tangent4ronpaul
03-13-2013, 04:01 PM
Naw - this "journalist" isn't biased at all.... :rolleyes:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/14/us/politics/gop-senators-add-gun-protections-to-financing-bill.html?_r=0
WASHINGTON – With gun safety measures headed to the Senate floor, members of the Senate Appropriations Committee who support gun rights have quietly added provisions that would permanently protect some gun rights favored by Republicans to a financing bill that would keep the government running through the end of the fiscal year.
The provisions, which have been renewed separately at various points, would prohibit the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from requiring gun dealers to conduct annual inventories to ensure that they have not lost guns or had them stolen, and would retain a broad definition of “antique” guns that can be imported into the United States outside of normal regulations.
Another amendment would prevent the A.T.F. from refusing to renew a dealer’s license for lack of business; many licensed dealers who are not actively engaged in selling firearms can now obtain a license to sell guns and often fly under the radar of the agency and other law enforcement officials, which gun control advocates argue leads to a freer flow of illegal guns.
A final measure would require the agency to attach a disclaimer to data about guns to indicate that it “cannot be used to draw broad conclusions about fire-arms-related crimes.”
As part of his agenda to regulate some firearms, President Obama recently signed an executive order lifting the ban on gun research. Other restrictions must go through Congress, where the Newtown, Conn., shooting in December has inspired members to seek some new gun safety bills.
Officials from the A.T.F. have long complained that quirky laws passed by Congress hamstring their ability to curb gun crimes. For example, under federal laws the bureau is prohibited from creating a federal registry of gun transactions, making it hard to track illegal guns.
Many of the provisions have surfaced in appropriations bills since 2004. But Democrats on the committee reluctantly agreed to make them permanent to stave off a House version of the bill that contained a new rider that would have prevented the A.T.F. from requiring gun dealers on the Southwest border to notify its agents when selling two or more so-called long guns with detachable magazines.
On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee will consider the renewal of an assault weapons ban and restrictions on magazine sizes. This week, the panel passed a measure that would expand the use of background checks to private gun sales, and another to renew a grant program to help schools improve security. The committee also approved a measure last week that would make the already illegal practice of buying a gun for someone else who is legally barred from having one — known as a straw purchase — a felony and to increase penalties for the crime.
But any legislation that comes to the Senate floor can be undermined by so-called riders on appropriations bills like the one being debated on the floor now, which would keep the government running through the end of September.
The Senate is trying to pass a short-term measure to prevent the government from shutting down, as members from both parties and chambers go about the business of creating actual budgets. For the last two years, Republicans and Democrats have fought over these short-term spending agreements, both over the amount in them and over policy riders that Republicans often attach to them as part of the deal.
These riders are a boon to Senate Republicans, particularly those who are strong advocates of Second Amendment rights, and a bit of an embarrassment to some Democrats on the Appropriations Committee, who are trying to avoid policy riders and also not handcuff their colleagues who are active in creating new gun legislation.
-t
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/14/us/politics/gop-senators-add-gun-protections-to-financing-bill.html?_r=0
WASHINGTON – With gun safety measures headed to the Senate floor, members of the Senate Appropriations Committee who support gun rights have quietly added provisions that would permanently protect some gun rights favored by Republicans to a financing bill that would keep the government running through the end of the fiscal year.
The provisions, which have been renewed separately at various points, would prohibit the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from requiring gun dealers to conduct annual inventories to ensure that they have not lost guns or had them stolen, and would retain a broad definition of “antique” guns that can be imported into the United States outside of normal regulations.
Another amendment would prevent the A.T.F. from refusing to renew a dealer’s license for lack of business; many licensed dealers who are not actively engaged in selling firearms can now obtain a license to sell guns and often fly under the radar of the agency and other law enforcement officials, which gun control advocates argue leads to a freer flow of illegal guns.
A final measure would require the agency to attach a disclaimer to data about guns to indicate that it “cannot be used to draw broad conclusions about fire-arms-related crimes.”
As part of his agenda to regulate some firearms, President Obama recently signed an executive order lifting the ban on gun research. Other restrictions must go through Congress, where the Newtown, Conn., shooting in December has inspired members to seek some new gun safety bills.
Officials from the A.T.F. have long complained that quirky laws passed by Congress hamstring their ability to curb gun crimes. For example, under federal laws the bureau is prohibited from creating a federal registry of gun transactions, making it hard to track illegal guns.
Many of the provisions have surfaced in appropriations bills since 2004. But Democrats on the committee reluctantly agreed to make them permanent to stave off a House version of the bill that contained a new rider that would have prevented the A.T.F. from requiring gun dealers on the Southwest border to notify its agents when selling two or more so-called long guns with detachable magazines.
On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee will consider the renewal of an assault weapons ban and restrictions on magazine sizes. This week, the panel passed a measure that would expand the use of background checks to private gun sales, and another to renew a grant program to help schools improve security. The committee also approved a measure last week that would make the already illegal practice of buying a gun for someone else who is legally barred from having one — known as a straw purchase — a felony and to increase penalties for the crime.
But any legislation that comes to the Senate floor can be undermined by so-called riders on appropriations bills like the one being debated on the floor now, which would keep the government running through the end of September.
The Senate is trying to pass a short-term measure to prevent the government from shutting down, as members from both parties and chambers go about the business of creating actual budgets. For the last two years, Republicans and Democrats have fought over these short-term spending agreements, both over the amount in them and over policy riders that Republicans often attach to them as part of the deal.
These riders are a boon to Senate Republicans, particularly those who are strong advocates of Second Amendment rights, and a bit of an embarrassment to some Democrats on the Appropriations Committee, who are trying to avoid policy riders and also not handcuff their colleagues who are active in creating new gun legislation.
-t