Health & Fitness
Democrats and Gun Control: Really, we only wanted background checks!
Democrats now claim their gun control agenda is really just about background checks. And that's it.
*gigglesnort*
Democrats attempt to move the goal posts for their “gun control victory”. Yeesh.
What’s next in the gun debate? It’s hardly surprising that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid decided not to include an assault-weapons ban in the gun legislation he’ll bring to the Senate floor next month (though it will be voted on as an amendment). After all, the votes were never there. But it’s also not surprising that gun-control advocates are disappointed. “Obviously I’m disappointed,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who authored the assault-weapons ban, said yesterday, per NBC’s Kasie Hunt. The New York Daily News also expresses this sentiment on its cover. “Shame on U.S.,” it states. So where does the gun legislation go from here? The New York Times takes a stab: “This month, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed four pieces of gun legislation: the straw purchasing measure; the assault weapons ban, which included limits on gun magazine sizes; a grant program for school security; and enhanced background checks for gun buyers. The Senate bill is likely to include the school safety measure, and it may be expanded to include the enhanced background checks. But Mr. Reid is weighing the relative merits of bringing that measure to the floor, which for now has limited support from Republicans.”
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It all comes down to background checks: The fact that Reid is “weighing” whether to bring the universal background-check proposal — supported by overwhelming majorities in polls and viewed by observers as the most realistic chance at reform — has to trouble gun-control advocates. We are hearing it’s LIKELY that Reid will attach the background-check part to the eventual legislation. But this is the game, folks, and it’s always been the case: Background checks will define success or failure. As we said above, the assault-weapons ban never had a chance for passage, and folks will still get an opportunity to vote on it (which gives red-state Democrats a chance to vote against).
