“It’s coming back,” said Virginia Senator Joe Manchin Tuesday about his bipartisan bill to expand background checks on gun sales, a bill which failed to pass on its first run through the Senate last month. Manchin’s bill–co-sponsored by Republican Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania–fell short by six votes.

“I have never seen something that resonated with so many people in so many parts of society because it made so much sense,” Manchin told Margaret Carlson at the New York Ideas conference Tuesday. “When something makes that much sense, you have facts to back you up, and you just have to walk out into your community and explain it.”

Manchin maintains that the problem is not with the bill itself, but with trust between gun owners and their elected leaders. ”When you say universal background check,” Manchin said, “the first thing that comes in the mind of a gun owner is that means registration, and registration means confiscation. ‘I haven’t broken the laws, why do you want to know everything?’”

Moving the bill forward will mean making slight tweaks to address such problems, Manchin said. For example, the second version of the bill may underline the penalties for keeping gun purchase records past a certain period of time. The first version of the bill already says any government agency or person who tries to use record keeping to create a registry will be charged with a felony and face 15 years of prison time.

“I can’t understand why the leadership of organizations such as the NRA would think that we’re invading anybody,” Manchin told MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell on The Last Word Thursday. “If anything, this [bill] protects the 2nd Amendment. It expands it.”

In this and other areas, Manchin is sensitive to the power of perception. Some people fear his bill “is the first step,” he said, “because they’ve seen the government overreach.” In his interview with Carlson, Manchin was quick to interrupt when she referred to his bill as “gun control.”

“It’s not gun control. It’s just background checks,” Manchin clarified. “It’s not universal background checks. It’s criminal and mental.”

The Manchin-Toomey bill failed by six votes in the Senate last month, with Majority Leader Harry Reid voting ‘no’ on purely procedural grounds to ensure that the legislation could be reintroduced. That means Manchin and his allies need five more votes to reach passage.

HOUSTON – Members of the National Rifle Association were assured that they would never have to surrender their firearms. Along with this statement they were told that the fight against government gun control is far from over, as they have yet to win in the coming battles in Congress and in next year’s midterm elections.

Even amidst their defeat in last month’s rejection of the expanded background check bill for gun sales, gun control advocates still assert their dedication in continuing the struggle for better gun laws. The bill for expanded background checks which was strongly supported by President Barack Obama was initiated due to increased number of mass shooting, like the one at Sandy Hook Elementary which the death of 20 children and 6 teachers. It failed to pass the senate.

During a fiery and defiant speech Saturday, Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre, the public face of the NRA, said the “political and media elites” have tried to use Sandy Hook and other recent shootings “to blame us, to shame us, to compromise our freedom for their agenda.” He said the proposed bill “got the defeat that it deserved” and that the measure would do nothing to prevent the next mass shooting.

“We will never surrender our guns, never,” LaPierre told several thousand people during the organization’s annual member meeting, which is part of the yearly NRA convention being held this weekend in Houston. More than 70,000 NRA members are expected to attend the three-day convention, which began Friday. Acres of displays of rifles, pistols, swords and hunting gear could be found inside the convention hall.

Right across the convention, gun control advocates rally and express their protest. Many of the protesters held up signs that read: “Texans For Smart Gun Regulations” and “90% Want A Background Check,” a reference to recent polls that have shown that up to 90 percent of Americans are in favor of expanded background checks.

But LaPierre added the NRA is preparing for “round two” of the gun control fight. “They are coming after us with a vengeance to destroy us and every ounce of our freedom,” he said. “It’s up to us, every single gun owner, every American to get to work right now and meet them head-on.”

James Porter, the incoming NRA president, said Obama’s gun control efforts have created a “political spontaneous combustion” that has prompted millions of Americans to become first-time gun owners and created a national outrage that will manifest itself in next year’s midterm elections.

WASHINGTON – Senate Republicans backed by a small band of rural-state Democrats scuttled the most far-reaching gun control legislation in two decades Wednesday, rejecting tighter background checks for buyers and a ban on assault weapons as they spurned pleas from families of victims of last winter’s school massacre in Newtown, Conn.

“This effort isn’t over,” an angry President Barack Obama vowed at the White House moments after the defeat on one of his top domestic priorities. Surrounded by Newtown relatives, he said opponents of the legislation in both parties “caved to the pressure” of special interests.

A ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines also fell in a series of showdown votes four months after a gunman killed 20 elementary school children and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary.

A bid to loosen restrictions on concealed weapons carried across state lines was rejected, as well.

That last vote marked a rare defeat for the National Rifle Association on a day it generally triumphed over Obama, gun control advocates and many of the individuals whose lives have been affected by mass shootings in Connecticut and elsewhere.

