Senate Votes 68-31 to Allow Debate on Gun Legislation

[onehandle]

Source: New York Times

WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday cleared the way for debate on the first piece of major gun-control legislation to be considered in that chamber in two decades.

With families of victims of the Newtown, Conn., massacre watching silently from the chamber, the Senate thwarted a threatened filibuster with a vote of 68 to 31 and will proceed next week to debate a package of legislation that would expand background checks for gun buyers and increase the penalties for criminal sales, in addition to a variety of other amendments. Those include the renewal of the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004.

Twenty-nine Republicans voted against the measure, as did two Democrats. Sixteen Republicans joined 52 Democrats in voting to cut off the debate.

“Americans across this great country are looking to us for solutions and for action,” said Senator Patrick Leahy, Democrat of Vermont and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, “not for filibustering or sloganeering.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/12/us/senate-votes-to-allow-debate-on-gun-bill.html

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How generous of the GOPNRA to at least allow talk on what the vast majority of Americans, Gun Owners, and even NRA Members want.

[iandhr]

1. Could it be...

... a modicum of sanity?

Fingers crossed.

[srican69]

2. dont delude yourselves -- the bill has to get past a house full of raving lunatics

and that will never happen

[onehandle]

3. Don't worry. The House will provide the NRA lobbyist funded insanity. nt

[Iliyah]

4. It has to get passed McConnell, Cruz, Paul and

others who do the bidding of the NRA. It needs 60 votes. But alas, a debate is welcome. I'm pretty sure we will get an ear full of crazy talk tho.

[flpoljunkie]

5. It passed 68-31 according to C-Span2.

[flpoljunkie]

6. C-Span reports 16 Republicans voted Yes and 2 Democrats voted No.

No details.

[Iliyah]

12. I thought they voted to debate the proposed

gun control law, not the actual voting which needs 60 votes to pass onto the FUCKED-UP house (GOP).

[flpoljunkie]

7. Roll Call has the list of the 16 R's who voted for cloture and the 2 D's who did not.

The 16 Republicans who voted to break the filibuster were Sens. Lamar Alexander, Kelly Ayotte, Richard M. Burr, Saxby Chambliss, Tom Coburn, Susan Collins, Bob Corker, Jeff Flake, Lindsey Graham, Dean Heller, John Hoeven, Johnny Isakson, Mark S. Kirk, John McCain, Patrick J. Toomey and Roger Wicker.

Sens. Mark Begich and Mark Pryor, both of whom are seeking re-election next year in Republican-leaning states, were the two Democrats who wanted to kill the bill in the cradle.

http://blogs.rollcall.com/hawkings/gun-bill-thwarted-debate-just-begins/

[alp227]

27. The Guardian claimed they were "moderate Republicans."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/11/senate-republicans-gun-debate

I recently heard Mark Levin dissing Graham as a non-conservative and even compare Graham to Arlen Specter! Media Matters has a clip from the Apr. 8 show that I recorded just to hear his views on Margaret Thatcher (since Levin worked in the Reagan White House).

According to Mediaite, 21 NRA A-rated senators voted to stop the filibuster.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

8. And fuck you very much, Ted Cruz. nt

[Deep13]

9. I know it's not law yet, but ...

[sinkingfeeling]

10. I just told Pryor's office he can get all his funding from the NRA because

I'm not going to contribute or vote for him again.

[flpoljunkie]

13. I expect he is following the majority opinion in his state.

We need him to be re-elected in 2014.

[sinkingfeeling]

16. After living in Arkansas for 20 years, I doubt that he will be. Since

the election of Obama, the population here has gone 'over the cliff'. They have turned to the Tea Party and cranked up the hate. I really hope to be out of here by the 2014 election.

[flpoljunkie]

22. Possibly, tho Pryor has a huge war chest. Obama lost here 37/60--definitely a very red state today

Obama lost Begich's Alaska 41/55 to Rmoney. We need them both to be re-elected in 2014.

http://www.cnn.com/election/2012/results/main?hpt=hp_inthenews

[graham4anything]

11. We get one toe in the door, then as the court reinterprets, we kick the whole door down

reinterpret
then 100% no private person with bullets anywhere and guns
buyback for 21 days
then zero tolerance after the 21 day grace period

[flpoljunkie]

14. Sarcasm, perhaps?

[premium]

17. No, no,

he's serious.
He has this delusional dream that the SCOTUS is going to re-interpret the 2A and then all guns and bullets will be outlawed and everyone, including the criminals, will turn in their guns and bullets, there will be no more crime.

[graham4anything]

18. I never joke about getting guns out of the street

[mwrguy]

29. We'll get more than guns off the streets

Get gun nuts off the streets as well.

[NickB79]

23. And then 70-million pissed off former gun owners vote

And we get to see the biggest GOP takeover since Reagan.

Shortly afterwards, the nation crumbles.

Like I've said before, your fantasy is something that neither of us will live to see, because short of a military coup, it will take generations for the changes you want to see to occur.

[graham4anything]

25. tired of the NRA soundbytes. Let them collect stamps or baseball cards or ping pong balls

It's time to grow up

[NickB79]

26. Recognizing reality is what growing up is all about

Do you really think that, if guns were made illegal tomorrow and by some miracle they were all turned in, that their former owners wouldn't be pissed to beat hell? That even the millions of Democratic gun owners who just want to go shoot a few deer and ducks for the freezer each fall would just shrug their shoulders and start up a stamp collection? It would be a political bloodbath for the progressive party even in the best-case scenario.

This fantasy you've constructed and put so much effort into is so illogical that it just boggles the mind. It's like you don't even recognize that gun owners are US citizens and human beings the same as you, with all the voting rights and emotions that you have. I'd swear I've had more constructive discussions with my 3-yr old toddler.

But I'm the one who's supposed to grow up?

[Mass]

15. Roll call for the Motion to Proceed

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=113&session=1&vote=00095

There will be a Motion to close debate before the vote. It will be interesting to see if it passes

[florida08]

20. thanks for link

Rubio voted nay. He's such a coward along with the other pro-plutocrats

[Iliyah]

19. Gawd damn these senators are heartless.

We need to vote these MF**kers out! Thanks for the info!

[AlbertCat]

21. Wow!

This is oh so controversial is it not?....in one small place on the planet Earth. Everywhere else, literally, it's a no-brainer, but on the Hill it's a bite-your-nails, big-ominous-chord, report-every-moment trama-drama soap opera. 90-something percent want background checks.... c'mon guys! Jesus! It's not like we haven't had them before... and everything was alright.

[Jennicut]

24. Well, it got by cloture at least.

We shall see. My Senators Murphy and Blumenthal will keep pushing this issue even if others in Congress eventually give up as this is a deeply personal issue for them. The Senate may vote to pass the eventual bill but the House is a mess.

[Tx4obama]

28. Kick n/t

[SunSeeker]

30. K&R