Reid Guts Gun Control Bill, Feinstein Warns of 'Betrayal'

Don’t look now, and don’t look for a play-by-play in the mainstream media, but there’s a civil war brewing in the Democratic Party. And it’s a war over guns.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s “assault” weapons ban is playing so badly that it failed to attract 40 votes in the Senate. The Democrats have 55 votes in the Senate. A large part of the Democratic caucus is therefore not on board with the ban, which President Obama publicly supports.

We know that Feinstein’s ban is so weak because, Tuesday, the Democrats’ leader in the Senate, Harry Reid, told us it was. He didn’t have to publicly note that the ban has attracted fewer than 40 votes. But he did. The ban has been scuttled as part of the bill, but may be attached as an amendment, which will be easier for Reid to kill.

The Hill reports today that other Obama-backed gun control measures are weakening.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has decided the federal assault weapons ban will not be a part of the base bill, and warned Tuesday an expansion of background checks to cover private sales might not make the cut either.

Instead, a bipartisan measure cracking down on straw purchasing and illegal trafficking of firearms will serve as the foundation of firearms legislation.

Both of these make sense even to staunch Second Amendment advocates. So we’re down now to the only common sense parts of the bill, which would also help fight crime while not infringing on any law-abiding citizen’s Second Amendment rights, and attract bipartisan support. Good, right?

Not if you’re Dianne Feinstein. She still wants a vote on her ban and is lining Harry Reid up in her sights if she doesn’t get one.

This is very important to me and I’m not going to lay down and play dead. I think the American people have said in every single public poll that they support this kind of legislation. It’s aimed to protect children, to protect schools and malls. It’s aimed to dry up the supply of these over time. And it came out on a 10-8 vote of the Judiciary Committee. Not to give me a vote on this would be a major betrayal of trust.

Well, get ready to be betrayed. Harry Reid is pretty good at that.