US Senate to debate gun control

There were no real doubts the conservatives would be defeated and lawmakers would turn to the legislation, which would expand background checks to more gun buyers, toughen penalties against illicit firearms sales and offer slightly more money for school security.

But even if the expanded background checks pass the Senate they will likely face an even tougher time in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

With that defeat imminent, conservatives were saying they would invoke a rule forcing the Senate to wait 30 hours before it could begin considering amendments.

“Let’s get on the bill,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, as senators prepared for the vote. He said lawmakers had to try preventing criminals and the mentally ill from getting firearms, adding: “This bill won’t stop every madman determined to take innocent lives. I know that, we all know that.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, was supporting the conservative effort, saying the legislation would restrict the constitutionally protected rights of relatives and friends to sell firearms to each other.

“This bill is a clear overreach that will predominantly punish and harass our neighbours, friends, and family,” Senator McConnell said.

The compromise on background checks that cleared the way for today’s vote was worked out by senators Joe Manchin, a Democrat, and Patrick Toomey, a Republican. It would extend these federal checks to gun shows and online transactions but exempt noncommercial, personal transactions. Background checks currently apply only to transactions handled by the country’s 55,000 licensed gun dealers.

The bill is a far cry from President Obama’s call to ban assault rifles and the high capacity magazines that leave shooters able to fire large bursts of ammunition without having to reload.

While these issues will be raised during the debate, neither has any chance of being included in the legislation.

In a written statement, the president said, “This is not my bill,” adding that he wished the agreement was stronger. Still, he praised it as significant progress, saying: “We don’t have to agree on everything to know that we’ve got to do something to stem the tide of gun violence.”

Gun control groups gave the deal warm but not effusive praise, noting that unknown details and some pro-gun provisions gave them pause.

The nation’s powerful gun lobby, the National Rifle Association, said it opposed the agreement.

“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,” it said in a statement.

The bipartisan deal is expected to give gun control advocates a bit of momentum as debate begins. But many Republicans and some moderate Democrats, oppose even these gun curbs as going too far.

“Those two leaders stepping up is a very good way to start,” said Senator Mary Landrieu, who is seeking re-election next year and has stressed her support for both the right to bear arms and reducing gun bloodshed. “How it ends, I don’t know.”

In December, a gunman killed 20 young children and six members of staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Relatives of some victims were at the Capitol pressing lawmakers to back gun restrictions, and were holding a vigil outside the building where they were reading the names of recent victims of gun violence.

Expanded background checks are the core of the Democratic gun control drive. Other top proposals – including bans on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines – will be offered as amendments during Senate debate but seem destined for defeat.

The compromise between senators Toomey and Manchin, both owners of guns with top ratings from the NRA, was likely to improve the prospects that the Senate might expand background checks by attracting broader support. But debate could last weeks and it was not known what amendments to the overall bill, either constricting or expanding gun rights, senators might approve.

Neither Senator Toomey nor Senator Manchin predicted the Senate would approve gun legislation and both said their vote on final passage would depend on what the measure looked like when debate ends. Senator Manchin said he would vote against the overall legislation if his compromise with Senator Toomey was defeated.

Emotion, always prominent in the gun issue, cropped up late yesterday when Senator Manchin met relatives of the Sandy Hook victims in his Senate office, telling them “this will not be in vain”. He became choked up when a reporter asked about the impact of the family members’ visit, saying, “I’m a parent, a grandparent ... and I had to do something.”

Said Senator Toomey: “Criminals and the dangerously mentally ill shouldn’t have guns. I don’t know anyone who disagrees with that premise.” He said expanding the checks was not gun control, “just common sense”.