Obama on Senate gun vote: 'A shameful day'

Gregory Korte | USATODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Obama slams senators who opposed gun measure President Barack Obama says the Senate's opposition to a bill that would have expanded background checks for gun buyers marks a "shameful day" in Washington. (April 17)

Senate rejects bipartisan amendment to expand background checks on gun purchases

Several red-state Democrats up for re-election in 2014 voted against measure

Vice President Biden says American people are ahead of elected officials on gun legislation

WASHINGTON — An angry President Obama criticized a minority of the Senate on Wednesday for helping defeat a proposal to expand background checks on gun purchases.

"It came down to politics — the worry that that vocal minority of gun owners would come after them in future elections," Obama said in the Rose Garden. "All in all, this was a pretty shameful day for Washington."

Obama was introduced by Mark Barden, whose son, Daniel, was among the 20 children and six adults killed Dec. 14 in a gun massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. Besides other Newtown families, Obama was flanked by former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head during a 2011 assassination attempt.

Just hours before, the Senate voted 54-46 to defeat an amendment by Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Pat Toomey, R-Pa., to expand background checks to include purchases made at gun shows and on the Internet. Forty-one Republicans were joined by five Democrats — primarily from red states where gun ownership is high — to reject the proposal.

The background-checks measure was seen as the core of legislative efforts to reduce gun massacres, such as the one in Newtown and the 2011 rampage near Tucson that killed six people and severely wounded Giffords, a moderate Democrat and gun owner who now champions gun-control efforts.

Sixty votes were necessary to get around a filibuster – a tall order because it meant drawing on Republican support to make up for losing majority-party Democrats. Obama slammed the Senate filibuster rules, and said the concern that gun owners would vote against senators in the next election caused the outcome.

Obama said the background-checks proposal did not include everything he wanted, but it represented "progress," "moderation" and "common sense." He chided the National Rifle Association (NRA) and its allies for falsely claiming it would create a "Big Brother"-type gun registry, even though the legislation would specifically outlaw such a thing.

"Instead of supporting this compromise, the gun lobby and its allies willfully lied about the bill," Obama said. "This pattern of spreading untruths about this legislation served a purpose, because those lies upset an intense minority of gun owners, and that in turn intimidated a lot of senators."

After the Senate vote, the NRA called the background-checks proposal "misguided."

"This amendment would have criminalized certain private transfers of firearms between honest citizens, requiring life-long friends, neighbors and some family members to get federal government permission to exercise a fundamental right or face prosecution," said Chris Cox, the NRA's chief lobbyist. "As we have noted previously, expanding background checks, at gun shows or elsewhere, will not reduce violent crime or keep our kids safe in their schools."

In an example of the political risk of gun votes, the liberal Progressive Change Campaign Committee launched an ad campaign targeting Democratic Sens. Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Max Baucus of Montana, Mark Begich of Alaska and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota for their "no" votes.

Pryor, Baucus and Begich face competitive fights for re-election in 2014.

Four GOP senators — Toomey, Mark Kirk of Illinois, Susan Collins of Maine and John McCain of Arizona — crossed party lines to support the measure.

In a surprise, ailing Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., appeared in the chamber for the first time in weeks to cast an "yea" vote. He has been battling muscle weakness and fatigue, and came to the Senate floor in a wheelchair.

Senate Dems on guns vote: It's "not over" The U.S. Senate rejected a bill to tighten restrictions on firearms sales by a vote of 54 to 46, well short of the 60 needed. Following the vote, Senator Joe Manchin alongside other Senate Democrats vowed to push on for gun restrictions. (April 17)

Earlier in the day, Vice President Biden acknowledged to mayors in an online chat that the Senate vote would be a long shot. But he vowed to keep pressing for gun-control measures, and was echoed by Obama during the Rose Garden event.

"I can assure you one thing: We're going to get this eventually," Biden said. "If we don't get it today, we'll get it eventually. I think the American people are way ahead of their elected officials."

The Senate rejected several other amendments to the underlying gun bill, including one to ban assault weapons and limit the size of magazine clips. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the sponsor of the assault weapons ban, implored her colleagues to "show some guts" but the measure was defeated on a 40-60 vote.

A substitute plan by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, that would tighten the background-check database but not expand the types of sales subject to it was defeated. A measure by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Collins to toughen rules on gun trafficking was also rejected.

More amendments and votes are expected Thursday.

Contributing: Aamer Madhani