Looking good on the federal front!

[charleslee 44]

Background check bill faces likely Senate defeat

Associated Press - 32 mins ago

 

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan effort to expand background checks faced almost certain defeat Wednesday as the Senate approached a long-awaited vote on the linchpin of the drive to curb gun violence.

 

As the showdown drew near, an Associated Press-GfK poll showed ebbing public support for tightening gun control laws.

 

With the roll call just hours away, three more senators — Republican Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and Democrats Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Mark Pryor of Arkansas — said they opposed the background check measure.

 

Their announcements, along with opposition from other Republicans and moderate Democrats, left supporters heading toward defeat unless they could turn votes around in the final hours, a near impossible task.

 

Rejection of the proposal would be a jarring setback for gun control advocates, who hoped the Dec. 14 shooting rampage that killed 20 children and six adults at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school would sway Congress to enact new firearms restrictions.

 

Defeating the background check plan also would give a victory to the National Rifle Association, which has fought the idea as a misguided crackdown on gun rights that criminals would ignore anyway.

 

"As of this morning, we're short. We need more votes. It's close," Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., a sponsor of the background check compromise, said in a brief interview. Asked how he could get the needed votes with so many opponents, he said, "We're just hoping the good Lord will enter their heart and maybe change a few."

 

The White House said it wasn't giving up hope. Presidential spokesman Jay Carney said President Barack Obama was working on building support.

 

Perhaps helping explain Democrats' problems, an AP-GfK poll this month showed that 49 percent of those surveyed support stricter gun laws. That was down from 58 percent in January.

 

By comparison, 52 percent expressed disapproval in the new survey of how Obama has handled gun laws. Weeks after the Newtown slayings, Obama made near-universal background checks the heart of his gun control plan.

 

"Every once and awhile we are confronted with an issue that should transcend politics," Obama said in an interview that aired Wednesday on NBC's "Today" show. "And now's the time for us to take some measure of action that's going to prevent some of these tragedies from happening again."

 

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said gun control was a legitimate issue to debate but didn't think victims and their families should be used "like props" to politicize a tragedy.

 

Relatives of victims of Newtown and other mass shootings have lobbied lawmakers to restrict guns, and several planned to be in the visitors' gallery during Wednesday's vote. Many have appeared at news conferences, including at the White House.

 

"I think that, in some cases, the president has used them as props and that disappoints me," Paul said at a breakfast sponsored by The Christian Science Monitor.

 

Carney responded that the Newtown families were in Washington "because their children were murdered. They're here asking the Senate to do something that's common sense."

 

The Senate planned eight other votes in addition to one on background checks. Each is an amendment to a broad gun control measure.

 

They included Democratic proposals to ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines; the two were expected to lose. There also was a Republican proposal requiring states to honor other states' permits allowing concealed weapons; that was facing a close vote.

 

As the day's debate began, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., set the tone for the GOP, whose members have largely opposed many of the Democratic proposals.

 

"The government shouldn't punish or harass law-abiding citizens in the exercise of their Second Amendment rights," he said.

 

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who has backed some gun rights efforts in the past, said he would back the assault weapons ban. He rejected some opponents' claims that confiscating weapons would leave them vulnerable to an out-of-control government.

 

"I'll vote for the ban because maintaining law and order is more important than satisfying conspiracy theorists who believe in black helicopters," he said.

 

The concealed weapons amendment, seen by advocates as protecting gun rights, was vehemently opposed by gun control groups, which say it would allow more guns into states with stricter firearms laws.

 

Background checks, aimed at screening out criminals and the seriously mentally ill from getting firearms, now apply only to purchases handled by licensed firearms dealers.

 

The amendment by Manchin and Sen. Patrick Toomey, R-Pa., would extend the checks to firearms sales at gun shows and online. The compromise was widely seen as advocates' best chance for winning enough GOP votes to muscle broadened checks through the Senate.

 

Opponents will need just 41 of the Senate's 100 votes to derail the Manchin-Toomey background check plan.

 

Thirty-one senators voted last week to completely block debate on overall gun legislation. Just two were Democrats — Pryor and Mark Begich of Alaska.

 

If all 31 oppose the Manchin-Toomey measure, and that was not certain, opponents would need just 10 more votes to prevail.

 

So far, 12 of 16 Republicans who voted last week to let debate on the gun bill begin have said they would oppose Manchin-Toomey. That would give foes of expanded background checks 42 potential votes, or one more than they need to win.

 

Still uncertain was support from some Democrats from GOP-heavy states, including Max Baucus of Montana and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana. Both face re-election next year.

 

The Senate gun bill would extend background checks to nearly all gun purchases, toughen penalties against illegal gun trafficking and add small sums to school safety programs.

 

The AP-GfK poll found that overall, 49 percent said gun laws should be made stricter while 38 percent said they should stay the same.

 

The poll was conducted from April 11-15 by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Corporate Communications. It involved landline and cellphone interviews with 1,004 randomly chosen adults and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

 

___

 

AP Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta, news survey specialist Dennis Junius and writers Henry C. Jackson, Stephen Ohlemacher and Jim Abrams contributed to this report.

 

1448 comments

 

To fix any problem, you first have to correctly identify it. And this is where they failed on gun violence....

The One, 1 hr ago

 

Mr. Reid- I am not a conspiracy theorist who believes in "black helicopters"......but I damn sure believe in our Constitution.

Jack, 3 hrs ago

 

Dirty Harry Reid is again exploiting children in the "gun confiscation debate".

Alan, 2 hrs ago

 

In the mean time, gun grabber Democrat Diane Feinstein admitted that gun checks wouldn't have stopped the Connecticut shooter. She did LIE and say that his mother gave her son the guns, which of course is not true. He stole them from her and shot her in the head.

