Feb. 2 update -- The Senate today overwhelmingly rejected -- by 68-29 -- Sen. Carl Levin's (D-Mich.) amendment to prohibit firearms manufacturers from using the bankruptcy laws to reorganize and remain in business (particularly if they lost a city's lawsuit.)
Advocates made it clear that it was a "gun control" vote, with much of their commentary focussed on the evils of guns rather than the technical merits of the amendment. Levin stressed the support of Handgun Control Inc., the Violence Policy Center and the National League of Cities.
Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) used the opportunity to push his gun show background check bill and praised Sturm, Ruger for prohibiting its distributors from selling to retailers who sell at gun shows.
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) pointed out that the amendment targets lawful, responsible gunmakers rather than gun misusers.
Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Larry Craig (R-Idaho) said the amendment was intended to make bankruptcy law "politically correct."
Vice President Gore had been in the chair to ceremonially preside over the 80-vote passage of an amendment to prevent bankruptcy protections by perpetrators of abortion clinic violence, but he was nowhere to be seen when the gun amendment came up for defeat.
(Vote Tally Below)
Yesterday's surprise New Hampshire victory over Gov. George W. Bush by Sen. John McCain has television commentators and establishment newspapers turning handsprings.
What caught my attention was that "one in three" Republican primary voters were Independents, according to press reports, and of those, three out of four went to McCain. If those reports are true, nearly half of McCain's votes came from Independents, and without them George W. would have won.
Gov. Bush unquestionably hurt himself with New Hampshire gun activists when he (like McCain) stayed away from the Gun Owners of New Hampshire Presidential Candidate Dinner and Forum. Forbes, Keyes, Hatch and Bauer all attended -- and all candidates usually do. (In 1980, we had all 10 candidates there -- everybody except President Jimmy Carter who sent one of his sons, and Teddy Kennedy.
The GO-NH January magazine, "Firearms and Freedom," said "While McCain's people at least made a token effort with a couple of volunteers and some signs, the Bush Campaign simply insulted New Hampshire's Gun Owners by snubbing the Forum."
A study by the Baltimore Sun last week showed that Baltimore prosecutors routinely dropped the heavy penalty charge of using a gun in some 3,000 armed robberies, carjackings and attempted murders. Most perpetrators received far less than state-mandated five years for gun misuse.
Yesterday an embarrassed Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, who is a drumbeater for more gun laws, appropriated more than $1 million to state and city prosecutors, as well as police, to crack down on gun-using criminals.
A Utah House committee yesterday rejected a bill that would have outlawed even licensed guns in schools and churches, causing advocates to shift their efforts to a petition drive to put the question on an election ballot.
But unless advocates can get signatures from 10 percent of the voters in 20 of the state's 29 counties -- which is considered unlikely -- the initiative won't qualify.
And here in Virginia, the reorganized -- some say stacked -- House Militia and Police Committee overwhelmingly rejected a similar bill to prevent licensed concealed firearms or gun training on school property.
In Colorado, the full House approved a preemption bill particularly designed to set aside Denver's ordinance prohibiting transport of firearms through that hub city. Republican Gov. Bill Owens has said he will veto the bill.
In a November Playboy interview, Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura made a crack about organized religion being a sham, causing the left wing to cheer. Yesterday, in a second article from that same interview he infuriated the left by calling "gun control" advocates "ignorant" -- singling out Rosie O'Donnell.
A man abducted a 33-year-old woman from a Chandler, Ariz. Wal- Mart parking lot Monday, raped, shot her, and left her for dead -- but she survived. He then drove her car to Apache Junction where he broke into a home and tried to rape another woman.
That second victim -- who was also raped according to some reports -- then shot and killed him.
Are any feminists paying any attention? Naw.
Levin Bankruptcy Amendment Vote (To Exclude Gunmakers From Bankruptcy Protections)
Description During debate on a bankruptcy reform bill, Senators defeated an amendment by Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) 29-68. It would have prohibited gun manufacturers from discharging debts from lawsuits filed by cities against the manufacturers.
