First Lady Michelle Obama got emotional today in Chicago during a speech about gun violence. In front of a group of Chicago business and civic leaders the first lady’s voice cracked as she talked about meeting with the classmates of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton, a Chicago teenager who was shot and killed earlier this year.

“It is hard to know what to say to a roomful of teenagers that are about to bury their best friend.  But I started by telling them that Hadiya was clearly on her way to doing something truly worthy with her life. I told them that there is a reason that we're here on this earth. That each of us has a mission in this world and I urged them to use their lives to give meaning to Hadiya's life." The first lady continued, her voice breaking, "I urged them to dream as big as she did and work as hard as she did and live a life that honors every last bit of her God-given promise."

Obama was the featured speaker at a luncheon that Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel organized to urge local business leaders to raise $50 million for programs that serve at-risk youth. But her appearance was also a part of a coordinated White House effort this week to push Congress to vote on gun violence measures. The effort started with President Barack Obama's appearance Monday in Connecticut and will culminate with Vice President Joe Biden sitting down for a roundtable on gun violence on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," set to air Thursday morning.

The first lady echoed her husband's State of the Union speech: "Right now my husband is fighting as hard as he can and engaging as many people as he can to pass common-sense reforms to protect our children against gun violence. And these reforms deserve a vote in Congress."

And Obama spoke candidly about how she felt attending the funeral of Hadiya Pendleton.

"What I realized is Hadiya's family was just like my family. Hadiya Pendleton was me and I was her. But I got to grow up and go to Princeton and Harvard Law School and have a career and family and the most blessed life I can imagine. And Hadiya, well we know that story."

She slammed home her point about the need for community engagement as she continued to compare herself to the slain teen.

"See, at the end of the day, this is the point I want to make: That resources matter. ... I had a community that supported me and a neighborhood where I felt safe. And in the end that was the difference between growing up and becoming a lawyer, a mother and First Lady of the United States, and being shot dead at the age of 15. And that is why this new fund that you have created here in Chicago is so important."

Following her speech, Obama met with 19 students at a South Side high school where gun violence has had a profound impact on the student body. In the last year, Harper High has seen 29 current or former students shot. Eight of those victims died from their wounds.

Though the National Rifle Association publicly criticized a bipartisan agreement to expand background checks, the gun rights group's representatives were a near-constant presence during talks to reach that accord.

Two sources familiar with the negotiations told NBC News that the NRA kept close tabs on talks between Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Pat Toomey, R-Pa., that resulted in an agreement announced this morning. Their plan calls for expanding background checks to include most gun sales, including at gun shows and online.

The agreement won a quick rebuke from the NRA in a subsequent statement.

"While the overwhelming rejection of President Obama and Mayor Bloomberg's 'universal' background check agenda is a positive development, we have a broken mental health system that is not going to be fixed with more background checks at gun shows," the group said in a statement this morning. "The sad truth is that no background check would have prevented the tragedies in Newtown, Aurora or Tucson."

But the NRA's chief lobbyist, Christopher Cox, in fact led the group's efforts to shape the Manchin-Toomey deal. Their involvement raises question about how vigorously the group will oppose the new background checks deal.

One Senate Democratic aide said that Democratic leaders are operating under the impression that the NRA will not throw its full weight behind opposing the background check bill, something which would relieve pressure on moderate Democrats and Republicans to vote for the legislation.

Publicly, the NRA says it's opposed. But the key question -- especially as the Senate moves toward votes on various gun measures -- involves how aggressive the NRA would oppose the Manchin-Toomey proposal. That could include a decision as to whether and how the NRA decides to include votes on the background check compromise -- and the overall gun bill -- in their influential ratings system.

Both Toomey and Manchin have "A" ratings from the NRA.

Separately Wednesday, Sens. Patrick Leahy and Susan Collins announced they'd reached an agreement with the NRA on gun trafficking language that will be included in the overall gun bill.

This story was originally published on Wed Apr 10, 2013 3:43 PM EDT

Two key senators have reached a deal to expand background checks to firearms sales at gun shows and on the Internet, sources close to the negotiations said early Wednesday.  

Sen. Pat Toomey, a conservative Pennsylvania Republican, plan to announce the deal Wednesday with West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, who holds an A rating from the National Rifle Association. 