Some of them watched from the spectator galleries above the Senate floor. “Shame on you,” shouted one, Patricia Maisch, who was present two years ago when a gunman in Tucson, Ariz., killed six and wounded 13 others, including former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Vice President Joe Biden gaveled the Senate back into order after the breach of decorum.

Gun control advocates, including Obama, had voiced high hopes for significant action after the Newtown shootings. But the lineup of possible legislation gradually dwindled to a focus on background checks, and in the end even that could not win Senate passage. Chances in the Republican-controlled House had seemed even slimmer.

By agreement of Senate leaders, a 60-vote majority was required for approval of any of the provisions brought to a vote. The vote on the background check was 54-46, well short of the 60 votes needed to advance. Forty-one Republicans and five Democrats voted to reject the plan. The proposed ban on assault weapons commanded 40 votes; the bid to block sales of high capacity ammunition clips drew 46. The NRA-backed proposal on concealed carry permits got 57.

Source: CNN

D-Day: Today, consideration of the Manchin-Toomey background check proposal and a myriad other gun amendments, including a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity clips, will be the main event on Capitol Hill. The outcome of these votes will determine the fate of the biggest gun control legislation the Senate has seen in two decades. The vote on the Manchin-Toomey compromise will be razor thin and with last night’s announcement by one of the few remaining undecided Republicans – Sen. Lisa Murkowski – that she would not vote for it, it looks increasingly difficult for the bill to garner the 60 votes.

The Undecided: There are now just two Republican Senators still undecided – Sen. John McCain, R-AZ., Alaska and Kelly Ayotte, R-NH. There are four Democrats still undecided Sens. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Mark Begich of Alaska, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Mark Pryor of Arkansas. A wild card is Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-New Jersey., who, although he supports the amendment, has been ill and home in NJ. Aides say the Senator “hopes” to get back for the vote today.

Timing: The Senate convenes at 9:30 a.m. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said yesterday that the Manchin-Toomey amendment is set to come up for a vote at 4 p.m., followed by at least eight other amendments.

The NRA’S Play: The National Rifle Association is out with a last minute Internet ad today citing statistics that police do not agree with the gun proposals being promoted by President Obama and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “President Obama and Mayor Bloomberg are pushing gun control but America’s police say they’re wrong,” the ad says before listing off statistics. The ad will run on the internet with a $500,000 by starting today. It will appear on sites like the Drudge Report, the Washington Post, Hulu and other Beltway publications.

Source: ABC News

WASHINGTON – Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa. announced that they have reached a compromise bill on Wednesday that expands background checks on gun purchases, and possibly paving the way for votes this week on a key piece of legislation aimed at reducing gun related violence.

With the announcement comes with the senate getting ready for one of the most intense gun control debates since the 1994, “I don’t consider criminal background checks to be gun control. It’s just common sense,” Toomey said at a Capitol Hill news conference. “If you pass … you get to buy a gun. It’s the people who fail that we don’t want having guns.”

The deal would expand background checks to purchases made at gun shows and online sales of firearms. It would impose penalties on states that do not add records of felons and the mentally ill to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. The agreement would not require private citizens to keep records of gun sales. It would specifically ban “the federal government from creating a national firearms registry” — a key sticking point for the pro-gun rights community. The bill would also create a commission “to study the causes of mass violence in the United States, looking at all aspects of the problem” including guns, school safety, violent video games and mental health.

Background checks are currently required for purchases made through licensed gun dealers.

“We strengthen rights of law-abiding gun owners,” Manchin said, explaining that the background checks are designed “to keep people from having guns who shouldn’t have them.”

Manchin, a red-state Democrat, and Toomey, a blue-state Republican, represent neighboring Appalachian states with strong gun cultures. Manchin said that common ground helped forge a compromise. But the deal didn’t win over the National Rifle Association, which remains opposed to any expansion of background checks. “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,” said Andrew Arulanandam, a spokesman for the NRA. But he did say the private sale exemption in the compromise amendment was a “positive development.”

The NRA did support a second agreement, brokered by Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, to strengthen the penalty for straw purchasers and firearm trafficking. That came in response to concerns about whether a law aimed at straw buyers — people who intentionally buy guns for those banned from owning them – would ensnare law-abiding citizens who legally buy guns as gifts or raffle prizes.

“We worked with the NRA and with several other senators to ensure that nothing in our bill infringes on the Second Amendment rights of lawful gun owners and purchasers, while still providing a strong new set of tools for law enforcement officials,” Leahy said in a statement.

The proposed amendments come as the Senate prepares to hold a key procedural vote Thursday to allow a vote on the gun legislation, which has been pushed by President Obama in the wake of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., that left 20 children and six adults dead.

