Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia (2010-present)
When former governor and current Senator from West Virginia Joe Manchin III ran for former Senator Robert Byrd‘s seat in 2010, he was strongly backed by the National Rifle Association (“NRA”). The now-Senator famously shot a bullet through a copy of the cap-and-trade bill in a campaign commercial—literally. It is widely credited with helping turn around his campaign and winning him a full term in 2012. Later in the election, he walked around with a gun resting on his shoulder and told the camera he didn’t have to shoot the bill again because it was already dead. Repeatedly, the senator has said he does not regret the add. He has a lifetime NRA rating of A. The falling out he has had with the most prominent gun lobby, then, came as something of a surprise.
In the aftermath of the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, much fanfare was made of imposing new gun control legislation, both in individual states and nationally. While some jurisdictions–Connecticut and Colorado in particular–enacted tough new laws, the Federal government found itself mired in the slog of obstructionist Republicans and gutless Democrats. Vice President Joe Biden‘s special commission went nowhere. So when a bipartisan duo of senators historically backed by the NRA stepped up to the plate to push for almost universal background checks, a modest proposal, it looked like the best deal that could pass.
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