7 of 9 Gun Bills DEFEATED - 2 Remain for Vote Thursday. Now is not the time to relax

7 of 9 Gun Bills DEFEATED - 2 Remain for Vote Thursday. Now is not the time to relax...

Posted by Darla Dawald, National Director on April 17, 2013 at 5:11pm in Patriot Action Alerts

Updated 7:00 PM Eastern

Votes Included, Video of Obama Response and More.

Congrats Patriots!

Currently the following Bills have been defeated in the Senate! Each Bill Must have 60 Yea Votes to pass. These have been defeated! See How Your Senators Voted at the bottom.

Defeated 1. Manchin/Toomey amendment #715 (background checks)
Defeated 2. Grassley/Cruz amendment (alternative)
Defeated 3. Leahy amendment #713 (trafficking)
Defeated 4. Cornyn amendment #719 (concealed carry)
Defeated 5. Feinstein amendment #711 (assault weapons ban);
Defeated 6. Burr amendment #720 (veterans);
Defeated 7. Lautenberg amendment #714 (high capacity clips)

To Be Voted on Thursday:

8. Barrasso amendment #717 (privacy); and

9. Harkin amendment (mental health).

We will update this list so check back.

Darla
Obama is upset and spewing his lies.... guilt trip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...;v=0ncnvW4oGdU

Defeated 1. Manchin/Toomey amendment #715 (background checks)
Vote Summary

Question: On the Amendment (Manchin Amdt. No. 715 )
Vote Number:	97	Vote Date:	April 17, 2013, 04:04 PM
Required For Majority:	3/5	Vote Result:	Amendment Rejected
Amendment Number:	S.Amdt. 715 to S. 649 (Safe Communities, Safe Schools Act of2013)
Statement of Purpose:	To protect Second Amendment rights, ensure that all individuals who should be prohibited from buying a firearm are listed in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, and provide a responsible and consistent background check process.

