Gun Owners Score Big in the Senate

 

Sell-out amendment falls three votes short of Schumer’s goal of 70

Sometimes victory is relative.  But that doesn't make it any less definitive.

Today, beginning at 5:30 pm (EST), only 67 Senators -- three short of Chuck Schumer’s 70-vote target -- voted to shut off debate on the anti-gun Hoeven-Corker-Leahy amnesty amendment. It is noteworthy that only 15 Republicans voted for cloture (to end debate), while an overwhelming majority of GOP Senators voted against it (that is, most Republicans wanted to keep the filibuster in place).

The Chuck Schumers of the world did everything in their power to get the 70-vote threshold which they had predicted -- and which became a floor for the number of votes necessary in order for anti-gunners to avoid embarrassment.

They gave Nevada Senators an unending open-ended sky's-the-limit program to tout tourism in Las Vegas.

They gave Vermont Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders $1.5 billion in social spending in order to buy his vote.

And so it went.  One Senator after another after another secured irrelevant buy-out amendments as the price for selling out. It was ObamaCare 2.0.

But that wasn't enough.

By falling short of their 70-vote goal, Schumer & Co. in effect admitted that the bill would limp out of the Senate without any momentum going into the House.  Coupled with our successful efforts to revitalize the Hastert Rule in the House, anti-gun immigration reform is on track to being dead for the year because House Speaker Boehner has said he will not pass it with largely Democratic support.

Does that mean we can declare victory and go home?  No.  As usual, you don't pop the cork until they bang the gavel. You keep fighting.

 

And to that end, gun owners should express their dissatisfaction with Senators who voted for the amendment.  You can go here to see how your Senators voted.

 

As sweet as the 67-27 vote was, it means that our job is not over.

Schumer was unable to break through his 70-vote target because he was so intent upon slamming this bill down our throats that he scheduled his vote when many of his supporters could not make it. If we REALLY want to continue raining on Schumer's parade, we're going to have to repeat our achievement on Wednesday, when the Senate votes on cloture on the substitute which contains the sell-out provisions -- and on cloture on the whole bill itself.

 

This means we need to flip a couple of votes, and Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Roger Wicker (R-MS) -- both of whom both voted for the sell-out -- are the most obvious potential pick-ups.

 

ACTION: Please click here to contact your Senators and thank those who voted correctly (that is, who voted NAY) on the Hoeven amendment.  But reprimand those who voted wrong (by voting YEA).  Please note that the system will automatically select the correct letter for each of your Senators.

 

And if you have time to phone in your message, that would be helpful, as well.  The Capitol Switchboard number is 202-224-3121.