Susan Collins leading effort to craft gun control compromise

[jpak]

Source: bangor daily news

WASHINGTON — A group of Republican senators Friday were trying to craft compromise gun control legislation that could attract Republicans and Democrats and have a hope of passing the U.S. Senate, unlike several measures that are expected to be voted on next week for which prospects appear dim.

Congress is under pressure to act after the massacre last Sunday of 49 people at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida, the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. But the gun control issue is deeply divisive and there have been no restrictions passed since 1994, when Congress imposed a ban on semi-automatic assault weapons. That expired after 10 years.

The new effort, led by Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, would aim to close a loophole in U.S. law that allows people on terrorism watch lists to buy weapons and explosives.

The gunman in the Orlando attack and the married couple who carried out a mass shooting that killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California, last December were thought to have been inspired by militant Islamist groups abroad.

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Read more: http://bangordailynews.com/2016/06/17/news/nation/susan-collins-leading-effort-to-craft-gun-control-compromise/

[rhett o rick]

1. Was the Orlando gunman on the terrorist watch list? nm

[DustyJoe]

5. fbi had him on it in 2013 then took him back off 2014 .. makes no sense n/t

[yallerdawg]

8. It's the 'due process' the NRA reps cry about now.

The FBI investigated, and at some point concluded he didn't meet the criteria of 'suspected terrorist.'

Even so, being on the list, he still retained the right to legally purchase guns. That's the thing the Senate could fix as soon as Monday!

"No Fly, No Buy!"

[Wellstone ruled]

2. Some more usless toilet paper,

just another trying to save my Senate Seat and you know darn well it is DOA. Cruz and Mike Lee will blow the idea up once and for all.

[yeoman6987]

16. If Collins' doesn't pass then I don't see any of them passing

The only difference in the Collins gun control bill is if you are on the no fly list, you can fight if you are not the person they are looking for like Senator Kennedy. Both liberals and Republicans didn't like that part of the no fly list.

[Wellstone ruled]

18. It is such a joke,these Politicians such

panderer's,it's all about the next Election Cycle and that is the bottom line. If you know anyone who works as TSA Employee,they just laugh at the Washington Stupid,and it is just money and staffing levels. And the cleaning out of Airline chosen Management people.

[yeoman6987]

19. Of course. We are "chumps" to them

They think we are seriously stupid.

[Wellstone ruled]

20. It is tough to stay engaged

with Politics at times,especially when one meets or works with some campaigns. Yes,there are many who do care about persons back home in their districts,but,it seems to be the norm now to just send out some intern or aide to do their bidding. Some of the comments coming from inner circle persons can be harsh and down right mean or stupid. One understands the Ego Game and Power Trips and the Photo Ops,after a while. Have always said,if a Politician ever stopped short in his tracks,they would have to get a Surgeon to remove his staff members from his or her ass.

[bucolic_frolic]

3. National Security is never mentioned

in any article I've read for months on this issue

[winstars]

4. Wow, how courageous of her... NOT nt

[GeorgeGist]

6. "It's election year ...

bring out the crumbs."

[Igel]

7. They'd better do it quickly.

Before the forensics say how many people were killed by Mateen and how my by lethally friendly fire.

And before anger and cohesion dies down, where motion overwhelms logic.

On the other hand, it's a nice dialectic that many have in mind.

It's like having somebody nail antitheses to the doors of Congress.

Propose something more strict than we have now, and find a compromise to make laws a bit stricter.

Next time, propose something more strict, and find a compromise to make laws a little bit more strict.

Next time after that, propose something more strict, and find a compromise to make laws a bit more strict than that.


Thesis.
Antithesis.
Synthesis --> new thesis.

[angrychair]

10. If only it worked that effectively

Propose something more strict than we have now, and find a compromise to make laws a bit stricter.

Next time, propose something more strict, and find a compromise to make laws a little bit more strict.

Next time after that, propose something more strict, and find a compromise to make laws a bit more strict than that.

Any legislation or agreement in government that uses the word "compromise" means someone is getting screwed and if you are rich and/or powerful, you can be damn sure it isn't you.
More often than not, we hail a piece of legislation, any positive, pro-progressive legislation, that kind of does some of the things we want but never hear a word when that same legislation is defanged or otherwise undermined, a year or more later.

That is if the process you described above really happens at all. We may wait years, if not decades or even never, to see improvement to an existing law.

We, as citizens, are the only people to blame.
We love to blame Congress, "government" and everyone else but ourselves. We elect these idiots. We continue to elect people we don't like.
If we want real change, not a compromise, then we have to care enough to elect people and engaging in the process and stop pissing and moaning from the sidelines.

It's easy to talk about the virtues of compromise when you are not the one being compromised."
Angrychair

[yallerdawg]

9. "No Fly, No Buy!"

Thank you, Senator Collins. Let's break the logjam, if nothing else!

Email or call your two senators and tell them you support common sense solutions. Done in minutes!

If you are a suspected terrorist who is not allowed on a plane, how can you legally be allowed to purchase guns?

Or go to a gun show or go online and have no background check?

Madness.

[Angry Dragon]

11. I say let them have all the guns they want but

they do not get to have any ammunition or the means to make any

[Scruffy1]

12. Compromise my ass.

When will the get the balls to stand up and fight. There are so many ways of screwing Republicans back, but they never do it. Susan Collins is pretty much an R and supports them . Her "moderate" label is a sham from the tame press. Kind of lake being a moderate science denier. Doing the watch list thing will have little or no effect.

[yeoman6987]

17. Nobody has compromised in 8 years, Why start now I suppose?

I guess we will just wait another 5 years until the discussion comes up again. This is FINALLY a chance to get some gun control and you are saying no?????

[Doc_Technical]

13. I'm willing to compromise.

I think civilians can own any firearm they want,
as long as they aren't semi auto handguns and
semi auto long guns.

[SeattleVet]

14. She wants to include the 'Selectee' list, which is *full* of problems.

I share a name with over 200 other people in the country. One of them may have done something at some time to raise suspicions, so for the past 15 years every time I try to fly I get a boarding pass with a series of 'S's' across the bottom, and have to undergo 'enhanced screening'. "Step behind the screen. Please unbuckle your belt and open the front of your pants. Stand here with your arms out and legs spread. I'm going to touch you *here* now..."

I have a metal plate in my leg, and that usually gets a reaction, too. One guy grabbed my leg, felt nothing but flesh (the plate was installed in the mid-70's after I broke my femur) and realized that he should NOT have grabbed me that way...apologized to hell and back, but I think he was worried about what it was going to look like I complained and they reviewed the video of the screening area.

How are they going to verify that the 'name on the list' is actually the person that is *supposed* to be on their list? I can see several major lawsuits in the future if they try to do it this way.

[spiderpig]

15. If Collins had any integrity she'd have left that party of nutballs long ago.

She's just blowing political smoke.

[forest444]

21. Beware of Ms. Bait-and-switch.

Don't let her moderate rhetoric and grandma's-got-cookies cackle fool you, Collins is as sharp and devious as anyone you'll ever meet.

Baiting Democrats with offers of bipartisan cooperation in exchange for massive concessions, and then suddenly withdrawing support once said Dems are on the record having given up most of their ground, is her specialty.

Cookies, I'm not so sure.

[ManiacJoe]

22. A good concept, but

its bad implementation will doom it.

The article suggests that the lists will be used as is. This will cause the law to fail a constitutional review. For the new law to get the needed "due process" controls, there needs to be transparency on the ways of getting onto and off-of the lists.