The U.S. Senate defeated a vital background check amendment to the gun control bill, prompting an angry response by one survivor of the Tuscon shooting 2 years ago. The vote was 54-46 with supporters of the bill falling six vote short of the required 60-vote threshold, according to news reports.
The bi-partisan proposal would have expanded background checks to gun shows and Internet sales while exempting transactions, Fox News reported.
The amendment sought to win over conservatives -largely Republicans- who were opposed to the more stringent background check plan in the bill, news reports said.
Vice President Joe Biden read the tally: "On the vote, the yays are '54,' the nays are '46.' Under the previous order requiring 60 votes for the adoption of the amendment, the amendment is not agreed to."
There were many gun control activists in the Senate Chamber, including the families from Newtown, Connecticut whose kids were killed by a gunman at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December.
"Shame on you," spontaneously yelled Patricia Maisch who she herself survived the shootings in Tucson Arizona two years ago. She also was hailed as a hero for disarming the shooter Jared Loughner by preventing him from reloading a fresh magazine.
"I could not stay still," Maisch said to reporters afterward. "They should be ashamed of themselves... if it had been a yes vote, I wouldn't have said anything. It was spontaneous-- but I was prepared to do that."
Just four Republicans, including Senator John McCain voted in favor of the legislation. Four Democrats from pro-gun states voted in opposition.
To Erica Lafferty, the daughter of the principal of the Newtown, Connecticut, school who was killed along with 20 first-graders and five other educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the vote amounted to inaction.
"The next time there's a mass shooting and they're asked what they did to prevent it, they're going to have to say nothing," she said.
In a CNN/ORC International poll released released last week, 86% of Americans say they support expanded background checks.
It was reported on Thursday that Senator Harry Reid - a Democrat who voted against the bill is shelving the proposed gun bill after this defeat of its major provisions, a Senate leadership aid said.
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