S1805: Tuesday Morning Update

OK, stuff is going to get tricky today. On Monday, we had a lot of talk but little action. Just one vote, that I noticed, on the Binghamptom amendment. It was a bad amendment (I think the gun show one) and it lost badly.

All indications are that the upcoming votes are going to be close. Schumer even asked that Cheney be present in case a tie-breaking vote was required. Without doing explicit vote counting, I think that the vote on the Assault Weapons Ban will come down to the wire. The bill itself is likely to pass, whether the AWB is on it or not. And the more gun control in the bill, the easier for the democrats to support it -- so the more likely it is to pass. Our goal remains to keep the anti-gun amendments off the bill. (Senate staffers don't usually record comp[icate if-thens from voters; they'll register "support for the bill" and likely won't be able to turn that support around on a dime if the AWB or other gun control is added at the last minute). The show starts at 9:30 EST.

Amendments on the table

• Assault Weapons Ban
• National Concealed Carry for Law Enforcement
• Two versions of the armor-piercing ammunition ban
• Possibly repealing DC's gun ban

I will not be posting anything else on this topic until we know the results... or it becomes necessary to kill the whole bill, because of attachments. Last night, I think we killed the gun show ban. But the real fight is today. And it's going to be close.