Obama has been pushing for expanded background checks for gun buyers, as part of a package of new gun legislation aimed at reducing the kinds of gun violence seen in massacres in Newtown on Dec. 14 and a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., last July. Other elements of Obama’s package – particularly a ban on assault weapons and a limit on high-capacity ammunition clips – passed the Senate Judiciary Committee but are not included in the gun bill heading to the Senate floor. Most Republicans and even some Democrats from red states, such as Arkansas Sen. Mark Pryor, were opposed to the measure.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the assault weapons ban did not have the votes to pass, but he will allow it to be offered as an amendment. The procedural vote is aimed at ending a threatened filibuster by more than a dozen Republicans, led by Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah. Lee said a filibuster would allow “three more days to assess how the bill would impact the rights of law-abiding citizens.”

“This debate is not just about magazine clips and pistol grips,” he said on the Senate floor. “It’s about the purpose of the Second Amendment.” Such far-reaching legislation should be subjected to a 60-vote majority to ensure bipartisan consensus, he said.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, declined to comment on the Senate compromise, or whether it would get a vote in the U.S. House. Boehner has said the House will not take up any gun legislation until the Senate passes a bill. “I want to wait and see what actually passes over in the Senate,” Boehner said, when asked about the Manchin-Toomey compromise. “I’ve made it clear: if the Senate passes a bill, the House will review it.”

But among supporters of stricter gun safety laws, the Manchin-Toomey deal was reason for optimism.

With the families of Sandy Hook victims crying in the Senate gallery, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., took the floor this morning to commend their work to lobby Congress on the gun safety legislation. He called the Manchin-Toomey deal “a promising and profoundly constructive turning point in this process” that makes a vote much more likely.

Source: USA Today

WASHINGTON — Two of the loudest voices in the gun debate say it’s up to voters now to make their position known to Congress.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and National Rifle Associate Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre claim their opposing views on guns have the support of the overwhelming number of Americans. They are looking at the next two weeks as critical to the debate, when lawmakers head home to hear from constituents ahead of next month’s anticipated Senate vote on gun control.

Bloomberg, a former Republican-turned-independent, has just sunk $12 million for Mayors Against Illegal Guns to run television ads and phone banks in 13 states urging voters to tell their senators to pass legislation requiring universal background checks for gun buyers.

“We demanded a plan and then we demanded a vote. We’ve got the plan, we’re going to get the vote. And now it’s incumbent on us to make our voices heard,” said Bloomberg.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday that legislation would likely be debated in his chamber next month that will include expanded federal background checks, tougher laws and stiffer sentences for gun trafficking and increased school safety grants. A ban on assault-style weapons was dropped from the bill, fearing it would sink the broader bill. But Reid has said that he would allow the ban to be voted on separately as an amendment. President Barack Obama called for a vote on the assault weapons ban in his radio and Internet address Saturday.

Recalling the horrific shooting three months ago at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school that left 20 first graders and six school administrators dead, Bloomberg said it would be a great tragedy if Congress, through inaction, lost the moment to make the country safer from gun violence. Bloomberg said that 90 percent of Americans and 80 percent of NRA members support universal background checks for gun purchases.

“I don’t think there’s ever been an issue where the public has spoken so clearly, where Congress hasn’t eventually understood and done the right thing,” Bloomberg said.

But the NRA’s LaPierre counters that universal background checks are “a dishonest premise.” For example, mental health records are exempt from databases and criminals won’t submit to the checks. Background checks, he said, are a “speed bump” in the system that “slows down the law-abiding and does nothing for anybody else.”

Bloomberg and LaPierre spoke on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“The shooters in Tucson, in Aurora, in Newtown, they’re not going to be checked. They’re unrecognizable,” LaPierre said. He was referring to the 2011 shooting in a Tucson shopping center that killed six and wounded 13, including former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, and the July assault in a suburban Denver movie theater that killed 12 and injured 70. In both instances, as well as in the Newtown killings, the alleged shooters used military-style assault rifles with high-capacity ammunition magazines.

LaPierre slammed Bloomberg for the ad buy.

“He’s going to find out this is a country of the people, by the people, and for the people. And he can’t spend enough of his $27 billion to try to impose his will on the American public,” LaPierre said, adding, “He can’t buy America.”

“Millions of people” from across the country are sending the NRA “$5, $10, $15, $20 checks, saying stand up to this guy,” LaPierre said, referring to Bloomberg.

LaPierre said the NRA supports a bill to get the records of those adjudicated mentally incompetent and dangerous into the background check system for gun dealers, better enforcement of federal gun laws and beefed up penalties for illegal third-party purchases and gun trafficking. Shortly after the Newtown shooting, LaPierre called for armed security guards in schools as well.

