Senate Rejects Controversial Concealed Weapons Measure

[Dos Equis]

Senate Rejects Controversial Concealed Weapons Measure
Senators voted for the measure, 58-39, but it fell short of the required 60 votes for passage in an unusual setback for the gun rights side, which has been able to muster majorities of Republicans and pro-gun Democrats to move its agenda through both the Bush and Obama administrations. 

FOXNews.com

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

WASHINGTON -- The Senate sided with gun control advocates Wednesday by rejecting a measure that would have allowed people with concealed weapons permits to carry those hidden weapons across state borders.

Senators voted for the measure, 58-39, but it fell short of the required 60 votes for approval.

It is an unusual setback for the gun rights side, which has been able to muster majorities of Republicans and pro-gun Democrats to move its agenda through both the Bush and Obama administrations.

Opponents say the concealed weapon proposal would force states with tough gun laws to accept gun-carrying visitors from states with weaker laws. The sponsor of the bill, Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said that was not true and that gun-toters would have to follow the laws of the state they entered.

The gun proposal did not establish national standards for concealed weapons permits and would not have allowed those with permits to carry weapons into Wisconsin and Illinois, the two states that do not have concealed weapons laws.

Gun control groups were strongly in opposition.

Concealed handgun permit holders killed at least seven police officers and 44 private citizens during a two-year period ending in April, according to a study by the Violence Policy Center.

"It is beyond irrational for Congress to vote to expand the reach of these deadly laws," said the center's legislative director, Kristen Rand.

So far this year gun rights advocates have had some successes in Congress. They attached a provision to a credit card bill signed into law that restores the right to carry loaded firearms in national parks, and coupled a Senate vote giving the District of Columbia a vote in the House with a provision effectively ending the district's tough gun control laws.

House Democratic leaders, unable to detach the two issues without losing the support of pro-gun Democrats, abandoned attempts to pass the D.C. vote bill.

The vote comes a day after the Senate completed what is probably the most controversial issue connected to the defense bill, voting 58-40 to eliminate $1.75 billion in the $680 billion bill that had been set aside for building more F-22 fighters. President Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates campaigned hard for removing the money, saying the Pentagon had enough F-22s and the money could be spent on more pressing defense needs.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/07/22/senate-vote-controversial-concealed-weapons-measure/

[240 is Back]

   Come on repubs, stop being little bitches...

The Senate narrowly rejected a concealed weapons measure that critics have blasted as “radical” Wednesday afternoon.

The AP reports, “In a rare win for gun control advocates, the Senate on Wednesday rejected a measure allowing a person with a concealed weapon permit in one state to also hide his firearm when visiting another state.”

Earlier Wednesday morning, a New York Times editorial entitled “Gun Crazy in the Senate” denounced the measure as “radical.”

“Introduced as an amendment to the military’s budget bill by Senator John Thune, a Republican of South Dakota, this radical measure would nullify the laws of almost every state, subjecting police officers to greater risk and increasing the potential for gun violence,” the Times editorial said.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D, NJ) called it an “attempt by the gun lobby to put its radical agenda ahead of safety and security in our communities.”

The Associated Press story adds, “The vote was 58-39 in favor of the provision establishing concealed carry permit reciprocity in the 48 states that have concealed weapons laws. That fell two votes short of the 60 needed to approve the measure, offered as an amendment to a defense spending bill.”

At the Washington Post, Paul Kane notes, “Even in defeat, the debate demonstrated the continued power of the National Rifle Association and gun rights advocates in Congress, because the Thune amendment was considered the most far

[Purge_WTF]

  I'm with the Republicans here. I'm holding out hope that this will be overturned sometime in the future.

[240 is Back]

i'm shocked it almost passed.  That would have been, seriously, unbelievably awesome.

Right now, permits work in a lot of states, but there are still prick states like new York where your permit won't work.  This was 50-state reciprocity.  And it juuuust missed passing! 

[Eyeball Chambers]

I support it, but I don't understand how the federal government can overrule states that don't offer CCW on this?

[Parker]

i'm shocked it almost passed.  That would have been, seriously, unbelievably awesome.
Right now, permits work in a lot of states, but there are still prick states like new York where your permit won't work.  This was 50-state reciprocity.  And it juuuust missed passing! 

If it did that means other states would be subject to the laws of the weakest state.