It's the constitution.
We may not like that some voters will vote against what we believe, but society wouldn't think about taking away their vote.
The words of some being freely spoken, if delivered convincingly enough, are more dangerous to our freedoms than firearms are, but we protect free speech as well.

I thought the story was relatively neutral. I dislike that it's nearly always presented that the NRA specifically put forth a nefarious bill that loosens control. The challenge is generally whether those controls are legal in the first place. The bill essentially affirms our constitutional rights. I'm a member, but I suspect public sentiment, as sometimes reflected by the NRA, is a bigger motivator than the lobbyist themselve.
If you want to see an example of my peace of mind being destroyed by another's constitutional rights, read the comments posted to the WP article. My blood pressure is still up. I don't understand why so many believe that giving up your rights is a form of liberal empowerment. One poster referred to the gun rights crowd as sheep! Sheep? I suspect the majority are more properly characterized as the faithful dogs that protect these "enlightened" folk from the wolves that most of them mistakenly think we are.
I would have thought those who flock together in a defenseless mass hoping that some authority will come to their rescue when they start bleating would be the sheep in this analogy.

Congress blew a chance to straighten out some of the confusion of competing state handgun laws and regs. The Fed's really should be the governing agency and authrority in this area. The switching of votes on this amendment shows how sniveling and chickensh*t some of those Senators are.

Other: I was dismayed at the Media's crowing over the failure of the amendment's passage. If the amendment was entered as a separate bill it would have passed. The fact those passing votes are still there must have the anti-gunners passing bricks.

I knew this was too good to be true.

I'm not a lawyer, but this law seems like it could have possibly infringed upon the rights of states to make their own laws on the subject.

yrs-
Evan!

ggmack,

I have to disagree with you about the states that have tough carry laws. MD is tough, being a "may issue" state and dem on top of that but PA, VA, and WV are light-years away from MD in terms of "toughness." Plus, I know for sure that PA and VA have generous open-carry laws.

While I'm here, I might as well weigh in. IMO, this bill failing is both good and bad. Its good because Congress makes too many laws as it is and this law did infringe upon state sovereignty -- abridging the principles of our founding fathers. It's bad because we still have states out there (most of the NE, MD, DC [although not a state], CA, etc) that have either no "right to carry concealed" or have severely limited it so that only rich, famous, and/or powerful people may receive a permit. These states do not recognize a person's right to self-defense and take the position that it's the polices'/politicians' job to protect the citizenry. However, if the citizens of those states wanted the right to carry, they would vote politicians in that would permit it.

The better route is to let states decide and if you can't carry in others, then don't visit them. Vote with your feet and pocketbook and spend your money, invest, vacation, etc. somewhere else.

How do you recognize a "responsible" gun owner? Is it someone who belongs to the NRA? A person of only one color? A group of people marching around in a field leaning on the rights of the constitution to keep arms? Gang members who have same rights? I enjoy guns, hunting, fishing... but I hate crime by guns, children finding hidden guns and shooting a sibling or criminals who transport guns across lines, kill police officers, threaten others. How about automatic rifles? We all have to come to a sensible regulation of firearms that includes transportation of guns. Bravado has little to do with safety or rights. Educate and resolve.

what about here in wisconsin, we cant even concealed carry at all, but at least we can open carry. still gives us a little bit of our right, even though it is so shredded.

Find out how your senator voted and proceed accordingly. That fool Rockefeller (WV) has never met a gun control measure that he didn't like, much like Byrd. I look forward to the day that we're rid of both of them from that standpoint.