No, that's not Texas...that's Austin! Or what is known as "Califonia East"!

All of last nights bills passed
 

LIFE Act Votes:

SB 374 Assault Weapons - passed 5-2
SB 47 Bullet Button - passed 5-2
SB 293 Smart Gun Tech - passed 5-2
SB 299 Lost or stolen - passed 5-2
SB 53 Ammunition: purchase permits - passed 5-2
SB 683 Safety Certificate - passed 5-2
SB 567 Illegal Shotgun - passed 5-2
SB 108 Residential Storage - passed 5-2
SB 585 Cow Palace Gun Show Ban- passed 5-2
SB 396 Mega-Magazines - passed 5-2
SB 755 Prohibited Gun Owners - passed 5-2

Manchin-Toomey is dead, 54-46.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...93F00D20130417

Kick rocks Obama :D

As I've alluded to before, gun control's an issue Obama shouldn't try to tackle, if he thinks he's gonna win.

First the snivelling from libs on his proposed medicare and ss cuts, then this example.

Even some libs are gonna have to wake up and smell their Starbucks double-veintes before much longer.

One of the tragedies of the bombing is that it's taking focus off of Benghazi, as did the gun bill.

Regardless of public opinion...Obama to take executive action.
 

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/...ns_718027.html

Joe Biden says the president of the United States is preparing to take "executive actions" to deal with guns.

Vice President Biden told White House allies in the gun control fight Thursday that President Obama will be announcing new executive actions on gun violence in the days after the Senate voted down a gun violence bill.

On a conference call with "stakeholders," Biden told gun control advocates that the fight is not over and that eventual action on gun control will come. Press were not invited to the conference call; a participant provided BuzzFeed with access.

"Look I know you're going to say that I'm just being an optimist and I'm trying to put a good face on this. But you know I've been around here a long time and we've already done, because of you, some really good things," Biden said. "Number one, the president is already lining up some additional executive actions he's going to be taking later this week."

After the Newtown shootings, Obama took a number of executive actions to expand research into gun violence and other areas favored by the gun control community. He took the actions without Congressional approval, leading to outrage by some conservatives.

Gun control measures failed in the Democratic-controlled Senate earlier this week.

Here is a update about the forthcoming edict the King:

NRA Chief: Obama Bit Off More than He Could Chew
 

http://washingtonexaminer.com/nra-ch...rticle/2527573

The head of the National Rifle Association mocked President Obama's Rose Garden "tantrum" after losing the gun control fight in the Senate, charging Thursday that Obama suffered the worst defeat of his presidency because "he bit off more than he could chew."

David Keene told Secrets that the president and his team misplayed their hand because they don't have a sense of the public's attitude toward gun control. "They just can't gauge the public reaction to what they do because they don't have any sense that the public has feelings different than they do," said Keene.

"He thought and his folks thought that Newtown changed everything. Newtown was a tragedy but that doesn't change people's basic values and feelings," added the NRA president. "What he learned is that he bit off a lot more than he can chew and that you can't just talk your way to a victory. You have to have something that makes some sense and he what he was proposing just didn't make much sense."

The loss devastated the president, who ranted about the NRA's power during his Rose Garden address after Wednesday's vote.

Keene, however, saw it differently. "It was the biggest legislative defeat he suffered but that does not justify the unseemly picture of a president of the United States throwing a public tantrum."

Snip

This guy doesn't care about the wishes of the people or Congress.
 

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013...est=latestnews





Blocked by Congress from expanding gun sale background checks, President Obama is turning to actions within his own power to keep people from buying a gun who are prohibited for mental health reasons.

Federal law bans certain mentally ill people from purchasing firearms, but not all states are providing data to stop the prohibited sales to the FBI's background check system. A federal review last year found 17 states contributed fewer than 10 mental health records to the database, meaning many deemed by a judge to be a danger still could have access to guns.

The Obama administration was starting a process Friday aimed at removing barriers in health privacy laws that prevent some states from reporting information to the background check system. The action comes two days after the Senate rejected a measure that would have required buyers of firearms online and at gun shows to pass a background check. That's already required for shoppers at licensed gun dealers.

Stung by the defeat, Obama vowed to keep up the fight for the background check expansion but also to do what he could through executive action.

"Even without Congress, my administration will keep doing everything it can to protect more of our communities," Obama said from the Rose Garden shortly after the Senate voted. "We're going to address the barriers that prevent states from participating in the existing background check system."

