Posted on 04/21/2007 8:52:42 AM PDT by Reagan Man
In the week after the shootings at Virginia Tech, Congress is inching toward a legislative response, with an unlikely pair of lawmakers teaming up to push a bill to strengthen background checks to prevent the mentally ill and some others from buying guns.
Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, (D-N.Y.), whose husband was killed and son seriously wounded by a gunman on a Long Island commuter train in 1993, has enlisted the aid of an unabashed backer of gun rights and former board member of the National Rifle Association, Rep. John Dingell, (D-Mich.).
“John Dingell is Mr. NRA,” McCarthy said. As she drafted the legislation, she said, she knew his support would be pivotal. “You ask yourself, ‘Who am I going to need to help me on the gun issue?’’’ she explained. “I gave it to John Dingell.”
The measure aims to improve the quality of data in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System by giving the states money to update the system and instituting penalties when they do not.
In the case of the Virginia Tech gunman, Cho Seung Hui, a background check did not reveal a 2005 court ruling ordering him into treatment for mental illness. The order should have made him ineligible to buy the two handguns he used in the shootings.
Dingell is an unlikely ally for McCarthy, since he received an “A+” rating and an endorsement from the NRA last year. But McCarthy’s measure is a relatively small change, seeking only to strengthen the enforcement of existing laws and improve the background-check process.
“He came back and actually liked it. I was looking at how we save lives, and Mr. Dingell liked it because it resulted in a faster background check,” McCarthy said.
“We both want the system to work,” Dingell said.
But even with Dingell’s help, action on the bill or on any other gun-control measure will be slow, a House Democratic aide said, not for at least “a couple of weeks.”
McCarthy said she expected a companion bill to be introduced soon in the Senate, most likely by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.).
Though action on the bill would be a modest response to Monday’s rampage by a mentally ill student, lawmakers concede it’s the only measure likely to pass in a Congress with many strong advocates of gun rights.
“It’s clear to everybody that the votes are not there for strong gun control,” said Rep. Bobby Scott, (D-Va.), who chairs the House Judiciary subcommittee that handles gun control legislation. “You have the Congress you have, so you do what you can.”
Nearly all lawmakers take a position on gun control, even before they are elected, making the fate of many gun measures a forgone conclusion.
But the deadly Virginia Tech shootings have put some members in an uncomfortable position. Democratic Rep. Rick Boucher, for instance, has Virginia Tech in his congressional district. And he also received an “A+” rating last year from the NRA.
“Do you want to talk about guns?” he asked Friday when approached by a reporter. “I’m not going to talk about that until next week. OK?”
The woman is a fetid swamp of freverish hallucinations.
—since I don’t trust Congress, Dingell or the Bush Administation on this, let’s hope we load it upfront with something like universal concealed-weapons permit reciprocity also—just like the enemy does-—
Excellent idea...give it to the NRA, GOA etc
A RAT is never MR NRA. Not possible.
The lowly opportunists trying to push gun control are exploiting grief at VT. They are shameless.
The enemy of my enemy is still my enemy - but not for the NRA it seems...
VA doesn't volunteer info, as requested per 28CFR25.4, to the DOJ, for entry into the NICS dbase. Had they done so, Cho's court record would have shown up, and the firearm transactions he attempted would have been denied.
Let’s get real, folks. No one sane can be against measures to keep guns out of the hands of mentally unstable whackjobs. Even the Constitution has certain assumptions, and sanity is one of them. Yes, we then need to be wary of government abusing the proces by which people are declared insane, but not as wary as we need to be of armed crazy people.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
I can also understand - not AGREE with, but understand- how someone who lives in a densely populated city is skeptical about allowing folks to have high capacity semi automatic firearms that shoot projectiles that can travel for miles and/or go right through walls. In large areas of NY or SF it would be pretty darn hard to fire more than two shots without your bullets going somewhere they really shouldn’t (of course I believe that the solution is education, not prohibition)
I had a neighbor across the street, not a very bright bulb in several ways, who regarded his .30-’06 bolt action as an appropriate home defense weapon. Now I like a good deer rifle as much as any red blooded American male, but having an idiot 30 yards away who is both drunk and stupid enough to try to shoot his cheating girlfriend with it gives me a little insight into some of the fears the gun grabbers play on.
“Fearful people do stupid things” as a bumper sticker I say yesterday said.
****“John Dingell is Mr. NRA,” McCarthy said. As she drafted the legislation, she said, she knew his support would be pivotal. “You ask yourself, ‘Who am I going to need to help me on the gun issue?’’’ she explained. “I gave it to John Dingell.”****
And lets all remember that JOHN DINGELL resigned his position on the NRA board of directors so he could vote FOR Bill Clinton’s assault weapons ban.
NEVER FORGET IT!
Yes it is. Dingel is very good on Second Amendment issues. He’s a RAT in everything else.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.