Gun Safety Filibuster Broken; New Legislation Proposed

It may come as a surprise to gun absolutists, who want no regulations regarding firearms, that they are not alone in their belief. The terrorist organization Al Qaeda does not want the United States to have gun safety laws either.

Adam Gadahn is a native-born American who defected to Al Qaeda and has become a senior operative, spokesman, and media advisor for that group. Gadahn is also listed as among the FBI’s most wanted terrorists.

In 2011, Gadahn made a video (Morning Joe 4/11/13), Buzzfeed, 4/10/13) in which he said, “in the West you’ve got a lot at your disposal. Let’s take America as an example. America is absolutely awash with easily obtainable firearms. You can go to a gun show at the local convention center and come away with a (semi) automatic assault rifle without a background check and most likely without having to show an identification card. So what are you waiting for?”

Fortunately, much to the disappointment, I presume, of gun absolutists and Al Qaeda, America has taken the first step toward closing the gun show loophole. The United States Senate overcame a filibuster designed to block any discussion and consideration of new gun safety regulations. Got that? The filibuster wasn’t designed to prevent votes on new regulations. It was designed to prevent even a discussion of new measures.

Sixty votes were needed to break the filibuster. A total of 68 votes supported ending the filibuster (50 Democrats, 16 Republicans and 2 independents), and 31 senators voted to sustain it (29 Republicans and 2 Democrats). Parents of children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School who traveled to Washington effectively lobbied the senators on behalf of gun safety.

One of them, Francine Wheeler, spoke during a time normally reserved for Pres. Obama’s weekly address to the nation. “Struggling to maintain her composure, Francine Wheeler spoke of her 6-year-old son, Ben, who was killed on Dec. 14 at Sandy Hook Elementary School . . .’I’ve heard people say that the tidal wave of anguish our country felt on 12/14 has receded – but not for us,’ Mrs. Wheeler said with her husband, David, by her side. ‘To us it feels as if it happened yesterday. And in the four months since we lost our loved ones, thousands of other Americans have died at the end of a gun. Thousands of other families across the United States are also drowning in grief.” (New York Times, 4/13/13)

Gun advocates often say, “Guns don’t kill people, people do.” Well, then, the proposed gun safety legislation should be much to their liking for it has nothing to do with guns, only the people who purchase them. Also, the two senators who crafted the proposed legislation, Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Republican Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania are members of the NRA and have been given A ratings by that organization for their votes.

So, it would take a fully paranoid and delusional individual to believe that the Manchin-Toomey legislation is a creature of rabid anti-gun authors.

Manchin and Toomey have proposed that all gun purchases with specific narrow exceptions be subjected to background checks, thus closing the gun show loophole. Noncommercial person-to-person firearm sales wouldn’t be covered. The purpose of the background checks is to keep guns out of the hands of mentally unstable people and felons.

In addition, “straw purchases” of firearms would be made illegal and subject to criminal penalties A straw purchase is one where a person who can clear a background check buys guns and then re-sells them to felons or other people who cannot pass the check. The proposed bill would also provide more federal money for school security programs. It would be left up to the schools to determine the way this money would be spent for security

The breaking of the filibuster and the proposed Manchin-Toomey legislation are only the first steps in what promises to be a long and difficult journey through the Senate. After that hurdle is cleared, any Senate-approved bill must also pass the House. So don’t let your attention wander to other matters. The problem posed by the gun deaths of 30,000 Americans annually deserves our best efforts to solve it.

None of us wants to experience the tragedy that families at Sandy Hook have endured. Francine Wheeler lamented, “Sometimes I close my eyes and all I can remember is that awful day waiting at the Sandy Hook Volunteer Firehouse for the boy who would never come home – the same firehouse that was home to Ben’s Tiger Scout Den 6. But other times, I feel Ben’s presence filling me with courage for what I have to do – for him and all the others taken from us so violently and so soon.” (New York Times, 4/13/13)