Senate Defeats Background-Check Plan, Imperiling Gun Bill

Story by Bloomberg
Written by Heidi Przybyla

The Senate defeated a plan to expand background checks for firearm purchasers, imperiling President Barack Obama’s bid for new gun-control measures four months after 20 schoolchildren were shot to death in Newtown, Connecticut.

Senators voted 54-46, with 60 needed to adopt the measure, as a handful of Democrats joined most Republicans in opposition. The vote was the most significant on gun control in 20 years and countered 90 percent public support of mandatory background checks.

“Anyone who thinks this is going away is sorely mistaken,” said Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat who accompanied Newtown victims’ relatives to Washington last week. “If we don’t change the laws, there’s going to be another shooting,” he said. “Maybe then people will wake up.”

The defeated amendment was offered last week by Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a Democrat, and Pat Toomey, a Republican, in an effort to craft a proposal that could win bipartisan support.

The debate over gun control was reignited by the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. Adam Lanza used a Bushmaster AR-15 semiautomatic rifle to kill 20 children and six school employees. Obama proposed a gun-safety agenda weeks later, including a ban on assault weapons and size limits on ammunition magazines.
NRA Opposition

Those proposals were removed from the Senate bill, S. 649, amid National Rifle Association opposition. The nation’s largest gun lobby, which claims 4 million members, said expanded background checks wouldn’t stop further killings and could lead to a national gun registry. Federal law bars such a registry, and licensed gun dealers have kept sales records since 1968.

“Shame on you!” Patricia Maisch of Tucson, Arizona, shouted from the visitors’ gallery after the Senate vote result was announced. Maisch had helped overpower the gunman when then- Representative Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head in 2011 in Tucson.

Five Democrats voted against the background-check measure: Max Baucus of Montana, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Mark Begich of Alaska and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota. Baucus, Pryor and Begich face re-election in 2014 in states carried last year by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Majority Leader Harry Reid also voted no, allowing himself under Senate rules to seek reconsideration of the vote.

Link for more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-17/senate-defeats-background-check-plan-imperiling-gun-bill.html