LaPierre would like to see Congress pass a law that “updates the system and targets those mentally incompetent adjudicated into the system” and forces the administration to enforce the federal gun laws.

“It won’t happen until the national media gets on the administration and calls them out for their incredible lack of enforcement of these laws,” LaPierre said.

In Colorado, a state with a pioneer tradition of gun ownership and self-reliance, Gov. John Hickenlooper just signed bills requiring background checks for private and online gun sales. The legislation also would ban ammunition magazines that hold more than 15 rounds.

“After the shootings last summer in the movie theater, we really focused on mental health first then universal background checks,” Hickenlooper said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I think the feeling right now around assault weapons, at least in Colorado, is that they’re so hard to define what an assault weapon is.”

Hickenlooper said he met with a group of protesters against the bills in Grand Junction, Colo., were “very worried about government keeping a centralized database, which I assured them wasn’t going to happen.” The protesters, he added, view the background checks as “just the first step in trying to take guns away.”

Source: Associated Press

After the Slew of shooting and gun-related incidents in the past months, most were hopeful that both democrats and republicans could see the sense in reviving the assault weapons ban. That hope was futile in the end. Three months after the shooting in Sandy Hook, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced that the ban would essentially be removed from the larger gun control package which was making its way through the upper chamber.

On Tuesday, Reid told reporters that, “using the most optimistic numbers,” the ban sponsored by Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat of California, will come to the floor with “less than forty” yes votes. If that’s true, it means that of the senators who were on the fence and might theoretically have been persuaded to support the legislation-there may have been as many as fifteen of them, and perhaps more-Feinstein and her allies lost almost every single one.

Reid also mentioned that such a prohibition could be offered on the floor as an amendment, but that it doesn’t have enough support to be included from the start in the main bill.

It’s also possible the firearms bill won’t contain an expansion of background checks to cover private sales. Asked if background checks would make the cut, Senator Reid said he was working toward legislation that could win 60 votes and then noted that “there are a couple different background check proposals floating around.”

For the Obama administration, loss of background checks would constitute a bigger political setback than the no inclusion of the assault weapons ban. The latter has been controversial from the start, among Democrats from gun-culture states as well as Republicans. The former, in contrast, has attracted some bipartisan support and is seen by many experts as the bigger item, both substantively and politically.

Updates:

The Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month approved background check legislation drawn up by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D) of New York. The bill, S. 374, would require all private gun sales between individuals to be run through the existing National Instant Criminal Background Check System.

Sellers would then need to contact a federally licensed gun dealer, manufacturer, or importer to run the background check for them. Although the bill does makes exceptions for transfers between spouses, parents and children, siblings, and grandparents and grandchildren. It also contains language allowing the loan of firearms at a gun range or while hunting or otherwise for a short period of time.

WASHINGTON – Even with increased involvement from the White House, a set compromise on expanding background check legislations still remain out of reach as debates continue. The Senate Committee is preparing for votes this week on universal background checks and other similar proposals.

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., has been the lead Republican negotiating with Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and other Democrats over a compromise background check measure. They’ve been stuck over Democrats’ insistence that records be kept on sales between private individuals.

“I think we’re very close,” Coburn said Tuesday in a brief interview. “I think we’ll eventually get there.”

On the opposite end, most were less optimistic as talks continue of reaching a compromise to resolve the dispute, this was according to Senate aids and lobbyists who wanted to remain anonymous as they were not allowed to divulge any details of the talks publicly.

Improving background checks throughout the country was one of the cornerstone of Obama’s gun proposals in January, following the tragic shooting of 26 students in Newtown, Connecticut. The incident following other shootings that made gun laws a top priority in Washington.

The president wants to make background checks a requirement for all firearm transactions, as currently only sales from federally licensed gun dealers (FFLs) are required to make the check. Now, they are pushing to have these checks mandatory for private sales at guns shows, personal exchanges and online transactions.

The centerpiece of President Obama’s gun violence agenda is in peril amid a deadlock among Senate negotiators over how to implement and enforce a proposal requiring background checks for private gun sales.

Democrats say records must be kept of private sales because that would be the only way to verify that background checks for those transactions were conducted. Supported by the National Rifle Association, many Republicans have objected, saying that would be a step toward a government registry of gun owners – something they oppose and the White House has said will not happen.

Talks to reach a compromise could continue until the legislation reaches the Senate floor, probably in April.

The FBI has released the official firearms data for February, showing a total of 2,309,393 background checks done through the FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check System or NICs for the month. The results confirms the recent rise and demand for gun background checks in the entire United States. Almost a hundred thousand more than what was estimated for February but slightly less than January of this year.

