BREAKING: Senate Kills Major Gun Legislation

Townhall.com ^ | April 17, 2013 | Guy Benson

[Kaslin]

Much of the drama has already dissipated; most of these amendments will fail.  The Toomey/Manchin bipartisan compromise appears to be dead in the water, with Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) and Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) pounding home the final legislative nails earlier today. USA Today has a useful primer on what to expect this afternoon and evening, including the items liberals will be watching most carefully:
 

- The Public Safety and Second Amendment Rights Protection Act (Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and three co-sponsors): The compromise background check provision expands background checks to gun shows and Internet sales, but exempts family-to-family and other in-home sales. It also authorizes $400 million to upgrade the national background check database and reduces the turnaround time for background checks from three days to two days; in four years, it would be reduced to one day

- The Assault Weapons Ban (Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and 23 co-sponsors): The amendment bans the sale, transfer and importation of assault rifles, including 157 specifically mentioned in the law -- a broader definition than existed from 1994 to 2004. Current lawful owners of assault weapons would be grandfathered.

- The Large-Capacity Magazine Feeding Devices Amendment (Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., and 21 co-sponsors): The measure would ban magazines and other devices holding more than 10 rounds, but exempts .22 caliber rifles. Police officers -- both on- and off-duty -- would also be exempted. It also authorizes federally funded gun buyback programs to purchase high-capacity magazines.  

None of those three are expected to pass (see update), though some of the other provisions might.  The assault weapons ban and magazine capacity limit will go down hard, a reality that has forced a beleagured Harry Reid to toss a last-minute gesture of lefty solidarity by backing Feinstein's doomed dream.   Stay tuned for updates...

UPDATE - Toomey/Manchin fails 54-46, with a handful of aisle-crossers in both directions.  The bill's supporters were six votes short of 60.  Four Republicans joined most Democrats in voting aye: Toomey, McCain, Kirk and Collins.  Dems going the other way: Baucus, Begich, Heitkamp, Pryor, and Reid (for procedural reasons).

UPDATE II - The primary Republican replacement amendment also goes down, 52-48.  Seven Nine Democrats joined nearly every Republican in voting yes, but it wasn't enough.  Looks like nothing (or close to it) is getting passed tonight.

UPDATE III - I'm sure this statement won't be demagogic at all:
 

White House sets 5:30 pm Rose Garden statement on guns by President Obama — Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) April 17, 2013

UPDATE IV - Here's the roster of Democrats who joined the GOP on their unsuccessful alternate amendment:
 

D's voting for GOP gun bill: Baucus, Begich, Donnelly, Hagan, Heitkamp, Landrieu, McCaskill, Pryor & Tester. — Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) April 17, 2013

UPDATE V - Leahy/Collins (re: gun-trafficking) is defeated.

UPDATE VI - The difficulty of gun legislation, in one tweet:
 

RT @hotlinejosh: RT @mikememoli: Asked to explain his vote, Sen. Baucus said one word: "Montana." — Lachlan Markay (@lachlan) April 17, 2013

 

UPDATE VII - Down goes Cornyn's amendment on concealed-carry reciprocity, 57-43.  That's an awful lot of votes for the idea, even though it failed.  Chuck Todd points out that more Senators voted to vastly expand gun rights than for the tepid Toomey/Manchin gun control law.  Wow.

UPDATE VIII - Let the lefty machinations begin:
 

---> MT @fschouten it begins: @boldprogressive announces full-page ads against Pryor, Begich, Baucus& Heitkamp over bkgrnd check votes — Brad Dayspring (@BDayspring) April 17, 2013

UPDATE VII - Surprise:
 

Newtown families, Gabby Giffords at the podium at the White House. whitehouse.gov/live — Andrew Kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) April 17, 2013

UPDATE XIII - The federal Assault Weapons Ban stays buried. It wasn't close: 40 yes votes, 60 no.

UPDATE IX - Great point.  Keep this in mind when you see video of the president's furious -- and I mean furious -- Rose Garden statement:
 

Didn’t this guy have 60 Democratic votes in the Senate not long ago? Where was the gun-control push then? — Allahpundit (@allahpundit) April 17, 2013

[outinyellowdogcountry]

He even kicks like a girl.

[Sequoyah101]

You did great!

Only thing better would have been to see the POS break glass kicking into the white hut or going in and then throwing things around.

[stormhill]

Score one for the First Amendment.

