Worst Democrat of the Day: Mark Pryor

By Michael J.W. Stickings

ThinkProgress:

Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) hinted on Tuesday that he would oppose a Democratic initiative to expand background checks to all gun purchases, but reiterated his support for an NRA-backed measure that would permit individuals deemed mentally ill or incompetent to purchase firearms more freely. Pryor is part of small group of Democrats in red states who have not endorsed universal background checks, even though the measure is supported by a majority of residents.

"You know, I'm a Second Amendment guy, everybody knows that. People in our state are very strong believers in the Second Amendment and the right to gun ownership," Pryor told "The Alice Stewart Show," which airs on KHTE 96.5 The Voice. The conservative Democrat then highlighted his co-sponsorship of an NRA concocted proposal that would reduce the number of records in the existing background check system by removing prohibitions against individuals who were involuntarily committed to mental institutions. 

This is insane. The problem isn't that some people "got their name wrongly in the first place or they've gone through some issue or whatever and that's behind them and they need to get their name out of the database," as Pryor put it, as if it's all about rectifying unfortunate mistakes and administrative errors, it's that, as TP explains, "[t]he bipartisan NICS Reporting Improvement Act would allow these people [those "ordered by a court into involuntary treatment, found to pose a danger to themselves or others, or lack the mental capacity to enter into legal contracts from buying weapons"] to purchase weapons immediately after being released, unless it can be proven that they pose an 'imminent' danger."


The requirement for proof of "imminent" danger is a ridiculously high standard. And shouldn't the point be to keep guns out of the hands of people who were sent to treatment involuntarily, people who pose a danger, and people are lack even basic mental capacity?

Pryor says this is about "integrity" and claims he's being "reasonable" in supporting a bipartisan (but obviously mostly Republican) bill endorsed by the NRA. Really, though, he's just another crazy gun extremist touting the NRA line and refusing to back any gun control measure that would actually do something to address the scourge of gun violence.