As you know, yesterday Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) held a news conference to present the “bipartisan” compromise he has worked out with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WVA) on gun background checks. That “b” word, is a red flag, of course, as is the use of one of gun grabbers favorite phrases, “common sense.” Sen. Toomey said ““I don’t consider criminal background checks to be gun control. I consider them to be common sense.” Where have I heard that phrase before? Oh yes, I remember. Every time one of the mouthpieces for Mayor Bloomberg shows up on TV to shill for more gun control, he or she uses it to explain away any objections as unreasonable.
Perhaps that’s not a coincidence. Nanny Bloomberg was running ads against Sen.Toomey in Pennsylvania, but apparently after word of this compromise, the ads were pulled.
I don’t exactly have to find my shocked face when I learn that a politician might cave in the face of the slightest pressure from the likes of Bloomberg, but I am disappointed in Sen. Toomey’s doing the El Foldo on the 2nd Amendment. Does he realize that the Obama administration has admitted that they don’t have time to enforce existing laws on background checks? Recall the words of Joe Biden last January to Joe Baker, an NRA representative:
“And to your point, Mr. Baker, regarding the lack of prosecutions on lying on Form 4473s, we simply don’t have the time or manpower to prosecute everybody who lies on a form, that checks a wrong box, that answers a question inaccurately.”
Seriously? Sen. Toomey should be demanding an explanation for the administration’s failure to do the job they are obligated to carry out, not be grandstanding for soccer mommies in the Philadelphia suburbs by shilling for more pointless gun laws that are going to have ZERO impact on the type of mass shootings that Obama is using as an excuse to trample on our Constitutional rights.
In addition, this vaunted bipartisan compromise may contain another little surprise, the possibility that medical providers could add you to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) without even telling you! From Red State:
The proposal will allow a doctor to add a patient to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) without ever telling the patient he or she has been added.
There would be no due process requirement. Not all doctors will be able to do it with the same ease, but many will. Knowing a doctor could add him to a federal database as mentally ill without his knowledge could potentially dissuade a patient from going to the doctor in the first place to get help.
Worse, if the doctor does so and makes a mistake, the patient would have to actively work through the system to get himself removed — guilty before being proven innocent. In some states, should a doctor flag you as having mental illness without your knowledge, you may very well see the state come collect your previously purchased guns.
What could possibly go wrong? Can you go on this list if you seek grief counseling after a death in the family? What if you need treatment for depression? Gee, do you think the law of unintended consequences might come into play if this provision becomes law, perhaps by discouraging a lunatic from seeking help for fear of having his 2nd Amendment rights restricted? Here’s what I picture: way too many cases of people who legitimately seek help for an emotional problem ending up in a bureaucratic nightmare trying to restore their God-given rights, while the ACLU makes it nearly impossible to restrict genuine wackos from having Howitzers.
Sen. Harry Reid has said that the first vote will take place this morning at 10 a.m. If he doesn’t get 60 votes to end it, there will be 30 hours of debate. The filibuster that Sen. Cruz, Sen. Paul and Sen. Rubio promised is uncertain at this point. Sen. Cruz cancelled two press conferences yesterday about the gun bill, leaving observers to wonder if he too is going wobbly.
Stay tuned.
