“The Senate's dramatic filibuster-busting vote Thursday to
move forward on a gun-safety bill is being cast as a historic
breakthrough, testing the strength of the gun lobby and opening a door
to the first major gun-control law since 1994. It means President Obama
will get the votes on gun legislation he has been seeking since a
shooting rampage in Newtown, Conn.” - USA Today, April 12, 2013
It’s not often that we agree with USA Today. But
author, Gregory Korte, got it right in Friday’s column. The Senators
who refused to cast a “no” vote on Thursday - and who refused to drive a
stake through the heart of S. 649 - have given the President a key
symbolic victory.
Senate voting commences as early as Tuesday.
True, the battle is not over yet and we still think we have a good
chance to defeat this bill. The Senate will probably commence voting on
gun issues this Tuesday - possibly Wednesday - and it could continue
for several days. But if we do win, it’s no thanks to your Senator(s)
who stabbed gun owners in the back.
Many, if not all, of the Senators who are listed below are
saying that they voted to proceed to the gun control bill on Thursday,
even though they oppose the contents of the bill. Huh?
Listen, for example, to what Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) has
said: “I voted to proceed to debate on the floor, even though I am
opposed to the gun bill that emerged from the Judiciary Committee.”
And Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) - who had pledged to support
the Paul-Cruz-Lee filibuster - instead voted for the motion to proceed
to Reid’s gun control bill, indicating that he favored “an open
discussion” even while he still opposed the “specifics of the bill.”
Never mind that if they had voted against the motion to
proceed on Thursday, they could have helped to defeat the bill that they
reportedly oppose. We came nine votes short of defeating the bill on
Thursday, and any one of the Senators listed below - again, your
Senator(s) are included - would have helped to make the difference.
Here is the list:
* Republicans who voted for the motion to
proceed to gun control on Thursday are Alexander (TN), Ayotte (NH),
Burr (NC), Chambliss (GA), Collins (ME), Corker (TN), Coburn (OK), Flake
(AZ), Isakson (GA), McCain (AZ), Heller (NV), Hoeven (ND), Kirk (IL),
Graham (SC), Toomey (PA) and Wicker (MS).
* Democrats who claim to be pro-gun but
voted to proceed to gun control (S. 649) are Baucus (MT), Hagan (NC),
Landrieu (LA), Heitkamp (ND), Johnson (SD), Reid (NV), Tester (MT) and
Warner (VA).
While all the Senators mentioned above should be “taken to the woodshed,” the following two Senators get special mention:
* Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) lied to his constituents
about his involvement in hatching a “compromise” bill. All week,
Toomey’s office promised concerned constituents who called that the
Senator was not working on a gun deal - even saying that it was Sen. Joe
Manchin who was putting out false information. Of course, by Thursday,
the entire nation realized that Joe Manchin and Pat Toomey had, in
fact, conspired to draft a “compromise” bill that is even worse than the
Feinstein gun ban.
* Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) told gun
owners in West Virginia--on November 5, 2012 - that he was pro-gun, but
then reversed course right after the election to stab gun owners in the
back. Manchin took legislation that was drafted by gun-grabbing Senator
Chuck Schumer and used that as his baseline text for writing a supposed
compromise - a compromise that seriously infringes upon our Second
amendment rights.
The next key vote will probably be Tuesday, when the Senate votes on the Schumer-Toomey universal gun registry amendment.
This Toomey-Manchin-Schumer sell-out would establish a
universal gun registry for any gun transaction that ever involved any
internet posting – a substantial majority of private gun sales
nationwide.
In addition, it would, in section 117, explicitly waive
federal privacy laws in order to allow private doctors to send the names
of persons with PTSD, ADHD, and postpartum depression to the FBI –
thereby unilaterally banning them from owning guns.
The vote on the Toomey-Manchin-Schumer sell-out on Tuesday (or Wednesday) will probably be the most important vote of all.
Because of the way that the Senate rules are structured, if we can get
41 votes (out of 100) against the Toomey proposal, we can defeat his
amendment - and that will probably result, like a house of cards, in the
rest of the bill going down as well.
If your Senator votes wrong again on Tuesday, his or her
throwaway votes against the Feinstein gun ban and final passage of the
bill may not matter. They will just be a fraudulent effort to pretend
to be pro-gun.
ACTION: Click here to contact the Senators who are listed above. Urge him or her to vote against the Toomey-Manchin-Schumer sell-out on Tuesday.
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