Heartbreaking, detailed account by congresswoman Giffords and husband Mark Kelly regarding their effort to get the Manchin-Toomey bill passed.
Yes, Senator Max Baucus got up and walked out of a strategy meeting with Ms. Giffords, Mark Kelly, etc.
This account puts to rest the notion democrats in the Senate "will get to 60 votes" on crucial legislation.
Their bill would reduce gun violence in America, period. The Public Safety and Second Amendment Rights Protection Act required NICS background checks for gun sales at gun shows and over the Internet. It improved grants to states to encourage them to send mental health records to NICS. And, as I’ve said before, the bill enhanced Second Amendment rights along the way. It loosened restrictions on interstate sales, and exempted buyers with concealed-carry permits from having to PASS A BACKGROUND CHECK when buying from a dealer.
The NRA and the gun lobby loved to claim that the federal government was bent on creating a federal gun REGISTRY. But again, the Manchin-Toomey bill explicitly banned the federal government from doing any such thing.
By Wednesday, the day of the vote, Gabby and I were both exhausted. We had done our best to bring people to our side. I was angry. I couldn’t sleep. My conversations with senators kept replaying in my head.
“Why do these politicians come to Washington?” I asked. “To be scared by the NRA? Think about those first graders when Adam Lanza burst into their classroom. That’s scared.”
Well, apparently the answer is YES, congressmen
are afraid of the NRA, unfortunately that includes some democrats. and they are beholden to the gun industry in our nation.
VP Biden: “This is a despicable day in the Senate.”
Uhh, no Mr. Biden, the senate has wayyy too many despicable people.
FAIL.
http://www.salon.com/...