From The Hill…

The Senate voted to move forward on gun control Thursday, clearing the first of what is expected to be many 60-vote hurdles for the legislation.

In a 68-31 vote, the Senate approved a procedural motion that will allow debate on the Democratic measure to being.

Sixteen Republicans voted in favor of the motion, while two Democrats — both from states President Obama lost in the 2012 election, voted against it. The two Democrats were Sens. Mark Begich (Alaska) and Mark Pryor (Ark.), both of whom face reelection next year.

David Vitter wasn’t one of the 16. There are some pretty serious disappointments in that group…

The sixteen Republicans who voted to proceed were Sens. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), Richard Burr (N.C.), Saxby Chambliss (Ga.), Tom Coburn (Okla.), Susan Collins (Maine). Bob Corker (Tenn.), Jeff Flake (Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Dean Heller (Nev.), John Hoeven (N.D.), Johnny Isakson (Ga.), Mark Kirk (Ill.), John McCain (Ariz.), Pat Toomey (Pa.) and Roger Wicker (Miss.).

There are a few good eggs in there. They’re the minority. Most of that 16 need primary challenges at the next opportunity. With a couple of them it would be worth having a Democrat in office just to get rid of them (except that if they weren’t in the Senate they’d have nothing to do all day but get on TV and ruin the Republican brand with their bloviations).

Why is this so bad? It doesn’t sound like such a terrible idea. The bill in question would expand background checks on gun purchases, crack down on straw purchasers of guns and beef up security in schools.

Who could be against that, right?

Well, first it’s a bad idea to give the federal government any more power to limit individual rights. On any scale. That power needs to be rolled back. Nothing in this bill would have stopped Newtown or Aurora. Nothing.

And second, the federal government can’t do smart legislation or enforcement. Even Mitch McConnell, hardly a bastion of libertarianism, sees that…

“This bill is a clear overreach that will predominantly punish and harass our neighbors, friends, and family,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Thursday on the Senate floor. “The following offenses would now be federal crimes: An uncle giving his nephew a hunting rifle for Christmas, a niece giving her aunt a handgun for protection. … These people I’m describing are not criminals.”

Colion Noir had a good video on the lies behind this push for background checks…

And Erick Erickson notes that what this will do is make doctors able to destroy your 2nd Amendment rights…

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.

Activist mental health providers will probably be overly aggressive in adding people to the list. Give it five years in liberal areas and people who believe in the physical resurrection of Christ will probably get automatic entry onto the list.

Mental health is a serious issue and the Toomey-Manchin legislation could have negative consequences. Worse, it would still not stop a Columbine, a Newtown, or the daily massacres in Chicago.

That’s what Mary Landrieu voted for today. That 16 Republican squishes did the same doesn’t particularly help her cause. We’re not in a position to vote them out of office, but we are in a position to get rid of her.

BY THE WAY: From Donny Ferguson, the media director for Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX), on Facebook…

If the Senate pass a background check mandate for gun shows and Internet sales we will file a Blue Slip to automatically kill it. Supreme Court ruled in ObamaCare case that mandating use of a service is a tax. New taxes must originate in House.

So there’s that. Could be Mary trashed her “commitment to the 2nd Amendment” for nothing.