The two have been working on a compromise proposal that could draw Republican support for expanding background checks. On Tuesday evening, the two had an agreement in principle, and spent the night hammering out the final details. 

The compromise doesn't go as far as the universal background checks that President Barack Obama first envisioned in the wake of the Newtown shootings. The Manchin-Toomey compromise will include exemptions for some transactions, such as those between family members. 

Michael Patrick / AP file

People crowd the RK Gun Show in the Smokies Friday, Dec. 28, 2012 in Knoxville, Tenn.

Outlines of the compromise have been circulated to the National Rifle Association, and sources close to the negotiations said it's unclear where the group stands although the powerful lobby is unlikely to support it. 

Senate Democrats, meanwhile, set up a possible Thursday vote on gun legislation.

The deal between Toomey and Manchin represents a major breakthrough for a package of new gun laws that Obama proposed in the wake of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14.  

Support from the conservative Toomey, who also carries an A rating from the NRA, could give other, more moderate Republicans cover to vote in favor of a bill to expand background checks for gun sales beyond just those conducted through licensed dealers.

In recent days, Obama's gun control agenda has been imperiled on Capitol Hill. While Democratic leaders have promised votes on an assault weapons ban and new limits on high capacity magazines, neither can realistically pass the Senate. And a deal on background checks has eluded Democrats for months -- threatening to leave the president with only stricter gun trafficking laws to show for a prolonged, emotional national plea for tighter restrictions on firearms after 20 young children and 6 educators were gunned down in Connecticut.

But there was new momentum for gun legislation Tuesday as Republican senator after Republican senator announced they wouldn't support a filibuster that would prevent gun legislation from even coming up for debate. A trio of conservatives -- Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Mike Lee of Utah -- are leading the filibuster effort, with support from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. But as Tuesday wore on, as many as 10 Republican senators said they could not support it or left the door open to allowing Democrats to bring the measure up on the floor. 

"The purpose of the United States Senate is to debate and to vote and to let the people know where we stand," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said on CBS' Face the Nation on Sunday. "What are we afraid of?"

On Tuesday night, Reid officially filed gun legislation that's been written by Democrats. It sets up a possible Thursday vote to open debate on guns. Senate aides said debate on gun legislation could continue through next week and even into the following week. The Manchin-Toomey compromise would likely be the first amendment offered to the package. 

The vote to open debate is tricky for some Democrats who hail from conservative states like Arkansas, where the NRA and other pro-gun groups hold significant sway. But Republican movement in favor of it could help protect them and increases the chances that the vote will succeed.

Now, a key question is how conservatives who've signed on to filibuster the gun bill decide to proceed. They haven't ruled out taking a stand on the Senate floor, similar to Paul's 14-plus-hour talkathon opposing drone strikes on American citizens.

That has some Republicans on edge. One member of Senate leadership, speaking on condition of anonymity so as not to violate personal confidences, said there's a sense among the top GOP lawmakers that such a public display could further damage the already-battered Republican brand.

But McConnell, who's up for re-election in 2014, vowed Tuesday to stay the course and filibuster the bill.

"It clearly had no bipartisan support in committee," he said. 

NBC News' Frank Thorp and Mike O'Brien contributed to this report

This story was originally published on Tue Apr 9, 2013 7:19 PM EDT

With the families of children killed in last year’s Newtown school shooting looking on, President Barack Obama on Monday made an emotional plea for Americans to urge Congress to pass new gun control measures.

"We all have to stand up," Obama said in a speech in Hartford, Conn., where he flew to try and maintain faltering momentum for a package of new gun laws the Senate could take up this week. "If you want the people you send to Washington to have just an iota of courage that the educators at Sandy Hook showed when danger arrived on their doorstep, then we'll all have to stand up."

As Obama was speaking -- and the crowd was chanting, "we want a vote" -- the Senate's top Republican announced he would join a GOP filibuster of gun control legislation and oppose allowing a Democratic gun control bill to come to the Senate floor for debate

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell did leave the door open to allowing a gun control compromise bill to come to the floor, but his office said in a statement that he will oppose the version of the legislation that Reid outlined before the Senate's just-concluded two week recess.