Obama also mentioned giving law enforcement more information about lost and stolen guns and establishing emergency plans for schools. Those measures were among the 23 executive actions the president signed in January when he announced his broader push for tighter gun laws in response to a mass shooting of first-graders and staff at Newtown, Conn.'s Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The Health and Human Services Department on Friday was beginning to ask for public comment on how the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, passed by Congress in 1996 and known as HIPAA, is preventing some states from reporting to the background check system and how to address the problem. Under HIPAA, health care providers such as hospitals may release limited information to police, but only in certain circumstances such as when a court is involved.

Since 1968, federal law has banned the sale of guns to those who have been deemed a danger to themselves or others, involuntarily committed or judged not guilty by reason of insanity or incompetent to stand trial. The background check system -- which is also used to prevent convicted felons from buying guns -- was established under the 1993 Brady Bill.

A few state agencies shared mental health records voluntarily for years, but the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007 spurred passage of legislation that required states to submit the records or eventually risk losing up to 5 percent of the federal funding they receive to fight crime.

Last year's review by the Government Accountability Office found that although the number of mental health records available to the background check system increased 800 percent since 2004, some states said they were not sharing mental health information because of concerns about restrictions under HIPAA privacy law. Obama is interested in a change that would specifically allow disclosure of mental health records for the system, and he wants to increase financial incentives for states to contribute the information.

In the Virginia Tech rampage, student Seung-Hui Cho shot 32 people to death and committed suicide. He was able to buy two guns even though he had been ruled a danger to himself during a court hearing in 2005 and was ordered to undergo outpatient mental health treatment.

Authorities have not described a possible motive or released details of any mental health condition that might explain why Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza killed 20 children and six adults before killing himself. The rifle he used was purchased by his mother, whom he also killed at home before heading to the school.

The background check system does not give retailers access to mental health records but simply tells them whether a buyer is approved, denied or needs additional investigation before a firearm may be purchased. The system doesn't tell the seller why a potential buyer was denied.

Snip

Is he channeling Gaghdad Bob?

Chicago is already over 100 homicides
 

Liberal left-wing gun control sure is working in Barry's hometown of Chicago.......

Chicago is already over 100 homicides....... should be a banner year for Chicago!

Funny that "Tiny Dancer" is very quiet about the gun violence in Chicago.

IMO, POTUS reaction to failure of gun control in Senate was partly an act.
Upset that his tactics din't work to sway the lawmakers was the authentic part.
He needs this passed, so it can fail in the HR, so he has a campaigning point in 2014.
m&c

HHS NPRM Comment Period on HIPAA "Obstacles"
 

EXSUM: HHS is looking to craft a specific exemption to allow states' reporting of things like involuntary commitments, formal adjudications and other circumstances which are prohibitors in NICS, pursuant to POTUS' executive actions.

LINK to article here.

LINK to PDF of Fed Register notice here.

SC Senate passes bill to allow guns in bars and restaurants

The State
By JAMIE SELF — jself@thestate.com
Published: April 23, 2013


COLUMBIA, SC — The S.C. Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would allow concealed-weapons permit holders to carry guns into bars and restaurants until midnight — a victory for Second Amendment advocates.

The bill’s 33-5 vote Tuesday with bipartisan support came before next week’s deadline for sending bills to the House for possible passage.

The bill is the first to pass either State House chamber aimed at expanding gun rights amid a national debate over whether more or fewer gun laws will protect the country against violence such as the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., last year, and last week’s Boston bombings.

It may be the only one that gains traction.

Another Senate proposal, sponsored by Sen. Lee Bright, R-Spartanburg, that would allow people to carry guns without permits, concealed or in the open, is in a Senate committee and facing opposition.

Bright tried to insert his proposal into the bill Tuesday but failed.

If the bill to allow weapons in bars and restaurants becomes law, concealed-permit holders would not be allowed to drink alcohol while carrying their guns, and bar and restaurant owners could choose to prohibit firearms. They also could ask anyone carrying a firearm to leave the premises.

Permit holders could not carry guns into restaurants and bars between midnight and 5 a.m.

The stance that guns and alcohol do not mix has been a common refrain among critics, including State Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel.

Sen. Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, offered the midnight deadline as a compromise to appease Democrats who took issue with allowing guns into bars.

While supporters set out to allow concealed-permit holders to carry guns while having dinner in restaurants — instead of leaving their weapons in their vehicles — the bill does not distinguish between bars and restaurants serving alcohol.

That is because the distinction also is unclear in state law, the bill’s supporters have said.

The people who carry concealed weapons are the “responsible good guys” among gun owners, said Massey, a co-sponsor of the bill. They have undergone background checks and completed courses on state firearms laws and on how to handle firearms, he said.

<snip>

http://www.thestate.com/2013/04/23/2...ylink=misearch

For years I used to think, "I'll never be able to fathom why isn't it obvious to libs."

They know the deal, but CCW people terrify them because they know they'll never fully control them.