Politicians respond to Connecticut school shooting

[Psalm 51:17]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/colorado-senate-voting-gun-control-bills-18702617
Colorado Senate Voting on Gun Control Bills
3/11/13

Colorado senators were expected to take final votes Monday on several gun-control measures, including on magazine ammunition limits and expanded background checks.
 
The chamber was debating five of seven bills in the Democrats' gun-control package. Other measures included a gun ban for people accused of domestic violence crimes and a ban on online-only gun training for a concealed carry permit. The final measure would revive background check fees for gun purchasers.
 
Republican Senate Leader Bill Cadman said the Democrats have an "anti-gun agenda" and that the measures they sponsored wouldn't make Colorado safer. Speaking against the domestic-violence bill, Cadman said Democrats believe "guns are the problem in society and not the people that use those guns."
 
The gun measures were given initial approval Friday after more than 12 hours of debate.
 
Two parts of the Democratic gun package were pulled because of lack of support. Those were a liability measure for gun owners and a concealed-weapons ban on college campuses.
 
Even without the two most divisive Democratic proposals, the gun-control package attracted plenty of opposition. Gun-right supporters were especially steamed about the magazine ammunition limit, which has prompted at least one company to threaten to leave Colorado. Magpul, an accessories maker in Erie, has said it will ship hundreds of jobs out of state, even though the ammunition bill was amended to allow Magpul to keep making the magazines for out-of-state sale.
 
Republicans have complained that Democrats are wrong to limit ammunition magazines over Magpul's threats.
 
"Jobs, jobs, jobs — all leaving Colorado," Republican Sen. Scott Renfroe said last week.
 
Republicans are also deeply opposed to the bill to expand required background checks to private sales. Democrats changed that bill to exempt short-term loans among relatives. But Republicans insist that any move toward universal background checks is a move toward gun ownership registration.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/colorado-senate-final-ok-gun-185606090.html
3/11/13
Colorado Senate give final OK to gun control bills

Colorado Senate gives final OK to gun bills, including magazine limits and background checks

DENVER (AP) -- The Colorado Senate is approving stricter firearms regulations including expanded background checks, as it ties gun control to mass shootings in the state and elsewhere.

Final votes on the proposals Monday cap a week of intense debate in Colorado's Capitol over gun violence and how to prevent it.

Democrats have abandoned two of their seven gun-control proposals because of strong opposition. But five measures were due final Senate approval Monday.

Most of them now head to the House or return there because of Senate amendments.
 
The most divisive measure given a final vote Monday was a bill to require background checks on private gun sales. Republicans tried to argue expanded background checks are "absurd" and won't improve safety. But they managed to persuade only one Democrat to vote against the bill.
 

[Psalm 51:17]

California Seizes Guns as Owners Lose Right to Bear Arms
3/11/13

Wearing bulletproof vests and carrying 40-caliber Glock pistols, nine California Justice Department agents assembled outside a ranch-style house in a suburb east of Los Angeles. They were looking for a gun owner who’d recently spent two days in a mental hospital.

They knocked on the door and asked to come in. About 45 minutes later, they came away peacefully with three firearms.

California is the only state that tracks and disarms people with legally registered guns who have lost the right to own them, according to Attorney General Kamala Harris. Almost 20,000 gun owners in the state are prohibited from possessing firearms, including convicted felons, those under a domestic violence restraining order or deemed mental unstable.

“What do we do about the guns that are already in the hands of persons who, by law, are considered too dangerous to possess them?” Harris said in a letter to Vice President Joe Biden after a Connecticut school shooting in December left 26 dead. She recommended that Biden, heading a White House review of gun policy, consider California as a national model.

As many as 200,000 people nationwide may no longer be qualified to own firearms, according to Garen Wintemute, director of the Violence Prevention Research Program at the University of California, Davis. Other states may lack confiscation programs because they don’t track purchases as closely as California, which requires most weapons sales go through a licensed dealer and be reported.

“Very, very few states have an archive of firearm owners like we have,” said Wintemute, who helped set up the program.

Funding Increase

Harris, a 48-year-old Democrat, has asked California lawmakers to more than the number of agents from the current 33 who seized about 2,000 weapons last year, along with 117,000 rounds of ammunition and 11,000 high-capacity magazines, according to state data.

“We’re not contacting anybody who can legally own a gun,” said John Marsh, a supervising agent who coordinates the sometimes-contentious seizures. “I got called the Antichrist the other day. Every conspiracy theory you’ve heard of, take that times 10.”

The no-gun list is compiled by cross-referencing files on almost 1 million handgun and assault-weapon owners with databases of new criminal records and involuntary mental-health commitments. About 15 to 20 names are added each day, according to the attorney general’s office.

