Judiciary Committee Starts Voting

We’ll try to keep up to date on the voting as it happens.

First up is the trafficking bill, as reported by the LA Times. Vote was 11-7. Grassley was the only GOP defector, due to a promise that the bill contain a provision to stop gun walking. Hey, Senator Grassley, you know what makes gun walking illegal? Existing federal laws. Not everyone is fooled by what this bill is about:

“My concern is this bill is a solution in search of a problem,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). “Straw-purchasing for purposes of directing guns to people who cannot legally obtain them is already a crime. And so we double down and say this time we really mean it, when in fact the real problem in many instances is the lack of prosecution of existing crimes by the Department of Justice.”

On to the other measures. Stay tuned.

UPDATE: Schumer introduces S.374, the “Protecting Responsible Gun Sellers Act of 2013,” which will of course have nothing to do with responsible gun sellers, and is likely designed to screw us.

UPDATE: John Richardson has the final word on today’s voting.