Vote Counts:	YEAs	54
	NAYs	46

Votes Grouped by Home State

Alabama:	Sessions (R-AL), Nay	Shelby (R-AL), Nay
Alaska:	Begich (D-AK), Nay	Murkowski (R-AK), Nay
Arizona:	Flake (R-AZ), Nay	McCain (R-AZ), Yea
Arkansas:	Boozman (R-AR), Nay	Pryor (D-AR), Nay
California:	Boxer (D-CA), Yea	Feinstein (D-CA), Yea
Colorado:	Bennet (D-CO), Yea	Udall (D-CO), Yea
Connecticut:	Blumenthal (D-CT), Yea	Murphy (D-CT), Yea
Delaware:	Carper (D-DE), Yea	Coons (D-DE), Yea
Florida:	Nelson (D-FL), Yea	Rubio (R-FL), Nay
Georgia:	Chambliss (R-GA), Nay	Isakson (R-GA), Nay
Hawaii:	Hirono (D-HI), Yea	Schatz (D-HI), Yea
Idaho:	Crapo (R-ID), Nay	Risch (R-ID), Nay
Illinois:	Durbin (D-IL), Yea	Kirk (R-IL), Yea
Indiana:	Coats (R-IN), Nay	Donnelly (D-IN), Yea
Iowa:	Grassley (R-IA), Nay	Harkin (D-IA), Yea
Kansas:	Moran (R-KS), Nay	Roberts (R-KS), Nay
Kentucky:	McConnell (R-KY), Nay	Paul (R-KY), Nay
Louisiana:	Landrieu (D-LA), Yea	Vitter (R-LA), Nay
Maine:	Collins (R-ME), Yea	King (I-ME), Yea
Maryland:	Cardin (D-MD), Yea	Mikulski (D-MD), Yea
Massachusetts:	Cowan (D-MA), Yea	Warren (D-MA), Yea
Michigan:	Levin (D-MI), Yea	Stabenow (D-MI), Yea
Minnesota:	Franken (D-MN), Yea	Klobuchar (D-MN), Yea
Mississippi:	Cochran (R-MS), Nay	Wicker (R-MS), Nay
Missouri:	Blunt (R-MO), Nay	McCaskill (D-MO), Yea
Montana:	Baucus (D-MT), Nay	Tester (D-MT), Yea
Nebraska:	Fischer (R-NE), Nay	Johanns (R-NE), Nay
Nevada:	Heller (R-NV), Nay	Reid (D-NV), Nay
New Hampshire:	Ayotte (R-NH), Nay	Shaheen (D-NH), Yea
New Jersey:	Lautenberg (D-NJ), Yea	Menendez (D-NJ), Yea
New Mexico:	Heinrich (D-NM), Yea	Udall (D-NM), Yea
New York:	Gillibrand (D-NY), Yea	Schumer (D-NY), Yea
North Carolina:	Burr (R-NC), Nay	Hagan (D-NC), Yea
North Dakota:	Heitkamp (D-ND), Nay	Hoeven (R-ND), Nay
Ohio:	Brown (D-OH), Yea	Portman (R-OH), Nay
Oklahoma:	Coburn (R-OK), Nay	Inhofe (R-OK), Nay
Oregon:	Merkley (D-OR), Yea	Wyden (D-OR), Yea
Pennsylvania:	Casey (D-PA), Yea	Toomey (R-PA), Yea
Rhode Island:	Reed (D-RI), Yea	Whitehouse (D-RI), Yea
South Carolina:	Graham (R-SC), Nay	Scott (R-SC), Nay
South Dakota:	Johnson (D-SD), Yea	Thune (R-SD), Nay
Tennessee:	Alexander (R-TN), Nay	Corker (R-TN), Nay
Texas:	Cornyn (R-TX), Nay	Cruz (R-TX), Nay
Utah:	Hatch (R-UT), Nay	Lee (R-UT), Nay
Vermont:	Leahy (D-VT), Yea	Sanders (I-VT), Yea
Virginia:	Kaine (D-VA), Yea	Warner (D-VA), Yea
Washington:	Cantwell (D-WA), Yea	Murray (D-WA), Yea
West Virginia:	Manchin (D-WV), Yea	Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea
Wisconsin:	Baldwin (D-WI), Yea	Johnson (R-WI), Nay
Wyoming:	Barrasso (R-WY), Nay	Enzi (R-WY), Nay

Defeated 2. Grassley/Cruz amendment (alternative)
See Votes Here

Defeated 3. Leahy amendment #713 (trafficking)
See Votes Here

Defeated 4. Cornyn amendment #719 (concealed carry)
See Votes Here

Defeated 5. Feinstein amendment #711 (assault weapons ban);
See Votes Here

Defeated 6. Burr amendment #720 (veterans);
See Votes Here

Defeated 7. Lautenberg amendment #714 (high capacity clips)
See Votes Here

NOTE:

Dear Patriots,

With 2 Remaining Bills on the Table and the votes not happening till tomorrow there is sufficient time for the left to apply more pressure. As a matter of fact the left is already crying the blues and placing blame on the terrible Republican Senators. We need to continue encouraging our elected officials to do the right thing on these following 2 bills:

8. Barrasso amendment #717 (privacy); and

9. Harkin amendment (mental health).

These Senators need to hear from grassroots patriots like you who want their Second Amendment rights protected and preserved!

Go here now to schedule your faxes for immediate delivery prior to these important votes.

+ + Call Your Senators!

After scheduling your faxes, contact your two Senators and tell them to vote "NO" on Sen. Harry Reid's restrictive gun legislation. Here's the contact information you need:
http://www.congressmerge.com/onlinedb/index.htm

Finally, with the little time that remains, alert your friends and family. Urge them to help "Save the 2nd" by going here now to sign Grassfire's "I Support the Second Amendment" petition:

http://www.grassfire.com/978/petition.asp?Ref_ID=600064


Let's Remind them that America has spoken and we do not want any new amendments or changes to our Gun Rights!

Go here now to schedule your faxes for immediate delivery prior to these important votes.

