Senator Pat Toomey pondering his options after the recent Gun Control Legislation went down in flames.
Posted on 04/29/2013 10:00:02 AM PDT by neverdem
WASHINGTON - Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) dismissed talk Friday that he might take a second run at passing new gun laws, even as a new poll found voters in the state giving him high marks for backing a bipartisan plan to expand background checks.
"My own view is very simple: The Senate has had its vote. We've seen the outcome of that vote. I am not aware of any reason to believe that if we had the vote again that we'd have a different outcome," Toomey said on a conference call.
He was responding to a question about a New York Times report that Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W. Va.) was working on tweaking the bill the two cosponsored with an eye toward another vote.
Their original plan to expand background checks to gun shows and online sales got 54 of the 60 Senate votes it needed to advance last week and has since been shelved.
Even though it fell short, Pennsylvania voters gave Toomey credit for what he did, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Friday.
He saw a four-point bump in his approval rating from last month, giving him a 48 percent rating among Pennsylvania voters, his highest ever; 30 percent disapproved of his job performance.
It's a "very modest increase, but it's a measurable increase," said G. Terry Madonna, a pollster at Franklin and Marshall College.
It's also consistent with what most political analysts predicted, since Pennsylvania voters overwhelmingly support expanded background checks.
More than half of voters surveyed - 54 percent (and 71 percent of Democrats) - said they thought more favorably of Toomey because of his compromise. Only 12 percent thought less favorably of him, the poll found.
But only 34 percent approved of Toomey's stand on guns, against 29 percent who disapproved.
The gap between those who approve of Toomey's specific views and those who think more highly of him seems to reflect a desire for compromise and bipartisanship, even when voters disagree with the final stand.
Manchin has said he wanted to keep working on the background-check plan, but since the night of the vote Toomey has consistently said he would return to the fiscal issues with which he has long been identified.
"Until we have such reason to believe that we'd have a different outcome, I think the issue is resolved by the Senate," Toomey said Friday. "I've turned my attention to the fiscal and economic matters that I've normally focused on."
Indeed, his conference call focused on bills approved this week to provide the budget flexibility to ease furloughs affecting air travel.
But Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.) said he hoped for a second try at the gun bills.
"There is more willingness to try again than I would have expected," he said Friday.
He said he hoped there would be a continued push not only for background checks, but also for controls on firearms magazines and assault rifles, both of which he supported.
"I just hope we don't limit it to background checks," he said.
Quinnipiac surveyed 1,235 registered voters from Sunday to Wedmesday. The poll has a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.
Contact Jonathan Tamari at jtamari@phillynews.com or follow on Twitter @JonathanTamari. Read his blog, "Capitol Inq," at www.philly.com/CapitolInq.
/sarc
He doesn’t have time, he has to get his resume prepared.
I guess one set of grill marks on his arse is enough for him.
If he is getting “high marks” then the pollsters must be calling only Philadelphia and the Oakland-Shadyside section of Pittsburgh.
FUPT.
Who should we believe? These BS polls or the massive number of firearms being purchased by The People? /rhetorical
Now, wait a minute. Newsmax had a article (after Toomey’s vote/and stance) that was reporting Toomey was up in his poll numbers overall in his district as well as statewide polling; so this doesn’t add to this story. I believe Toomey has lost ground even from independents, democrats and republicans. Toomey has to be punished for his betrayal on the Second Amendment. As far as I am concerned as a voter, once they cave on marriage and right to own a firearm, betray the veterans; I would sell them out if I had the chance (if I were working in their offices). Toomey’s done to me because now he has become untrustworthy. Can you image as he matures into his role as senator.
Only question is, who is going to get wiped-out by a wider margin in their next election? Toomey or Marco Rubio?
I can't for the life of me understand why they keep acting like there's no NICS/4473 for gun show and internet sales. Unless it's pure ignorance of the law, or intentional misrepresentation.
I don't know about elsewhere, but in NC I can sell to another individual w/o NICS and 4473. Both "collectors" and "dealers" are at gun shows. Collectors are individuals and the same rules apply as with any other individual.
In ANY OTHER SITUATION WHERE A DEALER IS INVOLVED, be it online or at a gun show, there's NICS and a 4473 involved.
Just makes my tin foil a l'il tighter in the end.. d:^)
Quinnipiac and the Inky? Of course whatever push poll they publish shows Toomey’s support increasing because of this vote. What they don’t say (even assuming their poll figures aren’t the lies we know them to be) is that the majority of poll respondents who viewed Toomey more favorably because of this effort will never vote for him in an election. They’re leftists and will reliably support the most statist candidate available.
Toomey-Toomey, tisk-tisk...
The rats are believing their own agitprop, i.e. agitation propaganda as it was called during the Cold War.
They have proved it was all about the status and job security; going along BS; nothing more. Rubio is another compassionate liberal republican it seems now. Toomey lied that he was conservative.
According to Toomey: “If it were done, then t’wert well it were done quickly”. PA agrees.
Toomey appears to have realized he doesn’t have a prayer of re-election if his base leaves him in droves.
Democrats who ‘think more highly of him’ still won’t vote for him. If he has learned that gun-grabbing comes at a heavy political cost, good for him. Maybe he won’t be so quick to limit our God-given rights in the future.
Senator Pat Toomey pondering his options after the recent Gun Control Legislation went down in flames.
His bump in “approval” came from increased name recognition. I doubt 48% of his voters can name both their senators.
“My own view is that if I even say ‘gun control’ one more time, I’ll be unemployed soon.”
There are a few places where you can do a “private sale” on the internet. Things like adds on forums, ads in emagizines, etc.
Thing is I never buy or sell private unless I know the person, or have an FFL involved. Had a friend buy a “hot” gun at a gun show once, and he spent a lot of time and money trying to keep out of jail.
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