These statistics represent the number of firearm background checks initiated through the FBI’s NICS. They do not represent the number of firearms sold. Based on varying state laws and purchase scenarios, a one-to-one correlation cannot be made between a firearm background check and a firearm sale. There currently is no record of the total guns that have been sold in the United States. Although some lawmakers and activists have suggested laws to tackle this issue, like the one proposed in recent hearings for a country wide gun registry to go along with universal background checks.

If you are surprised by the numbers, keep in mind that not all of the applications are approved. As of Sunday, there have been a total of 20,004 rejections, or 1.3% or the background checks made, according to the FBI. In most years, spikes in background checks are seen during the holidays and shopping months of November and December. But recently it has been seen that spikes do occur right after a tragic gun related incident such as the Newtown Elementary School shooting in Connecticut, December of last year.

Many states have their own laws requiring checks for private sales, other states who currently do not have regulations on private sales are following suit. The National Rifle Association is opposed to universal background checks. The group says the current system is flawed and does not contain sufficient data on problems like mental illness. This is just one of many other concerns raised by the NRA against the current background check system in the United States today.

Four democratic gun control bills passed the Colorado House this week and is now headed to Senate. These four bills are headed to the Senate, where they will likely be assigned to committees this week. Democrats control the Senate 20-15, so Republicans will need to peel off three Democrats to kill a measure.

“I know they’re coming, and I strongly suspect they’ll get passed,” Senate President John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, said of the bills. “But there’s still a long way to go and a lot of conversation to be had.”

The Bills which have received final passage:

• A limit on gun magazines to 15 rounds (34-31)

PASSED with all Republicans and three Democrats voting against: Leroy Garcia of Pueblo, Steve Lebsock of Thornton, Ed Vigil of Fort Garland

• Ban on concealed weapons, even with permit, on school campuses (34-31)

PASSED with all Republicans and three Democrats voting against: Garcia, Lebsock and Vigil

• Fees for background checks to be covered by gun buyers (33-32)

PASSED with all Republicans and four Democrats voting against: Garcia, Vigil, Dave Young of Greeley and Diane Mitsch Bush of Steamboat Springs

• Requirement of background checks for all firearm transactions/transfers (36-29)

PASSED with all Republicans and one Democrat, Vigil, voting against

Democrats hold a 37-28 majority in the House – where 33 votes are needed for passage – but only one of the bills, the universal background check, passed with a margin close to the Democrats’ majority. In the Senate, the numbers are closer. Democrats hold a 20-15 advantage and need 18 votes for passage.

Monday’s discussion in the House, while far shorter than the 12-hour debate Friday, was distinguished by speeches that quoted “Hamlet,” invoked images of Japanese internment camps and cited the example of Mahatma Gandhi – in this case in favor of gun rights.

Republicans argued that a bill imposing fees on gun purchasers for background checks was essentially a tax. “This bill is taking advantage of a tragedy that’s out there to demonize law-abiding citizens who are exercising their Second Amendment rights, and using it as a way to generate $4 million to $5 million in increased taxes on these people,” said Rep. Brian DelGrosso, R-Loveland.

Probably some of the angriest debate came around the bill to limit gun magazines to 15 rounds. McCann said high-capacity magazines had been used in numerous high-profile spree shootings, citing in particular the case of Jared Loughner, who used one to wound 13 people, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, and kill six others outside a Tucson grocery story in January 2011.

For the past years, California’s background check process has been stopped hundreds of criminals and mentally ill people from purchasing firearms. The state’s system has been thought of as a template in which other states should follow when they revamp their firearm regulations.

In Californian gun stores, every buyer goes through a rigorous background check process. The potential buyer has to submit his or her driver’s license or valid IDs, then their names go through the FBI Instant Criminal Background Check System as well as twenty other database sources which include DMV records, and state mental health records. This type of check is more extensive than the checks done in other states throughout the United States.

California is also one of two states – Rhode Island the other – that requires these checks not just for FFL (Federal Firearm License) gun dealers, but also for private sales including gun shows and even buying a firearm from a friend.

The background checks also apply to Californians who buy a gun through a private seller. Then buyer and seller must get a federally licensed seller to run a background check to complete the transaction.

Due to the success of their firearm regulations, gun control advocates have held the state as a model for the rest of the country to follow suit. This has also been met with much opposition and has become an emotional debate since the shooting tragedies that have occurred in the past year.

This was made clear during the senate hearing where many gun rights advocates have expressed fear that universal background checks would be a prelude to universal gun registrations and might eventually lead to confiscations. At the Senate Judiciary Committee, Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president and CEO of the National Rifle Association, sparred with Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, on the background check issue after LaPierre argued that more checks would simply force law-abiding citizens to pay more fees for the right to own a gun.

