As Senate Prepares To Take Up Background Checks, NRA Warns Of Outright Gun Confiscation

By Josh Israel/Think Progress:

As the U.S. Senate prepares to consider a package of gun violence prevention proposals next week, the National Rifle Association has moved into full campaign mode, fighting against reforms backed by 91 percent of the American public. The group’s lobbying arm sent members an “Emergency Action Alert” Wednesday, attempting to scare gun owners into thinking closing background check loopholes would turn them into criminals.

The message warns:

Next week, your Senators are scheduled to vote on a so-called “universal background check” bill being pushed by lifelong anti-gun zealot, Senator Chuck Schumer. Schumer’s bill would MAKE YOU A CRIMINAL if you simply transfer a firearm to an aunt, uncle, cousin or lifelong friend without the federal government’s approval.

The NRA’s slippery-slope fear-mongering continues: “This isn’t about making Americans safer…it’s about leading law-abiding gun owners down the road to gun registration – and ultimately, GUN CONFISCATION – just like we watched happen in England and Australia.” The email then asks readers to call their Senators — and send the NRA money.

The group supported universal background checks as recently as 1999 — and 74 percent of its membership supports the idea now. Even former Rep. Asa Hutchinson (R-AR), head of the NRA’s school security task force, has endorsed the idea of expanding background checks.

Universal background checks would not require the federal government’s “approval” for anything — it would demand that all gun sellers act responsibly and ensure that their firearms don’t fall into the wrong hands. The legislation before the Senate exempts transfers to immediate family members, but would require other private transfers to undergo a speedy background check to ensure they are not in the NICS database.

Federal law prohibits the creation of a national gun registry and the Supreme Court has made clear that “gun confiscation” would be unconstitutional.

Elizabeth Warren to enter Massachusetts Senate race Wednesday

By Kase Wickman/Raw Story

Harvard professor and consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren will officially announce Wednesday morning that she will challenge Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) in 2012 to reclaim the Senate seat for the Democrats, a senior Massachusetts Democratic Party official confirmed to Raw Story.

Warren’s candidacy has been the subject of speculation for more than a year. Last month, she conducted a listening tour around Massachusetts and formed an exploratory committee to test the waters and begin fundraising.

She will make a number of appearances across the state tomorrow to meet with voters, the official said, starting at an MBTA stop in Boston and working her way through the state’s different regions throughout the day. Like Tammy Baldwin, a Democratic candidate for one of Wisconsin’s Senate seats, she will announce her candidacy via a video posted to her campaign website.

A former economic adviser to President Barack Obama, Warren has taken her licks from Congress while giving anti-Wall Street testimony.

As a candidate, Warren will make sure Washington is working for working-class families, the aide said. On Wednesday’s tour, Warren will focus on meeting and greeting voters.

“The pressures on middle class families are worse than ever, but it is the big corporations that get their way in Washington,” Warren will say in Wednesday’s announcement video, according to a partial script obtained by The Boston Globe. “I want to change that. I will work my heart out to earn the trust of the people of Massachusetts.”

Warren’s entry into the race expands the field to seven Democrats against Brown, who is seeking his first full six-year term in the Senate. He won the seat in January 2010 in an upset over Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, to replace Sen. Ted Kennedy, who died of brain cancer in office in August 2009

Bill To Extend Only Middle-Class Tax Cuts Blocked In The Senate

Today, the Senate held two separate votes on the Bush tax cuts, but ultimately failed to extend any of the cuts that will be expiring at the end of the year. The first piece of legislation, which would have extended the Bush tax cuts for everyone making less than $250,000 per year, was defeated 53-36, falling seven votes shy of the 60 necessary to invoke cloture. Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV), Russ Feingold (D-WI), Ben Nelson (D-NE), Jim Webb (D-VA) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) joined all the Republicans in voting no. Eleven senators, all Republicans, did not vote. The second bill, which would have extended the tax cuts for everyone making less than $1 million, was defeated 53-37. As CNN noted, “Despite the realization that neither would get the 60 votes to succeed, many Democrats said before the vote they wanted to get on-the-record in support of extending the lower rates to lower earners.” On Thursday, the Housesuccessfully passed a bill extending only the middle-class tax cuts.