Posted on 04/16/2013 5:24:12 PM PDT by Red Steel
WASHINGTONA Senate measure to expand background checks for gun buyers teetered on the brink of failure Tuesday as opposition mounted.
Democrats appeared short of the votes needed to pass the bipartisan proposal from Sens. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) and Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) that would broaden background checks to all online and gun-show sales. Currently, only federally licensed dealers are required to conduct checks, which aim to screen for people with criminal and mental-health histories that make them ineligible to buy guns.
With some of the 55 lawmakers who caucus with Democrats in the Senate likely to reject the proposal, the measure would need Republican support to overcome the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome any GOP-led filibuster threat.
"We need some help with the Republicans," Mr. Manchin said after the Democrats' weekly luncheon, which featured impassioned appeals from Mark Kelly, husband of former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was gravely injured in a 2011 mass shooting in her home state of Arizona. "We need more than what we have."
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) also addressed the senators, along with lawmakers from Connecticut, where a shooting at an elementary school in Newtown last December spurred the debate over tougher gun laws.
Among Republicans, only Mr. Toomey and Sens. Mark Kirk of Illinois and Susan Collins of Maine have said they plan to vote for the amendment, while Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) has said he is inclined to support it.
In a blow to supporters, Sen. Dean Heller (R., Nev.) said late Tuesday he won't support the amendment. Only Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R., N.H.) and five Democrats have yet to say how they plan to vote on the measure.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
It worked so well for Obamacare.
I agree, they will buy or bribe for the votes they need.
Wouldn’t put it past them to blackmail either.
Wobbly Ds will vote for cloture, and then vote against the bill.
IT’ll pass.
Bastards.
We’re almost into the 2014 election cycle, and senators are going to morph into fanny protection mode pretty quickly here.
Looks like another Louisiana Purchase to me.
Wait, what?
Some of our elected realized that the bill of rights grants no man anything, but prohibits the government from abridging the citizen’s rights?
Nah, they put their finger in the wind, or somewhere, and became non-commital or something, at least on record.
Just damn. May the rest of this pack of poseurs find a link with vertibrates.
Senators up for re-election in 2014:
AK-Mark Begich-Democrat-
AR-Mark Pryor-Democrat-
CO-Mark Udall-Democrat-
DE-Chris Coons-Democrat-
HI-Brian Schatz-Democrat-(special)
IA-Thomas Harkin-Democrat-(not running)
IL-Richard Durbin-Democrat-
LA-Mary Landrieu-Democrat-
MA-William Mccowan-Democrat-(Kerry Seat)
MI-Carl Levin-Democrat-(not running)
MN-Al Franken-Democrat-
MT-Max Baucus-Democrat-
NC-Kay Hagan-Democrat-
NH-Jeanne Shaheen-Democrat-
NJ-Frank Lautenberg-Democrat-(not running)
NM-Tom Udall-Democrat-
OR-Jeff Merkley-Democrat-
RI-John Reed-Democrat-
SD-Tim Johnson-Democrat-(not running)
VA-Mark Warner-Democrat-
WV-Jay Rockefeller IV-Democrat-(not running)
Perhaps McCain and Omoslem should focus on disarming AL QAEDA and stop persecuting Americans.
How the hell we got stuck with this band of vicious traitors, I’ll never fully comprehend.
The search is on for a lobbyist of Sinator with a boat a few feet bigger than Manchin’s. His yacht is 54 feet, and yielded these 56 or whatever votes. Perhaps you gotta have a 60’ or better yacht to get up to 60 votes. Time will tell...
Or worse a manufactured crisis just for good measure.
ALL the Un-Constitutional Legislation that's been passed has NEVER been challenged on it's Constitutionality, and with the corrupt Legal System of Liberal-planted goofy Judges, we will be stuck with such un-Constitutional Legislation (such as Obamacare), because of some tortured legal interpretation to further The Agenda. Just as baby-killing is interpreted as a "woman's Right", Guaranteed Freedoms are being destroyed and The Constitution is being ignored. (The "Commerce Clause" comes to mind as one example of how to Regulate via un-Elected Dictators of Policy).
guise=guise
I wonder if yesterday’s events in Boston are having an effect on the vote. A nation of responsible citizens whose government can’t protect them in open public spaces would do well to have a healthy skepticism about any kind of gun control measure that’s passed in the name of public safety.
They are going to corner the market on handguns.
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.