Senate Refuses to Act on Modest Gun Control Measures [View all]

[TeddyR]

The senate couldn't even get enough votes yesterday to add modest gun control measures (like UBCs) to a Republican bill. In other words, nothing is going to get done. There are some overwhelmingly popular proposals, like UBCs, and I really cannot understand why those aren't getting passed, other than that our elected representatives are failing to do what we hired them to do and are instead cowing to the NRA. On the other hand, there are some states where gun control is a losing issue. Heidi Heitkamp (D - ND) voted against yesterday's gun control proposals. I don't imagine gun control is particularly popular in North Dakota, and her grip on her seat probably too tenuous to survive a vote in favor of gun control.

From the article:

The Senate on Thursday voted down two gun control proposals put forward by Democrats in response to this week’s deadly shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., in a series of votes that highlighted the intractable party divide over how to respond to gun violence.

The Senate rejected a measure from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) to expand background checks for guns purchased online and at gun shows on a 48 to 50 vote and an amendment from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) to prevent individuals on the terror watch list from purchasing firearms on a 45 to 54 vote. The amendments were offered to an Obamacare repeal package currently being debated in the Senate and they needed 60 votes to be adopted.

Feinstein’s amendment was identical to legislation she previously filed on the same topic, while the expansion of background checks for gun purchases mirrored language championed by Sens. Manchin and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) in 2013, following the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School three years ago this month.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2015/12/03/senate-democrats-to-force-gun-control-votes-in-the-wake-of-the-san-bernardino-shooting/?hpid=hp_regional-hp-cards_no-name%3Ahomepage%2Fcard