In case you haven’t heard, the Manchin-Toomey bill which would have put universal background checks on gun purchases failed in the Senate today. It got 54 votes and needed 60, so it was well short.
One of the 54 was Mary Landrieu, who had said she was undecided on the bill and was going to vote whatever way her constituents wanted.
And then she voted with Nanny Bloomberg, who had been pumping cash into Louisiana with one of the more patronizing TV ads you’ll ever see…
There were five Democrats who voted against the bill. One was Harry Reid, the Senate Majority leader, who voted against it so he’d have the right to bring it back up. The other four? Mark Begich, Mark Pryor, Heidi Heitkamp and Max Baucus, all from red states just like Landrieu. Outside of Heitkamp, who just got elected, the other three are up next year just like Landrieu.
Louisiana is no less jealous of its gun rights than Alaska, Arkansas and Montana are. We just have a Democrat senator who’s a bit less in tune with our voters than those states do – despite Landrieu’s protestations to the contrary.
One suspects Mary will pay the price for that tone-deaf attitude when she goes up for re-election. After all, her vote didn’t decide the outcome; she did nobody any good with today’s “yes” on the Manchin-Toomey bill.
UPDATE: Landrieu’s camp put out a press release saying she voted to protect our 2nd Amendment rights today. Sure, why not? Just lie about the vote, why don’t you? Your narrative’s the same as Nanny Bloomberg, who’s now going to help fund your campaign; nobody will notice, right?
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La. (Yes): Landrieu, has yet to announce whether she will support further gun control legislation. Though she seems, like Hagan, to be an unlikely yea vote on those measures. Time will tell whether voters make the distinction between the Toomey-Manchin bill and further curbs on gun owners, but national Republicans almost certainly won’t. “Mary Landrieu openly opposes wishes of voters in Louisiana — probably strongest pro-gun state in America. Interesting strategy,” National Republican Senatorial Committee communications director Brad Dayspring said in a tweet this afternoon. Later Wednesday, Landrieu’s office emailed reporters under the subject line: “LANDRIEU VOTES TO STRENGTHEN SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHTS FOR LOUISIANIANS.”
What we really need is a law requiring that you pass a background check before you can steal a gun. Because that might have prevented Newtown…or all those corpses in Chicago. Or New Orleans.
Assuming of course that you can do background checks on gun thieves.
Which, contrary to the impressions of many Democrats, isn’t possible.
Maybe Mary ought to offer up that bill.
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