Tuesday, January 22, 2013

THE POLITICS OF GUN CONTROL

The 1994 federal assault weapons ban cost more than a dozen Democratic lawmakers their congressional seats in the 1994 midterm elections. That fact may well dampen any Democratic enthusiasm in the Senate for passing Obama’s gun control proposals.

BARRASSO: REID, SENATE DEMOCRATS WILL BACK OF GUN CONTROL
By Sandy Fitzgerald

Newsmax
January 21, 2013

Wyoming Republican Sen. John Barrasso doesn't expect Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to bring gun control bills to the Senate floor.

“He has six Democrats up for election in two years in states where the president received fewer than 42 percent of the votes,” Barrasso said of the Nevada Democrat. “He doesn't want his Democrats to have to choose between their own constituents and the president's positions,” Politico reported.

Barrasso, appearing on CNN's “State of the Union,” Sunday, said he doesn't believe Congress will pass bills that expand background checks for people buying guns, or limit the size of gun magazines, noting there are many issues Americans care deeply about, and that there is a great deal of anxiety in the United States.

“The major issues that face American families, which are jobs and the economy and the debt and spending, that's where people are focused,” said Barrasso, who chairs the Senate Republican Policy Committee, said.

Barrasso also accused President Barack Obama of neglecting the nation's mental health issues.

“He has focused so much on what may be happening at gun shows or gun shelves and gun stores that Ii think he is failing to try to find a solution to the problem of the tragedy of Newtown,” Barrasso said.

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