YEA - 29
Chafee, Lincoln (R-RI)
Akaka, Daniel K. (D-HI)
Biden, Joseph R., Jr.(D-DE)
Boxer, Barbara (D-CA)
Cleland, Max (D-GA)
Daschle, Thomas A. (D-SD)
Durbin, Richard (D-IL)
Feinstein, Dianne (D-CA)
Graham, Bob (D-FL)
Harkin, Tom (D-IA)
Hollings, Ernest F. (D-SC)
Inouye, Daniel K. (D-HI)
Johnson, Tim (D-SD)
Kennedy, Edward M. (D-MA)
Kerry, John F. (D-MA)
Kohl, Herb (D-WI)
Lautenberg, Frank R. (D-NJ)
Levin, Carl (D-MI)
Mikulski, Barbara A. (D-MD)
Moynihan, Daniel Patrick (D-NY)
Murray, Patty (D-WA)
Reed, Jack (D-RI)
Reid, Harry (D-NV)
Rockefeller, John D., IV (D-WV)
Sarbanes, Paul S. (D-MD)
Schumer, Charles (D-NY)
Torricelli, Robert (D-NJ)
Wellstone, Paul D. (D-MN)
Wyden, Ron (D-OR)
NAY - 68
Abraham, Spencer (R-MI)
Allard, Wayne (R-CO)
Ashcroft, John (R-MO)
Bennett, Robert F. (R-UT)
Bond, Christopher S. (R-MO)
Brownback, Sam (R-KS)
Bunning, Jim (R-KY)
Campbell, Ben Nighthorse (R-CO)
Cochran, Thad (R-MS)
Collins, Susan (R-ME)
Coverdell, Paul (R-GA)
Craig, Larry E. (R-ID)
Crapo, Michael (R-ID)
DeWine, Mike (R-OH)
Domenici, Pete V. (R-NM)
Enzi, Mike (R-WY)
Frist, William H. (R-TN)
Gorton, Slade (R-WA)
Gramm, Phil (R-TX)
Grams, Rod (R-MN)
Grassley, Charles (R-IA)
Gregg, Judd (R-NH)
Hagel, Chuck (R-NE)
Hatch, Orrin G. (R-UT)
Helms, Jesse (R-NC)
Hutchison, Kay Bailey (R-TX)
Hutchinson, Tim (R-AR)
Inhofe, James M. (R-OK)
Jeffords, James M. (R-VT)
Kyl, Jon (R-AZ)
Lott, Trent (R-MS)
Lugar, Richard G. (R-IN)
Mack, Connie (R-FL)
McConnell, Mitch (R-KY)
Murkowski, Frank H. (R-AK)
Nickles, Don (R-OK)
Roberts, Pat (R-KS)
Roth, William V., Jr. (R-DE)
Santorum, Rick (R-PA)
Sessions, Jeff (R-AL)
Shelby, Richard C. (R-AL)
Smith, Bob (R-NH)
Smith, Gordon (R-OR)
Snowe, Olympia J. (R-ME)
Specter, Arlen (R-PA)
Stevens, Ted (R-AK)
Thomas, Craig (R-WY)
Thompson, Fred (R-TN)
Thurmond, Strom (R-SC)
Voinovich, George (R-OH)
Warner, John W. (R-VA)
Baucus, Max (D-MT)
Bayh, Evan (D-IN)
Bingaman, Jeff (D-NM)
Breaux, John B. (D-LA)
Bryan, Richard H. (D-NV)
Byrd, Robert C. (D-WV)
Conrad, Kent (D-ND)
Dodd, Christopher J. (D-CT)
Dorgan, Byron L. (D-ND)
Edwards, John (D-NC)
Feingold, Russell D. (D-WI)
Kerrey, J. Robert (D-NE)
Landrieu, Mary (D-LA)
Leahy, Patrick J. (D-VT)
Lieberman, Joseph I. (D-CT)
Lincoln, Blanche Lambert (D-AR)
Robb, Charles S. (D-VA)
Voted Present
Fitzgerald, Peter (R-IL)
Not Voting
Burns, Conrad R. (R-MT)
McCain, John (R-AZ)
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