Voters are still scratching their heads over why the U.S. Senate voted down background checks for people purchasing guns 54-46, even though 83%-91% of voters support background checks for gun buyers, according to recent Gallup Polls.

As succinctly explained by Alexander Bolton from The Hill, the legislation was a well-thought out, bipartisan compromise that “would have expanded checks to cover all firearms sales at gun shows and over the Internet, but would have exempted sales between friends and acquaintances outside of commercial venues.” Furthermore, nearly all the Republicans, plus five Democrats voted against it … though Majority Leader Harry Reid reportedly voted “no” only so Senate procedural rules would allow him to re-introduce the legislation at a future date.





Despite all the GOP’s talk about “freedom,” they don’t seem to have problems with other types of background checks … like the mandatory background checks for food stamps recipients recently passed by Republicans in the State of North Carolina. The most obvious target for blame in this most recent failure to enact effective gun violence prevention laws is, of course, the National Rifle Association and their powerful lobbyists.

However, Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) — who sponsored the bill with his colleague, Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) — has an entirely different theory. In an interview with the editors of The Times Herald (Montgomery County, PA), Toomey was asked why the bill failed, and Toomey frankly admitted:

In the end it didn’t pass because we’re so politicized. There were some on my side who did not want to be seen helping the president do something he wanted to get done, just because the president wanted to do it,

In other words, Republicans rejected a measure supported by an overwhelming majority of voters because they can’t stand President Barack Obama. Their desire to thwart the president and make him look bad apparently overrides their ability to do what their voters ask and make even the slightest compromises. The GOP hates Obama even more bitterly than the Democrats despise George W. Bush — even though Obama actually won both of his elections — and refuses to recognize him as a legitimate leader.

The Republicans don’t even seem to care that the favorability ratings for four of their senators (plus one Democratic senator) have majorly slumped in the polls since they voted “No” on the bill, as reported by Leslie Salzillo from Addicting Info. When asked about the possibility of eventually taking a second look at the gun background checks legislation, Toomey gloomily responded:

It’s a pretty heavy lift to get five senators to change their mind on a big issue like this. It’s not likely to happen any time soon. I hope people will reconsider over time.

Here’s the video: