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Gun control backers turn up heat on selected senators
Gun control backers use ads and protests to try to press a few senators, like Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), to change their minds on background checks.
By Melanie Mason, Washington Bureau
May 13, 2013, 3:00 a.m.
WASHINGTON — First came the letter-writing campaigns, then the protests at town hall meetings and now the television ads. The last several weeks in New Hampshire have had the feel of a heated electoral season — but the target of this siege, first-term Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte, isn't on the ballot until 2016.
Welcome to Round 2 in the battle over gun control.
The first round ended last month, when a proposal to expand the background check system to cover most commercial gun sales fizzled in the Senate. Ayotte opposed the measure, as did 40 other Republicans and four Democrats, dealing a blow to the gun control movement animated by the December mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
Supporters of tougher gun laws vowed not to let the issue fade, as it has in the past. The vote, President Obama declared, was "just Round 1." But with the next election 18 months away and a Senate calendar already filled with immigration reform and the federal budget, the prospects for a renewed fight seemed dim.
More: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-senate-guns-20130513,0,7885126.story?track=rss
By Melanie Mason, Washington Bureau
May 13, 2013, 3:00 a.m.
WASHINGTON — First came the letter-writing campaigns, then the protests at town hall meetings and now the television ads. The last several weeks in New Hampshire have had the feel of a heated electoral season — but the target of this siege, first-term Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte, isn't on the ballot until 2016.
Welcome to Round 2 in the battle over gun control.
The first round ended last month, when a proposal to expand the background check system to cover most commercial gun sales fizzled in the Senate. Ayotte opposed the measure, as did 40 other Republicans and four Democrats, dealing a blow to the gun control movement animated by the December mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
Supporters of tougher gun laws vowed not to let the issue fade, as it has in the past. The vote, President Obama declared, was "just Round 1." But with the next election 18 months away and a Senate calendar already filled with immigration reform and the federal budget, the prospects for a renewed fight seemed dim.
More: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-senate-guns-20130513,0,7885126.story?track=rss