LEHIGH VALLEY EXPTRESS-TIMES Editorial: U. S. Sen. Pat Toomey seems willing to trade his “A” rating from the National Rifle Association for an expanded system of background checks for gun buyers. On Wednesday Toomey, R-Pa., joined with Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., in support of an amendment that breathed new life into a Senate attempt to extend background checks to gun shows and online sales, while stopping short of person-to-person private sales and a national gun registry.
“I don’t consider criminal background checks to be gun control. I think it’s just common sense,” Toomey said at a news conference.
Common sense has been in short supply in the debate on gun control since the massacre of 20 children and six adults at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school. The NRA and groups such as the Gun Owners of America have been stoking fears of a federal government hell-bent on confiscating guns and shredding the Second Amendment. .. (more)
EDITOR: Although over three years away, Toomey’s movement to more moderate Republican stances will serve him well when he runs for a second term in what is normally a Democrat state.
