The bipartisan compromise proposal to expand background checks to more gun sales died in the Senate this afternoon after the bipartisan majority fell far short of the 60 votes needed to break a Republican filibuster on the bill. The vote was 54-46. While advocates thought they might be only two votes away not long ago, the six vote deficit makes it highly unlikely that the majority will ever secure the votes it needs. If Republicans had not filibustered, the measure would have passed, as final passage requires only 50 votes (plus the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Joe Biden).The proposal, authored by Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, was the best shot at passing any kind of expansion on background checks, even though it was far weaker than what Democrats and gun safety advocates had hoped for. But opponents of the bill deliberately misrepresented the bill by claiming it could lead to a national gun registry, which many gun advocates fear could lead to confiscation or even tyranny, even though the Manchin-Toomey proposal actually made it a felony officials to create a registry.Continue Reading... … Read More
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