Posted on 06/10/2007 7:39:59 AM PDT by holymoly
The gun lobby wrests some concessions as it agrees to back stronger background checks.
WASHINGTON - Senior Democrats have reached agreement with the National Rifle Association on what could be the first federal gun-control legislation since 1994, a measure to significantly strengthen the national system that checks the backgrounds of gun buyers.
The sensitive talks began in April, days after a mentally ill gunman killed 32 students and teachers at Virginia Tech University. The shooter, Seung Hui Cho, had been judicially ordered to submit to a psychiatric evaluation, which should have disqualified him from buying handguns. But the state of Virginia never forwarded that information to the federal National Instant Check System, and the massacre exposed a loophole in the 13-year-old background-check program.
Under the agreement, participating states would be given monetary enticements for the first time to keep the federal background database up to date, as well as penalties for failing to comply.
To sign on to the deal, the powerful gun lobby won significant concessions from Democratic negotiators in weeks of painstaking talks. Individuals with minor infractions in their pasts could petition their states to have their names removed from the federal database, and about 83, 000 military veterans, put into the system by the Department of Veterans Affairs in 2000 for alleged mental health reasons, would have a chance to clean their records.
The federal government would be permanently barred from charging gun buyers or sellers a fee for their background checks. In addition, faulty records such as duplicative names or expunged convictions would have to be scrubbed from the database.
"The NRA worked diligently with the concerns of gun owners and law enforcement in mind to make a ... system that's better for gun owners and better for law enforcement, " said House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell, D-Mich., a former NRA board member, who led the talks.
Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., had been pushing similar legislation for years. But her reputation as a staunch opponent of the gun lobby - she came to Congress to promote gun control after her husband was gunned down in a massacre on the Long Island Rail Road - ruined any chance of a deal with the NRA.
Convenient deal
By contrast, this agreement is a marriage of convenience for both sides. Democratic leaders are eager to show that they can respond legislatively to the Virginia Tech rampage, a feat that GOP leaders would not muster after the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado. Meanwhile, the NRA was motivated to show it would not stand in the way of a bill that would not harm law-abiding gun buyers. Even so, it drove a hard bargain to quiet its smaller but more vociferous rival, Gun Owners of America.
Chris W. Cox, the NRA's chief lobbyist, said Saturday that the organization will strongly support the legislation as written. "We've been on record for decades for keeping firearms out of the hands of the mentally adjudicated. It's not only good policy, it's good politics, " he said. But Cox warned that if the legislation becomes a "gun-control wish list" as it moves through Congress, the NRA will withdraw its support.
Well ok, I can understand your concern so let me ask you this question: What have those organizations done in terms of affecting legislation out of Washington that has helped the pro-gun movement?
Life is filled with compromise, good and bad and nobody but nobody stands to win with a "no compromise" attitude.......Thats just the way it is.
All of them work on a daily basis to turn back the “illegal” gun laws. The NRA works daily to create more laws. Enough said! We work to put ourselves out of business!!!
True grassroots/no compromise organizations don’t work to enact more gun legislation....understand?
“Court ordered drug treatments”.....
Get a ticket for impaired driving, judge says you have to go take a couple classes on not driving after you drink, THE RATS will take away your gun rights forever!!
The NRA has it’S head up it’s a$$!!
Ping
Bottom line is you won't find any! Like them or not the NRA is the only organization with the membership clout to make a difference in Washington and like I said before, you don't make a difference by taking an all or nothing stance. Everything in life and politics is about compromise.
Grassroots? Drop me a line in 15 or 20 years when the JPFOA and the SAS memberships reach a sufficient number in which to make a difference in Washington........
Till then I'll continue to support the NRA because as of right now, they're the only organization in town that gets listened to..........
There, I fixed it! Like I said before, with all the money the NRA is taking in, they have absolutely no interest in truly fighting Washington or the various state governments to totally do away with gun laws. They've done absolutely nothing to help states like NY, NJ, the city of Chicago...etc.
They don't represent me when they continually compromise away my rights! (I'm an Endowment Life Member, btw)
This is why I support the other organizations, to help them grow to the point that they can make a REAL difference.
You get no argument from me—that’s for sure!
i was a proud member and recruiter for the nra.
Gun Owners of America- no compromise.
Some are reluctant to admit to spending so much money on a membership that has sold them down the river repeatedly.
i won’t argue the virtues afforded us by the No Rights Anymore crowd.
too few to mention.
why pay someone to dwindle our God given Rights away when the socialists in both parties will do it for free...
Like a piece of meat laying forgotten on a picnic bench, any deal with Democrats will soon turn rotten. I have had to pay up membership in NRA to shoot in some competitions but these compromising buggers will sell us out.
The power to regulate v. the power to prohibit
Address:http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1419654/posts
The thread above answers many of those questions.
A lot of people already are being railroaded into these databases.
Federal law establishes a process by which such a disability can be removed, but Congress has blocked it.
You are admitting Congress can, and does ignore federal law, yet you want to pass another ~compromise law~ that in effect gives them even more power to ignore our right to own and carry arms.
If, as a part of this compromise, this process was made active again, would it change your mind about the value of the compromise?
No. - It is past due time to stop the compromises and infringements.
This could be, depending upon the details, a good bill.
No, because in effect, this bills compromise would confirm that the ~database concept~ is a valid infringement/regulation. [see the article cited above]
We who fight for an uninfringeable right to bear arms cannot give in on this point.
Just the opposite, my dear. I believe in aboloshing background checks and allowing anyone who's not locked up for a crime to own a gun. Apparently, you misunderstood the central point of my post.
Well frickin HECK!!
All of both houses of Congress fit that description....
Very true! Hey, I'd sure feel a lot safer if lawmakers were disarmed ;-)
btt
Clearly.
I believe in aboloshing background checks and allowing anyone who's not locked up for a crime to own a gun.
But you wrote: If someone is deemed a greater-than-average threat to public safety, based on past actions, he should be kept off the streets. Apparently, you believe in incarcerating anyone who poses a risk... whereas I believe that people sould only be punished after they actually commit a wrong.
Or are you proposing life sentences for anyone who has committed a crime with a firearm?
Once again the NRA preemptively surrenders. Instead of all out opposing a bill in which nothing is given to gun owners they go along to get along - scew ‘em and their anti-gun buddies.
I suppose “greater than average risk” was the wrong phrase to use. When I said, “based on past behavior” I meant violent crime, not acting up in class. I apologize if that wasn’t clear.
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