Gun

As California lawmakers began Tuesday to consider more than a dozen gun control measures, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa flew to Sacramento to urge them to take "dramatic and heroic" action. Villaraigosa referred to mass shootings, including the one that killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, in asking lawmakers to approve a package of bills dubbed by Democratic leaders as the "Life Act. " The proposals include requirements for licenses and background checks for those buying ammunition.

WASHINGTON -- A Senate plan to expand the background-check requirement for gun purchases faced a narrowing path to success Tuesday, as advocates for stricter laws sought to scrape together the last few votes they need from among a dwindling number of undecided senators. To overcome procedural hurdles, the gun control bill and any major amendments to it will require 60 votes for passage. By Tuesday afternoon, the compromise on background checks negotiated by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.)

WASHINGTON - After four months of debate and maneuvering, the Senate headed for a showdown over gun control - a series of back-to-back votes on rival plans Wednesday afternoon that could end in the collapse of the entire effort. The impending climax, after weeks of inconclusive negotiations, came as gun control supporters tried, without apparent success, to get enough senators to commit themselves to a compromise reached last week by Sens. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) and Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.)

SACRAMENTO -- A package of some of the most restrictive gun control measures in the nation advanced in the state Senate on Tuesday after tearful testimony from victims of firearms violence and opposition from gun-owner groups including the National Rifle Assn. After a nine-hour hearing that saw support from Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the Senate Public Safety Committee approved seven bills that are part of a package of measures dubbed by Democratic leaders as the "Life Act. " The bills still need to be approved by the full Senate and Assembly.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo gave politicians everywhere some sound advice on gun control recently. Defending New York's tough new measures against critics who charge that the state has exceeded its regulatory authority, he said : “Yes, they are against it, but they are the extremists, and the extremists shouldn't win, especially on this issue when it is so important to the majority. In politics, we have to be willing to take on the extremists, otherwise you will see paralysis.” How obvious, and how true.

WASHINGTON - Sen. Joe Manchin III owns two 12-gauge Beretta shotguns, a semiautomatic Remington 58 Sportsman and a deer rifle. Since he was elected to the Senate two years ago, he has easily maintained an A rating from the National Rifle Assn. That rating might be considered crucial to the survival of a Democrat from a conservative, rural state like West Virginia. So after news broke of the Newtown, Conn., school shootings on a Friday in December, his staff debated what he should do. The consensus was that Manchin should cancel a scheduled appearance the following Monday to talk about fiscal issues on MSNBC's "Morning Joe. " Surely the hosts would press the senator on gun control, and it seemed that almost anything he said could spell trouble so early in the aftermath of the tragedy.

Authorities on Monday night were searching for a 13-year-old Palmdale boy who left an apparent suicide note and may have taken his father's gun before he was reported missing. Nigel Hardy was despondent because he had been suspended from school, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said. "While searching the young man's room, his father found an apparent suicide note. It was also discovered the father's firearm was missing," department officials said in a statement. Authorities said it was unclear whether Nigel fled with the weapon.

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court left in doubt Monday whether gun owners have a 2nd Amendment right to carry a firearm in public. Without a comment or dissent, the justices turned down a gun-rights challenge to a New York law that strictly limits who can legally carry a weapon when they are on the streets. To obtain a "concealed carry" permit, New Yorkers must convince a county official that they have a "special need for protection" that goes beyond living or working in a high-crime area.

WASHINGTON - A single conversation on the Senate floor Monday illustrated the challenges senators face in pushing a bipartisan measure to extend background checks to most gun sales. Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), the chief author of the proposal, spent some 20 minutes lobbying Alaska's two senators, one a conservative Democrat who faces reelection in 2014 and the other a Republican who has sometimes broken with her party. Neither the Democrat, Sen. Mark Begich, nor the Republican, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, has committed to the proposal, which could be the most far-reaching gun legislation to pass the Senate in more than two decades.

Even as Congress prepares to debate new gun legislation, New York's tougher gun control provisions became effective on Monday, the latest example of how the issue has broadened into a battle on the state as well as federal level. In the wake of the Newtown, Conn., massacre -- which followed mass shootings last year in Colorado and Wisconsin -- many have called for greater control of gun violence. New York was the first to pass a tougher measure, but other states including Colorado, Connecticut and Maryland have also tightened their requirements.