Probable Cause

Merely being in a database of registered gun owners and having a “disqualifying event,” such as a felony conviction or restraining order, isn’t sufficient evidence for a search warrant, Marsh said March 5 during raids in San Bernardino County. So the agents often must talk their way into a residence to look for weapons, he said.

At a house in Fontana, agents were looking for a gun owner with a criminal history of a sex offense, pimping, according to the attorney general’s office. Marsh said that while the woman appeared to be home, they got no answer at the door. Without a warrant, the agents couldn’t enter and had to leave empty- handed.

They had better luck in nearby Upland, where they seized three guns from the home of Lynette Phillips, 48, who’d been hospitalized for mental illness, and her husband, David. One gun was registered to her, two to him.

“The prohibited person can’t have access to a firearm,” regardless of who the registered owner is, said Michelle Gregory, a spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office.

Involuntarily Held

In an interview as agents inventoried the guns, Lynette Phillips said that while she’d been held involuntarily in a mental hospital in December, the nurse who admitted her had exaggerated the magnitude of her condition.

Todd Smith, chief executive officer of Aurora Charter Oak Hospital in Covina, where documents provided by Phillips show she was treated, didn’t respond to telephone and e-mail requests for comment on the circumstances of the treatment.

Phillips said her husband used the guns for recreation. She didn’t blame the attorney general’s agents for taking the guns based on the information they had, she said.

“I do feel I have every right to purchase a gun,” Phillips said. “I’m not a threat. We’re law-abiding citizens.”

No one was arrested.

“It’s not unusual to not arrest a mental-health person because every county in the state handles those particular cases differently,” Gregory said by e-mail. “Unless there’s an extenuating need to arrest them on the spot, we refer the case” to the local district attorney’s office, she said.

Convicted Felons

Agents more often arrest convicted felons who are prohibited from buying, receiving, owning or possessing a firearm, Gregory said. Violation of the ban is itself a felony.

The state Senate agreed March 7 to expand the seizure program using $24 million in surplus funds from fees that gun dealers charge buyers for background checks.

Andrew Arulanandam, a spokesman for the National Rifle Association, a gun lobby that says it has more than 4 million individuals as members, didn’t respond to a request for comment on the program.

Sam Paredes, executive director of the Folsom-based advocacy group Gun Owners of California, praised the program, though not how it is funded.

“We think that crime control instead of gun control is absolutely the way to go,” he said. “The issue we have is funding this program only from resources from law-abiding gun purchasers. This program has a benefit to the entire public and therefore the entire public should be paying through general- fund expenditures, and not just legal gun owners.”

[Kilika]

Without a warrant, the agents couldn’t enter and had to leave empty- handed.

And that is apparently the hole in their little scam. Why can't they get a warrant if the gun owner is not legally allowed to posses a firearm? Hmm, sounds like they are playing legal games with gun owners. There's a legal hold up for police somehow, requiring them to get a warrant, or ask to search for weapons in a home, which home owners should not consent to a search without a lawyer advising.

Got to watch police. They will try to snake their way in your car, house, whatever, without a warrant by asking to search. Don't agree, ever. Make them get a warrant if in fact they have serious cause. Make them do their jobs!

Example: We had a deal where my wife received as it were a prank phishing phone call, threatening her, etc, so she called the police to report it because the called was making all kinds of threats to come by the house, cause our family problems, etc. A real thug caller. So the cop shows up, and we meet him outside. We talk for a bit, then he asks if we want to go inside to get out of the heat, to which I said, "No, we're fine", while he's standing there in a black uniform wearing a vest and the rest of the hardware they carry. I suspect he was rather warm! But there was no reason for him to come inside. It took maybe 10 minutes.

But that's how they do it, by putting people in a spot where they think they must say yes, but they don't and shouldn't, especially if it has nothing to do with the inside of your home. Otherwise, he gets inside your house, and he decides he sees something illegal, and bingo, you got major issues you wouldn't have had had he not got inside your house, or car, etc.

As for California and their antics? Typical. People need to leave that state to it's politicians and the freaks in Hollywood.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/12/17286635-sources-nra-wont-oppose-background-check-deal-if-democrats-cede-tough-records-fight?lite
3/12/13
Sources: NRA won't oppose background check deal – if Democrats cede tough records fight

Senators negotiating a bill mandating background checks for all gun buyers are privately expecting the National Rifle Association not to fight the measure -- provided the legislation does not require private gun sellers to maintain records of the checks, NBC News has learned.

If that requirement is met and key Republican negotiator Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma signs on, the powerful gun lobby has signaled to lawmakers that they would not actively oppose the bill -- and not count votes in favor of it as part of its highly influential NRA lawmaker ratings -- according to Senate aides familiar with the stalled negotiations.

Such a deal could clear the way for a universal background check bill, a central tenet of President Barack Obama's gun control initiative, to pass the Senate with significant Republican support. Odds of passage in the House would brighten significantly as a result.
 
