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PA-Sen: Toomey Pledges to Support New Attempt at Background Check Legislation (AUDIO)

In 2013, in the wake of the Sandy Hook shootings, Pat Toomey became a major supporter of additional background checks for gun purchases.

The GOP Senator teamed up with West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin to offer an amendment that would’ve expanded background checks to firearm sales at gun shows and over the internet.

That legislation was approved by a majority in a 54-46 vote but could not pass the 60-vote threshold to reach cloture and avoid a filibuster (five Democrats* voted against the bill while four Republicans voted for it).

In a call with reporters this morning, Toomey revealed that Sen. Manchin reached out to him to re-introduce their legislation. Sen. Toomey said he would join his colleague if he once again offered up the bill.

The Senator also indicated when questioned that he would be open to adding a provision that would prevent people on the “no-fly list” from purchasing firearms.

Despite his pledge, Toomey was frank when asked if the legislation had a better chance now after more recent shootings.

“I doubt that the vote totals have changed very much,” he admitted. “Most of the people who were here in 2013 are still here. Obviously there are new faces, there are new members. I don’t think there are enough new members to have a significant difference in the outcome of this vote, but we’ll find out.”

For the record, Sen. Toomey is correct. 85 out of the 100 Senators who voted two years ago are still in office.

This development also has an additional intriguing political component. After the failure of Manchin-Toomey, the Senator hinted he would changing his focus and his Democratic opponents accused him of abandoning the issue.

Now, the commonwealth’s junior Senator appears ready to make a major statement on gun control less than a year out from his re-election.

*Due to Senate procedure, then-Majority Leader Harry Reid voted against the bill so that he could bring it back up again at a later time.

10 Responses

  1. @Isaac L.

    And you don’t have to take my word for it. There have already been news reports about how much the list sucks long before any of the recent events happened.

  2. @Isaac L.
    Don’t be a sheep. The so called “no-fly” list is garbage, and needs major reform. There are zero guidelines for putting someone on the list, and the list is secret, it’s not published anywhere. There’s also no avenue for getting off the list either. It’s estimated that 40-50% of the people on the list don’t belong there.

    World news reporters, military personnel, random people on chat forums all end up on the list. Some, just for speaking out against the government. They’re thrown on the list and can’t fly anywhere, with no avenue for getting off the list.

    Now you want mass gun confiscation of those innocent people??

    I would agree to banning “no-fly” list people from owning guns, only if there were clear cut guidelines for being on the list, and if the people on the list were truly terrorists and only a small percentage were innocent.
    But that’s not the case and set a precedence to use the list however they please. If someone high up in government doesn’t like someone, they can have them placed on the list, then the ATF will come knocking to confiscate.

  3. Didn’t Toomey just vote against preventing people on the terrorist watch list from buying a firearm?

  4. Pat Toomey seems to want to dissociate from his base. I think he thinks there are not enough conservative voters to re-elect him. I don’t think he can win without a large turnout of rank and file grassroots conservatives and Republicans. He will need them to be enthusiastic and energized and this does not help.

    I don’t know where he is on immigration which may be issue #1.

    What are his tax reform proposals? A flatter tax which is pro-growth meaning more jobs and a higher standard of living.

  5. Just another politician trying to get some votes from the big city folks at the expense of everyone else. Problem for us is the alternative to him is totally unacceptable and he knows it. Too bad the media won’t expose what a BS number that 40% of guns sold without a background is. Obamas own justice dept. says the actual number is .7%. Each shooting brings out the same bogus call for background checks even though in nearly every case the shooter had already passed the checks.

  6. Is this his position before, or after, his Weekend with ALEC next month? Maybe he is just upping the bribery amount he will demand from them?

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