Two senators with "A" grades from the National Rifle Association announced Wednesday that they had negotiated a deal on expanding background checks to purchases of firearms at gun shows, over the internet and that involve advertising. Face-to-face sales, say those between neighbors, would not be covered. In a 20-minute press conference in Washington, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania introduced their deal on a background check proposal, which until last week had been stalled despite three months of talks among four senators, including Manchin.
Naturally, the extremists at the NRA took immediate exception to the proposal, stating that "Expanding background checks at gun shows will not prevent the next shooting, will not solve violent crime and will not keep our kids safe in schools."
Currently, background checks are required only for sales handled through licensed gun dealers. That means at least a million gun transactions occur each year through private sales that do not require the seller to determine whether the buyer is legally entitled to own a firearm.
The two senators stressed the bipartisan nature of their compromise and both noted several times that they are gun-owners and that nothing in the proposal would infringe on anyone's 2nd Amendment rights. Manchin called it "common ground," "commonsense" and "gun sense." Besides the expansion of background checks, their proposal would set up a commission on mass violence comprising experts on firearms, school safety and mental illness. It would also make it easier for gun owners to transport their legal firearms through states where they would normally need a permit and allow active military personnel to buy guns in their state of residence, not just where they are stationed, as is now the case.
Their proposal will, Toomey said he has been assured by Majority Leader Harry Reid, be the first amendment to the base gun bill introduced two weeks ago before the Senate's Easter recess. If it passes, it will replace a stricter background-check expansion sponsored by Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York that would have covered almost all private sales. The Schumer proposal is one of three provisions in the existing gun-regulation bill. The other two would increase federal funding for school safety and expand penalties for gun trafficking and straw purchases (that is, when someone buys a gun legally and passes it along to someone who is proscribed from owning firearms).
Because Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said the gun bill will be open to amendments, at least 10 Republicans, possibly 11, have refused to join a planned filibuster by 14 of their colleagues. A vote to stop the filibuster is expected Thursday morning and, given the line-up of Republican opposition to blocking the start of debate, it is all but certain that the Manchin-Toomey proposal and all the rest will be heard on the floor of Senate. But it doesn't mean that there won't be a filibuster against taking a final vote on any new gun-regulation measures. And the Republican ranks in any such later move could be bolstered by a few red-state Democrats, particularly Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Max Baucus of Montana.
For the moment, however, the Manchin-Toomey proposal, which has support from Schumer and Republican Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois, two of the three other senators who have been working since early January to develop on a background-check proposal, should give hope to advocates of new gun regulations even though the background-check compromise is a watered-down version of what they would prefer. Among those advocates are members of the families of the victims of the 12/14 Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school massacre.
Since a final-vote filibuster is likely, Reid will, of course, need 60 votes to gain passage. With only 55 Democrats or independents who caucus with the Democrats available, that means getting at least five Republicans to stand against a filibuster. And with the votes of Pryor, Baucus and possibly two or three other red-state Democrats uncertain, he has a lot of wrangling to do.
Toomey noted during the press conference that he wasn't concerned that his support of this proposal might change the grade that the NRA gives to all members of Congress based on their voting record. "I don't consider criminal background checks to be gun control," noting that nobody wants the people who fail to pass a background check to possess firearms.