Tags: background, bills, checks, conceal, gun, obama, senate

http://www.alipac.us/f19/senate-kill...4/#post1339132

http://www.alipac.us/f19/breaking-di...y-dead-276417/

http://www.alipac.us/f19/gallup-only...roblem-276426/

http://www.alipac.us/f19/background-...ma-mak-276419/

http://www.alipac.us/f19/list-republ...gainst-276416/

http://www.alipac.us/f19/breaking-ne...so-far-276418/

Victory over Gun Control for the Tea Party and Obama: It's been a Shameful Day in Washington DC

Posted by Darla Dawald, National Director on April 17, 2013 at 10:41pm in Patriot Action Alerts

By Darla Dawald

Today has been a victorious day in Washington DC as one by one 7 Gun Bills were defeated in the Senate. As I stated in another post, 2 additional votes on the 8th and 9th proposed bills will occur tomorrow morning, Thursday the 18th of April. meanwhile Obama is seething, Biden is practically in tears, and Senator Feinstein is mad and baffled.

http://api.ning.com/files/faxhy4S1ZU....jpg?width=327 Father of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victim, Mark Barden (L) hugs Vice President Biden after introducing President Obama to make a statement on gun violence in the Rose Garden of the White House.

Today after the 7 bills were defeated, I listened to some of the Newtown families and the victims surrounding the Gabby Gifford tragedy speaking about how upset they are over the defeats, I can't help but feel sadness for them. For these families, the success of the proposed gun bills were really important for their healing process...or so they believe. I get it, my brother committed suicide in August of 2011 and there's a part of me that needed someone or something to blame. Here's the message they haven't yet accepted...There's nothing that any of us can do that will ever bring back those murdered in heinous killings. As much as I feel for these families and have suffered with the loss of my own brother, I cannot in good faith stand with them on gun control.

I know for a fact that the gun my brother used to end his life did not jump into the air on its own and fire a shot at him. I also know that as mentally disturbed as he was, he would find a gun (he stole my other brothers gun) or another method to carry out his intended plan. I'm certainly not placing my deceased brother in the same category of the murderers that go on these killing sprees, what 'm saying is that any mentally unstable person will find a way to carry out their plan, whether it's self inflicted or intended for others.

As we've seen in the past few weeks, murderers will murder using whatever means available. In Texas there was a mass stabbing incident, and in Boston, pressure cooker bombs designed to kill and maim were used. Another sick individual sent letters to Obama and a Republican Congressman laced with Ricin poison. Killers kill.

The gun bills in the Senate were designed to begin a process to change, alter, and destroy our Second Amendment Rights. Obama and his ilk have used children, victims, and families of victims to attempt to carry out his intended plan to destroy the rights we have all enjoyed and were granted by our creator. This Marxist regime will not stop here. They won't let it go and move on to other issues, they will continue to use anyone and anything in their path to further their agenda.

I've seen numerous comments today on forums that say the Tea Party is fizzling out. Today's success is a perfect example that the Tea Party is alive and well. We're working when and where it matters and doing our part through calls, emails, faxes, petitions, and visiting our elected officials offices to make an impact. When that doesn't, work we work to boot them out and replace them. I credit the victory today to the Tea Party and all Constitution Loving Patriots out there!

I know it will be easy for many of you to relax and to think 'hey we got this' but I say "Not so soon." Today we had victory but there are 2 Gun Bills left to be voted on tomorrow. Time is of the essence and we cannot stop now. Let's make those calls, send those Faxes, email your 2 Senators, and sign those petitions. Let's contact our friends and family again and ask them to do the same! The next battle after this one is Immigration. We have many battles ahead and we must work together to accomplish all that we can to preserve our freedoms.

I'm counting on you to act just as you're counting on me! We're united by our passion for America and our quest to preserve all that our Founders and former freedom fighters intended. We are the freedom fighters of our time and many depend upon us to stand in the face of adversity (our enemies) and do our part.

