Manchin, Toomey both interested in reviving gun control push

[mystery-ak]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2015/06/23/manchin-toomey-both-interested-in-reviving-gun-control-push/

By Colby Itkowitz June 23 at 8:16 PM

In the wake of the Charleston shooting, Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) are considering ways to renew their failed push to pass meaningful gun control legislation.

In separate interviews Tuesday night at a reception before a ceremony hosted by Sandy Hook families to honor Toomey, they discussed their desire to find a new way forward.

“We want to make sure we have the votes. Pat’s going to have to, and I’ll work with him, to get some of our colleagues on the Republican side,” Manchin said, adding he hasn’t talked directly to Toomey about a revival.

Manchin specifically mentioned an effort aimed at keeping guns out of the hands of people diagnosed with mental illness.



Though the effort is in the early stages, Toomey also said he’s looking for opportunities to reintroduce something related to combating gun violence.

“What I’m trying to figure out is there something that could get the support of the 60 votes that we would need in the Senate,” Toomey said. “Joe Manchin was and is a great partner and someone I will continue to work with and I’m open to exploring what is possible.”

He added that nothing was imminent “but if we stay at it I think we’ll find a way to make progress.”

If the two senators team up to tackle any facet of gun control, it would mark a significant shift in the political debate nearly a week after nine people were killed at a Bible study group in downtown Charleston, S.C.

President Obama noted last week that once again, someone got a gun who shouldn’t have had access to it.

“Now is the time for mourning and for healing, but let’s be clear: At some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries.  It doesn’t happen in other places with this kind of frequency,” the president said on Thursday.

[alicewonders]

I really don't know how Joe Manchin keeps getting re-elected in West Virginia.

[sinkspur]

What in hell is the matter with Pat Toomey?  He is NOT going to get ANYTHING passed in the Senate, much less the House.

Universal background checks are a ruse for registration. And no assault weapons ban. Never.

I don't get these Republicans hot to let the Democrats get their nose under the tent on gun control.

[sinkspur]

President Obama noted last week that once again, someone got a gun who shouldn’t have had access to it.

Roof passed a three-day federal background check. Misdemeanor drug charges don't disqualify one from obtaining a weapon.

Just what additional restrictions does this POS president think are reasonable?

[Longiron]

I really don't know how Joe Manchin keeps getting re-elected in West Virginia.

He has some issues with WV folks coming up and wanting to take their guns and anmo and that is not helping him. He wanted to run for Govenor again but got the message he is not electable. WV is starting to wake up to the Lib party but it takes a while for everything in WV. The war on coal is really hurting the state by the Dems and the message is slowly getting through.

[mountaineer]

WV is starting to wake up to the Lib party but it takes a while for everything in WV. The war on coal is really hurting the state by the Dems and the message is slowly getting through.

A little bit. There's still the entrenched mentality of many voters that there's only one way to vote, and that's Democratic. That we've elected Republicans the House of Representatives, one Republican U.S. Senator and a Republican state attorney general is amazing, though. There are glimmers of hope.

As for Mojo - or "Elmer Fudd," as he's known among W.Va. gun rights folks - I'm not sure his gungrabbing alone is enough to turn the braindead Dem voters against him. He keeps pretending to be independent of the ObamaDNC, and many are uninformed enough to buy it.

[Longiron]

A little bit. There's still the entrenched mentality of many voters that there's only one way to vote, and that's Democratic. That we've elected Republicans the House of Representatives, one Republican U.S. Senator and a Republican state attorney general is amazing, though. There are glimmers of hope.

As for Mojo - or "Elmer Fudd," as he's known among W.Va. gun rights folks - I'm not sure his gungrabbing alone is enough to turn the braindead Dem voters against him. He keeps pretending to be independent of the ObamaDNC, and many are uninformed enough to buy it.

Well if one really to PO a West Virginian let them Know the guy behind Rich ROD leaving was Manchin along with Eddie Pastlaong. RichRod did not want to leave but Little Joe thought he was Jerry Jones and wanted his own boy in there so he could run WVU football. That came from a few players that played for RR in Morgantown. If WV would understand that JOE would be DONE but Manchin has done a good job covering his tracks on that one.