The NRA denies being part of any agreement. "We do not take positions on hypotheticals. We will make our position known if and when legislation is introduced," said Chris Cox, the group's top lobbyist.

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[Psalm 51:17]

Seriously, what is the point of doing something like this? Will these "cross country" activities like what Susan G. Komen does just "magically" make something good? And doesn't this feel like witchcraft?

http://news.yahoo.com/cyclists-ride-nations-capital-gun-control-sandy-hook-233406239--abc-news-politics.html
3/12/13
Cyclists Ride to Nation's Capital for Gun Control After Sandy Hook

The sun came out over the West Lawn of the Capitol building Monday afternoon, warming up a group of shivering cyclists who rode over 400 miles to convince Congress to pass what they called "common sense" gun control legislation.
 
The cyclists, known as Team 26, began riding on Saturday from Newtown, Conn., the site of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December. The team was made up of Connecticut residents, including a Newtown police officer and a Vietnam war veteran.
 
Team 26 founder Monte Frank told ABC News that the group got a big lift Tuesday when the Senate Judiciary Committee announced the passage of a bill that would require universal background checks for gun buyers. But he said there were two more needs to be done, including bans on military assault-style weapons and high capacity magazines.
 
"We have been motivated all along by 26 angels who've been pushing us along," said Frank, joined Tuesday by his young daughter, Sarah, whose third grade teacher was killed in the Sandy Hook shooting. "If those bills are enacted, they will go a long way toward removing dangerous military style weapons from our streets and ensuring that the weapons in people's possessions are in the right people's possession.

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[Christian40]

California seizes guns from owners - and it might become a national model

In California, the government is already coming for the guns.

Notwithstanding the Second Amendment, rules and regulations across the United States outline certain restrictions for who can legally possess a firearm. In the state of California, factors such as a felony conviction or a history of mental health issues mean roughly 20,000 gun owners are holding onto their firearms illegally. Slowly but surely, though, Golden State police officers are prying them away. There’s more, though: backers of the program suggest this becomes a nation-wide practice, and are asking the White House to help make it happen.

“Very, very few states have an archive of firearm owners like we have,” Garen Wintemute of the Violence Prevention Research Program tells Bloomberg News. Wintemute helped set up a program on the West Coast that monitors not just licensed gun owners but also watches for any red flags that could be raised after admittance to a mental health institute or a quick stint in the slammer.

Wintemute says that as many as 200,000 people across the United States may no longer be qualified to own firearms, and in California they are making sure that number drops day by day. In one example cited in this week’s Bloomberg report, journalists recall a recent scene where nine California Justice Department agents equipped with 40-caliber Glock pistols and outfitted in bulletproof vests knocked on a suburban residence, requested to speak to a certain gun owner and then walked away with whatever arsenal they could apprehend.

California Attorney General Kamala Harris seized roughly 2,000 weapons last year, reports Bloomberg, as well as 117,000 rounds of ammunition and 11,000 high-capacity magazines. But as concerns escalate about a possible war against the right to bear arms in America, will other states soon follow suite?

In California, some shortcuts are already meaning weapons are being removed from lawful owners. Bloomberg reports cite the example of 48-year-old Lynette Phillips, a California woman who was recently hospitalized for mental illness. When a team of agents went to collect her two registered firearms, they also walked out with one registered to her husband.

“The prohibited person can’t have access to a firearm,” regardless of who the registered owner is, said Michelle Gregory, a spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office.

In other cities and towns across the country, Americans are standing up against what many say are unconstitutional attempts to disarm the United States. In New York State, new legislation is making it harder for Americans to purchase firearms, and one provision will provide gun owners with a felony charge if they ignore new registration rules — which is enough on its own to make owning guns illegal. Across the board more states are demanding stricter background checks, but as efforts to remove weapons from the hands of Americans — voluntarily and involuntarily — are ramped up, though, those that disagree are doing what they can to keep their country armed.

In the wake of last year’s massacres in Aurora, Colorado and Newtown, Connecticut — among others — lawmakers and the public at large have called on Americans for a mass disarming. Gun buyback programs are being touted in countless cities, and in California the attorney general is hoping for even more help at getting guns away from their once-lawful owners — Attorney General Harris has asked Vice President Joe Biden for help and has asked state lawmakers to increase the number of agents tasked with collecting weapons up to 33. She also told Mr. Biden that she thought the efforts coming out of California could be a good model of a national program, reports Bloomberg.

Meanwhile, though, others are making sure weapons aren’t being put to waste. Residents in Maine hit the polls this week to vote on a law that would require everyone in the town of Byron to register a high-powered weapon.

"It was never my intention to force anyone to own a gun who doesn't want to. My purpose was to make a statement in support of the Second Amendment,” Head Selectman Anne Simmons-Edmund tells US News & World Report.

