Here are some of the bits and pieces that have been floated in the Media about the so called bipartisan gun control talks going on in the U.S. Senate. Keep in mind that Sahil Kapoor and others on MSNBC are saying that any potential gun control bill will be “incremental.” In my humble opinion incremental = weak.
- Toomey claims that they are talking about “expanding” background checks. However, there will be no background checks on gun show or private sales of guns. In other words, the bill they are considering is even weaker than the Manchin-Toomey bill that was blocked by a filibuster back in 2013.
- They are considering giving “incentives” to states to implement red flag laws on the purchase of guns. So it’s a voluntary and up to each individual state whether or not they want to have a red flag law. Governor Andy Beshear of Kentucky put forth a red flag law in 2019, and it has gone no where with the Republicans who control the Kentucky house and senate.
- Toomey wants to harden public schools and claims he wants to do something about mental illness, but this is from a man who has done nothing to help schools or expand access for mental health care.
- Toomey also went on to piss all over Biden’s efforts on gun control. And this is extremely cynical:
Senator Pat Toomey says President Biden has not been “helpful” in gun control talks following a recent string of mass shootings.
Appearing on CBS’ Face the Nation, the Pennsylvania Republican said he thought Biden might be a leader and “reach across the aisle to try to bring people together.”
Instead, Toomey believes Biden has sided with “the far left of his party” and not reached out to Republicans.
Biden has pulled back from the so called “negotiations” because he felt that Senate Republicans would automatically reject his efforts. In other words, Biden didn’t want to make this a partisan issue in order to see if anything could be negotiated with the Senate Republicans. And Biden has bent over backwards in other talks on multiple issues with the Republicans. And Republicans have told Biden to “Fuck Off!”
But here is Toomey taking the opportunity to shit all over Biden. And this tells me that Republicans are being bad actors and bad faith negotiators. Again.
- And also, Toomey wants to see if they can come up with a bill that will get “half the Republican Senate conference.” So Toomey is moving the goal posts from the super majority of 60 votes to 85.
If my math is correct, I believe tomorrow is the day that this sham of talks is supposed to have something ready for the other Senators to look at. How much does anyone want to bet they will have nothing for tomorrow? Instead, we will hear, “We are so close to a deal to do SOMETHING! Let’s keep going and see what happens!”
Pathetic.