The amendment to a Defense Department bill received a majority of votes, 58-39, however it failed to gain the necessary 60 votes needed to override a threatened filibuster by arch anti-gunner Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY).
There is ample evidence to suggest that this vote was orchestrated by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Thune merely to give Republicans and vulnerable Dems a “pro-gun vote” going into August recess and the upcoming election.
In short, everyone knew that this amendment would fail. It was only brought forward as a pre-election stunt to buy a handful of Senator street-cred with gun voters.
From the Charlotte Gun Rights Examiner:
Laudable though Thune’s goal of national concealed carry may be, however, understand that the entire exercise was nothing but a sham in which (surprise, surprise) the amendment failed by a vote of 58 – 39. So before gun rights supporters contact the 58 ever-so-brave US Senators (including 20 Democrats) to thank them for supporting the measure, all should understand that its failure was preordained by Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and quite probably sanctioned by the NRA.
(Side note: Sixty votes – for “cloture” – were required for passage rather than the usual 51 due to a threatened filibuster by perennially anti-gun Sen. Charles Schumer. In the gentile land of the US Senate, threats routinely substitute for real action.
In reality, Reid is vulnerable in his 2010 re-election bid and, consequently, threw the NRA a very small bone.
And what does the NRA get? The appearance of accomplishing something – if not actual passage of the amendment, at least a recorded vote which purports to show who’s “fer ya” and “agin ya.” More action means more NRA members and more money.
Unfortunately, however, the vote shows nothing of the sort and, indeed, undermines your ability to assess which senators are actually pro-gun. The exercise is common, and here’s how it works: Chamber leadership (read that “Democrat”) gives a pass to members in conservative (or vulnerable) districts to vote for a measure which the leadership intends to kill – all the while keeping enough votes against, by Democrats in secure districts, to ensure defeat. They know, after all, that the NRA won’t waste money going after Chuck Schumer, Diane Feinstein or Frank Lautenberg.
So the result is a vote in which anti-gun Democrats such like Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC) get to posture as gun rights supporters. Read more
Source: National Association for Gun Rights
