The firearm regulation debate spurred by December’s massacre of 20 first-graders and 6 adults by a young gunman at a Connecticut elementary school ultimately may be remembered for heightening the divide between Democratic-leaning “blue” states and Republican-prone “red” states. A bill that cleared...
Read more »Alabama Joins States Pursuing Differing Paths on Gun Control
Photograph by Mic Smith/AP Photo
Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, center, speaks with voters, Joan Cobb, at left, and her father Harold Turner, at right, and reporters at Orlando's Pizza in Daniel Island, S.C., on May 6, 2013.
Sanford ‘Worn Out’ on ‘Judgment Day’
Count Mark Sanford as a vote against expanding background checks for gun-buyers. Count Sanford as a vote against the immigration bill from a bipartisan group of senators. That’s if the vote-count in South Carolina’s special congressional election today goes the...
Read more »
Photograph by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Attendees look at a display of tactical shotguns during the 2013 NRA Annual Meeting and Exhibits at the George R. Brown Convention Center on May 3, 2013 in Houston, Texas.
NRA Convention: Roof-Mounted Microbus Cannon and More
The National Rifle Association is meeting in Houston. Which can only mean one thing. It’s showtime: Colorado’s Magpul brought an intriguing vehicle to Houston. Note the hula girl dashboard accessory. #NRA twitter.com/bykowicz/statu… — Julie Bykowicz (@bykowicz) May 3, 2013 ...
Read more »
Photograph by Joshua Roberts/Bloomberg
President Barack Obama during a meeting with Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, the Amir of Qatar, unseen, in the Oval Office of the White House on April 23, 2013.
Obama: 100 Days In, Red Line Deadline?
One hundred days into his second term as president, today, April 30, President Barack Obama has plenty to talk about at a White House news conference. Including what hasn’t happened at home — where his fervent pleas for new gun...
Read more »
Photograph by Alex Wong/Getty Images
Members of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America wait to enter the office of Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) at Russell Senate Office Building on April 17, 2013 in Washington, DC. The group held a 'Stroller Jam' event to call on senators to vote to strengthen gun regulations.
Kelly Ayotte Gets Her Gun Ads
There may be no one senator spotlighted so intensely about her vote against background checks for gun-buyers as New Hampshire’s Kelly Ayotte. Fifty percent of New Hampshire voters surveyed by Public Policy Polling after the vote said they would be...
Read more »
Photograph by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Boxes of ammunition sit on the shelf at Sportsmans Arms in Petaluma, California.
Public Reaction to Senate Gun Vote: 47% Negative, 39% Positive
If proponents of gun safety legislation were counting on a public backlash over the Senate’s vote against expansion of background checks for gun-buyers, they won’t find it here: Among Americans surveyed by the Pew Research Center on a subject which...
Read more »
Photograph by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
Senator Max Baucus, a Democrat from Montana, speaks to the media while leaving the Blair House after a bipartisan meeting on deficit reduction with congressional leaders in Washington, D.C.
Baucus’s 2014 Retirement: Sixth Senate Democrat to Go
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus won’t seek re-election in 2014, ending a 36-year tenure capped by his authorship of the 2010 health care law. Baucus, 71, has been the top Democrat on the Finance Committee since 2001, often frustrating...
Read more »
Photograph by Alex Wong/Getty Images
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) speaks at a news briefing after the Senate defeated a bipartisan proposal to expand background checks on firearms purchases and close the so-called gun show loophole.
Blumenthal on Gun Laws: ‘America Won’t Take No for an Answer’
Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, the state where 20 elementary school students were gunned down in December, says that advocates of new gun legislation are not giving up after being unable to overcome a Republican-led filibuster to expand background...
Read more »
Photograph by Matt Hinshaw/The Daily Courier via AP Photo
Sen. Jeff Flake meets with the public on March 28, 2013 in Prescott, Arizona.
Kelly to Flake: Had Your Chance
Now it gets personal. The failure of gun-control legislation in the Senate will come with as many political repercussions as the passage of a bill would have generated. Mark Kelly, the retired astronaut married to former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the...
Read more »
Bloomberg by the Numbers: 54
That’s how many votes a proposal to expand gun background checks received as it was rejected by the Senate yesterday. The proposal, by West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin and Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, fell short of the 60 needed...
Read more »
Contributors
-
Al Hunt
is a columnist for Bloomberg View and host of the weekly show "Political Capital with Al Hunt" on Bloomberg TV. -
Mark Silva
is deputy managing editor for government news in Washington and editor of Political Capital. He has covered the White House and national politics. -
Emma Fidel
is political editor for Bloomberg.com in Washington. She previously covered financial regulation as a Bloomberg intern. -
Don Frederick
edits political and government coverage for Bloomberg News. He previously worked for more than a decade at the Los Angeles Times' Washington bureau. -
Gregory Giroux
analyzes elections, financing of congressional and presidential elections, political advertising and demographics in Bloomberg's Washington Bureau. -
Julie Bykowicz
covers the influence of money and lobbying in Washington, and covered the state legislature and city crime for the Baltimore Sun for 10 years. -
Jonathan Salant
covers campaign finance and lobbying in Washington. He was president of the National Press Club and started in Washington in 1987. -
Richard Rubin
covers federal tax policy. He worked at Congressional Quarterly and The Charlotte Observer before joining Bloomberg News in 2010. -
Julie Hirschfeld Davis
is a senior political reporter for the Washington Bureau. She covered the 2012 campaign for Bloomberg News and previously covered the White House for the Baltimore Sun. -
Lisa Lerer
covers the White House and covered the 2012 campaign for Bloomberg News. She covered Congress, lobbying and the 2008 campaign for Politico. -
John McCormick
is a national political reporter looking forward to the 2016 presidential campaign, which will be the fifth he's covered. He's also reported for The Des Moines Register and Chicago Tribune. -
Julianna Goldman
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Television. -
Hans Nichols
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Television. -
Margaret Talev
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and covered the White House for McClatchy Newspapers. She has covered California and Florida politics. -
Cary O'Reilly
is Editor at Large at Bloomberg First Word and is Washington Daybook columnist for Bloomberg Government and Bloomberg News.