Some statistics are clear: Only 1 percent of California’s background checks lead to denials, so the system barely reduces the number of guns out there. But the national denial rate is 0.6 percent, so California’s checks are obviously much better at preventing people who can’t legally own guns from buying them.

Some of Obama’s recent executive actions and new bills introduced in Congress from both sides of the aisle aim to plug up gun show and private sale loopholes, pressing states and federal agencies to feed more and better-detailed information into the FBI system, but the gun lobby opposes any effort to expand that system’s use to cover gun shows or private, person-to-person sales – representing roughly 40 percent of gun sales.

WASHINGTON — Former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was herself a victim of a mass shooting in Tucson, opened the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing Wednesday with a call to action on gun violence.

"Speaking is difficult but I need to say something important," she said in a slow, deliberate voice. "Violence is a big problem, too many children are dying, too many children. We must do something. Americans are counting on you," she said.

The hearing exposed differences of opinion among legislators, gun control supporters and gun-rights groups and organizations. Topics included a proposed assault weapons ban, mental health and crime, the proposed expansion of federal background checks to buy guns was the most-discussed measure.

Senators on both sides were very careful to avoid saying anything that could be seen as personally insulting the victims of gun violence — Several members on the panel noted the presence of families of victims of various shootings, including Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who drew attention to the family of a Newtown victim. Time after time, the senators and witnesses seemed to back down from confrontation.

Mark Kelly, left, listens as Wayne LaPierre, right, National Rifle Association Chief Executive Officer, testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on gun violence on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013. (AP Photo)

Here are some of the key things people said at the hearing about background checks:

"We must come together today as Americans seeking common cause. Let us forgo sloganeering, demagoguery and partisan recriminations, this is too important for all that."

—Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

"When it comes to background checks, let’s be honest. Background checks will never be universal because criminals will never submit to them."

— Wayne LaPierre, CEO of the National Rifle Association.

"Mr. LaPierre, that’s the point. The criminals won’t go to purchase the guns because there will be a background check."

— Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.

"It (Universal Background Checks) won't create any gun registry. It will not limit your ability to borrow your Uncle Willie's hunting rifle."

— Sen. Charles Schumer, D.-N.Y.

"The best way to stop a bad guy from getting a gun in the first place is a good background check."

— Baltimore County Police Chief James Johnson

"We’d like to see the federal laws that are on the books enforced."

— Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.

Fontana, California – High powered rifles that were shipped to school police in Southern California look like they belong in a war zone and not in the campus. School officials were adamant that the guns would help them stop any attacks similar to the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School that claimed the lives of 26 students and teachers in Connecticut.

The rifles, Colt LE6940, were ordered last fall and was delivered the first week of December. The Fontana Unified School District order 14 rifles in total for the district’s 14 school police officers who will also receive almost two days worth of training on handling the firearms.

Fontana isn’t the first district to try this. Other Southern California districts also have rifle programs – some that have been in operation for several years. Santa Ana Unified School District, in nearby Orange County, has had a rifle program for about two years that operates similarly to the one Fontana has started, said police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna.

Fontana school police Chief Billy Green said he purchased the guns for $14,000 after identifying a “critical vulnerability” in his force’s ability to protect students. The officers, who already wear sidearms, wouldn’t be able to stop a shooter like the one in Connecticut, he said Wednesday.

The 40,000-student district came up with the school rifle program after consulting with top school safety experts and looking at what other large districts had done, said Superintendent Cali Olsen-Binks.

The Los Angeles School Police Department also deploys rifles to its officers as needed, the department said in a statement. It would not say how many rifles district police have but said the weapons are kept in the department’s armory and are handed out and returned daily.

The San Bernardino City Unified School District police force purchased four Bushmaster semiautomatic rifles last July, said Linda Bardere, a district spokeswoman.

Fontana is a city of about 200,000 people east of Los Angeles.

There has been much commotion regarding gun safety in light of current tragedies, like the one in Sandy Hook. Legislators are all cramming to come up with a policy that would solve all of the current firearm issues in the United States. None more than Vice President Joe Biden, who after weeks of meetings with top brass involved in the debate, are trying to form policies and recommendations to present to President Obama within the week.

One possible proposal would be for a “Universal Background Check” for any gun purchase or exchange. This is his “cure all” solution to address current loopholes and problems with current firearm laws that have been plaguing the country. This would be a big deal for everyone involved in the sale or exchange of firearms – dealers, manufacturers, importers, and gun owners alike.

When guns are sold in gun stores across the United States, the buyers are all subjected to a background check using the FBI Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), but that same buyer can sell or give that firearm to anyone, without having them go through any background check. This is one of the targets on the proposed new policy, and to address all private sales including closing the problematic gun show loophole with this “universal” background check.