"I'm just here because I'd rather see weapons stay with people, rather than turned in to be melted," a man named Joe, who declined to provide his last name, tells the Bainbridge Island Review. "I'm here to exercise the Second Amendment," he added. "Even if I don't get anything, honestly, I'd just rather see people keep them."

http://rt.com/usa/california-gun-program-model-157/

[Psalm 51:17]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-13/california-to-audit-owners-losing-right-to-bear-arms.html?cmpid=yhoo
3/13/13
California to Audit Owners Losing Right to Bear Arms

California will audit its program that confiscates guns for residents who are prohibited from possessing them, to insure those who are disqualified are reported promptly.

Lawmakers on the Joint Legislative Audit Committee approved a request for the review. Republicans sought the inquiry, citing a 2010 study of states other than California by the National Center for State Courts that found fewer than half of those who should have been reported to local police for background checks were processed.

California is the only state that tracks and disarms people with legally registered guns who have lost the right to own them, according to Attorney General Kamala Harris. Almost 20,000 gun owners in the state are prohibited from possessing firearms, including convicted felons, those under a domestic-violence restraining order or deemed mentally unstable.

“Keeping guns out of the hands of felons and other individuals who have been deemed ineligible to possess firearms is vital,” Assemblyman Katcho Achadjian, a Republican from San Luis Obispo, said yesterday.

Since California was not one of the states in the 2010 study, Achadjian said a thorough review is needed to determine if state and local officials were reporting and processing the necessary information.

The Dec. 14 killings of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, the second deadliest school shooting in U.S. history, reignited a national debate over gun-control laws, stricter bans on assault weapons and better screening and care for the mentally ill.

California’s no-gun list is compiled by cross-referencing files on almost 1 million handgun and assault-weapon owners in the state with databases of new criminal records and involuntary mental-health commitments. About 15 to 20 names are added to the list each day, according to the attorney general’s office.

These individuals are supposed to be immediately reported to the state Justice Department. Local police can check the list when conducting background checks for gun purchases. Someone who is on the prohibited persons list would not be allowed to legally purchase a firearm.

[Kilika]

Something like that isn't possible in Arizona. Not unless they overturn some laws here. As it is, residents can legally purchase a weapon with no checks, licenses, etc. No requirement to register either unless you buy from a federally licensed gun dealer, and we also have open or concealed carry with no permit required.

Arizona is about as close to the Constitution as it can get when it comes to gun laws.

And why are people still living in California?

[Mark]

Senate Judiciary Committee approves assault weapons ban in a party -line vote, 10-8 - @AP


an assault weapons ban in a party -line vote that underscores how hard it will be for the measure to survive in the full Senate.

The proposal by California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein was approved on a 10-8 vote Thursday by the Democratic-controlled committee.

An assault rifle was used by the man who killed 26 elementary school students and staff in Newtown, Conn., in December. Banning the weapons is key to President Barack Obama's plan to curb gun violence.

The measure is not expected to survive in the Senate. Feinstein faces overwhelming GOP opposition and likely defections by up to six moderate Democrats facing re-election next year in Republican-leaning states in the South and West.

rest: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/senate-committee-ready-ok-assault-weapons-ban

[Psalm 51:17]

http://www.infowars.com/democrats-republicans-and-nra-work-together-on-gun-confiscation/
Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
March 12, 2013

Dianne Feinstein’s assault weapon ban now appears to be a little more than decoy sent out to be shot down while the real work on gun control legislation is hammered out by Democrats, Republicans and the NRA behind closed doors.

According to sources cited by Ammoland.com, the “NRA is cutting back room deals to centralize gun owner data collection into the Obama/Holder massive government data base.” Republicans are working with Democrats to pass legislation that will require records be kept on all gun sales and also move to streamline and improve the database.
 
“Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor is leading the charge to give Obama and Holder what they want in exchange for appearing to be ‘fixing’ the problem of innocent children being butchered in our public and private schools,” the website reports.
 
The collusion reaches all the way to the top of the Republican party. “Newly appointed Republican Judiciary Chairman, Bob Goodlatte R-VA 6th District, is providing political cover for the sneaky back room gun control deals and gun grabbing sell outs that his political masters - – John Boehner and Eric Cantor – are cutting [deals] with Obama and his corrupt Attorney General, Eric Holder.”
 
Goodlette is also colluding with Virginia Republican Congressman Scott Rigell on his House version of Vermont Senator Pat Leahy’s S. 443, titled “The Forced Gun Owner Registration Act” by Ammoland.com.
 
If Leahey’s bill is enacted, Republicans and the NRA will claim they saved the Second Amendment by preventing Feinstein’s gun-grabbing bill from clearing the Senate.
 
