The bipartisan proposal by Toomey and Manchin will expand background checks. | CBS Photo Gun-rights group endorses gun bill

A major gun rights group is breaking with the powerful National Rifle Association and coming out in favor of the bipartisan proposal by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) to expand background checks on gun sales.

The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, which bills itself as the second-largest gun rights group behind the NRA, now supports the Manchin-Toomey agreement.


The Senate could vote on the bipartisan proposal by midweek.

“If you read the Manchin-Toomey substitute amendment, you can see all the advances for our cause that it contains like interstate sales of handguns, veteran gun rights restoration, travel with firearms protection civil and criminal immunity lawsuit protection, and most important of all, the guarantee that people, including federal officers, will go to federal prison for up to 15 years if they attempt to use any gun sales records to set up a gun registry,” said the chairman of the group, Allan Gottlieb, in a statement.

( Also on POLITICO: Manchin, Toomey handicap background check bill)

“These advances for gun rights cannot be made unless we win the Senate vote on Tuesday to substitute Sens. Manchin and Toomey’s balanced approach for the current draconian background check bill that is pending before the Senate at this time,” he added.

The NRA is adamantly opposed to any expansion of background checks, including the Manchin-Toomey proposal, as are other gun rights groups.

Other big gun rights groups such as Gun Owners of America have joined the NRA in staunch opposition to the Manchin-Toomey proposal, as have conservative advocacy organizations like Heritage Action for America.

( PHOTOS: Politicians with guns)

Asked about the outlook for his bill during an appearance Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Toomey predicted it would be close.

“I think it’s an open question as to whether or not we have the votes. I think it’s going to be close,” Toomey said.

“We came here to do something,” Manchin said during a joint interview with Toomey on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “We’ve got a chance to make a difference in people’s lives. We have a chance to save lives and not infringe on law-abiding citizens of this country, gun owners like myself and Pat. We have that opportunity, and, God help us, if we don’t do it.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and other top Democrats hope to force a vote on the Manchin-Toomey measure — which would replace a Democrat-only background checks bill — by Tuesday at the earliest, although Republicans have not agreed to that schedule.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has also not said what amendments Republicans will try to counter with to peel off potential GOP support or force political problems for red-state Democrats up for reelection in 2014.