Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced Wednesday morning that he would support
an assault weapons ban that is among the amendments on a gun bill today. But few,
if any, of the amendments will pass because of the failure to push for filibuster reform.
At about 4 PM ET, with Vice President Joe Biden presiding, the Senate will begin taking up nine amendments to the gun bill introduced just before the spring recess. Each will require a 60-vote threshold, which means most will be filibustered into oblivion.
First up will be the Manchin-Toomey amendment, a watered-down compromise proposal that would extend background checks—that now cover only sales handled by federally licensed dealers—to private sales of firearms at gun shows, via the internet or advertised in any medium. It would not affect other private sales.
The amendment also would make it easier to transport and market guns across state lines, something many gun-safety advocates oppose, and strengthen the existing prohibition on creation of any federal gun registry.
Majority Leader Harry Reid, the amendment's sponsors and Vice President Joe Biden all sought to squeeze out the needed votes after the compromise was announced last week. But they couldn't persuade enough senators to support the proposal, including some Democrats.
Two other amendments—which would ban assault weapons and limit the capacity of ammunition magazines—have been DOA since they were introduced. Reid said in March that he could not even gather 40 votes for the assault weapons ban, something he has, in the past, opposed. But in a floor speech Wednesday, Reid surprisingly favored that proposal:
I will vote for Senator Dianne Feinstein’s assault weapons ban because we must strike a better balance between the right to defend ourselves and the right of every child in America to grow up safe from gun violence.
I chose to vote my conscience, not only as Harry Reid, United States Senator, but also as a husband, a father, a grandfather and a friend. I choose to vote my conscience because, if tragedy strikes again—if innocents are gunned down in a classroom or a theater or a restaurant—I could not live with myself as a father, as a husband, as a grandfather or as a friend knowing that I didn’t do everything in my power to prevent it.
In addition to those amendments to the
bill, Republicans will present their own. Here is the whole list:
• Manchin-Toomey amendment
• Grassley substitute amendment: would provide more money for school safety, for stepped-up prosecution of felons, and for mental health; stepped-up prosecutions of felons who try to get guns; allow interstate transport of guns
• Leahy-Collins amendment: would impose tougher penalties on gun trafficking and straw purchasers
• Cornyn amendment: would federalize interstate reciprocity for concealed-carry permits
• Feinstein amendment: would ban assault weapons and impose an ammunition magazine limit of 10 rounds
• Burr amendment: would mandate that people can only be barred from buying firearms for mental health reasons when a judicial authority has made that determination
• Lautenberg-Blumenthal amendment: would impose a limit of 10 rounds in ammunition magazines
• Barrasso amendment: would penalize states and constituent jurisdictions for releasing gun data regarding private citizens
• Harkin-Alexander amendment: Mental health programs in schools