At the same time, the establishment media has rolled out a number of public survey polls claiming Americans overwhelmingly approve of registering nearly all firearms under a universal background check scheme.
 
Bipartisan negotiations hit a snag in the Senate due to demands by Oklahoma Republican Tom Coburn, who opposes record keeping aspects of the Democrat assault on the Second Amendment.
 
“Coburn got hung up on record keeping. Under the bill, all guns sold at gun shows would require a background check, and the seller would keep a record of the sale — just as federally-licensed retailers do now,” the Chicago Tribune reported on Sunday.
 
The newspaper said if Coburn’s version of the legislation is enacted, private sales between individuals “would not be turned over to the government. It would not become part of a national database. It would not lead to mass gun confiscation.”
 
On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved Sen. Chuck Schumer’s “ideal approach” proposal to broaden background check requirements for all gun sales in the United States, including measures Coburn opposed. The vote went straight down partisan lines, as expected.
 
Passing the measure out of the committee indicates a potential compromise between Democrats and Republicans and signals that the bill stands a good chance of getting the 60 votes required to pass in the Senate.
 
Last week bipartisan negotiations fizzled as Coburn stuck to his guns on record keeping and the prospect of a massive expansion of a database that will ultimately be used by the Justice Department when the government decides to conduct a national confiscation of firearms similar to past confiscations in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Britain.
 
Democrats will now try to marginalize Coburn and find a Republican “partner” to collude with them against the Second Amendment.

[Kilika]

the establishment media has rolled out a number of public survey polls claiming Americans overwhelmingly approve of registering nearly all firearms under a universal background check scheme.

Yeah, the "establishment media" tends to dump false polls on the public claiming it's what the public wants.

Poll results or not, government is going to give the public what Washington wants, regardless of what the public wants.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/hampshire-lawmakers-reject-bill-allow-guns-schools-193016922.html
3/14/13
New Hampshire lawmakers reject bill to allow guns in schools

CONCORD, New Hampshire (Reuters) - A bill that would have required New Hampshire school districts to vote on whether to allow teachers and other employees to carry concealed firearms on school property was defeated in a rare setback for the gun lobby in the New England state.
 
Under the proposed law, individual districts would have been required to decide whether to allow school employees who are licensed to carry a concealed weapon to do so on campus.
 
The bill had been submitted in January, weeks after a gunman armed with a semi-automatic assault rifle attacked a grammar school in Newtown, Connecticut, a brazen assault that left 26 people dead, including 20 children ages 6 and 7.
 
In the wake of that incident, the head of the National Rifle Association lobby proposed putting armed guards in schools who would have the ability to fight off future attackers.

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[Psalm 51:17]

Well, of all of the hot button agendas out there(illegal immigration reform, gay marriage, etc) - it seems like the 2nd ammendment rights is the only one that's standing pretty firm. Yes, there's a few cracks in it, and yes a growing number of 501c3 churches across America have participated in gun buy-back programs, and yes even various corporations like Wal-Mart have worked arm-arm recently with the anti-gun rights lobby, etc, etc, but nonetheless I am surprised by how firm gun rights groups(except for the NRA) as a whole have stood firm(and for that matter too, gun sales have been through the roof) without getting themselves into this nonsense "war of words" dogfights with the anti-gun lobby groups.

Eventually and unfortunately, even the gun rights lobby will eventually cave(as we saw recently with the pro-family groups doing so with gay marriage recently).

Mat 24:12  And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

http://news.yahoo.com/colo-legislature-oks-expansion-firearms-checks-215433054.html
3/15/13
Colo Legislature OKs expansion of firearms checks

DENVER (AP) — A landmark expansion of background checks on firearm purchases was approved Friday by lawmakers in Colorado, a politically moderate state that was the site of last year's gruesome mass shooting at a suburban Denver movie theater.
 
The bill previously passed the state Senate and now heads to Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper, who is expected to sign it into law within two weeks.
 
Earlier this week, Colorado lawmakers approved a 15-round limit on ammunition magazines. It is also awaiting the expected approval of the governor.
 
The bill passed Friday expands cases when a $10 criminal background check would be required to legally transfer a gun. Republicans have opposed the bill, calling it an undue burden on law-abiding gun owners.
 
"We know for a fact that whatever law we pass criminals won't care," said Republican Rep. Jerry Sonnenberg.
 
Colorado is the first state outside the East Coast to significantly ratchet back gun rights after the theater and school shootings. Colorado's gun debate was being watched closely because it's considered a swing state with both a gun-loving frontier past and an unfortunate history of mass shootings, including the 1999 Columbine High School attack.
 
"Are going to stop all criminals from getting guns? No," said Democratic Rep. Beth McCann, a sponsor of the background checks bill. "But are we are going to put a barrier there, make it more difficult for them? Yes."
 