Shawn, 1 hr ago

 

Obama and Bloomberg claim that America’s police officers want gun bans and gun control…but a breaking new survey of nearly 15,000 active and retired law enforcement officers shows that an overwhelming majority of America’s policemen and women do NOT support Obama’s gun control agenda AT ALL. In fact, a whopping 71% of law enforcement officers say Obama’s gun ban will do NOTHING to stop violent crime. An even larger 80% say that more background checks will have ZERO effect. And an overwhelming 91% of law enforcement officers say that prosecutions and mandatory sentencing is the best way to combat violent crime…the two most important actions that Barack Obama has refused to take. You and I both know that Obama and Bloomberg are lying when they say America’s rank-and-file police officers agree with their gun control agenda

[wooly bugger 1]

Watching on C-SPAN. Schumer just made the mandatory appeal to the victims of Newtown.

[ryan_j 0]

I hope they push all the way to resounding defeat in 2014.

[ogfarmer 138]

manchin also did the same , played the newtown card in final minutes

[wooly bugger 1]

manchin also did the same , played the newtown card in final minutes

He took it up a notch to the "beautiful babies."

I guess black inner city babies aren't beautiful.

[ogfarmer 138]

who the heck is the heckler in the galley

 

they allow people in there?

[Howard 538]

Vote went 54 for 46 against - BUT it FAILS - Needed 60 votes!

[wooly bugger 1]

I'm officially confused by the process. Did we win yet or not?

I understand there are a bunch of other amendments coming up, but are any of them serious threat? I thought this was the big scary one.

[bhunted 887]

That was Feinstein having her daily hissy fit...

 

who the heck is the heckler in the galley

 

they allow people in there?

 

 

Sent from John's iPad 2 via Tapatalk HD

Typos courtesy Apple...

[wooly bugger 1]

That was Feinstein having her daily hissy fit...

 

I hear those types of emotional outbursts can raise blood pressure with negative health consequences. Especially for octagenarians.

[Fullblown9 0]

Keep the Pressure on, lot more to do.

[222 3]

Grassley Cruz amendment fails, 52 aye and 48 no.

[ryan_j 0]

Schumer is not an idiot. The portal would have made buying a gun easier for responsible citizens. That's something he doesn't want. He wants to make the process as difficult as possible.

[wooly bugger 1]

Schumer is not an idiot. The portal would have made buying a gun easier for responsible citizens. That's something he doesn't want. He wants to make the process as difficult as possible.

Not easier, just the same as it is now.

You're right, though. If the true motivation is to throw up yet another obstacle, it made sense for him to go for broke.

[222 3]

Leahy Collins Amendment failed 52 Aye 48 No.

[raz-0 1,259]

I'm officially confused by the process. Did we win yet or not?

I understand there are a bunch of other amendments coming up, but are any of them serious threat? I thought this was the big scary one.

 

the amendment was defeated. Which means we are looking at the original Schumer bill plus whatever amendments pass. The content of the Schumer draft is regarded as having a poor chance of passing the Senate, but that doesn't mean it won't. If it does, it is unlikley to get through the house without amendment. If it is amended, it has to go back to the sentate to justify the two versions until both houses can pass the same text. Given that they couldn't get 60 to pass a compromise that most of the pro rkba crowd would accept, odds are they won't have the votes to approve a house version.

 

So...

 

it isn't done, but odds are low. The thing could effectively be rewritten several times between now and the last vote on it.

[222 3]

Interstate CCW failed 57 aye to 43 no.

[bhunted 887]

OMG, listen to Feinstein whine with bogus info as usual! Geezus!

[bhunted 887]

Bahahahaha!

 

OMG, listen to Feinstein whine with bogus info as usual! Geezus!

 

 

Sent from John's iPad 2 via Tapatalk HD

Typos courtesy Apple...

[222 3]

Feinstein AWB fail 40 Aye to 60 No.

 

I like how Feinstein started her 2 minute speech by insulting the room.

[voyager9 3,434]

Interstate CCW failed 57 aye to 43 no.

 

Interesting that this seems to be te closest vote yet. I'd think very few Dems would back it.

[dave545 15]

OH god obama is crying about the "COMMON" sense gun bill not passing lol. saying the legislators failed the people

[Shawnmoore81 623]

This cspan3 speech is great. Look at em all pouting

[222 3]

They are doing the VA Amendment now and will do the magazine limit later.

I am heading to the gym: doesn't look like any Amendment is passing.

 

Reid said he will talk to McConnell. My guess this is just the start, they will try to work out another bipartisan amendment.

 

Cruz did well today.

[Cowboy6373 0]

Obama and Biden in the the Rose Garden with the Newtown families, addressing the nation. Continues to quote that 90% of Americans support tougher gun laws, specifically background checks. The actual percentage is 4%!!! To use the Newtown families and Gabby Gifford while giving a speech is just plain terrible and a sad way to push forward any agenda (I couldn't think what else to say without sounding very bad, or raising my blood pressure).

 

Keep the pressure on!! Don't stop calling your representatives. Don't stop writing. While relatively good news, on the federal front so far, the gun grabbers will not stop so we need to keep up our efforts!!

[Sig226GuyNJ 128]

the gun grabbers will not stop so we need to keep up our efforts!!

 

X's 10000000000000000000!

 

Great JOB TO ALL OF US WHO SPOKE UP!!!!!!

[Shawnmoore81 623]

The state battles never end

[Sig226GuyNJ 128]

Yup, we need to keep the pressure on NJ pols.

[ogfarmer 138]

the fight is never over they will keep coming and coming, we are the weakest when we think we won and are over confident

[JackDaWack 2,895]

Obama. Cry me a river bro! That speech of his was pathetic.