Senate deal on background checks would further 'infringe' on Second Amendment

Thursday, April 18, 2013 by: J. D. Heyes
Tags: gun control, second amendment, background checks

(NaturalNews) As details surrounding the Obama administration's efforts to impose new gun control restrictions finally begin to emerge, it is becoming more clear that the White House, along with its allies in Congress, are reaching further into the Second Amendment their attempt to render it moot.

In some sort of effort at "bipartisanship" - as if constitutional violations more are more acceptable if both major parties are committing them - Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Pat Toomey, R-Pa., are pushing a plan to expand background checks for all commercial gun purchases, including those at gun shows and online, "opening a path for the biggest change in U.S. gun laws in nearly two decades," Politico reported. Neither man, by the way, has explained why American citizens need a background check to buy a gun, but not to engage in free speech, worship as they please or have an expectation of privacy.

Both lawmakers say their new legislation supposedly comes as a result of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, as if that tragedy - or any tragedy - should require Americans to surrender some of their constitutional rights (and by the way, the measure these two are proposing would not have stopped Adam Lanza from stealing his mother's firearms and killing her, along with the 20 children and six adults in Newtown).

'Nobody can sit by and not try to prevent another Newtown'

"I have to tell you candidly that I don't consider criminal background checks to be gun control," said Toomey, who, because of his lifetime "A-rating" from the National Rifle Association might believe he gets a pass and is free from scrutiny by the Second Amendment faithful. "I think it's just common sense."

As common sense as, say, imposing background checks on Hollywood actors, preachers and priests and, dare I say, politicians?

Toomey wouldn't predict whether the measure will pass, but he did say he believes Sen. Mark Kirk, a Republican from the gun-banning state of Illinois (Obama's adopted home), will.

"Nobody here in this great Capitol of ours with a good conscience could sit by and not try to prevent a day like that from happening again," lectured Manchin, again referencing the Newtown shooting. "I think that's what we're doing."

And, of course, Politico - along with other media organizations - are treating this issue like it's a game:

Though it is not the definitive authority on the Second Amendment, the NRA does have this one right. "Expanding background checks at gun shows will not prevent the next shooting, will not solve violent crime and will not keep our kids safe in schools," the organization said in a statement issued even before Manchin and Toomey finished their press conference. "While the overwhelming rejection of President Obama and Mayor Bloomberg's 'universal' background check agenda is a positive development, we have a broken mental health system that is not going to be fixed with more background checks at gun shows. The sad truth is that no background check would have prevented the tragedy in Newtown, Aurora or Tucson."

But what is truly pathetic about this entire "debate" is that virtually no one in the media and few in Congress are making the logical constitutional connections here between what the gun-grabbers are calling "common sense" and "reasonable" when it comes to gun purchases and other portions of the Constitution, like the First, Fourth and Fifth Amendments (no "license" or "background check" required).

The Second Amendment "shall not be infringed"

Worse, Politico - along with other media organizations - are treating this issue like it's just a game:

The bipartisan agreement could give political cover for enough Republicans to vote Thursday and exceed the 60-vote requirement needed to allow the Senate to proceed to what would be an emotional floor debate on gun control legislation. That debate could last one to two weeks before a final vote, said Senate aides.

And this:

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who has been closely involved in the gun talks, called Mark Kelly, husband of former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), on Wednesday morning to inform them he had signed off on the agreement, according to a Senate aide.

Giffords was seriously wounded in a Jan. 2011 shooting that left six other people dead. Giffords resigned from Congress the next year, and she and Kelly - a former astronaut - have becoming leading gun-control advocates.

It's too bad Ms. Gifford, who fortunately survived her attack, did not become a "criminal control advocate."

This latest anti-firearms effort is like all previous efforts: All show, no substance, and yet we are supposed to believe that just a few more laws that infringe upon the Second Amendment (which "shall not be infringed," by the way), will end gun violence as we know it.

Call your representative and senator. Let them know that, while we may all sympathize with the Giffords and with Newtown, Conn., dismantling our Constitution will not provide the solutions we seek here.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.politico.com

http://www.huffingtonpost.com

http://www.foxnews.com