by In one of the more amusing news stories today, Mark Kelly, gun control advocate and husband of Gabby Giffords, is threatening to “replace” Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) in 2018 if Flake doesn’t vote for gun control.
Kelly was reacting to Flake’s announcement — posted Monday night on the senator’s Facebook page — that he will oppose a bill by conservative Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Pat Toomey, R-Penn., that would expand background checks to include people attempting to buy firearms from private individuals at gun shows or on the Internet. The bill is being offered as a compromise to amend a bill with a more sweeping background check requirement.
But Flake said on his Facebook page that he believes the bill would still go too far.
“Manchin-Toomey would expand background checks far beyond commercial sales to include almost all private transfers — including between friends and neighbors — if the posting or display of the ad for a firearm was made public,” Flake said in his posting. “It would likely even extend to message boards, like the one in an office kitchen. This simply goes too far.”
Kelly still thinks he can persuade Flake to come around on the Manchin-Toomey amendment “when I talk to him about why his concerns are unfounded.”
If that doesn’t work, then maybe the Orange, New Jersey native will threaten to hold his breathe and stomp his feet to get his way. For some reason I think that is destined to failure as well.