[Fishrrman]

Longiron wrote above:
[[ He has some issues with WV folks coming up and wanting to take their guns and anmo and that is not helping him. He wanted to run for Govenor again but got the message he is not electable. WV is starting to wake up to the Lib party but it takes a while for everything in WV. The war on coal is really hurting the state by the Dems and the message is slowly getting through. ]]

What's been happening in West Virginia over the course of the last decade seems to be a truly unique occurrence in American politics.

That is to say, we're watching a former blue-ish state first turn purple, and then to red with remarkable speed.

Nowhere else in America has this happened in recent times. The "transformation" has always been in the opposite direction.

Of course, the "war on coal" has a lot to do with it, but I sense there is "something else in the West Virginia air". And it's got something to do with demographics.

Of almost all the states, W.Va. is one of the "least diverse". Very low number of blacks, and a very low number of Hispanics. Almost "all white".

And -- as whites in the Deep South have by necessity developed a sense of "political identity" as a racial group, so may West Virginians be looking around at what's happening elsewhere in the country. Could they be coming to the realization that the party with which so many of them aligned themselves for so long.... just no longer seems interested in white folks? Not as far as jobs are concerned, and certainly not insofar as culture is concerned, either.

If I could get loose from the leftist state in which I'm currently living, West Virginia would be at the top of my list of places to live (along with north/central PA).

Maybe the time's coming when the left will succeed in eradicating traditional beliefs, but I sense that West Virginia is one of the places where the old ways will hang on the longest, until the bitter end.

Almost heaven, indeed!

[PzLdr]

They can "pass" whatever the hell they want. NOBODY with a dog in the fight is going to obey them. In deep blue N.Y, home of Randy Andy's SAFE ACT, the non-compliance rate on registering so-called "assault weapons is somewhere north of 95% [based on NYSP stats released as a result of a law suit]. Most law enforcement in central and northern New York refuses to enforce the damn thing.

And a lot of us are out of patience with these asshats. So, MOLON LABE, mother*ckers! 

[mountaineer]

If I could get loose from the leftist state in which I'm currently living, West Virginia would be at the top of my list of places to live (along with north/central PA).

Maybe the time's coming when the left will succeed in eradicating traditional beliefs, but I sense that West Virginia is one of the places where the old ways will hang on the longest, until the bitter end. Almost heaven, indeed!

[Longiron]

Longiron wrote above:
[[ He has some issues with WV folks coming up and wanting to take their guns and anmo and that is not helping him. He wanted to run for Govenor again but got the message he is not electable. WV is starting to wake up to the Lib party but it takes a while for everything in WV. The war on coal is really hurting the state by the Dems and the message is slowly getting through. ]]

What's been happening in West Virginia over the course of the last decade seems to be a truly unique occurrence in American politics.

That is to say, we're watching a former blue-ish state first turn purple, and then to red with remarkable speed.

Nowhere else in America has this happened in recent times. The "transformation" has always been in the opposite direction.

Of course, the "war on coal" has a lot to do with it, but I sense there is "something else in the West Virginia air". And it's got something to do with demographics.

Of almost all the states, W.Va. is one of the "least diverse". Very low number of blacks, and a very low number of Hispanics. Almost "all white".

And -- as whites in the Deep South have by necessity developed a sense of "political identity" as a racial group, so may West Virginians be looking around at what's happening elsewhere in the country. Could they be coming to the realization that the party with which so many of them aligned themselves for so long.... just no longer seems interested in white folks? Not as far as jobs are concerned, and certainly not insofar as culture is concerned, either.

If I could get loose from the leftist state in which I'm currently living, West Virginia would be at the top of my list of places to live (along with north/central PA).

Maybe the time's coming when the left will succeed in eradicating traditional beliefs, but I sense that West Virginia is one of the places where the old ways will hang on the longest, until the bitter end.

Almost heaven, indeed!

Good points!!!