The move to expand background checks would be one of the most sweeping responses by Colorado to the shootings last year in Aurora, Colo., and the elementary school in Newtown, Conn.
 
Expanded checks have been a top priority for Hickenlooper, who called for the proposal during his State of the State address in January.
 
Both chambers previously approved the expanded checks in slightly different forms. However, both had to agree on an identical bill before passing it to the governor, so a second round of voting was required.
 
Democrats seemed relieved that Colorado's protracted gun-control debate was nearing an end.
 
The GOP unsuccessfully tried some last-minute legislative maneuvers on Friday to sink the background-check measure before it was passed 19-14 by the Senate.
 
"It won't help anything, but it makes common everyday actions among friends and neighbors something that's now illegal in the state of Colorado," argued Republican Sen. Greg Brophy, one of the GOP's lead Senate gun negotiators.
 
Brophy tried to keep background-check talks alive by rejecting a preliminary agreement by the House and Senate to clarify the bill so gun owners can lend firearms to immediate family members without a background check.
 
Democrats grew frustrated at GOP attempts to imagine scenarios that would trigger background-check. From 4-H members learning gun safety but needing to borrow a shotgun, to neighbors on weeklong elk-hunting trips, Republicans argued the bill would ensnare harmless gun users.
 
Democrats insisted that existing exemptions in the bill would cover most scenarios the GOP imagined. The bill's sponsor, Senate Democratic Leader Morgan Carroll, told Republicans that Democrats had enough votes to pass the measure but extended debate to make small changes requested by Republicans.
 
"There were many, many changes made to this bill, made in good faith," Carroll said.
 
However, Republicans wanted so many exceptions that "we might as well repeal all background checks," she said.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/colorado-governor-sign-gun-controls-law-035421422.html
Colorado governor to sign gun controls into law
3/18/13

DENVER (AP) — Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper will sign legislation Wednesday that sets limits on ammunition magazines and expands background checks for firearms, marking a Democratic victory in a state where gun ownership is a treasured right and Second Amendment debate has played out in the wake of two mass shootings.
 
The measures proposed are some of the strictest gun laws in the nation, and their passage comes after weeks of tense legislative battles. Republicans and gun rights supporters put up a major fight against the measures in this politically moderate state, while Democrats made them the centerpieces of a package of legislative proposals drafted in reaction to shooting rampages at a suburban Denver movie theater and a Connecticut elementary school last year.

[Mark]

Congress: Assault-weapons ban nixed from bill

Whither assault weapons ban: “Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said on Monday that a controversial assault weapons ban will not be part of a Democratic gun bill that was expected to reach the Senate floor next month,” Politico notes. “After a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Monday, a frustrated Feinstein said she learned that the bill she sponsored — which bans 157 different models of assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines — wouldn’t be part of a Democratic gun bill to be offered on the Senate floor. Instead, it can be offered as an amendment. But its exclusion from the package makes what was already an uphill battle an almost certain defeat.”

http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/19/17371231-congress-assault-weapons-ban-nixed-from-bill?lite

[Kilika]

Instead, it can be offered as an amendment. But its exclusion from the package makes what was already an uphill battle an almost certain defeat.”

See, this is a perfect example of their shenanigans. Here we have a politician that has "wrote a bill", fair enough, they can do that when needed, but knowing that the bill is questionable and controversial, the politicians conspire to deceive the public by placing said bill inside other legislation, so they can have the questionable bill "piggyback" the better bill that has more chance of being signed into law. Add to that they then have a law passed that would not have passed had it been voted on by itself, but it becomes law as part of the bill it was placed in because the better bill is what gets voted on, not any of the bills inside them. They call it "just politics", but in fact it's fraud and deceit.

[Mark]

US VP Biden: 'For all those who said we shouldn't or couldn't ban high capacity magazines, I just ask them: think about Newtown' - @kasie

Newtown father: 'I'm really ashamed to see that Congress doesn't have the guts to...ban assault weapons' - @kasie

just what is an "assault weapons" ? there is really no such thing. and nothing that was used was fully automatic. morons
 

[Kilika]

just what is an "assault weapons" ? there is really no such thing. and nothing that was used was fully automatic. morons

I know. It's just people that are simply brain-dead. It's tragic, but amazing to see how people can be so blind and support such ignorance and lies, when the truth of it is right there in the Constitution.

We know it's the government that started using, through the media, the terms "assault rifle".

In the military, an "assault team" arms themselves with a certain type rifle due to the confined spaces of urban combat, house to house stuff. Short rifle barrel so you don't keep banging it against walls when aiming inside buildings. You also want a weapon that is lightweight, so synthetic materials are used to make the stocks, etc. that's basically plastic. Lightweight, strong and resists weather, and near zero maintenance.

So what is an "assault weapon"? Depends on the one using it or describing it. Some might call a hammer an assault weapon.

