NRA, Democrats Team Up To Pass Gun Bill

(CBS/AP)  After 52 years in Congress, John Dingell knows it sometimes takes a "rather curious alliance," such as between the National Rifle Association and the House's most fervent gun control advocate, to move legislation.

That's what took place Wednesday when the House, by voice vote, passed a gun control bill that Rep. Dingell, D-Mich., helped broker between the NRA and Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y.

With the NRA on board, the bill, which fixes flaws in the national gun background check system that allowed the Virginia Tech shooter to buy guns despite his mental health problems, has a good chance of becoming the first major gun control law in more than a decade.

"We'll work with anyone, if you protect the rights of law-abiding people under the second amendment and you target people that shouldn't have guns," NRA chief Wayne LaPierre told CBS News Correspondent Sharyl Atkisson

"As the Virginia Tech shooting reminded us, there is an urgent national need to improve the background check system" to keep guns out of the hands of those barred from buying them, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.

The measure would require states to automate their lists of convicted criminals and the mentally ill who are prohibited under a 1968 law from buying firearms, and report those lists to the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS.

Seung-Hui Cho, who in April killed 32 students and faculty at Virginia Tech before taking his own life, had been ordered to undergo outpatient mental health treatment and should have been barred from buying the two guns he used in the rampage. But the state of Virginia never forwarded this information to the national background check system.

The House action came as a panel ordered by President Bush to investigate the Virginia Tech shootings issued its findings, including a recommendation that legal and financial barriers to NICS submissions be addressed.

Mr. Bush, in a statement, said the report made clear that better information sharing between federal and state authorities "is essential in helping to keep guns out of the wrong hands and to punish those who break the law." He said he was "closely following legislative efforts to strengthen the instant background check system."

The panel also urged federal agencies to expand programs to prevent school violence and said the Health and Human Services Department should focus on college students in its mental health public education campaign.

Virginia Tech President Charles Steger said the report disclosed "the deep complexities of the issues facing college campuses today" and would advance government scrutiny of issues related to safety vs. personal freedoms.

The House bill next moves to the Senate, where gun control advocate Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., says he is talking to NRA ally Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, and there is a "very strong" chance of passage.

"When the NRA and I agree on legislation, you know that it's going to get through, become law and do some good," says Schumer.

The legislation requires state and federal agencies to transmit all relevant disqualifying records to the NICS database. It also provides $250 million a year over the next three years to help states meet those goals and it imposes penalties — including cuts in federal grants under an anti-crime law — on states that fail to meet benchmarks for automating their systems and supplying information to the NICS.

Virginia's Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine said Wednesday that in ordering state executive branch agencies to upgrade background check reporting last month he found that Virginia was one of only 22 states reporting any mental health information to the NICS. He said the House bill was "significant action to honor the memories of the victims who lost their lives at Virginia Tech."

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[ov442]

mrray101,
Your scenario is as stupid as most argumentative, incompetant morons that want unlimited access to all forms of weaponry for all ages at all times are.

If you are looking "at the business end of a Banned" weapon being held by a 3X criminal offender in the middle of the night, kiss your A*S goodbye. what are you gonna do? hold a 9mm between your legs all night with the safety off just "incase" someone breaks into your house? Maybe you should. If it goes off, then we have one less idiot and one more Entry to the Darwin Awards.

"Most of us would never invade someone else's domain" Jeez, that shows you are admitting that "us" (meaning psychos) has plenty of members that will commit crimes with firearms. Nice.

[mrray101]

Lets just say guns were banned. What do you do when you as a good law abiding citizen without a gun is: staring at the business end of an BANNED gun held by a hardened criminal (probably a 3X released felon) in the middle of the night?
(by the way he must not have gotten the memo that guns were not allowed)

Its funny how those who have never been robbed desire to remain defenceless.

Most of us would never invade someone else's domain...but MOST does not mean ALL.

[gunownerdan]

Well over 50 million defenseless civilians were murdered by their own governments during the 20th century alone.

