. It pisses me off.

Ever play whack a moonbat?

[LiveSteam]

Originally Posted by Calcountry

Ever play whack a moonbat?

Yes. Im good at it to

[La literatura]

Originally Posted by mlyonsd

Don't pretend this is over.

The next mass murder with a firearm and the hand wringers will be back out.

Eventually they will convince a stupid public that it is better to take rights away from law abiding citizens than actually punishing criminals that use guns to commit crime.

We do punish criminals that use guns to commit crime.

We should have background checks for guns, ffs.

[BucEyedPea]

Can you imagine how Obama, and the collective left, would have sounded if the SC struck down Obamacare, by calling it a tax and then saying it's an origination clause violation effectively striking it down anyway?

Man, cry me a river. He would have been dissing the SC as being in the hands of the Republicans and more. They already had all their PR people and journalist waiting in the wings for a full-scale attack.

[BucEyedPea]

Originally Posted by La literatura

We should have background checks for guns, ffs.

We do.

[petegz28]

I heard part of his speech and turned it off. What a baby.

[frazod]

Originally Posted by Mr. Laz

not surprised it didn't pass ... votes are for sale in washington

NRA has billions behind it

Congress got rich

I'll tell you what - when the day comes that the NRA controls 90% of the American media, gets free lip service from a cadre of anti-gun Hollywood stars (who are of course themselves protected by men with guns), have the soulless **** of an Attorney General and all the DHS goons in their back pockets, are financed by billionaire socialists like Soros and Bloomberg, and can PRINT THEIR OWN ****ING MONEY, then, you can whine about how much people like ME contribute to the NRA.

But until then, go fist yourself.

[FD]

Here's the best rundown of today's voting that I've seen:

What happened with gun amendments today: Everything failed
Posted by Rachel Weiner on April 17, 2013 at 6:58 pm

The Senate voted on seven out of nine pieces of gun legislation Wednesday afternoon. All the amendments required 60 votes to survive Senate procedural moves and ensure final passage, because of the way Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) chose to structure the vote. All seven failed. What happened?

Background checks failed, 54-46: This was the big one, the bipartisan deal between Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) to expand the national gun background check system. With 54 senators in support and 46 in opposition, it failed to reach the 60 votes necessary to move forward. That includes Reid changing his vote to ‘no’ so he can bring it back up at a later date, although he is not expected to do so.
Four Democrats opposed the amendment: Max Baucus (Mont.), Mark Begich (Alaska), Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), and Mark Pryor (Ark.). Four Republicans supported it: Susan Collins (Maine), Mark Kirk (Ill.), John McCain (Ariz.), and Toomey.

Republican gun legislation failed 52-48: The main Republican alternative to gun control, proposed by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ted Cruz (R-Ariz.) failed with 52 senators in favor and 48 opposed. It would increase funding for criminal prosecution, school safety, and mental health resources and create a task force to go after felons who fail background checks. At the same time the amendment would loosen gun restrictions by making it easier to purchase and carry guns across state lines. The National Rifle Association supported this legislation. Nine Democrats supported it: Baucus, Begich, Joe Donnelly (Ind.), Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), Heitkamp, Mary Landrieu (La.), Claire McCaskill (Mo.), Pryor and Jon Tester (Mont.). Two Republicans, Kirk and Mike Lee (Utah) opposed.

Gun trafficking failed 58-42: This legislation worked out by Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) targets only gun trafficking. It makes gun trafficking a federal crime and strengthens the penalties against “straw purchasers” (people who buy guns for others who are not legally able to do so). The NRA is on board with this amendment as well, thanks to a compromise ensuring that guns can be bought as gifts or prizes. It failed with 58 votes in favor and 42 against, a bit of a surprise given the bipartisan and NRA support. Collins, Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Kirk were the only Republicans in support. No Democrats voted against it.

Expanding concealed-carry failed 57-43: Sen. John Cornyn’s “Constitutional Concealed Carry Act” would give gun owners the right to carry concealed weapons across state lines and into other states that also have concealed-carry laws without obtaining a new license. The Texas Republican argued that Democrats should support this reciprocity because getting a concealed-carry permit is a like a background check “on steroids.” It failed 57 to 43. Baucus, Begich, Donnelly, Hagan, Heinrich, Heitkamp, Landrieu, Manchin, Pryor, Tester, Mark Udall (Colo.), Tom Udall (N.M.), and Mark Warner (Va.) were the 13 Democrats in favor. Kirk was the only Republican opposed.

Assault weapons ban failed 40-60: This is Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s legislation, which we’ve known for weeks has no chance of passage but that Reid promised to bring to a vote. It failed with 40 senators in favor and 60 opposed. Kirk was the only Republican to support the ban. Fifteen Democrats voted against it — Baucus, Begich, Bennet, Donnelly, Hagan, Heinrich, Heitkamp, Tim Johnson (S.D.), Landrieu, Manchin, Pryor, Tester, Udall, Udall and Warner.

Expanding veterans’ gun rights failed 56-44: This amendment from Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) seeks to change the fact that veterans receiving benefits who are deemed unable to manage their own financial affairs are also barred from owning firearms. Under Burr’s amendment, a court would have to determine that a beneficiary is a danger to him/herself or others. Opponents argue that it would make it easier for mentally ill veterans to obtain firearms. An attempt to make this change failed in last year’s defense bill, and it failed again Wednesday 56 to 44. No Republican voted against it; the eight Democrats who voted for it were Baucus, Begich, Donnelly, Hagan, McCaskill, Landrieu, Pryor, and Tester.

A ban on high-capacity magazines failed 46 to 54: A slimmed-down version of the assault-weapons ban which outlaws only high-capacity ammunition magazines was proposed by Sens. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). It failed with 46 senators in favor and 54 opposed. High-capacity magazines were part of the original Assault Weapons Ban, which expired in 2004. Kirk was the only Republican to vote for it. Ten Democrats voted against it: Baucus, Begich, Donnelly, Hagan, Heitkamp, Landrieu, Manchin, Pryor, Tester, and Warner.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...ything-failed/

[frazod]

And to all the gungrabbers