Now, an "assault rifle"? THAT is the type civilian SWAT teams have adopted from the military for the reasons stated above. House to house is what civilian police do. They claim they are arming themselves that way to not be "outgunned" by criminals. Basically, tactically, that's true. Criminals have those type weapons for the same reasons police and military do.

So criminals WILL get their guns, of any type. Regardless of unconstitutional laws and restrictions. History has proven that to be a fact in the unbelieving world.

Military and police units have them.

Select license holders have them.

Yet they don't want civilians to have "assault rifles".

Like I said, brain-dead!

[Psalm 51:17]

FWIW, wouldn't an aluminum bat be an "assault weapon" by their logic as well? B/c even this can cause alot of damage. For that matter too, so can a sharp knife.

[Kilika]

Guess it's time to ban Louisville Sluggers! 

[Psalm 51:17]

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/21/17403948-300-gun-arsenal-seized-from-long-island-ny-home?lite=
3/21/13
300-gun arsenal seized from Long Island, NY, home

An arsenal of more than 300 guns, many of them illegal, has been seized from a Long Island home around the corner from a high school, and the homeowner was arrested, authorities said Thursday.

Jay Steiner, 66, was arrested in late January after an undercover Suffolk police officer visited his Centereach home.

Steiner has been charged with criminal possession of a weapon and is free on bail.

"Wow!" said one surprised neighbor. "That's a lot of guns. It's scary."
 
Police were acting on a tip from a gun owner who had taken his weapon to Steiner, said Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota.

"The guns were stored all throughout the house," said Spota, as he stood in front of a table filled with the seized weapons.

In all, 85 illegal handguns and 230 rifles and shotguns were found, as well as thousands of rounds of ammunition.

"He had more firepower than the detectives who arrested him," said Spota.

Investigators said Steiner had once held a federal gun license, permitting him to buy and sell weapons, but it expired in 2004.

Steiner maintained a business card, prosecutors said, displaying that expired license number.

Several calls to Steiner's lawyer, William Eppig of West Islip, were not returned.

It's unclear what the Centereach man was doing with all the guns.

The guns are being examined to determine whether any have been stolen or used in crimes. 

Steiner had no pistol license for any of the handguns, according to Spota. 

[Kilika]

Police were acting on a tip from a gun owner who had taken his weapon to Steiner,

Oh really? A gun owner calls the cops on a gun owner about how many guns the person has? Knowing how things are, I don't believe that. I think they found out some other way. Let the tipster come forward and admit they told on him.

Just doesn't sound right.

[Psalm 51:17]

This story is in the Top 10 Yahoo tracker now...

When I was a young boy in the 80's, I remember they ran an anti-gun ad during an after-school program on tv showing 2 young boys cracking open their dad's briefcase safe, and they find a gun. Then one of the boys pointed it at his friend like it was some toy, and accidentally shot him. Personally, my reaction at the time was of shell-shockness. Not surprising, as little did I(nor anyone else) know that these kinds of NWO ads were aimed at young kids to brainwash us to believe the 2nd amendment is evil.

Anyhow - when I read this story a few minutes ago, it reminded me of this ad awhile back, and fast-forward to today over how these news items are being pushed to further promote gun control legislation.

http://www.examiner.com/article/teen-accidentally-kills-brother-12-year-old-boy-dies-second-orlando-shooting
Teen accidentally kills brother: 12-year-old boy dies in second Orlando shooting
3/23/13

A teen accidentally kills his brother is topping national headlines this weekend, as Fox WOGX News reported this Friday, March 22, that a 12-year-old Orlando, Fla. boy is dead after his 16-year-old brother accidentally shot him with a gun.

Under the headline, “Teen accidentally kills brother, police say”, the Orlando Sentinel adds that although the boy was quickly taken to Arnold Palmer Hospital, he was unable to be revived and was pronounced dead from the gunshot wound.

Local officials have deemed that the brother’s shooting was an accident, and the older teen is not expected to face any charges in the boy’s death.

“
"Detectives will be meeting at a later date with the State Attorneys Office to discuss the case and decide if there is any negligence," said Orlando Police Department spokesman Sgt. Jim Young. "The family is fully cooperating with the investigation; however, they are requesting privacy."

Unfortunately, this is not the first time that gun violence in the Orlando area has tragically struck youth this week. Fox News added that a Pine Hills boy, only four years old, is still in critical condition after he found a loaded gun and shot himself in the head this Wednesday morning.

Police are still investigating how the child came in contact with the gun. This disturbing news only seems to highlight the importance of keeping guns away from both the very young and teens to keep them safe from such accidents.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/bloomberg-mayor-group-tout-big-gun-control-push-004838083--politics.html
Bloomberg, mayor group tout big gun control push
3/23/13

NEW YORK (AP) — A new $12 million television ad campaign from Mayors Against Illegal Guns will push senators in key states to back gun control efforts, including comprehensive background checks.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the ad buy Saturday — just days after Senate Democrats touted stronger background checks while acknowledging insufficient support to restore a ban on assault-style weapons to federal gun control legislation.