I'm standing, I'm fighting, I'm proud, I'm still free and intend to keep it that way!

Darla Dawald, National Director

This is from the Senate Minority Leader's Office tonight:

The Senate stands adjourned until 9:30 am tomorrow. The Senate voted today on several amendments to S. 649 – the Firearms bill (vote information below). Following any Leader remarks tomorrow, the Senate will resume consideration of S. 649 – the Firearms bill.

At 12:00 noon, the Senate will proceed to a series of two (2) Roll Call Votes in relation to the following:

1. Barrasso amendment #717 (privacy) to S. 649
2. Harkin amendment #730 (mental health) to S. 649

Following the two (2) votes in relation to S. 649, the Senate will recess until 2:00 pm to allow for caucus meetings. At 2:00 pm, the Senate will proceed to a series of two (2) Roll Call Votes in relation to the following:

1. Executive Calendar #22, Analisa Torres, to be United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York.

2. Executive Calendar #23, Derrick Kahala Watson, to be United States District Judge for the District of Hawaii.

Summary: Today in the Senate (4/17/13):

Roll Call Votes:

The Senate conducted the following Roll Call Votes during today’s session--

All Defeated

1. Manchin - Toomey amendment #715 (background checks) Not Agreed to (54-46).
2. Grassley-Cruz amendment #725 (substitute) Not Agreed to ( 52-48 ).
3. Leahy – Collins amendment #713 (trafficking) Not Agreed to (58-42).
4. Cornyn amendment #719 (conceal carry) Not Agreed to (57-43).
5. Feinstein amendment #711 (assault weapons/clip bans) Not Agreed to (40-60).
6. Burr amendment #720 (veterans/guns) Not Agreed to (56-44).
7. Lautenberg – Blumenthal amendment #714 (high capacity clip ban) Not Agreed to (46-54).

Wrap Up:

The Senate processed the following in Wrap Up--

• S. Res. 101 – Boston Marathon
• S. Con. Res. 5 – Jack Johnson

Looking ahead: Marketplace Fairness Act (potentially--Reid has Rule 14d it), Noms, Immigration, WRDA.


-----------------------END -----------------------

Patriots,

Get busy tonight and early in the morning as we have until 12:00 Eastern Thursday to FAX them and make calls to their offices on the remaining 2 bills

1. Barrasso amendment #717 (privacy) to S. 649

2. Harkin amendment #730 (mental health) to S. 649

http://api.ning.com/files/faxhy4S1ZU...ave2nd_new.jpg

These Senators need to hear from grassroots patriots like you who want their Second Amendment rights protected and preserved!

Go here now to schedule your faxes for immediate delivery prior to these important votes.

+ + Call Your Senators!

After scheduling your faxes, contact your two Senators and tell them to vote "NO" on Sen. Harry Reid's restrictive gun legislation. Here's the contact information you need:

http://www.congressmerge.com/onlinedb/index.htm

Finally, with the little time that remains, alert your friends and family. Urge them to help "Save the 2nd" by going here now to sign Grassfire's "I Support the Second Amendment" petition:

http://www.grassfire.com/978/petition.asp?Ref_ID=600064


Let's Remind them that America has spoken and we do not want any new amendments or changes to our Gun Rights!

Go here now to schedule your faxes for immediate delivery prior to these important votes.

Click Here to see the link to the votes so you know who we must TARGET to be voted out of office!

Thanks Patriots You Are Awesome!!

Darla

Tags: assault, background, ban, checks, crontrol, defeated, gabby, giffords, gun, gun-bills, More…gun-control, newtown, obama, senate, weapons

http://patriotaction.net/forum/topic...sg_share_topic

http://echo3.bluehornet.com/cimages/...-head-blue.gif

ALERT: U.S. Senate to consider nine amendments to the Reid gun-control bill!

Take Action and Blast Faxes demanding that Congress opposes ALL FORMS of gun-control: as legislation or as amendments to legislation!

Conservative American,

The gun-grabbers are losing.