I'd have a difficult time answering the question of whether I support gun control; if you mean accurate aiming, perhaps even involving holding the gun with both hands, then, yes! Of course; by all means.
On the other hand, if by "gun control" you mean a tyrannical government unconstitutionally infringing upon the right of the people to keep and bear arms then the answer would have to be: "Of course not; what's the matter with you?"

[Kaslin]

Fox News just showed him on TV. Trust me he was pissed.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Bwahahaha!!! The tribe has spoken.

[District13]

The heinous bombings at the Boston Marathon makes law-abiding citizens even more insistent on having guns for protection against the evil in the world.

[Alberta's Child]

I don't think it's irony at all. I think the two are related.

After yesterday, people have every reason to be skeptical about their government's intentions in terms of gun control when they can't even congregate in a public space safely.

As soon as I heard the news of the bombing, I speculated that the gun control issue would suddenly become a non-issue.

[stevio]

Big Bang Bumparoo!

[Repeal The 17th]

I have summarized the results of all of tonight’s votes over on this thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3009008/posts
start here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3009008/posts?page=170#170

[ResponseAbility]

****menially ill individuals****

In my opinion this is a “hinge phrase”. Highly appropriate in its use and highly useable by the left to distort its meaning.

[ogen hal]

Don’t worry nobama. Reggie will make you feel better next time you two are “together”.

[murron]

At least he could tuck his shirt in.

[mosaicwolf]

I will tell you....Prior from AR voted NO only because his vote wasn’t needed. We will defeat this Marxist in 2014. Count on it.

[Kaslin]

There were seven amendments and each one was rejected

U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 113th Congress - 1st Session (2013)

[Ancesthntr]

While law-abiding citizens will abide by the law that previously legal thirty-round magazines must be sold within one-year to an out-of-state resident or turn in to local authorities, do you really expect a criminal or mentally ill individual intent on doing violence to sell or turn in his thirty-round magazines? While law-abiding citizens will abide by the law requiring that they register weapons which they already do and which have been deemed “assault weapons”, do you really expect a criminal or mentally ill individual intent on doing violence to do so?

I know that this guy has to say this about law-abiding citizens, but I'd like to know if he really believes that there's going to be anything close to 100% compliance. Methinks that it'll be more like 25%. I can tell you from my experience in NJ with its magazine ban that compliance will be miniscule - the people that own guns generally know their rights, know that a Constitutionally-void law is no law, and have a certain contempt for statist SOBs that want to burden them for the acts of criminals and mental defectives.

Oh, and I wouldn't want to be a cop in NY trying to enforce this POS legislation. I presume that they all want to return home in their automobiles every day, not leave work in a body bag. THAT is the real reason this letter was written.

Oh, and I have a message for pResident Zero: Phuck you and the horse you rode in on. We won, and you can't do diddly about it, chump! Hope you get a bad case of the Hershey squirts and don't sleep a wink tonight, knowing that the American People are wise to your statist crap, and that even your bought-and-paid-for Senators can count voters.

[Lancey Howard]

Ubama and the scumbag liberals are stomping their feet? Good.

[supercat]

One thing I’d like to see more people start doing: use terms other than “law” to describe illegitimate statutes, regulations, ordinances, etc. Statutes, regulations, ordinances, etc. which are contrary to the supreme Law of the Land are void and are not laws; thus by definition, anything which is actually a law must be constitutional. I’m not saying every mention of unconstitutional acts must get into a discussion of the fact that such things are not laws, but would like to see such things using nouns like “statute” or “rule” rather than “law”. Liberals subvert vocabulary to promote lies; conservatives need to use correct vocabulary to promote truth.

[Still Thinking]

Right, but isn’t the base bill still alive (S.649, with national database)? So why are they all so pissed and why are all the pro-rights people so happy, like this was a fait accompli?

[Robert357]

OK, a couple of important statements were left out.

First, Senator Dianne Feinstein during the debate on her so-called assault weapons ban urged her colleagues to “show some guts.” I am reminded that in Japan failed leaders tended to “show their guts” in a more ritual way via seppuku(also called harakiri). Perhaps the Senator from California should take her own advice.

Finally, after reading what our President said today about this being only the first round. I am reminded of the words of former Sec. State and Senator Hillary Clinton, “What difference, at this point, does it make?”

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

Hip! Hip! Hooray! Finally some good news.