The background checks bill doesn’t have the votes. Jacob Sullum is skeptical that it would have done any good:
Forcing private sellers at gun shows to arrange background checks with the help of licensed dealers is relatively straightforward. But in that 2004 inmate survey, less than 2 percent of respondents said they had bought weapons at gun shows or flea markets. Three sources accounted for almost nine out of 10 crime guns: “friends or family” (40 percent), “the street” (38 percent), and theft (10 percent). It is hard to see how any notional background check requirement, even one applying to all private transfers, can reasonably be expected to have a significant impact on these sources.
Never under-estimate the power of the major lobby groups in DC: from the NRA to AIPAC and the AARP and the Cuba lobby, they are all designed prevent change. Even if that change is trivial.
It’s enough to make the average voter a little cynical, don’t you think? And I find myself feeling the futility of marshaling any arguments against them. They will all have their way. They are the real actors on the political stage – and the president is reduced to a bystander.
The Dish 