Of the nine amendments to S. 649 we told you about yesterday, seven came to a vote and each one was rejected.

While on the surface some of the amendments seemed benign – consider the Cornyn and Burr amendments – the fact that all failed is exactly what we wanted; our original goal remains unchanged: lawmakers must kill the entire bill, not pass a "nice" version.

It is true that the bill's worst amendments are dead: the Toomey-Manchin Amendment #715 (background checks) failed 54-46; the Leahy Amendment #713 (trafficking) failed 58-42; the Feinstein Amendment #711 (assault weapons ban) failed narrowly 40-60; and the Lautenberg Amendment #714 (high capacity clips) failed 46-54.

While we celebrate yesterday's victory, the battle is not yet over. When the Senate adjourns at 9:30 this morning two additional amendments will take a vote and Senators must know that we are still watching their every move.

The amendments up for grabs today will be the Barrasso Amendment and the Harkin-Alexander amendment; the latter dealing with mental-health checks. Both of which must receive the same treatment as the first seven: defeat.

The Feinstein Ban yesterday was broken by a single vote. This just goes to show how close this battle is, and how hard we have to press. The good news is, though, is that our efforts are working and causing the political animals in Washington to move our direction!

We must continue to press our elected servants to defend our Second Amendment at all costs!

Take Action and Blast Faxes demanding that Congress opposes ALL FORMS of gun-control: as legislation or as amendments to legislation!

It is of the utmost importance that we continue to mobilize against all gun-control, as its proponents have by no means given up.

Majority Leader Harry Reid said yesterday that "this issue is not going away ... we are not giving up," suggesting that he and his fellow gun-grabbers will keep pushing to ram through their Big Government agenda, despite yesterday's votes.

Sen. Manchin of West Virginia – co-author of the mandate for universal background checks – echoed Harry Reid when he said yesterday that "this is not over."

Harry Reid said last week – before this bill or any of its amendments even hit the floor – that, should the gun-grabbers efforts fail as S. 649, he will offer every single one of its provisions as independent bills!

We have every reason to believe that the anti-gunners will continue to fight for their bad "gun safety measures" in spite of their recent clear defeat.

We must continue to demand lawmakers to stand against gun-control by taking action and blasting faxes, sending letters, and making phone calls!

After months of talk, the Senate is now actually deciding what will or will not be included in Harry Reid's "Safe Communities, Safe Schools Act" and it is our job to make sure that we are doing all that we can to send this bill down in flames.

Obama and the gun-grabbers know exactly what they want and are willing to go to any length to get it. In order to win, we must be even more tenacious in our defense of the Second Amendment!

Will you make your voice heard? Take action ....

Blast Faxes to U.S. House and Senate members demanding that they oppose any and all forms of gun-control legislation or amendments to legislation!

http://echo3.bluehornet.com/cimages/...button_fax.gif


For America,

Conservative Action Alerts
www.ConservativeActionAlerts.com

P.S. Make sure than you sign our petition and send free letters to your Senators demanding that they oppose any and all forms of gun-control legislation or amendments to legislation! Select Here.

P.P.S. Call Senators and voice your opposition to gun-control! Tell them to vote against the Barrasso Amendment and the Harkin-Alexander Amendment today, as neither one is compatible with the Second Amendment. Find Senators here.

Conservative Action Alerts (CAA) is a media outlet protected by the first amendment and that support for our efforts is not tax-deductible. Diener Consultants, Inc., 10940 S Parker Rd Ste# 763, PARKER, CO 80134-7440

http://www.alipac.us/f19/self-defens...corded-274286/

Obama Calls 2nd Amendment Supporters Liars, Vows to Defeat Them

By Associated Press April 18, 2013 6:55 am

http://www.gopusa.com/freshink/files...um-300x180.jpg WASHINGTON - A visibly infuriated President Barack Obama surrounded himself with tear-stained parents of Connecticut school shooting victims Wednesday after the Senate voted down a measure designed to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and declared it a "pretty shameful day for Washington."

