Outside the Beltway

Mitch McConnell Says He’ll Join Gun Control Filibuster

Doug Mataconis
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The Senate Majority Leader says he’ll join Rand Paul’s filibuster of the Senate’s gun control bill:

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) plans to join a Republican filibuster of legislation aimed at curbing gun violence should Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) bring it to the floor.

“While nobody knows yet what Senator Reid’s plan is for the gun bill, if he chooses to file cloture on the motion to proceed to the Reid Bill (S. 649), Senator McConnell will oppose cloture on proceeding to that bill,” a McConnell spokesman said.

Reid said Monday that the Senate would move this week on the legislation, which includes an expanded background check program for gun sales, new federal funding for school security programs and would make gun trafficking a federal crime.

McConnell aides wouldn’t say whether he would support a modified version of the bill that includes new language negotiated by moderate senators working on a potential compromise.

In the end, this could be McConnell’s way of trying to force concessions on the bill. In the end, though, it’s yet another sign that the political momentum for gun control has pretty much stalled.

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8 responses to “Mitch McConnell Says He’ll Join Gun Control Filibuster”

  1. OzarkHillbilly Avatar
    OzarkHillbilly

    In the end, this could be McConnell’s way of trying to force concessions on the bill. In the end, though, it’s yet another sign that the political momentum for gun control has pretty much stalled.

    Who’da guessed that cowardice would carry the day? And no, one does not kow-tow to friends of Syria, Iran, and North Korea out of principle, one does it out of fear.

  2. Tsar Nicholas Avatar
    Tsar Nicholas

    Every now and then, when I peruse WaPo articles, or those of the other usual suspects, e.g., AP, Reuters, NYT, LAT, Boston Globe, S.F. Chronicle, the “Strib,” Philly Inquirer, Baltimore Sun, Miami Herald, etc., I imagine a world in which the media roles were reversed. IOW where the overwhelming majority of print and wire news services were conservative and where liberal sources were relegated to small fringes.

    Postulate for a moment in the aforementioned alternate universe what the headline and 1st graf of this particular article would have been. Rather than what we got, presumably it would have been along these lines:

    McConnell plans to join GOP’s effort to block Democrats’ ‘gun grab’ bill

    Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) plans to join a Republican effort to block legislation designed to chip away at 2nd Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens, should Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) bring that measure to the floor.

    Eyes of the beholder, and such.

  3. JKB Avatar
    JKB

    This just in, senator from Kentucky actually tries to look like he’s representing his constituents. Film at 11.

  4. legion Avatar
    legion

    @Tsar Nicholas:

    where the overwhelming majority of print and wire news services were conservative and where liberal sources were relegated to small fringes.

    Among all the various things your are habitually “not familiar with”, Tsar, perhaps you also missed the part where:
    – the rest of reality is debating background checks, not “gun grabs”
    – something over 90% of the American public supports said checks

    Given that, McConnell is triumphantly leading the GOP to become the Party of Permanent Irrelevance. And you have no idea what you’re talking about.

  5. john personna Avatar
    john personna

    Ye gods, do you understand the word “momentum?”

    Do you understand the word “filibuster?”

    You use the second word to block the first, because you know you don’t have the first.

  6. john personna Avatar
    john personna

    (Again, 94% of the US population support background checks. THAT is the momentum. McConnell is saying he will work as an active blocker, in the 6% minority, to make sure the momentum does not prevail.

    As I’ve said, beware the consequences of that in the general elections.)

  7. Gustopher Avatar
    Gustopher

    There was never any momentum for gun legislation — it’s been known and expected that the Republicans would filibuster anything, because that’s what they do.

    The only question in my mind is whether Harry Reid knows this. Is he simply setting up a case where the Republicans take a lot of heat for filibustering a bill with popular support, or hasnhe been hoodwinked into thinking the Republicans would act reasonably?

  8. Matt Avatar
    Matt

    @john personna: I bet about that many want us to be “tougher on crime” or “make airport security lines quicker” or a little less “hated Obamacare”…

    Details matter.

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