Senate Passes National Park Carry Amendment

Senator Tom Coburn proposed an amendment to the credit card bill to restore concealed carry rights in national parks. The amendment needed 60 votes, according to C-SPAN and passed with 67 votes. Interesting observations:

  • Claire McCaskill, AHSA’s pet Senator, changed her vote after initially supporting gun rights to oppose the right to carry in federal parks.
  • Arlen Specter stuck with us on gun rights and voted yes.
  • Michael Bennett from Colorado, in what may be his first vote on the issue, voted with us.  I’ll see if it was in fact his first later.
  • Kirsten Gillibrand voted no, but that wasn’t enough to stop the senior Senator from New York ranting like a madman on the Senate floor to other Senators.
  • Mark Warner of Virginia voted for it, maintaining his reasonable record on the issue.
  • Patrick Leahy, in a bit of a surprise, voted for our rights as well.  He must be trying to improve his grade, not a bad move to help start that process.

UPDATE: What the hell is Lamar Alexander doing voting against this?  He was A-rated and endorsed last election in 2008?   Did he gets his “yes” confused with “no?”  Did Tom Coburn piss in his cornflakes?  We’ll see if we can find out.

20 thoughts on “Senate Passes National Park Carry Amendment”

  1. Hard for Leahy to vote against it, given VT’s “policy” on CCW, at least with a straight face…

  2. Where did you see or read Schumer’s rant?

    Can you post a link to audio, or transcripts?

  3. This is fairly pleasing to me. The breakdown of votes among Democrats was 27 voting YEA, and 27 voting NAY.

    I realize Democrats are far more likely to vote against gun rights, but I’ve also argued for years that gun rights should not be partisan.

    So … this vote is pleasing to me.

  4. So right here, right now, we need to start targeting the (mostly Democrat) senators who voted nay. I would think that Bingaman and Harkin, for instance, would be vulnerable.

  5. I personally find the legislative practice of amending a bill with something completely and totally unrelated to the bill abhorrent. For example, it’s this practice that got us saddled with RealID.

    The ends don’t justify the means just because THIS TIME it suits our purpose or our beliefs.

  6. ChamberedRound:

    I totally agree. I would like to see this sort of “attachment”, along with “earmarks”, removed from the legislative arsenal.

    I can’t bring myself to laud the tactic just because the other guy’s ox got gored.

  7. Senator Alexander continues to fail to see the need for self defense in National Parks. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is just outside his home of Maryville, TN, and he has always been a strong advocate for parks. In this case, he is letting his emotions get in the way, and this prevents him from literally seeing the forest for the trees.

  8. Many new blue dog Democrats say that they are pro gun, but we need to make them stand up and prove that it is more than just lip service.

  9. ChamberedRound and Sendarius,

    I tend to agree with you on the legislative tactic of attaching unrelated amendments to bills. However, consider the following, from Senator Coburn’s website:

    “Members of Congress have repeatedly attempted to bring up this measure for a clean, fair vote. Unfortunately, Congressional Leadership has gone to extreme lengths to avoid having a straight up-and-down vote on this measure.”

    Since the lunatics who currently run the asylum won’t allow a strongly-supported initiative to get to the floor, it’s fair and appropriate for proponents to use whatever tactic works for them.

  10. Sebastian,

    You left a real stunner off your list of observations — Casey voted for it!

    Whatever was in the water at the Capitol yesterday, we need to bottle it and distribute it nationwide. PA voters should send thanks to Specter and Casey.

  11. This story deserves the Sad Panda for all the anti-gun groups. 2/3 of the senate made a positive action against gun-control. That’s pretty amazing; and anyone waking from a coma that started in ’94 would be shocked…

  12. >What’s surprising about that? He was NRA A rated when he was elected.

    Okay, so maybe it wasn’t a shocker. Still, NRA-PVF was being generous in 2006, since Casey had no track record on the issue then. Given his big-government tendencies and his support for Holder, it wouldn’t have surprised me if Casey had followed Lamar Alexander’s example.

  13. Achilles:

    I understand the logic, and maybe the “need”, to do it this way, but I remain unhappy with the method.

    I’m probably MORE unhappy with the lack of procedural fairness in the Senate. It seems to me (an out-sider, ignorant of the House rules) that if they had the numbers to PASS such a bill in a “straight up-and-down” vote, surely there should be way to call for that vote despite resistance from the majority leadership.

  14. Does anyone wonder if some Senators were nudged to vote on this amendment by the fact that it might kill the bill it was attached to?

    In addition to the corruption style arguments in favor of the above (e.g. banks don’t like it), there’s the strong general argument that expensive credit cards are better than none.

    Arguing against the above is the Fed’s move to implement much of this effective in a few years.

  15. Well, There you have it.
    Our Christmas gift from bush was taken away by obama…
    And then JUSTLY RECONSTITUTED by the senate…(period)!

    Don’t question how it got there. You wackos.

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