How Will It Work

“Universal” would be an accurate term for this type of background check. In gun shows, everyone who wants to purchase a firearm is required to undergo a background check, and if a seller is not licensed, he/she has to get in touch with someone who can run a check.

A proposal from a Colorado Governor, Gov. John Hickenlooper, wants to apply this to “private sales” outside gun shows, essentially similar to banning any type of exchange without background checks. This would mean that any type of exchange or sale would have to involve a licensed dealer who can run a check using the NICS system. Private exchanges account for 40% of gun sales in Colorado.

Simply giving someone a rifle, or a father bequeathing a firearm to his son, would require the owners of the firearm to register the receiver and subject them to a background check by contacting a licensed dealer, which some believe would be going too far and infringes on their rights and privacy.

How Would The Policy Be Enforced

The Washington Post reports that the Gun Control Task Force headed by Vice President Joe Biden – “is seriously considering measures backed by key law enforcement leaders that would require universal background checks for firearm buyers [and] track the movement and sale of weapons through a national database.”

To ensure that the new policy would work, they are planning to create a national registry of gun owners to track and know where the guns are at any given time, and know when any of them change hands. Further noting that this would enable them to make sure that any person who has a firearm is really allowed to possess them.

Punishment and possible consequences of not following the possible policies would include confiscation or worse, the violator could be arrested for violating the Gun Control Act of 1968, which has a five year maximum prison sentence.

The Vice President himself was almost effusive regarding that notion, saying that “there is a surprising, so far, recurrence of suggestions that we have universal background checks.”

Still some skeptics and gun advocated have voiced out concerns on whether or not these measures would really prevent further tragedies, like the Sandy Hook Elementary Shooting, in which, they note that the shooter never even purchased a firearm. Whatever the outcome, if these proposals are approved, a lot more commotion is surely to ensue.

Washington (CNN) – In the wake of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, one of the state’s senators is keen on pushing and introducing a legislation to require an FBI background check for the purchase of ammunition.

“Ammunition is now the black hole in gun violence prevention,” Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal said.

The current laws do not allow people who have criminal records, felonies, mental illness, and those who fail to pass other criteria to purchase firearms, but these same laws do not prohibit anyone from going into a gun store to purchase bullets. They are not submitted to passing any kind of background checks to purchase the ammunition.

Sen. Blumenthal tell reporters during a conference, that he plans to introduce the Ammunition Background Check Law of 2013 within the month. Other than requiring background checks for ammunition, as the name suggests, it will also have other statutes; like an alert sent out when anyone buys more than a thousand rounds of ammunition within five days.

“There is no rational reason why a person can walk into a store, fill their shopping cart with hundreds of rounds of ammo, pay up, and walk out without so much as giving their name,” said Blumenthal.

The proposed act would utilize the same type of check as with gun purchases, running the ammunition background check through the FBI’s Instant Background Check System or NICS.

The senator said he is trying to keep faith with the people of Newtown and elsewhere who want action to combat gun violence.

After the December shooting in a Connecticut Elementary School, one of the worst in the United States, President Obama has shown his intention to push for new gun control laws and legislations.

“I’m going to be putting forward a package and I’m going to be putting my full weight behind it,” President Obama said. “I’m going to be making an argument to the American people about why this is important.”

In a press conference, Obama had vowed to pass stricter gun control laws and legislations within the next year, which might include a ban on assault rifles and semiautomatic weapons, this has caused an increase in firearm purchases across the U.S. for fears of not being able to purchase certain firearms when these laws are put into place. This in turn has caused the wait for checks to continually become longer as more and more people buy these firearms.

In the last month of 2012, the FBI had made 2,700,000 gun background checks, for a total of more than 19 million background checks for 2012. December is usually the busiest month for background checks due to holiday gifts.

“I’m in the gun business for 30-years and we never experienced anything like this,” Bernstein, a gun store owner explained. “They told us nine to ten days to get approved, an approval, which used to take 15 to 20-minutes.”

The president said he supports increased background checks and bans on assault weapons and high-capacity bullet magazines. He also voiced skepticism about the National Rifle Association’s proposal to put armed guards in schools.

The Vice-President of the National Rifle Association (NRA) stood in front of reporters, a week after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, with a controversial announcement.

“I call on Congress today to act immediately to appropriate whatever is necessary to put armed police officers in every school – and to do it now, to make sure that blanket of safety is in place when our children return to school in January,” LaPierre said.

The NRA VP’s comment was met with negative reactions from teachers and school organizations, pointing out that having armed officers on their schools would not prevent these incidents. Columbine and Virginia Tech both had armed security officers in their campuses. Virginia Tech and Columbine High School were schools in which one of the worst gun related mass murders in the United States happened.