Germany and Occupied Europe - 15-20 million

"Licences to obtain or carry firearms shall be issued only to persons whose reliability is not in doubt, and only after prooving a need for them."
German Law, 1928

"A license shall not be granted if the applicant...is a Jew."
German Law, 1938

Soviet Union - 20 million

"All permits for the carrying or keeping of arms...are invalid andmust be exchanged for new certificates..."
Soviet Resolution, 1918

"Any violation of laws concerning...firearms are punishable by forced labor."
Soviet Law, 1926

China - 30-45 million

"Whoever, without authority or good cause...is found in possession of guns...shall be punished with imprisonment."
Chinese Law, 1935

"Buying or possessing firearms or ammunition for use in athletic activities or for hunting...[shall be punished with detention]"
Chinese Law, 1957

[gunownerdan]

"One man with a gun can control 100 without one. Make mass searches and hold executions for found arms."
- Lenin

"Ideas are more dangerous than guns. We wouldn%u2019t let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas?"
- Joseph Stalin

"Every Communist must grasp the truth, Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun. Our Principle is that the Party commands the gun, and the gun must never be allowed to command the Party."
- Mao Zedong

"On the morrow of each conflict I gave the categorical order to confiscate the largest possible number of weapons of every sort and kind. This confiscation, which continues with the utmost energy, has given satisfactory results."
- Benito Mussolini

"The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subject races to possess arms. History shows that all conquerors who have allowed their subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing."
- Adolf Hitler

a-human-right.com

[erasmus6]

jmagarotz

FREEDOM is being able to walk down the street without fear of being shot BECAUSE NOBODY ELSE HAS A GUN!

"People who support guns are really cowards because it helps them hide behind their barrel of violence." posted by tomtomasters

tomtomasters is RIGHT.

It's you people with the guns that are the "sniveling cowards".

[kansas1946]

I am so glad to see the NRA working with the Democrats. The gun issue has been a big loser for Democratt. I strongly support the second amenment, but there is always room for reason and compromise. That is how adults do things.

[iceman_1960]

"Answer me this Einstein. It is one in the morning, you see the shadows of two large men entering your 8 year old daughter's room. How are you going to explain to your wife that you were not a coward so you do not have a gun? You are going to call the police and hope they get there in time aren't you. From the closet you are hiding in."
- Posted by guysdigdirt at 12:26 PM : Jun 14, 2007

Not to the point.

That shadow at one in the morning will likely be that of the father himself.

Ask any police chief, who is the most frequent assailant, when a daughter is assaulted in her bedroom at one in the morning. He'll tell you: the father, stepfather or live-in boyfriend. And the testosterone-challenged male, the one who doesn't feel like a man unless he's waving a gun around, may well be the one who turns to vulnerable children for his "needs."

And when this male relative is a gun owner, the mother will be all the more frightened, intimidated and less likely to call the cops.

So your example is one in which widespread gun ownership only makes much worse.

[gunownerdan]

"how you going to explain to your wife that you just shot the two paramedics she called because your daughter was having an epileptic seizure, or that your daughter got caught in the cross-fire."

Responsible gun owners(over 99% of us) actually know what we are shooting at when we pull the trigger. Gun safety is not hard to understand with a little practice, training, and common sense.

[usbrit-2009]

Answ
er me this Einstein.
It is one in the morning, you see the shadows of two large men entering your 8 year old daughter's room.
How are you going to explain to your wife that you were not a coward so you do not have a gun?
Posted by guysdigdirt at 12:26 PM : Jun 14, 2007

Hey Dirt - how you going to explain to your wife that you just shot the two paramedics she called because your daughter was having an epileptic seizure, or that your daughter got caught in the cross-fire.

[gunownerdan]

"Today we need a nation of minute men; citizens who are not only prepared to take up arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as a basic purpose of their daily life and who are willing to consciously work and sacrifice for that freedom. The cause of liberty, the cause of American, cannot succeed with any lesser effort."
-- President John F. Kennedy, January 29, 1961
www.a-human-right.com/effective.html