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Background check plan in trouble as Dems call votes on gun bill

Wednesday, April 17th, 2013

FOXNews

FOXNews.com

Senate Democrats are trying desperately to round up a bipartisan coalition in advance of a critical round of gun-control votes Wednesday afternoon, as fence-sitting Republicans began to peel away and new polling showed ebbing public support for tightening gun laws.



After days of backroom wrangling, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid lined up a vote on nine amendments for late Wednesday. The first, on a compromise proposal to loosen the firearms bill’s background checks provision, is considered the most vital.

The proposal, rolled out by Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Pat Toomey, R-Pa., would expand background checks to gun shows and Internet sales while exempting personal transactions. The amendment is aimed at winning over reluctant conservatives — if it fails, the overall bill stands little chance of passing.

Democrats face a heavy lift, as they must round up a 60-vote majority. They did so last week on a procedural vote, but that coalition now appears to be eroding.

Democratic leaders have given ever-changing assessments of where support stands. Vice President Biden said Tuesday that Democrats would get the 60 votes, but then said later in the day that it could come down to one or two senators.

Manchin reportedly said he does not have 60 — but then his office released a statement saying he “remains optimistic and hopeful that if Senators and the American people read the bill, they will support his commonsense approach to require criminal and mental background checks for advertised sales, including purchases at gun shows and online sales, without infringing on Americans’ Second Amendment rights.”

The vote math depicts a steep uphill climb for Democrats. Opponents will need just 41 of the Senate’s 100 votes to derail the Manchin-Toomey background check plan.

Thirty-one senators voted last week to completely block debate on overall gun legislation. Just two were Democrats — Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Mark Begich of Alaska.

If all 31 oppose the Manchin-Toomey measure — and that is not certain — opponents would need just 10 more votes to prevail.

So far, 11 of 16 Republicans who voted last week to let debate on the gun bill begin have said they will oppose Manchin-Toomey. That would give foes of expanded background checks 42 potential votes — one more than they need to win.

Among the latest to announce opposition was Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev.

“I believe very strongly that our current background check system needs strengthening and improving, particularly in areas that could keep guns out of the hands of felons and the mentally ill. At the same time, I cannot support legislation that infringes upon the Constitutional right to keep and bear arms,” Heller said in a statement.

So far, just three Republican senators have committed to voting for the amendment.

Still uncertain was support from some Democrats from GOP-heavy states, including Max Baucus of Montana, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota. Baucus and Landrieu face re-election next year.

The Senate gun bill would extend background checks to nearly all gun purchases, toughen penalties against illegal gun trafficking and add small sums to school safety programs.

Perhaps helping explain Democrats’ problems, an AP-GfK poll this month showed that 49 percent of Americans support stricter gun laws. That was down from 58 percent who said so in January — a month after the December killings of 20 children and six aides at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school propelled gun violence into a national issue.

In a climactic day, the Senate planned to hold eight other votes Wednesday besides the one on background checks, all of them amendments to a broad gun control measure.

They included Democratic proposals to ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines, which are expected to lose; a Republican proposal requiring states to honor other states’ permits allowing concealed weapons, which faces a close vote; and a GOP substitute for the overall gun measure.

The concealed weapons amendment, seen by advocates as protecting gun rights, was vehemently opposed by gun control groups, who say it would allow more guns into states with stricter firearms laws.

The votes were coming a day after former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, badly injured in a 2011 mass shooting in Tucson, Ariz., and her husband, Mark Kelly, tried galvanizing gun control support by visiting Capitol Hill and attending a private lunch with Democratic senators. Reid, D-Nev., called the lunch — senators said it included emotional speeches from lawmakers — “as moving as any” he has attended.

the Associated Press also contributed to this article.

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Posted in Big Government, Featured News/Exclusives

Steve Sanchez:Legal does not mean Moral!

Friday, March 29th, 2013

Steve Sanchez

GCN Live.com

Right now with the same sex-marriage issue in front of the Supreme Court one has to ask, have we really turned the morality of America over to the courts?.

Now I’m very aware of why the LGBT and the states believe that the Supreme Court now has to intervene to lend their wisdom, which ultimately becomes the law of the land in some capacity. Let’s be honest, The Supreme Court has not made the best of decisions so maybe the wisdom were are looking for really isn’t there, hence… Obama Care!

I think what’s important to remember is that just because something is legal or the law doesn’t make it right or moral or BIBLICAL. I really think we can’t lose sight of the fact that it is crucial that we hold to what the Bible says regarding the definition of marriage. Of course the opposition will say that it’s not the place of the church to try to legislate morality. The truth is, this is not a church issue but a God issue and a God issue alone. The Bible at one time led the decision making process in this country and it’s shocking to me that we are so far from that on so many issues especially the same-sex marriage issue. When we look at this and we look at the general consensus in America marriage is still viewed as between a husband and a wife.

