WASHINGTON - Since her appointment to the Senate, one-time NRA favorite Kirsten Gillibrand has passed just about every test on guns set by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy - but that might change next week.
As the junior senator from New York, the upstate Democrat has undergone a transformation, moving quickly in the past three months away from her House record that won the NRA's top rating while remaining a supporter of Second Amendment rights to gun ownership.
She even jumped ahead of McCarthy, who reintroduced her bill closing the gun-show loophole at a news conference Wednesday, by co-sponsoring the Senate version of that measure two weeks ago.
But McCarthy said that next week she plans to introduce an assault weapons ban - legislation that is anathema to the NRA and that could pose a problem for Gillibrand.
"I think the assault weapons bill will be a test," McCarthy said Wednesday in an interview.
Gillibrand had no comment Wednesday on legislation that hasn't been introduced, said her spokesman Matt Canter.
"The senator is focused on working with anti-crime advocates, New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, the Brady Campaign and [New York City Police] Commissioner Ray Kelly and others on anti-trafficking legislation to stop the flow of illegal guns," he said.
Measure for measure, Gillibrand has matched McCarthy's support for gun control since being appointed in January, when she was bitterly attacked by McCarthy on guns.
Most recently, Gillibrand signed on to the Senate version of the bill that McCarthy and Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.) introduced Wednesday, which would require dealers at gun shows to conduct background checks.
The bill could be crowded out by an already overflowing agenda, McCarthy admitted. Its fate is largely up to Congressional leaders, President Barack Obama and, as always, opposition from the powerful National Rifle Association.
McCarthy, the seventh term Mineola Democrat whose signature issue is gun control, Wednesday acknowledged the shift by Gillibrand to win approval from gun-control groups.
"She actually has been signing things we have been sending over to her," McCarthy said. "And I am very happy about it. I just want to make sure she stays there."
So she said she will keep up the pressure on Gillibrand.
In addition to the assault gun ban, McCarthy said she still intends to run a Democratic primary challenge in 2010.
But she said she will step aside if someone younger and just as passionate about gun control announces for the seat.
From the start, McCarthy said, "I felt I had to speak up, but I was hoping somebody else would step forward to run. To be honest with you, yes, I think somebody younger should run. Hopefully they'll be there a long time to represent the state of New York."
McCarthy is the author of that HR1022 which did not have a grandfather clause in it. IMO, that's a declaration of war.
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My savior is a carpenter, not a president.
A new “scary looking guns” ban will be introduced next week by anti-gun activist Rep. McCarthy of N.Y. I realize that description doesn’t quite fit the acronym.
Reading the Newsday article, you’d almost think that the only reason she’s doing so is to test Sen. Gillibrand:
But McCarthy said that next week she plans to introduce an assault weapons ban - legislation that is anathema to the NRA and that could pose a problem for Gillibrand.
“I think the assault weapons bill will be a test,” McCarthy said Wednesday in an interview.
Gillibrand had no comment Wednesday on legislation that hasn’t been introduced, said her spokesman Matt Canter.
Sen. Gillibrand has already flunked my test. She’s completely turned her back on gun owners by signing every gun control bill she could since her appointment a couple months ago. Miss “A” by the NRA is now an “F.”
Anyway, I guess we’ll see whether Senate leader Harry Reid passes the test since both he and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (in the House) stated they don’t support another AWB.
Sen. Feinstein — who wrote the language for the original 1994 ban, has said she supports it but will wait for the right time to renew it. That was a couple weeks ago. Is it now the “right time?”
We already know that Obama and his AG, Eric Holder, want the “assault weapons” ban back in place.
If we do get a new AWB, it will vindicate all the folks who ran out and bought so called “assault weapons” and magazines and ammo. I wish I could have been one of them.
They keep saying that, “Nobody’s trying to take your guns.” Not at this moment, perhaps, but they want to make sure we can no longer buy the ones we want, just the ones they approve of. Update: McCarthy is a congresswoman, she’s not in the Senate. I guess she expects Gillibrand to sponsor the Senate version of the AWB.
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My savior is a carpenter, not a president.
Didn't NY Senator Daniel Partrick Moynihan do the same thing almost every session when he was still in the Congress? I think he re-introduced a very similar crazt anti-gun bill every time and it too got shot down teim after time. Even with Clinton as prez.
So no...I would not sweat this too much. The Dems don't want a butt-kicking in 2010, so things like gun bills will probably go nowhere before the mid-term election.
If the Reps cannot get their sh*t together in the 2010 election and lose more seats...THEN I'd start worrying more about gun bills getting passed. But until then....nah. It makes for good gunstore talk and allows the NRA to print up scads of scare literature...but until after 2010...don't sweat it too heavily. The Dems are going to play this smarter this time around - they, unlike the Reps, are learning from past mistakes.
- brickboy240
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We've gone from Neo-Cons to Neo-Coms. Neither are desirable, if you ask me.
What's wrong with trying to protect us from dangerous shoulder things that go up?
the shoulder things that go up are called barrel shrouds, and we would be uber-safe if they were banished from the face of the earth...or so the liberals would have the sheeple believe...
Gun Ban McCarthy (D-NY) to introduce assault weapons ban Next Week
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