The Senate, which is controlled by the president's own party, handed him a stinging first defeat for his second term by voting down a bipartisan compromise to expand background checks for gun buyers. The disappointment was all over the faces of Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, their mouths turned into deep frowns as they appeared in the Rose Garden shortly after the vote.

"The fact is most of these senators could not of offer any good reason why we wouldn't want to make it harder for criminals and those with several mental illness to buy a gun," Obama said.

"There were no coherent arguments as to why we wouldn't do this."

Obama vowed that the vote would not end his fight for stricter gun laws and was "just round one." But it's unclear where the White House and its allies on guns can go from here, after the Senate sunk their best hope.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oEPzZ2vV0V0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=oEPzZ2vV0V0

With five Democrats voting along with 41 Republicans against the measure, Obama didn't spare his own party the blame. He said opponents made a political calculation that the gun lobby and a vocal minority of gun owners would come after them in the next election.

"Obviously a lot of Republicans had that fear, but Democrats had that fear, too," Obama said. "And so they caved to the pressure and started looking for an excuse, any excuse, to vote no."
The pointed accusations were a marked departure from Obama's "no drama" style. He's shown a lot of passion on the gun issue, even publicly shedding tears, but his emotion was previously appeared more rooted in sadness than anger.

He made persistent calls over the past few months for senators simply to allow a vote to honor the 26 victims from Sandy Hook Elementary School and those killed in other mass shootings. After that vote, he appeared before cameras flanked relatives of five children killed at Sandy Hook along with former Rep. Gabby Giffords, shot in the head two years ago while meeting with her Arizona constituents.

Mark Barden, whose lost his 7-year-old son, Daniel, introduced the president and said the families would return home "disappointed but not defeated."

"Our hearts are broken," Barden said, as Obama put his hand on his shoulder. Some of the parents cried and were embraced by Biden, Obama's point man on the issue.

Obama said of the families: "I still don't know how they have been able to muster up the strength to do what they've been doing over the last several weeks, the last several months. And I see this as just round one."

A senior Obama adviser, speaking on a condition of anonymity to discuss strategy for the issue, said the White House always knew that strengthening gun laws would be difficult and probably have less than a 50-50 chance of passing. But the president was deeply moved by the Sandy Hook shooting Dec. 14 and thought it was worth the effort since it hadn't been tried in over a decade, the adviser said.

The White House strategy was to move quickly, with Obama announcing his proposals just a month after Sandy Hook; have Biden stay on top of the issue with frequent appearances to key constituencies; and use the president to lift the debate up nationally at key moments by appearing with a broad range of groups including law enforcement, western voters and the victims' families. Obama purposefully stayed out of the bill's drafting in a recognition that he wasn't going to help by trying to insert himself in the legislative process.

The adviser said they never believed that senators would act because Obama asked them to, but the question was whether public outrage over Sandy Hook would be enough to move them. So Obama put the families out in front - appearing with them to give impassioned speeches, calling them out in an emotional conclusion to his State of the Union address, ferrying them aboard Air Force One to Washington for a lobbying campaign and turning over his weekly radio address to a grieving mother.

The frequent appearances led Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., to accuse Obama of using them "as props, and politicizing people's tragedy."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7n4fvys020U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=7n4fvys020U

Obama lambasted the suggestion. "Do we really think thousands of families whose lives have been shattered by gun violence don't have a right to weigh in on this issue? Do we think their emotions, their loss is not relevant to this debate? So all in all this was a pretty shameful day for Washington."
---
GOPUSA Editor's Note: Baucus, Begich, Heitkamp and Pryor were the Democrats who voted against gun control. Republicans Collins, Kirk and McCain voted FOR gun control. Reid also voted against it but that was only a procedural vote so that he can bring the bill up again should he choose to do so.