So the question is how bout if the law of the land is that same sex couple can be married? Well, the best answer I can give is that as a Christian or a person of faith you have the right to still hold true to your values and still be boisterous and not shy away or back down from your values and your beliefs. I believe if that happens then it’s a greater opportunity for you to make wiser decisions in who is elected into public office especially when it comes to electing a President being that they nominate lifetime seats for the Supreme Court.

There are laws today that are legal but not moral, one of them is abortion. This disgusting law has been on the books for years but as old as it is and as common as it is doesn’t make it right or moral! I believe this will be the case regarding this issue if it becomes law. This shouldn’t stop us from educating and trying to overrule the utter disregard for the dismantling of Gods law.

There is no doubt we are in what I believe is the last days and during this time what is right will be wrong and what is wrong will be right. Now more than ever we need to look at our lives and get them squared and turn our hearts back to God so he can fulfill his promise and that is heal our land.

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Posted in Big Government

Obama Presses to Tighten Gun Controls, Curb Violence

Thursday, March 28th, 2013

By Roger Runningen & Lisa Lerer
http://www.bloomberg.com/

President Barack Obama, with families of victims of the Connecticut school shooting tragedy at his side, pressed the Senate to pass gun-control legislation next month and urged lawmakers to resist any weakening of resolve.

“This is our best chance in more than a decade to take common-sense steps that will save lives,” Obama said at a White House event, where he was joined by law enforcement officials, victims of gun violence and their families. “We have an obligation to try.”

Gun controls proposed after the Dec. 14 mass killing at a Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school face an increasingly thorny path to passage in Congress. The White House event came as gun control supporters organized more than 120 rallies across the country today, in an effort to increase pressure on lawmakers.

“Shame on us if we’ve forgotten” the grief of Newtown and the other mass slayings, Obama said. “There’s absolutely no reason that we can’t get this done.”

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid plans to call for votes next month on gun legislation that includes expanded background checks and tougher penalties for gun trafficking. The bill will not include limits on military-style assault weapons and high- capacity magazines — proposals backed by the White House and anti-gun violence advocates. Those are to be offered as amendments, which Reid says lack support to pass.

Falling Polls

Public support for tougher gun control laws has fallen by 10 percent, down to 47 percent from a peak of 57 percent just after the shootings, according to a March 26 poll by CBS News. Thirty-nine percent of those surveyed said they want laws kept as they are, and another 11 percent want them made less strict, CBS said.

The telephone survey March 20-24 of 1,181 adults nationwide had a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.

In a conference call yesterday with mayors and other supporters of gun control, Vice President Joe Biden said the White House will continue to fight for together gun control measures beyond the Senate votes.

“That doesn’t mean this is the end of the process,” Biden said. “This is the beginning of the process.”

Television Campaign

A coalition of mayors also released its first television ad, featuring family members of those killed in the Connecticut school shootings calling on lawmakers to support “comprehensive and enforceable background checks.”

“We cannot afford to wait for another tragedy. It’s long past time for elected officials to listen to their constituents and pass reforms,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, mayor of New York and co-chairman of Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

Bloomberg announced March 25 a $12 million television ad campaign running in 13 states that urges senators to support legislation expanding background checks for gun purchases. The mayor is founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.

Wayne LaPierre, chief executive officer of the National Rifle Association, said Bloomberg’s ad campaign will fail to persuade the public to support gun restrictions.

“They sure don’t want him telling what self-defense firearms to own,” LaPierre said on the same NBC program. “And he can’t buy America.”

LaPierre called universal checks “a dishonest premise. Criminals aren’t going to be checked. They’re not going to do this.”

Josh Earnest, a White House spokesman, said yesterday a Senate vote on whether to ban military-style assault weapons represents progress, given how hard the president has pushed for tougher restrictions.

“I can’t stand here and guarantee that it’s going to pass, but it is a question that 100 senators are going to ask themselves when they wake up in the morning and look themselves in the mirror about whether or not they are going to — about which side they’re going to be on when it comes to voting on a ban on military-style assault weapons,” he said.

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Posted in Big Government

Government Cover-up of Ammo Buys Implodes

Friday, March 22nd, 2013

Silence, secrecy and shoddy attempts at debunking the facts have led to Congressional scrutiny

Steve Watson
GCN Live.com
Mar 22, 2013


The failure on behalf of the federal government to provide any explanation for why the Department of Homeland Security is arming to the teeth with high powered weapons and billions of hollow point bullets, as well as crude efforts by mainstream media mouthpieces to debunk the war-like preparations, have backfired massively, propelling the story to a viral status.

As we reported today, 15 Congressman have written a letter to the DHS demanding to know why the federal agency is buying so many rounds of ammunition and whether the purchases are part of a deliberate attempt to restrict supply to the American people.

Big Sis has remained silent on the issue, refusing to answer questions from reporters and even from multiple elected representatives, about the ammo buys.

The continued huge orders for weapons and bullets have prompted attendances at gun shows to explode, as gun store owners say they having to contend with significant national shortages.

