Anyway, here it is, a list of those who were for, and against, the commonsense background checks.
We have a long way to go in this country, before we ever make progress on this issue. Americans obviously love their guns.
Well, the proposal for a bit more gun control that so many have demanded, particularly in the wake of the Sandy Hook school shootings last December, has been defeated.
Once again, we see the extremists. who tend to possess a level of immaturity in their political vantage point on this particular issue, or perhaps it is stubborn refusal to see common sense, now reinforcing this immaturity by mocking those who were in favor.
It should be noted that 92% of Americans are in favor of background checks for the acquisition of guns, to make sure people that have a history of mentally illness, or some criminal background, or something else that raises red flags, won't be able to obtain guns so damn easily.
But nope. Forget it. Not in this country. Not in these times, evidently. To those opposed, Obama is likened to Hitler, outright. He wants to create a national gun registry. Eventually, he will personally knock on your door and take your guns away, before boarding you onto a train headed for some American Auschwitz.
This might sound like an exaggeration of what they are claiming, but sadly, it is a slight exaggeration. I have heard people making those comparisons with Obama and the bloodiest of dictators, and I have seen "gun rights advocates" outright making the argument that Hitler and the Nazis first disarmed the populace in Germany, before opening up the concentration camps and, later, the death camps.
Apparently, something about Obama is literally threatening on that level to these people.
Massacres against innocent, and random people, including seven and eight year olds?
Apparently, that's just a price to pay for their liberty to purchase whatever the hell arms they want, with absolutely no inconvenience to them. Not even so much as a background check.
The National Rifle Assoication has Congress so much by the cahonas, that 46 Senators managed to strike down every last strip of the gun regulations proposals that 92% of Americans favored. Then, the "victors" often openly mocked gun control advocates.
And this is democracy? Somehow, I don't think this was what the Founding Fathers had in mind.
Here is a very interesting article by Dana Liebelson, a reporter from Mother Jones, that lists exactly who voted for, and against, the background check legislation. Read it, and find out what the official position for the Senators representing your state were. The link to the article ("Meet the 45 Senators Who Blocked Background Checks") can be found below:
An amendment proposed by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) to require background checks for commercial gun sales (but not for sales between "friends and neighbors") was shot down Wednesday afternoon in a 54-46 vote, failing to capture the 60 votes it needed to advance. The bill would have been a modest victory for gun control advocates, while ceding numerous concessions to the gun lobby (the NRA initially called it a "positive development.") Nevertheless, only four Republicans voted for the proposal, with 41 voting against it. Five Democrats rejected the proposal as well (Reid was a special case; see below). Standing with families of Sandy Hook victims, President Obama said that "there was no coherent argument for why we wouldn't do this. It came down to politics."
Here's a list so you can see how your Senator voted:
REPUBLICANS WHO VOTED FOR THE PROPOSAL
Susan Collins (R-ME) Mark Kirk (R-IL) John McCain (R-AZ) Pat Toomey (R-PA)
DEMOCRATS WHO VOTED AGAINST THE PROPOSAL
Max Baucus (D-MT) Mark Begich (D-AK) Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) Mark Pryor (D-AR) Harry Reid (D-NV) (Voted "no" as a procedural move to preserve option to reintroduce the bill.)
REPUBLICANS WHO VOTED AGAINST THE PROPOSAL
Lamar Alexander (R-TN) Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) John Barrasso (R-WY) Roy Blunt (R-MO) John Boozman (R-AR) Richard Burr (R-NC) Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) Dan Coats (R-IN) Tom Coburn (R-OK) Thad Cochran (R-MS) Bob Corker (R-TN) John Cornyn (R-TX) Mike Crapo (R-ID) Ted Cruz (R-TX) Michael Enzi (R-WY) Deb Fischer (R-NE) Jeff Flake (R-AZ) Lindsey Graham (R-SC) Chuck Grassley (R-IA) Orrin Hatch (R-UT) Dean Heller (R-NV) John Hoeven (R-ND) Jim Inhofe (R-OK) Johnny Isakson (R-GA) Mike Johanns (R-NE) Ron Johnson (R-WI) Mike Lee (R-UT) Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Jerry Moran (R-KS) Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) Rand Paul (R-KY) Rob Portman (R-OH) James Risch (R-ID) Pat Roberts (R-KS) Marco Rubio (R-FL) Timothy Scott (R-SC) Jeff Sessions (R-AL) Richard Shelby (R-AL) John Thune (R-SD) David Vitter (R-LA) Roger Wicker (R-MS)
DEMOCRATS WHO VOTED FOR THE PROPOSAL Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) Michael Bennet (D-CO) Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) Barbara Boxer (D-CA) Sherrod Brown (D-OH) Maria Cantwell (D-WA) Ben Cardin (D-MD) Thomas Carper (D-DE) Bob Casey (D-PA) Christopher Coons (D-DE) William "Mo" Cowan (D-MA) Joe Donnelly (D-IN) Richard Durbin (D-IL) Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) Al Franken (D-MN) Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) Kay Hagan (D-NC) Tom Harkin (D-IA) Martin Heinrich (D-NM) Mazie Hirono (D-HI) Tim Johnson (D-SD) Timothy Kaine (D-VA) Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) Mary Landrieu (D-LA) Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) Patrick Leahy (D-VT) Carl Levin (D-MI) Joe Manchin (D-WV) Claire McCaskill (D-MO) Robert Menendez (D-NJ) Jeff Merkley (D-OR) Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) Christopher Murphy (D-CT) Patty Murray (D-WA) Bill Nelson (D-FL) John Reed (D-RI) Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) Brian Schatz (D-HI) Charles Schumer (D-NY) Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) Jon Tester (D-MT) Mark Udall (D-CO) Tom Udall (D-NM) Mark Warner (D-VA) Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) Ron Wyden (D-OR)
INDEPENDENTS
Angus King (I-ME): Yea Bernie Sanders (I-VT): Yea Front page image: Jay Mallin/ZUMA Press
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/04/number-senators-voted-against-background-checks-proposal
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