Tester: Background checks would have strengthened Second Amendment

Montana's junior U.S. senator expressed disappointment over Wednesday's failure to pass a proposal to strengthen background checks in some gun sales.

"It was an interesting day," Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said in a telephone press conference from Washington.

Tester and U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., split their vote on a plan proposed by Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., and Patrick Toomey, R-Penn., designed to prevent criminals and the seriously mentally ill from purchasing firearms.

Checks now are required only when guns are purchased from federally licensed firearms dealers. The proposal by Manchin and Toomey called for extending the requirement to other sales at gun shows and on the Internet.

Baucus voted against the proposal, saying the majority of Montanans oppose gun control.

When asked Thursday how he could justify his vote for the proposal, Tester said he agreed with Baucus that most Montanans oppose gun control.

"This isn't gun control," Tester said.

The bill was opposed by pro-gun rights groups including the National Rifle Assocation. Sponsor Joe Manchin said its defeat was at least in part due to lobbying by the NRA, including what he said were false claims by the organization that it would create a national gun registry and require government approval for private gun sales.

Tester also said Thursday the proposal would not have created a registry or prohibited private gun sales.

What it would have done, he said, was make it harder for convicted criminals or court-adjudicated people with serious mental illnesses to get guns.

"It would make us all safer while protecting our Second Amendment rights," said Tester.

He said one thing that could end up hurting his, and others, gun rights would be guns getting into the hands of the wrong people. Toomey and Manchin's proposal would have made that less likely, Tester said.

Tester said he voted against a proposal banning the sale of assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines, and said he always has been a supporter of Second Amendment rights.

Baucus is catching some backlash for his vote against the background checks.

The group Mayors Against Illegal Guns, co-chaired by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, and a group of Montana supporters of the proposal planned what they called a "Shame on You" protest of Baucus' vote today at noon at his Bozeman office.