Efforts to portray the very real stockpiling by the federal agency as a conspiracy theory have fallen flat on their face, and have only served to further highlight how suspect the DHS’ actions are.

When Media Matters and Raw Story both recently attacked Fox Business host Lou Dobbs for daring to raise the issue on his show, it quickly became clear that neither had any prevailing counter point, and were dismissing the facts only by regurgitating a glib statement of a single DHS official.

Media Matters, which has been documented to be little more than an Obama administration mouthpiece, reported that, “The claim that DHS bought a 1.6 billion bullet stockpile is also misleading,” while simultaneously admitting that “DHS did buy 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition.”

The source of the claim that concerns over the bullet buys are a conspiracy theory or “misleading,” is a February 14 Associated Press report which did not conduct any actual investigation into why the DHS was purchasing the ammo, instead regurgitating a statement from DHS official Peggy Dixon, who claimed the bullets were bought in bulk to save money and were for training purposes only.

As we have tirelessly noted, however, hollow point bullets are completely unsuitable for training purposes because they cost significantly more money compared to standard firing range bullets. In one fell swoop, this fact debunks claims that the agency was attempting to save money argument and is intending to use the ammo in training exercises.

Military veterans and ammunition experts have also confirmed that they have never used hollow points for training purposes, expressing confusion at why the DHS is buying up so many of them.

When Atlantic Wire and Politico also attempted to debunk the issue, they completely ignored the DHS’ admitted purchases of close to 2 billion bullets, instead focusing only on the Social Security Administration’s purchase of 174,000 bullets, as if it were some how proof that the DHS is not involved in stockpiling at all.

Snopes.com, a site that profits from debunking anything and everything, also failed to even address the DHS bullet purchases, again pointing only to SSA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration purchases.

Apparently, the mainstream media has failed to grasp that concerns about government activity cannot be “debunked” by merely repeating glib statements issued by government officials, particularly given the amount of times the DHS has been caught lying about other issues such as TSA body scanners and most recently with Janet Napolitano’s erroneous claim that the sequester debate was causing delays in airports.

Amidst all the so-called “debunkings” of the bullet buys, the aforementioned media sources have also conveniently omitted details regarding the DHS’ purchase of 7,000 fully automatic assault rifles, as well as a $2 million dollar relationship with a contractor that recently had to apologize for producing shooting targets of pregnant women, children and elderly gun owners depicted in residential settings.

The DHS has also been busy buying large supplies of body armor, leading to shortages. Last year, the agency put out an urgent order for “riot gear” in anticipation of civil unrest. The agency has also ordered bullet-proof checkpoint booths and hired hundreds of new security guards to protect government buildings over the course of the last 12 months. There have also been reported purchases of around 2,700 armored trucks.

None of this has been addressed by the mainstream media. Government silence, sustained secrecy, and media mouthpieces declaring it isn’t real has only served to implode an already shoddy cover-up attempt, further shining a light on the secretive prepping actions of Big Sis and her army of goons.

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Steve Watson is the London based writer and editor for Alex Jones’ Infowars.com, and Prisonplanet.com. He has a Masters Degree in International Relations from the School of Politics at The University of Nottingham, and a Bachelor Of Arts Degree in Literature and Creative Writing from Nottingham Trent University.

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Posted in Big Government

Gun Owners Sue New York Government to Restore 2nd Amendment

Friday, March 22nd, 2013

Kurt Nimmo
GCN Live.com
March 22, 2013

The New York affiliate of the National Rifle Association on Thursday requested an injunction to stop the state from denying residents their Second Amendment right and 14th Amendment right to equal protection under the law.

Joe Biden and Michael Bloomberg rally in favor of expanded gun laws at the New York City Hall on Thursday.

Governor Andrew Cuomo and State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman are named in the lawsuit.

The NRA lawsuit claims New York’s recently enacted anti-gun legislation violates the constitutional rights of “law-abiding citizens to keep commonly possessed firearms in the home for defense of self and family and for other lawful purposes.”

The lawsuit neglects to mention the primary reason the founders included the Second Amendment in the Bill of Rights – as a bulwark against tyranny.

“It protects the right to shoot tyrants, and it protects the right to shoot at them effectively, with the same instruments they would use upon us,” a former judge of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Andrew Napolitano, wrote in January before the New York governor and the state legislature pushed through the most restrictive and draconian anti-Second Amendment law in the nation.

The lawsuit targets New York’s unconstitutional ban on so-called “high-capacity” magazines and semiautomatic firearms erroneously classified as “assault weapons.”

“Criminals have and use magazines without any limitation in capacity,” the lawsuit contends. “The act’s provisions on magazines put law-abiding citizens at a grave disadvantage to criminals, who will not comply with the seven-round limit.”

It says the phrase “assault weapons” is “a pejorative term” used “to describe countless numbers of rifles, handguns and shotguns that were commonly possessed under prior law.”

The NRA is not challenging other provisions of the law, namely tougher penalties for gun crimes.

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Posted in Big Government

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