"These ads bring the voices of Americans — who overwhelmingly support comprehensive and enforceable background checks — into the discussion to move senators to immediately take action to prevent gun violence," Bloomberg said in a statement issued by the group he co-founded in 2006.

The two ads posted on the group's website, called "Responsible" and "Family," show a gun owner holding a rifle while sitting on the back of a pickup truck.

more

[Kilika]

And just who is paying that 12 million? And who told the mayors to form a group and protest stuff as a group? The public is suppose to tell politicians what is needed. Politicians don't get to "form groups" and make policy outside the voting booth.

Bloomberg is one of the biggest enemies of the state there is. Stone-cold socialist/globalist dirt bag.

It's this kind of stuff that really gets me angry.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/289971-mccain-emerges-as-key-republican-in-expanding-background-checks-
3/24/13
McCain emerges as key senator in expanding background checks

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has emerged as a key player if Senate Democrats are to have any chance of passing legislation to expand background checks for private sales of firearms.

McCain and Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Dean Heller (R-Nev.) are at the top of a list of Republicans considered most likely to sign on to legislation expanding background checks after talks with Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) stalled earlier this month.

Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) has signaled he will likely support the yet-to-be-finalized proposal he negotiated with Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) to expand background checks to cover private gun sales, according to Senate sources.

The proposal includes modifications to attract Republican support. One would let rural gun owners conduct background checks from their home computers. Another would create an appeals process for military veterans who have been declared mentally unfit to own a gun.

Expanding background checks is the centerpiece of President Obama’s proposal to change the nation’s gun laws in response to the mass shooting that killed 20 children in Newtown, Conn., last December.

more

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/arizona-assault-rifle-purchase-giffords-husband-triggers-outcry-191450646.html
3/27/13
Arizona assault rifle purchase by Giffords' husband triggers outcry

PHOENIX (Reuters) - The husband of Gabrielle Giffords, who with his wife is a top campaigner for curbs to military-style weapon ownership, has drawn criticism for buying an assault rifle in Arizona, a purchase he said meant to highlight the need for gun control.

Former astronaut Mark Kelly, who with Giffords founded a new lobbying group this year to curb gun violence, said it took only "a matter of minutes" to complete the background check for the AR-15 assault weapon he purchased at a gun shop in Tucson.

"Scary to think of people buying guns like these without a background check at a gun show or the Internet," he wrote in a posting on his Facebook account. "We really need to close the gun show and private seller loop hole."

News of his purchase was quickly met with stinging rebukes from gun rights supporters on social media, who called Kelly a hypocrite for buying the gun in the first place.

"What a two faced coward you are Kelly - it's ok for you to own one and protect your family but not the rest of us?" one Facebook poster wrote.

The group founded by Kelly and Giffords, Americans for Responsible Solutions, is pushing for a ban on high-powered semiautomatic weapons like the AR-15 rifle that he bought, as well as high-capacity magazines.

more

[Kilika]

he wrote in a posting on his Facebook account. "We really need to close the gun show and private seller loop hole."

No Mark, you need to mind your own constitutional business. You don't like Arizona gun laws, move! 

[Psalm 51:17]

http://tv.yahoo.com/news/conservatives-offer-jim-carrey-memorabilia-gun-money-ebay-133900098.html
Conservatives Offer Jim Carrey Memorabilia for Gun Money on eBay -- Did the Website Put a Stop To It
3/29/13

Jim Carrey's recent anti-gun Funny or Die video sparked outrage from conservatives, prompting one eBay user to sell paraphernalia of the star with the purpose of buying a gun with the proceeds.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, eBay user astrobuzz listed an item titled "Jim Carrey Autographed 8X10 Photo So I Can Afford a Gun!" in response to Carrey's video. The black-and-white autographed reprint of Carrey also had the inscription, "Spank you very much!" The Hollywood Reporter notes that while identical items sell for only $8 and attract few bids, astrobuzz's listing generated 103 bidders, raising the price up to $860 by Wednesday afternoon.

Late Wednesday night, all references to guns were purged from the item's description and the bids disappeared. "I'm selling this Jim Carrey autographed B&W photo (mint condition) for purposes I cannot explain because it might be against eBay's Terms & Conditions," the new description read.

Astrobuzz's original post spawned copycats, including eBayers who said that they would use the money to join the NRA or pursue classes and apply for a concealed-carry permit. But as of late Wednesday, the word "gun" was removed from all Carrey memorabilia on eBay.

eBay has not yet publicly addressed the issue.

Do you think eBay stopped the trend?