Eleven parents and spouses of Newtown victims were set to board Air Force One to fly to Washington after the speech, where they'll spend three days lobbying Congress to pass the new gun safety laws.

The Senate is poised to start debating and voting on gun laws as early as this week.

But after weeks of negotiations, the gun bill is a much less ambitious proposal than what Obama and Vice President Joe Biden first pushed for in the days after Newtown, where 20 schoolchildren and 6 adults were killed.

Legislation proposed in the wake of the shooting included a renewal of a lapsed assault weapons ban and measures to limit high capacity magazines. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has pledged that the upper chamber will vote on those measures, but both are likely doomed to fail.

Now, lawmakers are fighting over expanding background checks to cover most gun sales. Under current law, Americans can buy firearms at a gun show or online without getting a background check.

"We have to tell Congress its time to require a background check for anyone who wants to buy a gun so people who are dangerous to themselves and others cannot get their hands on a gun," Obama said Monday.

Senators are still negotiating a compromise proposal on background checks, and Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania is in talks with Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia to try and find a bipartisan agreement.

But with the upper chamber set to begin debating gun control soon, they're running out of time.

This story was originally published on Mon Apr 8, 2013 5:57 PM EDT

Some Senate Republicans have quietly started working on a once-stalled compromise effort to expand background checks for guy buyers. It’s a glimmer of progress for a critical component of the gun control legislation the Senate plans to take up next week. 

At the top of that engagement list: Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey, a conservative Republican with a strong rating from the National Rifle Association. Senate aides familiar with the developments said that Toomey is engaged in talks with West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, who’s also reaching out to a number of other GOP senators. 

Also engaged in discussions with Manchin is Republican Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada, Senate aides said, although those conversations haven't progressed as far. Toomey, meanwhile, is also discussing a separate plan being circulated by Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn.

Coburn had been at the core of Democratic efforts to reach a compromise on background checks. But they couldn’t get over concerns about how to keep records of private gun sales. According to multiple Senate aides, Coburn is now passing around his own proposal, hoping to garner significant GOP support for a plan that would expand background checks but not require private merchants to keep records of the guns they sell.

Coburn's office denied the Oklahoma doctor is shopping his own bill.

Toomey has yet to officially sign on to any proposal.

"Sen. Toomey and his staff are talking to a lot of folks both in Pennsylvania and in the Capitol on the issues of guns in the hopes we get to an approach that works," said Toomey spokeswoman E.R. Anderson.

Focus on Manchin and his conversations are now a priority for Democratic leaders. It’s a shift from weeks of stasis following the failed talks with Coburn, and represents at least the potential for a breakthrough on President Barack Obama's proposed package of new gun laws.

Recommended: Obama to offer compromise budget to Republicans

In the coming weeks, the Senate plans to vote on a bill that would expand background checks to private gun sales and make gun trafficking and straw purchasing (purchasing a gun and giving it someone who couldn’t legally obtain one) a federal crime. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has promised votes on an assault weapons ban and a measure to outlaw high-capacity magazines.

The new engagement reflects the complicated political realities emerging in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., shootings that killed 20 elementary school children and 6 adults. Obama wants action on the issue -- possibly even if he has to sacrifice some of what gun control advocacy groups are pushing for. 

"What the president wants to sign is the strongest gun bill he can sign," senior White House adviser Dan Pfeiffer said Thursday at an event sponsored by Politico. "What we have to make sure is that whatever we do is better than current law."

Reid wants to show that the Senate is taking action -- "In order to be effective, any bill that passes the Senate must include background checks," he said last month -- but he has to protect Democratic lawmakers who hail from rural, Republican-leaning states like Arkansas if he wants to maintain a Democratic majority in the upper chamber. 

Most of the Republicans who are willing to talk, meanwhile, hail from swing states with lots of suburban voters open to new controls following Newtown. For Toomey, for example, that's the thousands of voters who live outside big cities like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

"There are people who do want something to vote for," said a Senate Republican aide familiar with the conversations. The numbers, after all, are there: polls show overwhelming numbers of Americans support background checks for all gun buyers.

President Barack Obama on Wednesday insisted "there doesn't have to be a conflict" between respecting gun rights and enacting new gun controls as he tries to use the power of his office to prompt a reluctant Congress to take action in the wake of the Newtown shootings.

