No Filibuster: Did Your Senator Sell You Out On Gun Control?

by Tim Brown

Yesterday the United States Senate overcame the threatened Paul-Cruz-Lee filibuster and voted to proceed to Harry Reid’s gun control bill, S. 649. Reid needed 60 votes to do this and in the end the votes were 68-31. That’s right Republican Senators sold the American people out on this issue, along with Socialist Democrats. Only two Democrats voted against moving forward on the bill, Sen Begich (D-AK) and Sen. Pryor (D-AR).

Here’s the full list of Republican turncoats:

Alexander (TN), Ayotte (NH), Burr (NC), Chambliss (GA), Collins (ME), Corker (TN), Coburn (OK), Flake (AZ), Isakson (GA), McCain (AZ), Heller (NV), Hoeven (ND), Kirk (IL), Graham (SC), Toomey (PA) and Wicker (MS).

Understand that they were not just voting to proceed and not go through a filibuster, they were voting anti-gun, anti-Second Amendment here. Instead of allowing the filibuster to move forward, these Senators decided to trample over those willing to stand up for your Constitutionally protected right in favor of debating delusional, gun control nut liberals.

As soon as the Senate proceeded, Reid used his privileged recognition to put several amendments in place. As I told you about just the other day, these are referred to as an “amendment tree.” Among the amendments put in place are the universal registry bill, the Feinstein gun ban, and the magazine ban. These will be voted on very shortly.

Gun Owners of America (GOA) warns, “As for the Toomey-Manchin-Schumer universal registry bill, don’t believe the press’ efforts to sugar-coat it. If you have ever had an ‘Internet … posting’ on (or related to) your gun, you can sell it only by going to a dealer and filling out a 4473 and getting the government’s approval. Only a cave man would be exempt. And once you have a 4473? Well, the ATF is going from dealer to dealer, copying the information on these forms, and feeding it into a database. But, says Toomey, he’s against universal registries. This is where it would have helped if Toomey had consulted someone who knew something about guns.”

While Toomey uses “anti-registry language” which is supposed to prohibit photocopying 4473 forms, there is nothing to keep them from going into a FFL (Federal Firearms License) dealer and copying all the information onto a laptop. In fact, I’ve received confirmation that this has already been occurring in the State of Colorado, which is illegal. ATF claims that the data it is accumulating is not a “registry.” Right, so why are they gathering data illegally then? Well look who is behind them, Attorney General Eric Holder who headed the department that illegally trafficked nearly 2,500 firearms over the U.S. / Mexican border. People do you really believe this administration cares about the law? Holders heads the “Justice” department for crying out loud!

But Toomey’s treasonous collaboration with Senators Manchin and Schumer also has Section 107 which waives any federal privacy prohibitions under HIPAA to sending the names of Americans with PTSD, ADHD, and post partem depression to the gun ban database.

Erick Erickson writes at Red State on what is to come via the Toomey-Manchin sellout, “Activist mental health providers will probably be overly aggressive in adding people to the list. Give it five years in liberal areas and people who believe in the physical resurrection of Christ will probably get automatic entry onto the list.” See? I told those conservatives jumping on the mental health bandwagon that this would come back and bite them in the rear. Did they listen? Nope, they just kept on pushing that old saw.

Nothing in any of the proposed legislation would have stopped what happened in Aurora, Colorado. It wouldn’t have stopped what happened in Newtown, Connecticut. It wouldn’t have stopped what happened at Columbine High School. These measures will simply be applauded as “doing everything to insure these tragedies won’t happen again” while at the same time doing nothing to insure they won’t happen again, but rather will simply criminalize law abiding citizens.

GOA says of this sellout, “Like sprinkles on a pile of dung, Toomey and Schumer steal some of the proposals we drafted and try to use them to get us to buy onto gun control. But it won’t work. The gun movement is united against this disgusting pile of gun control.”

The good news is that the Senate will have to have 60 out of 100 votes in order to move several of these measures forward. GOA, the National Rifle Association (NRA) and other Second Amendment organizations are against the Toomey-Manchin-Schumer proposal, so it is virtually ensured that the amendment will fail, but we must be vigilant.

The support for the filibuster was not wasted time either. According to GOA, “we forced Obama to fire most of his ammunition, as he dragged his human props around Washington in an effort to exploit them for political gain. If Obama had been able to wait to play this card until Toomey-Manchin-Schumer came up for a vote, that vote would be a lot harder for us to win. But Obama has already played this card for his ‘they deserve a vote’ theme. Okay, they’re getting their vote. But by the time we reach the vote on cloture on Toomey-Manchin-Schumer, Obama’s exploitation of the victims of Newtown will begin to be realized for the cynical exploitative political ploy that it is. And he will be less able to shift gears and use the victims for the theme ‘”They deserve a ‘yes’ vote.’”

Here’s the full list of those that voted to proceed on Reid’s gun control:

Alexander (R-TN)
Ayotte (R-NH)
Baldwin (D-WI)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bennet (D-CO)
Blumenthal (D-CT)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Burr (R-NC)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Cardin (D-MD)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Collins (R-ME)
Coons (D-DE)
Corker (R-TN)
Cowan (D-MA)
Donnelly (D-IN)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Flake (R-AZ)
Franken (D-MN)
Gillibrand (D-NY)
Graham (R-SC)
Hagan (D-NC)
Harkin (D-IA)
Heinrich (D-NM)
Heitkamp (D-ND)
Heller (R-NV)
Hirono (D-HI)
Hoeven (R-ND)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kaine (D-VA)
King (I-ME)
Kirk (R-IL)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Manchin (D-WV)
McCain (R-AZ)
McCaskill (D-MO)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Merkley (D-OR)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murphy (D-CT)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schatz (D-HI)
Schumer (D-NY)
Shaheen (D-NH)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Tester (D-MT)
Toomey (R-PA)
Udall (D-CO)
Udall (D-NM)
Warner (D-VA)
Warren (D-MA)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wicker (R-MS) Wyden (D-OR)

Contact your Senator and either encourage or reprimand them, depending on their vote, over this decision and then urge them to vote against Reid’s bill and every amendment put forward for the sake of freedom.