Gavin Aronsen

Reporter

Gavin is a Mother Jones reporter in the DC bureau.

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Gavin is an Iowa native, and covered the 2008 first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses for the Ames Tribune. He has also contributed to the Agence France-Presse, Daily Beast, Iowa Independent, Manhattan Media, and Village Voice.

Background Checks in Danger of Being Shot Down in the Senate

—By Gavin Aronsen

| Mon Apr. 15, 2013 10:26 AM PDT

UPDATE 2, Monday, April 15, 5:00 p.m.: Jon Tester (D-Mont.) said this afternoon that he will vote for Manchin-Toomey, becoming the 52nd senator to do so.

UPDATE, Monday, April 15, 1:52 p.m.: The New York Times reports that the absence or presence of Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), who has been out of the Senate as a result of complications from stomach cancer treatments, could prove crucial to whether Harry Reid can secure 60 votes for the background check compromise. Lautenberg supports the legislation.

ORIGINAL POST: Last Thursday, the Senate overcame a filibuster threat and voted 68 to 31 to allow debate on gun legislation that centers on a compromise amendment to expand background checks. But that was just the difficult beginning for the legislation, brokered by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.). On Tuesday, the Senate is expected to vote on the amendment, but it lacks a clear path to the 60 votes it needs to head to the House.

Of the 16 Republican senators who voted to allow debate, only three so far—Toomey, Susan Collins (Maine), and Mark Kirk (Ill.)—have signalled they will support the Manchin-Toomey bill. On Sunday, John McCain said he was "very favorably disposed" to it.

Five others—Saxby Chambliss (Ga.), Tom Coburn (Okla.), Bob Corker (Tenn.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), and Roger Wicker (Miss.)—plan to vote against the bill. Johnny Isakson (Tenn.) said he will probably also vote no.

That leaves Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), Richard Burr (N.C.), Jeff Flake (Ariz.), John Hoeven (N.D.), and Dean Heller (Nev.), as the remaining undecided Republicans from that group. A spokesperson for Heller remained vague on the senator's position, telling the Hill that Heller "will not support any plan that creates a federal gun registry." That's a red herring, though: Manchin-Toomey affirms a ban on a federal gun registry that has been in place since 1986. (Naturally, that hasn't stopped some Republican hardliners from warning of that dire possibility anyway.)

[Read more in the MoJo blog]

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GOP Congressman Compares Background Checks to Rwandan Genocide

—By Gavin Aronsen

| Thu Apr. 11, 2013 12:58 PM PDT

Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.), who enjoys an A rating from the National Rifle Association, took to Facebook on Thursday to warn Americans of the "evil consequences" of a national gun registry, comparing the dangers of expanded background checks to the Rwandan genocide.

The 2nd Amendment is (or should be) equal to the 1st Amendment and the 4th Amendment and all of the others. Ask yourselves why it is under attack? Ask yourselves about a National gun registry database and how that might be used and why it is so wanted by progressives.

Read about the Rwandan genocide, the Hutu and Tutsi tribes. Read that all Tutsi tribe members were required to register their address with the Hutu government and that this database was used to locate Tutsi for slaughter at the hands of the Hutu. (Since the government had the names and addresses of nearly all Tutsis living in Rwanda (remember, each Rwandan had an identity card that labeled them Tutsi, Hutu, or Twa) the killers could go door to door, slaughtering the Tutsis.

Not with firearms, mind you, but with machetes.

I use this example to warn that national databases can be used with evil consequences.

No lawmaker is proposing a national registry, which federal law has banned since 1986. The new compromise on background checks brokered by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) explicitly re-bans a registry, with a penalty of up to 15 years in prison for anyone who uses records from licensed dealers to create one.

In his Facebook message, Duncan also took a hard stance against a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines: "To blame the firearm, or a certain size magazine, or type of ammo—for the tragedies that have occurred in this nation is like blaming the knife used to kill Nicole Brown Simpson or the machetes used to slaughter a million Tutsis in Rwanda."

"Preying on the fears of the American citizenry is not good governance," Duncan added.

At least he's not invoking Hitler.

Read the full statement here.

Here Are the Republicans Who Voted to Allow Debate on the Senate Gun Bill

—By Gavin Aronsen

| Thu Apr. 11, 2013 9:39 AM PDT

As families of Newtown massacre victims watched from the gallery, the Senate voted 68 to 31 on Thursday morning to allow the Democratic gun package to proceed to a formal vote. Sixteen Republicans voted to move forward on the bill (see the full list below), easily warding off a filibuster threat from Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) and 13 other Republicans. Two Democrats, Sens. Mark Begich (Alaska) and Mark Pryor (Ark.), voted against proceeding to formal debate on the bill.

Republican opposition centered on a bill to establish universal background checks that was introduced by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). On Wednesday, Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) announced a compromise amendment to exempt transfers between family, friends, and neighbors, and temporary transfers between hunters, from background checks. The compromise also took steps to assuage Republican fears about a national gun registry and Second Amendment infringement.

Now begins the real test: Republicans and Democrats will offer a series of amendments, after which Republicans can still filibuster a vote on the final bill. If the bill survives the Senate it will head to the GOP-led House, where conservative Republicans like Rep. Steve Stockman (Texas) are pressuring Speaker John Boehner (Ohio) to block it from reaching the floor. (Some Republicans are apparently siding with Democrats, however.)