But he declared: "This is not easy."

Obama flew to Colorado to advocate for a Senate bill requiring background checks for every gun buyer; a new law in the Centennial State requires just that.

"The loopholes that currently exist in the law have allowed way too many criminals and folks who shouldn't be getting guns -- it's allowed them to avoid background checks entirely," Obama said in a speech at the Denver Police Academy.

"Colorado has shown that practical progress is possible."

Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

President Barack Obama greets military personnel upon his arrival at Buckely Air Base in Denver, Colorado April 3, 2013.

Obama’s visit to Denver is part of a push to try to maintain -- or at this point, reignite -- momentum for stricter gun laws in the wake of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School that killed 20 children and 6 adults.

Lawmakers are preparing to consider new gun laws on the Senate floor in the next two weeks, a package that Obama says is "commonsense" reform.

"We're not proposing a gun registration system; we're proposing background checks for criminals," he said Wednesday in Denver.

But the president acknowledged how difficult the path has become -- even for background checks, one of the less dramatic pieces of gun control legislation he proposed earlier this year.

"We knew from the beginning the change wouldn't be easy and we knew there would be powerful voices that would try to" stop gun laws, Obama said. "We knew they'd try to make any progress collapse under the weight of fear or frustration or maybe people would just stop paying attention."

Obama said that powerful gun advocates -- though he didn't name the National Rifle Association – are stoking fears that the background check bill amounts to a plan to take citizens' weapons away.

"We can't do background checks because the government's going to come take my guns away," the president said, paraphrasing the NRA's argument. Obama's retort: "The government's us. These officials are elected by you," he said, arguing that gun advocates "have ginned up fears among responsible gun owners that have nothing to do with what's being proposed and nothing to do with the facts." 

Colorado is a largely rural, western state with a strong hunting tradition -- and a sad history of mass shootings. Obama's event is planned not far from the Aurora movie theater where 12 people were gunned down last year -- now, prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for alleged shooter James Holmes.

The state recently enacted a new package of gun laws that in some ways mirror what Obama and Vice President Joe Biden proposed after Newtown. Colorado didn't ban assault weapons, but the state did limit high capacity magazines to 15 rounds of ammunition and now requires anyone who wants to buy a gun to get a background check.

But that law passed through a state legislature controlled by Democrats -- and was signed by Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper. That's a much easier path than Obama faces in Washington, where Senate Republicans and the NRA have all but stalled his gun control efforts.

Most of Obama's initial plan to curb gun violence in the wake of Newtown, including an assault weapons ban and a ban on high-capacity magazines, has no hope of passing the Senate. The background check plan has little Republican support -- and even a less controversial measure to make gun trafficking a federal crime is now facing some resistance.

"I'll be blunt, a lot of members of Congress, this is tough for them," Obama said. 

As senators take up the bill next week, Obama plans to travel to Hartford, Conn., to call for stricter gun controls. Connecticut state lawmakers are currently considering one of the toughest new gun laws in the nation. 

This story was originally published on Wed Apr 3, 2013 4:22 PM EDT

Strong majorities of Americans say they favor stricter gun laws, including an assault-weapons ban and universal background checks for private gun sales, according to a new national Morning Joe/Marist poll.

Read the entire poll here

Six in 10 respondents – including 83 percent of Democrats, 43 percent of gun owners and 37 percent of Republicans – believe that the laws covering gun sales should be stricter.

This figure is virtually unchanged from the 61 percent who backed stricter gun laws when a NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll asked the same question in February, even though at least one other national survey has found waning support for gun-control laws months after the Dec. 2012 shootings in Newtown, Conn.

Jessica Hill / AP

John Woodall. left, of Newtown, Conn., carries a sign that he says indicates the percentage of Americans who support universal background checks, speaks with Gordon Jones of Southbury, Conn., a supporter of gun rights during a rally outside the National Shooting Sports Foundation headquarters in Newtown on March 28.

What’s more, the Morning Joe/Marist poll finds that 87 percent of Americans support background checks for private gun sales and sales at gun shows, and 59 percent favor legislation that would ban the sale of assault weapons.

