GUN VOTE SHOWDOWN: Background Check Plan Fails, Obama Lashes Out

• 

  April 9, 2013: Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. is followed by reporters as he walks from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's, D-Nev., office on Capitol Hill in Washington.AP

Senate Democrats are trying desperately to round up a bipartisan coalition in advance of a critical round of gun-control votes Wednesday afternoon, as fence-sitting Republicans began to peel away and new polling showed ebbing public support for tightening gun laws. 

After days of backroom wrangling, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid lined up a vote on nine amendments for late Wednesday. The first, on a compromise proposal to loosen the firearms bill's background checks provision, is considered the most vital. 

The proposal, rolled out by Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Pat Toomey, R-Pa., would expand background checks to gun shows and Internet sales while exempting personal transactions. The amendment is aimed at winning over reluctant conservatives -- if it fails, the overall bill stands little chance of passing. 

Democrats face a heavy lift, as they must round up a 60-vote majority. They did so last week on a procedural vote, but that coalition now appears to be eroding. 

Democratic leaders have given ever-changing assessments of where support stands. Vice President Biden said Tuesday that Democrats would get the 60 votes, but then said later in the day that it could come down to one or two senators. 

Manchin reportedly said he does not have 60 -- but then his office released a statement saying he "remains optimistic and hopeful that if Senators and the American people read the bill, they will support his commonsense approach to require criminal and mental background checks for advertised sales, including purchases at gun shows and online sales, without infringing on Americans' Second Amendment rights." 

The vote math depicts a steep uphill climb for Democrats. Opponents will need just 41 of the Senate's 100 votes to derail the Manchin-Toomey background check plan.  

Thirty-one senators voted last week to completely block debate on overall gun legislation. Just two were Democrats -- Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Mark Begich of Alaska. 

If all 31 oppose the Manchin-Toomey measure -- and that is not certain -- opponents would need just 10 more votes to prevail. 

So far, 11 of 16 Republicans who voted last week to let debate on the gun bill begin have said they will oppose Manchin-Toomey. That would give foes of expanded background checks 42 potential votes -- one more than they need to win. 

Among the latest to announce opposition was Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev. 

"I believe very strongly that our current background check system needs strengthening and improving, particularly in areas that could keep guns out of the hands of felons and the mentally ill. At the same time, I cannot support legislation that infringes upon the constitutional right to keep and bear arms," Heller said in a statement. 

So far, just three Republican senators have committed to voting for the amendment. 

Still uncertain was support from some Democrats from GOP-heavy states, including Max Baucus of Montana, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota. Baucus and Landrieu face re-election next year. 

The Senate gun bill would extend background checks to nearly all gun purchases, toughen penalties against illegal gun trafficking and add small sums to school safety programs. 

Perhaps helping explain Democrats' problems, an AP-GfK poll this month showed that 49 percent of Americans support stricter gun laws. That was down from 58 percent who said so in January -- a month after the December killings of 20 children and six aides at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school propelled gun violence into a national issue. 

In a climactic day, the Senate planned to hold eight other votes Wednesday besides the one on background checks, all of them amendments to a broad gun control measure. 

They included Democratic proposals to ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines, which are expected to lose; a Republican proposal requiring states to honor other states' permits allowing concealed weapons, which faces a close vote; and a GOP substitute for the overall gun measure. 

The concealed weapons amendment, seen by advocates as protecting gun rights, was vehemently opposed by gun control groups, who say it would allow more guns into states with stricter firearms laws. 

The votes were coming a day after former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, badly injured in a 2011 mass shooting in Tucson, Ariz., and her husband, Mark Kelly, tried galvanizing gun control support by visiting Capitol Hill and attending a private lunch with Democratic senators. Reid, D-Nev., called the lunch -- senators said it included emotional speeches from lawmakers -- "as moving as any" he has attended. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

View the original article here

Background on potentially lethal poison ricin

An envelope containing ricin was sent to the Capitol Hill office of Sen. Roger Wicker, lawmakers told Fox News on Tuesday.

Ricin, a potentially lethal poison, is derived from the same bean that makes castor oil. According to a Homeland Security Department handbook, ricin is deadliest when inhaled. It is not contagious, but there is no antidote.

"Luckily, this was discovered at the processing center off premises," Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill, said. He said all mail to senators is "roasted, toasted, sliced and opened" before it ever gets to them.

One law enforcement official said evidence of ricin appeared on preliminary field tests of the letter, although such results are not deemed conclusive without further testing. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation remains active.

Ricin prevents the cells of a person’s body from making the proteins they need, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Without the proteins, the cells die eventually becoming harmful to the whole body and possibly leading to death.

Symptoms of ricin poisoning depend on a person’s exposure to it.

If a significant amount of ricin is inhaled, the likely symptoms would be difficulty breathing, fever, cough, nausea, and tightness in the chest, according to the CDC. Low blood pressure and respiratory failure may occur leading to death.

If ricin is swallowed, a significant amount of ricin, he or she would likely develop vomiting and diarrhea that may become bloody. Severe dehydration may be the result, followed by low blood pressure. Other signs or symptoms may include seizures, and blood in the urine, according to the CDC. Within several days, the person’s liver, spleen, and kidneys might stop working, leading to death.

If a person’s skin makes contact with ricin powders or products, redness and pain of the skin and eyes may occur, the CDC reports.  

The discovery evoked memories of the days after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, when mail laced with anthrax began appearing in post offices, newsrooms and congressional offices.

That included letters sent to Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., who was Senate majority leader, and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. Two Senate office buildings were closed during that investigation.

Overall, five people died and 17 others became ill. The FBI attributed the attack to a government scientist who committed suicide in 2008.

More immediately, though, the discovery came as lawmakers were demanding answers to the attacks in Boston a day earlier.

There was no evidence of a connection between the bombings and the letter addressed to Wicker.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Click for more from CDC.gov.

View the original article here

Obama adviser ups push for background checks- Gun class envisioned by ex-SEAL draws hundreds

Published April 07, 2013

FoxNews.com

• 

  File: June 19, 2010: Assorted shotguns are displayed on a table at a gun and knife show in White Plains, N.Y.,AP

A top White House official acknowledged Sunday that President Obama knew some of his gun-control initiatives would likely be rejected but defended his efforts and called on Congress to “do the right thing.”

“The president pushed very hard,” White House adviser Dan Pfeiffer said on “Fox News Sunday.” “We knew all of the (proposals) would not pass right away.”

With a proposed ban on semi-automatic weapons and high-capacity gun magazines off the table for now, Obama appears to be focusing his efforts, including the garnering of public support, on getting Congress to agree to universal background checks for gun buyers.

Pfeiffer said the president has “marshaled people to his side” and polls show a large majority of the public supports background checks.

“You cannot get 90 percent of the people to agree on the weather,” Pfeiffer told Fox. “The question is whether Congress is going to do the right thing.”

A final Senate bill was expected to be released this week, when Congress returns from Spring Break. But the voting could be delayed as senators wrangle over the background check issue. The legislation would come about four months after a mass shooting at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school in which 20 first-graders and six adults were killed.

Pfeiffer said the president agrees with the efforts so far of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and other senators.

“This is the best response to Newtown and gun violence in the country,” Pfeiffer said.

View the original article here