After Thursday's Senate vote, Reid said that the Manchin-Toomey amendment would be heard on Tuesday. Reid also reaffirmed his vow to allow votes on amendments to ban high-capacity magazines and assault weapons. "Some people love [the assault weapons ban], some people hate it. But we're going to have a vote on it," he said on the Senate floor.

The National Rifle Association, which initially called the Manchin-Toomey compromise a "positive development" that took a step away from the universal background checks called for in Schumer's bill, later penned a letter to senators calling the compromise "misguided" and warning them that the NRA would be keeping tabs on senators who voted for "anti-gun" amendments.

"[T]he NRA will oppose any amendments offered to [Schumer's bill] that restrict fundamental Second Amendment freedoms; including, but not limited to, proposals that would ban commonly and lawfully owned firearms and magazines or criminalize the private transfer of firearms through an expansion of background checks," the letter read.

Here are the Republicans who voted to move forward on the gun bill:

Lamar Alexander (Tenn.)
Kelly Ayotte (N.H.)
Richard Burr (N.C.)
Saxby Chambliss (Ga.)
Tom Coburn (Okla.)
Susan Collins (Maine)
Bob Corker (Tenn.)
Jeff Flake (Ariz.)
Lindsey Graham (S.C.)
Dean Heller (Nev.)
John Hoeven (N.D.)
Johnny Isakson (Ga.)
Mark Kirk (Ill.)
John McCain (Ariz.)
Pat Toomey (Pa.)
Roger Wicker (Miss.)

Background Check Compromise: What's in the Fine Print?

—By Gavin Aronsen

| Wed Apr. 10, 2013 4:47 PM PDT

The compromise amendment on expanded background checks that Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) announced Wednesday morning has yet to be released to the public. But the senators released a fact sheet on Wednesday afternoon that begins to clear up some answers sought by gun control groups and uncommitted senators. (Read it in full below, via the Huffington Post.)

Titled "The Public Safety and Second Amendment Rights Protection Act," the amendment expands the existing background check system to cover sales at gun shows and on the internet, "encourages" states to put all their available records into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, and establishes a National Commission on Mass Violence "to study in-depth all the causes of mass violence in our country."

[Read more in the MoJo blog]

Here's What's in the Compromise Proposal on Background Checks for Gun Buyers

—By Gavin Aronsen

| Wed Apr. 10, 2013 9:32 AM PDT

On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) gave senators leading bipartisan talks on a compromise amendment for expanding background checks on gun buyers an ultimatum: Figure it out by 5 p.m. That's when Reid planned to file a motion to move to debate of his broader package of gun control legislation, which includes measures to improve school safety and crack down on gun traffickers.

Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) managed to strike a deal, and on Wednesday morning they held a press conference on Capitol Hill outlining their amendment, which Manchin said would be the first on the gun control bill when Reid introduces it for an initial vote on Thursday. (Sen. Chuck Schumer, the New York Democrat who introduced the background check provisions that cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee on a party-line vote, told reporters on Tuesday that although some details needed working out, he supported the Manchin-Toomey compromise.) The amendment would require background checks on all gun sales in person and over the internet with the exception of transfers between "friends and neighbors." It's unclear how broad that exception will be in practice, but the Washington Post reported that the background check requirement "would not cover private transactions between individuals, unless there was advertising or an online service involved." Private dealers would be required to keep records of gun sales, as licensed dealers have already been doing since 1968. Gun sellers who allow prohibited people to buy firearms would face a felony charge.

Immediate reactions from gun control groups working with lawmakers on the Hill were mixed. "We like [the compromise] very much," Mark Glaze, director of Michael Bloomberg's Mayors Against Illegal Guns, told Mother Jones. Ladd Everitt, a spokesman for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, struck a more cautious tone. "We're still waiting to hear the language of the bill," he said, explaining that his group wanted more details on how record-keeping would work, and if gun transactions by, for example, people standing just outside gun shows would require checks. But Everitt commended Manchin and Toomey for standing their ground against pushback from staunch proponents of gun rights.

At the press conference, Manchin and Toomey, who both own guns, touted their support for the Second Amendment. "I don't consider criminal background checks to be gun control. It's common sense." Toomey said. "The mentally ill should not have guns. I don't know anyone who disagrees with that premise."

When asked if he worried that his support for expanded background checks would cost him his A rating with the National Rifle Association, Toomey replied, "What matters to me is doing the right thing." (Mayors Against Illegal Guns is releasing scorecards of its own to grade lawmakers on guns.)

The NRA, with which Manchin said he and Toomey have been in contact, stepped away from its opposition to expanded background checks, calling the compromise "a positive development." However, the NRA said, "no background check would have prevented the tragedies in Newtown, Aurora, or Tucson."

Manchin also said he and Toomey "agree[d] that we need a commission on mass violence" with experts on mental illness, school safety, and "video violence."

If expanded background checks are able to dodge a Senate filibuster with the help of Republicans who want to see a vote, the next challenge will be in the House, where Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has the power to block the bill from getting a vote. Toomey said there are a "substantial number of House Republicans who are supportive of this general [compromise] approach." (Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.), one of the House's leading gun-control advocates, told Mother Jones last week that the gun violence task force she sits on has been in talks with Republicans, but declined to name names.)