Then the NRA President, David Keene, whistled a different tune in an interview with CNN, saying that is not the decision of congress but will be up to the schools themselves if they wanted armed police men on their premises.

“Whether an individual school wants that kind of protection or doesn’t want that kind of protection is really up to the individual school,” Keene said in the interview.

Some surprising facts were revealed during the interview, among them were that about 23,000 schools in the United States today have armed security officers roaming around their campuses.

“We’re not urging that teachers be armed, but in some schools, school districts and teachers are armed today, and if the school district and the teachers want to do it that way, it’s really up to them, it seems to me,” he said.

In Utah, gun right advocates are offering more that 200 teachers hours of training using weapons. Another group in Ohio is giving out tactical firearms training to 24 teachers. Other states and their legislators are now considering allowing teachers to carry concealed firearms.

Whether or not allowing firearms in the hands of faculty members and other school staff would be a good idea is still up for debate, but most states are already trying to find ways in preventing these types of tragedies. One columnist even went as far as saying that children and students need to be trained how to attack and disable a gunman.

Still a lot of people disagree with the move, “It’s a terrible idea,” Carol Lear, a chief lawyer for the Utah Office of Education, told the Associated Press. “It’s a horrible, terrible, no-good, rotten idea.”

There is no record of the exact total guns that have been sold in the United States, but we can get an idea by the amount of background checks performed using the FBI Criminal Background Check System. The data shows the number of applications there are to buy firearms for each year, and it seems that this year we continue to see a continued increase in gun sales across the United States.

With a number of gun related tragedies and incidents just this year, it is no surprise that more and more people are purchasing firearms. The recent Connecticut Elementary School shooting and Aurora Cinema Massacre, being among the worst gun related murders in the US, there is also renewed interest in gun control laws across the country.

How the current system works is that when an individual wishes to purchase a firearm, the gun store calls in a background check request to the FBI or other affiliated agencies, and gets a reply on whether or not the customer is eligible to make the purchase, most are denied due to previous criminal records, mental health issues, and other factors.

The data below shows that there has been 16,808,538 applications in 2012 from January to November. Doing justice to the fact that the United States has the highest number of gun owners in the world.

If you are surprised by the numbers, keep in mind that not all of the applications are approved. Numerous factors are looked at before an approval, and being convicted of a crime in the last two years counts for 58.65% of the denials this year.

68,584,078 of the total applications since 1998 have been for ‘long guns’ such as rifles, usually a minimum length of 16 inches (40 cm) for rifle barrels – that is 43.8% of all applications. Kentucky has the highest rate of 2,329,151 and Texas comes in second with 1,196,176 applications.

Grand Junction, Colo. – The record was broken on the number of gun and firearms background checks made in a single day by potential gun buyers in Colorado state.

Following one of the worst massacres in United States history, where a lone gunman killed 20 children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., was a sudden rush to gun stores as well as background check requests.

Staff at Sportsman’s Warehouse on Monday have reported more than a thousand pending background check requests and a backlog of almost 24 hours. These types of check involving firearms, usually only take a few minutes, but the sheer number of requests has caused some to be delayed.

According to Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials, the sudden surge after the shooting was indeed a surprise and their office was not equipped to deal with the demands during the weekend. This has caused potential gun buyers to wait for long periods of time to get their background check results.

Twice during the day, the system shut down – once for 18 minutes and again for 14 minutes.

On Sunday, President Barack Obama vowed to use “whatever power this office holds” in efforts to prevent another mass shooting in the U.S.

According to CBI data, last year 245,475 firearm applications were approved out of the 251,307 submitted. The approval figure doesn’t provide the scope of gun sales, as a buyer can get multiple guns with a single background check and the state doesn’t track gun purchases.

NEWTOWN, Conn. – Official reports now from the Associated Press, have confirmed 27 dead, including 18 children in a Connecticut school shooting. The gunman was found dead, with two firearms. A law enforcement official in Washington said the attacker was a 20-year-old man with ties to the school and that one of the guns was a .223-caliber rifle. Details are still not clear as investigation is still under way.

It wasn’t clear how many people were injured in the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. The superintendent’s office said the district had locked down schools in Newtown, in western Connecticut about 100 kilometers northeast of New York City.

Update as of 10:30 PM Eastern – 20 children confirmed dead in gruesome massacre. The 20-year-old gunman, now identified by law enforcement sources as Adam Lanza.

State police said Newtown police called them around 9:40 a.m. A SWAT team was among the throngs of police to respond. Children were seen running away from the school still crying, and people gathered in a parking lot.

The White House said Barack Obama was notified of the shooting and his spokesman Jay Carney said the president had “enormous sympathy for families that are affected.” This tragedy is one of many just this year that has again sparked new concerns on current gun control laws in the United States.