Mitch McConnell’s Anti-Gun Votes
Written by
Gun Owners Published: 24 February 2014
The following record lays out some of Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell’s recent anti-gun votes. 
Each section below contains an explanation of the vote, along with the URL where each vote is posted on the Senate website.
It should be observed that, in each case, Senator McConnell (who holds a B rating from GOA) voted on the opposite side as Sen. Rand Paul (who holds an A+ rating).
1. McConnell voted to fund ObamaCare and other anti-gun measures. On March 17, 2011, the U.S. Senate ignored the pleas of Gun Owners of America — and millions of American gun owners — and passed a “Continuing Resolution” (CR) that still funds anti-gun programs such as ObamaCare and the ATF’s illegal gun registry. Continued funding of the ObamaCare mandate means that doctors will be able to ask their patients about guns,(†) and health information can be used to deny guns to millions of Americans — just as more than 150,000 military veterans have already been denied. The House had previously passed the Boren-Rehberg amendment — to block efforts by the ATF to set up an illegal gun registry of multiple firearms sales — but that provision was absent from this version of the CR. This legislation passed by a vote of 87-13. A vote against the CR (H.J.Res. 48) is considered a pro-gun vote and is rated as a “+”. Mitch McConnell voted “Yea.”
2. McConnell opposed Rand Paul’s attempts to nix the registration of gun records. On May 26, 2011, the U.S. Senate defeated an amendment offered by Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) to protect the privacy of gun owners. Specifically, his language would have exempted gun records — including 4473’s (the form all purchasers fill out when they buy a firearm from a licensed dealer) — from the blanket information demands which the government can make under the PATRIOT Act. The Senate defeated the Paul language by an 85-10 vote. It was reported that McConnell was actively whipping Republicans to defeat the amendment. A vote against tabling the Paul amendment is a pro-gun vote and is rated as a “+”. McConnell voted “Yea” to table (kill) the Paul amendment.
3. McConnell supported the Cover-up Protection Act. On June 29, 2011, the Senate voted to pass S. 679, the Cover-Up Protection Act, by a vote of 79-20. This bill allows Barack Obama to appoint political hacks to 170 additional high government positions, without any requirement that they be confirmed by the Senate. The bill’s sponsors made a lot of concessions to GOA concerns — reinstating the requirement that legislative affairs officers (such as Fast & Furious cover-up artist, Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich) continue to be subject to Senate confirmation. However, the bill would still allow Obama to appoint a political hack to head the Bureau of Justice Statistics. This means that the Bureau could rapidly become an engine for politically correct anti-gun “junk science.” For this reason, a vote against passage of the bill is rated as a “+.” McConnell voted “Yea.”
4. McConnell opposed defunding anti-gun ObamaCare (first filibuster). On September 27, 2013, the Senate voted to end a filibuster waged by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) to defund the anti-gun ObamaCare mandate. Continued funding of the ObamaCare mandate means that doctors will be able to ask their patients about guns,(†) and health information can be used to deny guns to millions of Americans — just as more than 150,000 military veterans have already been denied. Because the filibuster sought to stop the bill that funded ObamaCare, this vote (and the one on October 16) was the best opportunity to defeat the ObamaCare mandate — given that 60 votes were needed to move the underlying bill along and bring it to the Senate floor for a final vote. A vote AGAINST cloture on the continuing resolution (H.J.Res. 59) is a vote to continue the filibuster, and is rated as a pro-gun vote. Mitch McConnell opposed pro-gun efforts to kill the ObamaCare mandate by voting YEA to end the filibuster of the resolution.
5. McConnell opposed defunding anti-gun ObamaCare (second filibuster). On October 16, 2013, the Senate voted to end debate — that is, to end a filibuster — on a giant appropriations bill (HR 2775) that continued to fund ObamaCare. The purpose of the filibuster was to force Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to allow Republicans to offer an amendment to strip the anti-gun ObamaCare mandate — something Reid refused to do. Continued funding of the ObamaCare mandate means that doctors will be able to ask their patients about guns,(†) and health information can be used to deny guns to millions of Americans — just as more than 150,000 military veterans have already been denied. A NAY vote against ending debate on the appropriations bill is a vote to continue the filibuster, and is rated as a pro-gun vote. Mitch McConnell opposed pro-gun efforts to kill the ObamaCare mandate by voting YEA to end the filibuster of the bill.
6. McConnell opposed defunding anti-gun ObamaCare (final passage). On October 16, 2013, the Senate passed (by an 81-18 vote) the continuing resolution (HR 2775), which contained funding for the anti-gun ObamaCare mandate. Continued funding of the ObamaCare mandate means that doctors will be able to ask their patients about guns,(†) and health information can be used to deny guns to millions of Americans — just as more than 150,000 military veterans have already been denied. A vote AGAINST the continuing resolution (HR 2775) is rated as a pro-gun vote. Mitch McConnell opposed pro-gun efforts to kill the ObamaCare mandate by voting YEA for the bill.
† While ObamaCare technically forbids the government from requiring doctors to ask their patients about guns in the home, President Obama’s Executive Action #16 in January, 2013, effectively invalidated this prohibition -- stating that “the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit doctors asking their patients about guns in their homes.”
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