So Sen Manchin is now against an Assault Weapons ban.

What's that?  For the third time? Sebastian wonders what that would gain him since now the progressive left and gun owners are pissed at him and don't trust him.

And I just got a letter from Donnelly saying he doesn't support an Assault Weapon ban either.

Which still leaves room for other bans, of course,  but it does show the side the wedge is falling on here.

And yes Manchin is one of the "expanding background checks" guys.

And more skepticism on Assault Weapons Bans:

On Sunday Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) said he was “skeptical” of a new assault weapons ban.
“You can take exactly the same mechanics of a gun and change the stock from a wooden stock to a folding stock and put something on the barrel, and suddenly it meets the definition of an assault weapon,” King said. “It doesn’t shoot faster, further, anything else.”

Camel's nose.  If you can ban the scary-looking guns that do X, then banning the non-scary ones is just "common sense."

Here's something that's at least an upside: "GALLUP: Majority of Americans Disapprove of Obama Gun Policies. 54-42"

After just about two months of Gun Control the Next Generation he's still underwater by double digits.

On a related note:

A majority of voters believe President Obama has been no better than his immediate predecessor, President George W. Bush, when it comes to balancing national security with the protection of civil liberties, according to a new poll for The Hill. 

Thirty-seven percent of voters argue that Obama has been worse than Bush while 15 percent say he has been “about the same.” 

The results cannot be fully explained as party line responses. More than one in five self-identified Democrats, 21 percent, assert that the Obama administration has not improved upon Bush’s record. So do 23 percent of liberals. 

The results are especially striking given the liberal hopes that attended Obama’s election, the opprobrium he heaped upon Bush’s national security policies during the 2008 campaign and his early promise to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay."

And yet there's more underwater notes:

"On the issues, though, Obama finds himself mostly in the doghouse.  In a poll of general-population adults by Gallup, Obama only gets above 50% in one area — national defense — and is underwater on every other issue." 

"Weasel Zippers focuses on Obama’s ratings on gun issues, which are upside-down by double digits, 42/54.  That should be a significant warning signal to other Democrats who won’t benefit from Obama’s personal likability.  If Obama loses a majority of gen-pop adults after having the media participate in the national hysteria over so-called “assault weapons” for nearly two months, there won’t be much hope for red-state Democrats like Mark Pryor, or perhaps even purple-state Democrats like Al Franken, who won’t be garnering much nice-guy cred. 

But that’s hardly the only problem area for Obama.  After having won a battle with Republicans over hiking taxes on the wealthy, one might expect that he’d get a boost on that issue.  Instead, he’s in even worse shape on taxes than on guns, 41/57, sixteen points under water.  As Gallup reports in its analysis, it gets even worse on the economy (39/60) and the budget deficit (31/65), two issues that Obama will have to discuss in at least some detail in tonight’s State of the Union speech."

Yeeesh.

Look at the breakdown by party ID.  The only issue Obama gets above 50% among independents is National Defense.  He only gets 37% approval on Gun policy.  And this makes sense really, since Obama's plan is like the one he had for the reelection:  play the base and alienate the middle.


No wonder they're putting so much hope in the "legitimate" media helping them.  They've always been helping.

And more polls:

"PEW: A January 2013 survey finds only about a quarter (26%) saying they can trust the government always or most of the time, while nearly three-quarters (73%) say that they can trust government only some of the time, or volunteer that they can never trust the government. “Majorities across all partisan and demographic groups express little or no trust in government.”

Well, that’s the subject of my USA Today column today"

There's some real distrust in governance going on.   And if anything it's far too high and far too trusting.

And oh look another "jobs pivot"  and some grim theories from Hotair

Background checks will move forward regardless of what Obama says in tonight’s SOTU speech; there is too much of a political consensus for tightening the requirements on sales. Obama can only damage that consensus tonight by taking ownership of it during the speech. Otherwise, this will be yet another forgettable laundry list, in a script that one can write from memory regarding applause lines, special guests, and the momentarily overwhelming attention to a speech that will almost immediately become nothing more than a reference material for noting unfulfilled promises — especially on the economy, as has been the case now for four years.

Yeah, I see a ban like that having the most legs.   It's something that doesn't "directly" keep people from getting their guns.  Well, until the system goes down.   And it's not directly registration either.

And we've gotta "do something".

Real special how Private Sales weren't even a factor in the massacres that provided the blood for these ghouls to dance in.

Keep contacting your reps and sens.  Both Fed and State.    The Gun Grabbers still have a hump to work over nation-wide and we might as well make 'em choke.