Later this month, the U.S. Senate is set to consider Democratic-backed gun legislation that, among other provisions, contains a requirement for universal background checks. With Republican senators threatening to filibuster the legislation, its prospects for passage remain uncertain.

Democrats also are expected to offer an assault-weapons ban as an amendment to the legislation, but it has almost no chance to win passage in the Senate.

Favoring job creation over deficit reduction
Turning to the economy and the deficit, the Morning Joe/Marist survey shows that Americans – by nearly a 2-to-1 margin – want President Barack Obama and Congress to make job creation their top priority (64 percent) instead of deficit reduction (33 percent).

Those who prefer Washington’s political leaders to emphasize job creation include 76 percent of Democrats and 46 percent of Republicans; a narrow majority of Republican respondents (51 percent) want the focus to be on deficit reduction.

Also, Obama edges congressional Republicans by four percentage points, 44 percent to 40 percent, on the question of who has a better approach to deal with the federal budget deficit.

But the president’s approach to deficit reduction – calling for a combination of spending cuts and increased tax revenues – is more popular than the Republicans’ cuts-only approach.

Forty-two percent of respondents prefer a mixture of spending cuts (including to entitlement programs) and revenue increases; 35 percent pick increasing mostly revenue; and just 17 percent choose mostly cutting government spending (including to programs like Medicare and Medicaid).

The Morning Joe/Marist poll was conducted March 25-March 27 of 1,219 national respondents by both landline phone and cellphone. It has a margin of error of plus-minus 2.8 percentage points. 

A National Rifle Association-funded task force on Tuesday outlined a package of recommendations aimed at improving school safety, leaving aside the new gun controls that Congress is considering and instead advising schools to train teachers and other school personnel to carry guns to protect their students.

“I have not focused on the separate debate in Congress about firearms and how they should be handled," said former Republican Rep. Asa Hutchinson, who is heading up the National School Shield Program. The NRA has spent more than $1 million to back the task force, which was created in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in Connecticut. 

The push to change the subject away from gun control and toward increasing the presence of guns in schools comes the week before Senate Democrats are expected to consider a package of new gun laws on the floor of the upper chamber. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said the bill would expanded background checks for gun buyers and make gun trafficking a federal crime.

While the NRA has been working with members of Congress on legislative language for such proposals, it's publicly opposed to expanding background checks.

The group has also opposed a proposed ban on assault weapons and high capacity magazines, with some Republicans arguing that large and powerful weapons are necessary for self-protection.

The 225-page National School Shield report isn't offering specific recommendations for how many armed staff each school should have or the types of guns those people should carry -- though Hutchinson said the firearms could range from "sidearms, to shotguns, to AR-15s."

Hutchinson emphasized that the program should only be for those who are interested in going through 40-60 hours of firearms training.

"Let me emphasize -- this is not talking about all teachers. Teachers should teach," he said.  Hutchinson also said that the idea of arming community volunteers -- an idea floated after the Newtown shooting -- wasn't workable because of liability and other issues.

Instead, the focus is on arming staff who are employed at the school.  Joining Hutchinson on Tuesday was Mark Mattiolli, whose son was killed in the Newtown shootings. Other Sandy Hook parents have appeared at events on Capitol Hill and at the White House to advocate for stricter gun laws.  

Jim Watson / AFP - Getty Images

Mark Mattiolli, left, endorses new proposals laid out by Asa Hutchinson, right, after his announcement of the findings and recommendations of the the National School Shield Program at the National Press Club in Washington on April 2, 2013.

"As parents we send our kids off to school, and there are certain expectations and obviously at Sandy Hook those expectations weren't met," Mattiolli said. "This is recommendations for solutions. Real solutions that will make our kids safer." 

Arming school personnel is the first of eight recommendations included in the plan. Among the other ideas: an online self-assessment tool that schools can use to evaluate their facilities and safety policies; changes to state laws to allow school personnel to carry guns while they're in training; increasing coordination among law enforcement agencies; encouraging states to make school safety part of their educational requirements; making the task force a permanent group; creating a pilot program to assess threats and mental health; and increasing federal funding for school safety.

Hutchinson presented the task force's findings at the National Press Club, where he was protected by at least 10 security guards, some uniformed and some in plain clothes.  

