Sen. Mary Landrieu’s Anti-Gun Votes in 2013
The following votes comprise Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu anti-gun votes in 2013. (Senator Landrieu currently has an F rating from Gun Owners of America.)
Each section below contains an explanation of his anti-gun votes, along with the URL where each vote is posted on the Senate website:
1. Anti-gun judge defeated. With 60 votes needed to end a filibuster of Caitlin Halligan’s confirmation, the Senate failed to invoke cloture on March 6, 2013 by a 51-41 vote. As New York’s Solicitor General, Halligan was one of the chief lawyers responsible for New York’s baseless and politically motivated efforts to bankrupt gun manufacturers using frivolous litigation. She stated in a speech on May 5, 2003, that “handgun manufacturers [should be held] liable for criminal acts committed with handguns.” GOA scored a NAY vote against cloture — thus keeping Halligan from being confirmed to the DC Court of Appeals — as a pro-gun vote. Sadly, Mary Landrieu voted in favor of the anti-gun Halligan nomination.
2. Banning future gun control. With 60 votes needed for passage, a Mike Lee amendment lost by a vote of 50-49 on March 23, 2013. The Lee amendment would prohibit any future gun control legislation which does not have a 2/3 vote in the Senate. GOA scored a YEA vote in favor of the Lee amendment to the budget resolution as a pro-gun vote. But Mary Landrieu voted against the pro-gun Lee amendment.
3. Banning UN gun control. The Senate passed the Inhofe anti-UN treaty amendment by a 53-46 margin on March 23, 2013. The James Inhofe amendment would prevent the United States from entering into the UN Arms Trade Treaty — a treaty that would impose gun registration and possibly even ban handguns and semi-autos, while creating a microstamping requirement that would be technologically impossible to comply with. GOA scored a YEA vote in favor of the Inhofe amendment to the budget resolution as a pro-gun vote. But Mary Landrieu voted against the pro-gun Inhofe amendment.
4. Veterans Gun Ban (1). The Senate overcame the Paul-Cruz-Lee filibuster of Harry Reid’s gun control bill on April 11, 2013 — voting to shut down a filibuster of the motion to proceed to S. 649 by a margin of 68-31. The Reid bill would send a person to prison for 15 years for selling a gun to a veteran, without realizing that he was one of the 150,000-plus military veterans who was put into the NICS system for PTSD. The bill also contained Chuck Schumer’s universal gun registry language. GOA scored a NAY vote against cloture on the motion to proceed as a pro-gun vote. But Mary Landrieu voted to end the filibuster, thereby advancing the anti-gun provisions of the bill.
5. Veterans Gun Ban (2). With 60 votes needed for passage, the Leahy amendment failed by a vote of 58-42 on April 17, 2013. Similar to the underlying Reid bill (S. 649), the Pat Leahy amendment would send a person to prison for 15 years for selling a gun to a veteran, without realizing that he was one of the 150,000-plus military veterans who was put into the NICS system for PTSD. GOA scored a NAY vote against the Leahy amendment to S. 649 as a pro-gun vote. Mary Landrieu voted in favor of the anti-gun Leahy amendment.
6. Background checks and gun registry. With 60 votes needed for passage, the Toomey-Manchin-Schumer amendment was shot down by a vote of 54-46 on April 17, 2013. Among other things, this provision would have: (1) Imposed, for the first time ever, a ban on many, many private sales of firearms — requiring buyers to first get permission from the government; (2) Swept virtually ALL private gun sales into the background check system, as all gun sales advertised in a bulletin, the Internet or even a yard sign could have been covered; and, (3) Expanded the framework for a massive, national gun registry by potentially adding millions of private gun sales into the NICS system. GOA scored a NAY vote against the Toomey-Manchin-Schumer amendment to S. 649 as a pro-gun vote. But Mary Landrieu voted for the anti-gun measure.
7. Anti-gun Amnesty. On June 27, 2013, the Senate voted 68-32 in favor of the immigration bill (S. 744). The amnesty provisions of the bill would add up to a net 8.4 million anti-gun voters over the next 13 years or so — and could eventually make comprehensive gun control and confiscation inevitable. Moreover, the bill moves us down the road toward a de facto National ID card, something which GOA has long opposed because of the danger that such data collection poses to gun owners’ privacy. Finally, the bill would undercut the ability of gun rights activists to fight universal background checks and gun registries. (By requiring Americans to get the government’s permission to get a job, the bill helps instill a “permission” mindset that greases the skids for additional background check requirements.) GOA scored a NAY vote against the bill as a pro-gun vote. Mary Landrieu voted in favor of it.
8. Filibuster of ATF Director. On July 31, 2013, the Senate voted (60-40) to end a filibuster of Obama’s choice for ATF Director. B. Todd Jones had served as the acting director of the ATF for almost two years, and yet he’d refused to clean up the rampant corruption at ATF or to discipline any of the agents who helped orchestrate Operation Fast & Furious. The filibuster was the best opportunity to defeat the Jones nomination — given that 60 votes were needed to move the nomination for a final vote. A NAY vote against cloture on the B. Todd Jones nomination is a vote to continue the filibuster, and is rated as a pro-gun vote. Mary Landrieu was the deciding vote in ending the filibuster on the anti-gun Jones.
9. 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 will 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 NAY 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. Mary Landrieu opposed pro-gun efforts to kill the ObamaCare mandate by voting YEA to end the filibuster of the resolution.
10. 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 will 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. Mary Landrieu opposed pro-gun efforts to kill the ObamaCare mandate by voting YEA to end the filibuster of the bill.
11. Defunding anti-gun ObamaCare (final passage). On October 16, 2013, the Senate passed 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 will 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 the continuing resolution (HR 2775) is rated as a pro-gun vote. Mary Landrieu opposed pro-gun efforts to kill the ObamaCare mandate by voting for the bill.
12. Opening the door to scores of anti-gun judges and even overturning Heller. On November 21, 2013, Harry Reid pulled the trigger on the “nuclear option,” which means that now only a simple majority of Senators (rather than 60 votes) is needed to end a filibuster on an anti-gun judicial nomination. Reid did this for the ostensible purpose of packing the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals with three anti-gun judges — one of whom has held that the Second Amendment doesn’t protect the right to purchase firearms. But this vote now means that the Senate effectively has no rules and that, if Supreme Court “swing vote” Anthony Kennedy were to die or resign, Obama would shove through another virulently anti-gun Justice with a simple majority vote. The “Obama Court” could then reverse the pro-gun Heller (2008) and McDonald (2010) decisions. The vote to invoke the “nuclear option” was very close (48-52). The 48 YEAS were the pro-gun votes, as they were cast in an effort to uphold the Senate Parliamentarian’s ruling that 60 votes are needed to end a filibuster on a judicial nomination. By voting NAY (in opposition to the Parliamentarian), Mary Landrieu voted IN FAVOR OF blowing up the Senate rules, thus allowing President Obama to begin packing the federal courts with anti-gun judges — a process that has already begun.
† 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.”