Cowardly Senators Fail To Pass Manchin-Toomey Background Check Bill

Click here for a New York Times article by Gabby Giffords on the cowardly senators who defied their constituents and pandered to the NRA in the recent vote on background checks. The list includes Democrats Baucus of Montana, Begich of Alaska, Heitkamp of North Dakota, and Pryor of Arkansas. (Harry Reid, a strong supporter of the bill, voted against it for valid procedural reasons.)

Props to Republicans voting for the bill: Kirk of Illinois, McCain of Arizona, and Toomey of Pennsylvania.

In a wide cross-section of polls, about 90% of Americans favor background checks for gun purchases (eliminating the gun-show and Internet loopholes). In contrast, according to a Huffington Post survey) Americans like:
apple pie: 81%
kittens: 76%
child labor laws: 71%
baseball: 67%

According to a recent Pew poll, 83% favor background checks, including 79% of gun owners, 86% of other people in households with guns, and 85% of people in non-gun-owning homes. Tommy Christopher at Mediaite writes:

Public support alone is not, of course, a reason to pass a law; if it were, our national anthem would probably be the theme song from Wheel of Fortune. But massive public support does remove an excuse for blocking an otherwise-worthy law. Background checks, assault weapons bans, magazine limits, and even a national gun registry have all been judged to be constitutional by the Supreme Court, have demonstrable benefits to public safety, and respect the Court’s interpretation of the Second Amendment. No one has been able to give a single reason to allow the sale of these weapons and magazines, beyond the mistaken belief that the U.S. Constitution guarantees it.

Some radical senators, like Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, are no doubt voting their tea-party Second Amemdment convictions. But I'm sure the bill failed because of a significant number of senators who cynically valued the NRA's political donations -- $25 million in the last election -- over the wishes of their constituents. I'm sure they're feeling a lot of pressure but believe that as in the past, the pressure will subside, and with time, the issue will be back-burnered and forgotten. But this time, perhaps public opinion is so strong that it cannot be denied: If the pressure is kept up, day after day, if those swing senators continue to be universally reviled, perhaps there is enough momentum to get this done.