"No, there's nothing I'm afraid of," he said when asked about the intense security presence. National Press Club executive director Bill McGowan said after the event that the security level was "unusual" and "definitely got our attention."   

Task force officials plan to make the report available at www.nrachoolshield.com. 

This story was originally published on Tue Apr 2, 2013 11:31 AM EDT

Senate Democrats are pushing forward with a plan to require all gun buyers to get a background check before they can buy a firearm.

"Later tonight, I will start the process of bringing a bill to reduce gun violence to the Senate floor. This bill will include the provisions on background checks, school safety and gun trafficking reported by the Judiciary Committee," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said in a statement Thursday evening.

T.J. Kirkpatrick / Getty Images

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) speaks to the press after the weekly Senate Democrats policy luncheon on March 19, 2013 in Washington, DC.

But it's still far from certain that the Senate can pass the background check provision, now considered the centerpiece of President Barack Obama's gun control legislation. Senators are still negotiating the exact language to be used in that provision. 

West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin is still talking with Republicans about background checks-- and is in touch with the National Rifle Association -- in an attempt to find compromise language that could garner significant Republican support.

Senate aides say they'll substitute in that compromise language after the Senate returns from recess -- if they can achieve such a compromise.

A proposed assault weapons ban isn't part of the bill -- instead, it will be offered as an amendment.

"The bill I advance tonight will serve as the basis for opening debate. Once debate begins, I will ensure that a ban on assault weapons, limits to high-capacity magazines, and mental health provisions receive votes, along with other amendments," Reid said in his statement.

What does the Senate gun control bill do?

• Requires a background check for anyone who wants to buy a gun, closing the gun show loophole. This is the most contentious part of the bill, and senators are still trying to find a compromise that can pass the Senate.
• Makes gun trafficking a federal crime and increases penalties for people who buy a gun for someone else (known as "straw purchasing.") This provision has broad bipartisan support.
• Helps schools pay for infrastructure to make schools safer -- like reinforced doors -- and training programs for students, faculty and staff. This also has bipartisan support.

Days after lawmakers sidelined a proposed assault weapons ban, Vice President Joe Biden and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Thursday offered a stern warning to Congress: there are still political consequences for opposing the measure.

"Even though restrictions on military-style weapons will not be part of the bill that goes to the floor of the U.S. Senate, it will get a vote by the full Senate as an amendment to the bill. And everyone’s going to have to stand up and say yea or nay, and then the rest of us have to decide just how we feel about people and their stands," Bloomberg said at a New York press conference with Biden and several family members of children killed in last year’s Sandy Hook Elementary shooting.

Bloomberg urged members of the public to tell congressional opponents of the gun control measure that they will “support whoever runs against you, no matter who they are.”

"Congress just has to get some courage and it's up to us as Americans and as fellow human beings to give them that courage," he said.

For the billionaire mayor, that “courage” also means “cash.”  

Bloomberg has already put millions behind his efforts to elect lawmakers who support gun control -- and his aides say he plans to use millions more on ads to sway those who might vote against it.

Biden, in New York to meet with Bloomberg just days after the Senate dropped the assault weapons ban from its gun bill, insisted that public opinion has shifted on gun restrictions -- and that the political pressure from the gun lobby has been overstated.

"It must be awful, being in public office and concluding that even though you might believe you should take action that you can't take action because of the political consequence you face. What a heck of a way to make a living. What a heck of a way to have to, have to act," Biden said. "The message I want to get across, Mr. Mayor, is the risk does not exist as is exaggerated today."

A suite of new gun control restrictions is winding through Congress, with Senate Democrats set to outline a package that could include new school safety measures, universal background checks for gun buyers and tougher penalties for straw purchasing and gun trafficking. 

But it's already clear that the politics of gun control are still difficult -- and as the Newtown massacre fades into the national memory, it's only going to get harder. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid this week informed California Sen. Dianne Feinstein that the assault weapons ban she's championed for decades won't be included in the bill, all but dooming its chances.

Senators will still vote on the ban as an amendment to the bill, allowing advocates the chance to see who voted against it and giving red state Democrats the chance to show they're opposing Obama's gun restrictions. There will be a second, separate vote on an amendment to ban high-capacity magazines.

