Posted on 04/10/2013 11:11:35 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) told reporters on a conference call moments ago that his compromise bill with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on gun background checks “doesn’t change in any way” his “conservative record or views.”
The former Club for Growth president acknowledged he was out of his usual legislative area on the issue, but “it became clear to me a bill of some sort was very likely to reach the floor” that would be “badly flawed,” so he reached out to his friend and neighboring state senator Manchin to sit down and talk.
“You’re probably used to hearing me talk about economic and fiscal and monetary policy,” Toomey said. “This is a somewhat unusual area for me to be working with.”
Toomey and Manchin unveiled their proposal at a press conference this morning, which extends background checks to gun shows and Internet sales but does not require record-keeping on private sales and does not extend to gifts, family or friend sales, etc.
“I thought there was an opportunity to try to find some common ground with some of my colleagues,” said Toomey on the conference call afterward. “Background checks are not a perfect solution… but they do help.”
“I think it strikes a very sensible balance,” he added.
The senators received assurance from Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) that theirs would be the first amendment should the Democrats’ package of gun bills move past the 60-vote threshold to consideration tomorrow.
The Manchin-Toomey amendment would strike the background check language in Reid’s bill — sweeping, universal checks — and insert the compromise language.
Toomey, who’s been under fire from conservatives for inking out a compromise, said he hasn’t “counted noses” to see what chance the language has of passing. He vowed to vote against any amendments to add language about high-capacity clips or the assault weapons ban to the bill, calling that a violation of Second Amendment rights.
“People are going to have a wide range of opinions,” he said. “I don’t think trying to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous criminals is gun control… I don’t expect everyone to agree with me.”
The National Rifle Association, in a statement issued after the press conference, did not.
“Expanding background checks at gun shows will not prevent the next shooting, will not solve violent crime and will not keep our kids safe in schools. While the overwhelming rejection of President Obama and Mayor Bloomberg’s ‘universal’ background check agenda is a positive development, we have a broken mental health system that is not going to be fixed with more background checks at gun shows,” the NRA said.
“President Obama should be as committed to dealing with the gang problem that is tormenting honest people in his hometown as he is to blaming law-abiding gun owners for the acts of psychopathic murderers.”
Manchin and Toomey’s Public Safety and Second Amendment Rights Protection Act would require states and the federal government to send all necessary records on criminals and the violently mentally ill to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).
It prohibits the federal government from establishing a national firearms registry, and makes any person who misuses or illegally retains firearms records subject to up to 15 years in prison.
It allows dealers to voluntarily use the NICS database to run background checks on their prospective employees and provides a legal process for a veteran to contest his or her placement in NICS when there is no basis for barring the right to own a firearm. Last Congress, Senate Republicans failed to get language in the defense bill that would have stopped the Veterans Affairs Department from putting the names of vets deemed too mentally incompetent to handle their finances into the NICS to prohibit them from buying or owning a gun.
If a background check at a gun show does not result in a definitive response from NICS within 48 hours, the sale may proceed. After four years, when the NICS improvements are expected to be completed, Manchin and Toomey say the background check would clear in 24 hours. Current law is three business days. The bill requires the FBI to give priority to finalizing background checks at gun shows over checks at store front dealerships.
It also authorizes use of a state concealed carry permit instead of a background check when purchasing a firearm from a dealer.
Compromise:
When good “compromises” with evil you become tainted with evil.
“A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.”
Gal 5:9
I think you should leave that judgement to conservatives, don’t you Mr. Toomey?
This is exactly what is wrong with the government trying to convince Americans to surrender their 2nd amendment protections. Currenly, federal law already requires States to send all necessary records on criminals, adding another segment of American society “violently mentally ill” as determined by whom?
Kind of like getting on the federal governments “no fly list” that included Americans who had never had any prior issues of any kind, but some smart-ass government stooge decided to place them on the no fly list!
This is why it is sooooooo dangerous to allow the government to collect this kind of information on Americans and letting them decide which American is competent and which American is not competent to possess a firearm.
With all the rhetoric about the tea party, if you have ever gave to a tea party or supported a conservative, would this be enough to get you on the governments “shall not possess a firearm list” simply being a conservative or supporting a political party. Joe the plumber was raked over the coals by liberal socialist working in the State of Ohio, using their computers to do background checks on him because he stood up to Obango!
What about a newspaper editor using the Freedom of Information Act to publish the Gun Confiscation/registration List? Hmmmmmmmmmmmm - - - ?
Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Pat Toomey on Wednesday called for an expansion of required background checks for those who want to buy guns by arguing that the proposal does not actually constitute “gun control.”
“I don’t consider criminal background checks to be gun control,” Toomey said during a press conference at the Capitol. “I think it’s commonsense. If you pass a criminal background check, you get to buy a gun. No problem. It’s the people who fail a criminal or mental health background that we don’t want to have a gun.”
Toomey joined Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia on Wednesday in offering compromise legislation as Congress takes up gun bills. It requires background checks for all commercial transactions, including for those who buy firearms at gun shows and online.
Lying sack of dog crap...
And what is even more angering - the NRA will continue to endorse this traitor.
Compromise in politics and government is vastly overrated.
As Ayn Rand said:
“In any compromise between good and evil, it is only evil that can profit.”
Whenever republicans “compromise” with democrats the constitution takes another direct hit.
When republicans announce another compromise it is nothing more than one more loss to democrats cloaked in other terms to make it sound better and fool the foolish.
Every compromise is a loss for patriots and conservatives and a win for anti-constitutional Nanny Staters.
Democrats are happy to advance their agenda by chipping away a little at a time.
Like water eroding a rock - sooner or later they will gradually erode our culture and constitution until they are irretrievable lost.
Apparently, Pennsylvanians were correct about this guy the first time around. He really is an idiot.
RE: Sen. Toomey: ‘I Don’t Consider Criminal Background Checks To Be Gun Control’
BTW, Background Checks are NOT the only thing in this gun control legislation under consideration.
He said ‘cred,’ not ‘creed.’
And reduce the NICS response time to 90 seconds. I mean Google can respond in thousandths of seconds. Credit card companies can too. Are government computers slower?
Either you’re ineligible or you’re eligible. That’s it.
Toomey needs to prove that they help. Take a look at the number of purchases v. denials v. prosecutable denials and you’ll see that NICS is a joke.
Nothing could be easier to prosecute than a felon attempting to purchase a firearm. You’ve got at least one witness, it’s on film, the perp filled out the paperwork - it’s an orgy of evidence.
That so few ever get prosecuted tells the entire story.
Criminals will get guns - they’re criminals.
Kindly find me the Federal prosecutor who would file those charges and righteously pursue such a case.
If this were real compromise, we’d be seeing a benefit to gun owners. How about they get more background checks in exchange to nationwide concealed carry license reciprocity. That would be real compromise.
With his compromise, any doctor can put you on the list. Like the no-fly list, your screwed. Toomey is a tool and should go to h$ll. Munchie is cooked in 2014. Bye bye boys.
Dear Sen. Toomey,
I gave to get you in office and voted for you. I am done with you. Clearly, you cannot be a conservative and not understand the Constitution, nor have the sufficient intelligence to understand the implications of this issue. YOU are a RINO.
I will oppose you in the primary. Not vote for you in the general. Spit on your memory.
No Compromise, It’s as simple as that.
I made a mistake. Munch is up in 2018. I sure don’t like this POS.
BS!!!!
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