Reid to shelve Senate gun legislation for now

[alp227]

Source: CNN

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will set aside proposed gun legislation on Thursday without a final vote following the defeat a day earlier of major provisions sought by President Barack Obama and Democrats in the aftermath of the Newtown school massacre, CNN has learned.

A Senate Democratic leadership aide said Reid can bring up the package of gun proposals again if circumstances change and he believes he has the votes for key provisions to pass, particularly a measure to expand background checks on gun buyers.

On Wednesday, a compromise plan to expand background checks to buyers at gun shows and all Internet sales failed to win Senate approval in a major political defeat for Obama and supporters of tougher gun laws.

Obama and other top Democrats promised to continue the fight against the powerful National Rifle Association and their conservative Republican advocates despite Wednesday's defeat of watered-down measures to expand background checks and ban some semi-automatic firearms.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/18/politics/congress-gun-laws/index.html

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(ETA) New York Times reports: " All that remained of a broad package of measures representing the most serious changes to the nation’s gun laws in 20 years were two amendments: one that would address mental health care, and another that would penalize states that divulge information about gun owners except under very specific circumstances like a criminal investigation. "

[99th_Monkey]

1. US Senate: The place good bills go to die for lack of 60 votes. ~nt

[marlakay]

2. Waiting for the next thing to happen

Its frustrating but that's what it takes, how many, how big we don't know.

[marshall]

20. Guns, Ricin laced letters, Pressure Cooker Bombs

What on earth could be next?

[Dawson Leery]

3. kick

[peace13]

4. Of course he will.

It's time to take another mini vacation and get his 200,000 mile health care check up with his doc. Good luck Harry....whatever!

[delrem]

5. The senate majority leader can't get the votes on his own bill????

He can't muster enough support to stand ground and force an actual filibuster, exposing the Reps who one by one have to get up and actually explain, in open forum, why they reject a modification of the law that's supported by ~85% of the people?

How come near every draconian measure that the R's dream up passes thru' both congress and senate like eased by ex-lax? How come the D's can't use the same technique to slow various assaults on their freedoms?

The asymmetric here is fairly startling, IMO.

[yorokmok]

6. 'school massacre'

It disgusts me to read those two words together...how do the Senators read those words, vote this way, and sleep at night?

[valerief]

7. The Ricin Effect. nt

[NickB79]

8. Scrap it all and submit a straight universal background check bill

I think that that would have a chance to pass, even among many in the GOP. Tell idiots like Feinstein to shut up about assault weapons for one damn minute, and keep it simple and to the point: no gun sales without a background check. Limit the amount of spin the NRA could throw on it, and run with it.

Of course, that's probably a pipe dream.

[primavera]

10. How do you do better than 90% support?

What this vote makes plain is that the will of the 90% doesn't mean anything compared to the will of the 1% that sustains the lobbyists and the campaign war chests.

[gateley]

11. I think the 90% was for background checks -- don't know what the percentage is for those

supporting an assault weapons ban. (I could be wrong, of course.)

[NickB79]

19. 90% was only for universal background checks

Like I said, too much other crap got caked onto that bill that had much less than 90% support from the public. Even when the less popular stuff got stripped away later on (like the assault weapons ban), it essentially tainted the entire thing.

Start with a clean, simple bill that has the one most popular measure, don't allow anything to be added to it, and run with it.

[primavera]

21. What else was there?

The bill was disappointingly milquetoast to begin with, even when it did contain the assault weapon ban, which also enjoyed a substantial majority of popular support. Once we shit ourselves in terror before the onslaught of the gun lobby and agreed to take it out, what was left to be even debatable?

[Macoy51]

16. Or a Universal Gun Licence

I think a straight forward requirement to have a gun license before you by any guns would have a very good chance of passing. I would make it like a driver’s license; you go in, pass the test, (to include a background check) pay a nominal fee, and presto, you are now cleared to own a gun. Renew the licence every few years.


Macoy

[november3rd]

9. 60 Votes

The "Harry Reid Threshold"

[firenewt]

12. Reid has proven himself to be worse than useless. It appears he truly supports the whims of his

corporate masters. Weak little fool he is.

[peacebird]

13. Why didn't he pull the nuclear option and change the rules? Seriously.

Did he actually think the repukes were going to play nice?

[blkmusclmachine]

14. Heckofajob, Harry!

Who do you work for, again?

[Historic NY]

15. 100 Senators that can't do the will of 90% of the American people......

its time to replace them all.

[Macoy51]

17. 90% of the Money

However; they are doing the will of 90% of thier campain contributions. This is why corporations pay so much in to congress, and why corporations should be banned from making any campain contributions.

Congress workes for those who pay the most, not the voters.

Macoy

[lunatica]

18. Harry Reid has turned out to be a huge disappointment

For years I've watched him, and he's always disappointing when it comes to getting things finalized and done. And for years he's been in that one position of power of making all the difference. He's been in the position to be the key to getting things done. The catalyst, the pivotal person, the fork in the road, the decisive factor, only to crumble and fail at the crucial moment every single time.

Now all I see is a weak minded man who never lives up to his potential. Never.

The only reason he still has the job is because the craziest woman in the country ran against him. If she had won we would be talking about her but the damage she could do would be minimal compared to the damage he's done, just on the filibuster rules alone.