This story was originally published on Thu Mar 21, 2013 1:44 PM EDT

A ban on assault weapons won't be included in major gun legislation set to take shape this week -- all but guaranteeing it won't pass Congress.

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a onetime ally of the National Rifle Association, informed California Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Monday that the proposal to ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines won't be included in a broad package of new gun laws that's taking shape this week and will be considered on the Senate floor in April.

"People say well, are you disappointed? Obviously I'm disappointed," Feinstein told reporters Tuesday. Feinstein has worked on gun violence issues for decades.

The move waters down President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden’s push for broad new gun control in the wake of the shooting at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school that killed 20 schoolchildren and six adults.

The Senate still plans to vote on the ban, but only as an amendment to the larger gun bill. Feinstein also asked for a second vote on a measure that would just ban high capacity magazines for assault weapons; that's likely to garner more support.

Why is the ban being dropped? According to Democratic leaders, it has no chance of passing -- and if it were included, Democrats wouldn't even be able to bring it up on the Senate floor for debate.

Just bringing a bill up for consideration requires all senators to agree, and if just one objects, then it takes 60 votes to keep the process moving forward.

"Right now her amendment, using the most optimistic numbers, has less than 40 votes. That's not 60," Reid told reporters at the Capitol Tuesday.

Putting an assault weapons bill into a broad package of gun laws -- instead of insisting that Feinstein offer it as an amendment  -- could have helped it earn more votes. But the ban is so controversial, including it would have likely doomed other gun restrictions that have some bipartisan support.

The NRA has been outspoken in opposing the ban, instead spending the months since Newtown calling for armed guards in schools.

Yuri Gripas / Reuters

Sen. Dianne Feinstein arrives at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the assault weapons ban in Washington on Feb. 27, 2013.

“The enemies on this are very powerful. I've known that all my life,” Feinstein said Tuesday.

Congress passed an assault weapons ban in 1994, but it was allowed to expire when lawmakers didn’t renew it a decade later.

Despite renewed support for gun control after the massacre, the assault weapons ban was never expected to pass Congress. It's considered politically toxic even for Democratic senators from rural states -- especially for those who are facing re-election in 2016. And the White House is looking for a concrete set of accomplishments on the issue, not just doomed legislative stand.

Leaders are now considering how to shape the larger package and plan to release their bill this week. On the table are a bill to broaden background checks for gun buyers, a school safety measure and legislation to make gun trafficking and straw purchasing a felony punishable by up to 25 years in prison.

The focus now is on background checks. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has been meeting with Republican senators in an attempt to hammer out a compromise to require all buyers to get a background check before they buy a gun. Talks with Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., stalled after they couldn't agree on whether private sellers should have to keep records of their transactions.

The gun trafficking and school safety bills were both approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee with bipartisan support. 

NBC's Mike Viqueira contributed to this report.

This story was originally published on Tue Mar 19, 2013 1:51 PM EDT

By a party line vote, a Senate panel has approved a ban on assault weapons, setting the legislation up for a vote next month in the full Senate.

But the bill’s prospects are not bright, as the ban – authored by California Sen. Dianne Feinstein – faces strong opposition from the National Rifle Association and other groups who say it infringes on Second Amendment rights.

The debate over the measure was marked by a fiery exchange between Feinstein -- who was the president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors at the time of the assassination of openly gay city official Harvey Milk along with the city's mayor -- and freshman Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.

Cruz, a former Texas solicitor general who has argued before the Supreme Court, asked Feinstein if she would consider limits to other amendments in the Bill of Rights, comparing her proposal to banning books protected by the First Amendment.

“I am not a sixth grader,” Feinstein replied. “Senator, I’ve been on this committee for 20 years. I was a mayor for nine years. I walked in, I saw people shot. I’ve looked at bodies that have been shot with these weapons.”

“It’s fine you want to lecture me on the Constitution,” she added. “I appreciate it. Just know I have been here for a long time.”

Feinstein said the legislation exempts over 2000 types of weapons. 

“Isn’t that enough for the people in the United States? Do they need a bazooka?” she asked. 

Cruz continued to press Feinstein for the answer to his question as other panel members tried to chime in.

“The answer is obvious,” an exasperated Feinstein replied. “No.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a measure earlier this week to require all gun buyers to get a background check