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.

http://www.gopusa.com/news/2013/04/1.../?subscriber=1

FBI Data Shows Criminals Won’t Be Caught In Gun Grab Dragnet

April 18, 2013 by Ben Bullard

http://personallibertycom.files.word...0&h=300&crop=1PHOTOS.COM

How many bad guys do you think try to buy guns from licensed dealers, the retailers whom Congress wants to slap with further restrictions on instant verifications for gun sales? How many criminals are getting access to their guns via “traditional,” on-the-grid avenues, initiating transactions that route them through background checks designed to ensure those very creeps aren’t the ones who can get their hands on firearms?

One-fourth? Ten percent? Five?

Try less than 1 percent. In fact, it’s less than half of 1 percent. Since 1998, there have been 590,070 attempts by convicts — guilty of both felonies and misdemeanors — to buy firearms from gun dealers who must check their criminal past on the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check (NICS) system. That’s out a total of 167,488,942 background checks done on all gun sales for the same period.

Both sets of figures come straight from the FBI. Hat tip to CNS News for doing a little arithmetic: Those 590,070 convicts who tried to buy a gun through legitimate means represent a mere .35 percent of all gun-buy attempts over the past 14 years.

Senate Democrats busied themselves Wednesday trying to scrounge up enough votes to move ahead with an amendment to the laughably-titled Public Safety and Second Amendment Rights Protection Act, one that would close the so-called “gun show loophole” by mandating background checks on firearms transactions between private individuals.

They lost, with the amendment failing to pass in a 54-46 vote. Without the amendment’s approval, the whole Act’s chances of making it through the early days of the Democrat-controlled 113^th Congress likely will be sunk.

Complicating matters more for supporters of the Gun Grab Act was the introduction of an “alternative” gun control bill Wednesday by Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas). That bill may have its critics, once pundits from the right and left have a chance to pore through its language; but a rundown of the bill’s highlights indicates, at least in spirit, a piece of legislation written with the understanding that criminals, by definition, can’t be touched by draconian gun laws that serve only to restrict the rights of law-abiding citizens.

Highlights of the Grassley-Cruz bill include:

• No expansion of the existing NICS background check system.
• Creating a task force to prosecute those who fail criminal background checks when attempting to buy guns.
• Requiring the U.S. Department of Justice to report to Congress periodically on its prosecution of those who attempt to buy guns illegally.
• Making third-party “straw purchase” trafficking illegal.

For the most part, the bill looks, at first glance, to target government and law enforcement agencies already tasked with enforcing existing laws instead of going after individual citizens with expanded Federal restrictions. Cruz couched the bill just so at a Wednesday morning press conference:

Rather than restricting the rights of law-abiding Americans, we should be focusing on keeping guns out of the hands of violent criminals, which this legislation accomplishes. While the Obama Administration continues to politicize a terrible tragedy to push its anti-gun agenda, I am proud to stand beside my fellow senators to present common-sense measures that will increase criminal prosecutions of felons who try to buy guns, criminalize straw purchasing and gun trafficking, and address mental health issues.

Sounds fair. But these bills have a way of coming out of committee — if they get off the ground at all — looking far different than they did going in, and Cruz may yet be criticized for introducing any “alternative” that even smells like gun control — regardless of its publicity value — when simple opposition to the Public Safety and Second Amendment Rights Protection Act would have served the original 2^nd Amendment very well.

The Grassley-Cruz amendment was up for a Senate vote late Wednesday, so stay tuned.

UPDATE: The Senate defeated the Grassley-Cruz amendment in a 52-48 vote late Wednesday, as well as a ban on “straw trafficking” by a 58-42 margin.

Filed Under: 2nd Amendment Under Fire, Conservative Politics, Liberty News, Staff Reports


http://personalliberty.com/2013/04/1...-grab-dragnet/

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...10653715_n.jpg

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...59595234_n.jpg

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...98980250_n.jpg


A TALE OF TWO PRESS CONFERENCES

Question: Why is President Barack Obama so much angrier and more animated about losing a Senate vote on Gun Control than about somebody bombing the Boston Marathon?

http://dailycaller.com/2013/04/17/a-...#ixzz2Qm9GsRtf

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...82665977_n.jpg