HOUSTON -- At this weekend's National Rifle Association Convention, Carrie Bradshaw met Annie Oakley.

On display in the 9-acre firearms expo alongside Civil War-era antique guns, black AR-15 rifles and camouflage-patterned hunting gear? Pink rifles and hand guns, "Concealed Carrie" purses with hidden handgun pockets, and "Flashbang" holsters that attach to the front or side of a bra.

"We kinda started this because we didn't want women to have to dress like a man to be able to carry a gun," said Taylor Johnston, a Flashbang Holsters sales representative. "We want them to look feminine, look good, and still feel safe.

Leslie Deets modeled her concealed carry purses on high-end designers.

"It looks like a Coach bag," she said, adding that she named her "Concealed Carrie" company after the leading character in HBO’s "Sex and the City" because "Leslie just didn't have the same ring to it."

Retail options aside, the NRA is stepping up its outreach to women after facing criticism in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., shootings that killed 20 elementary school children and 6 adults in December. At the convention, they offered a luncheon, cocktail hour and pistol shooting course just for women.

In February, they hired Natalie Foster -- who founded the blog "Girls Guide to Guns" -- to assist with NRAWomen.tv, a website promoting ways to “explore, connect, celebrate and unite with the women of the NRA.” Sections include “Armed & Fabulous,” and “Refuse to be a Victim.”

"The NRA is definitely making an effort to really let our voices be heard," Foster said.

Adrees Latif / Reuters

A pink assault rifle hangs among others at an exhibit booth at the George R. Brown convention center, the site for the NRA annual meeting in Houston on May 5, 2013.

There's a political motive: The GOP is concerned about wooing female voters, and women overwhelmingly favor stricter gun laws. An April NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll showed that 65 percent of women favor more restrictions, compared to just 44 percent of men. Among women with children living at home, support runs even higher.

That's an overwhelming gender gap that could cause a problem for the NRA. The group claims 5 million members, but just a fraction of them are women. Foster said the NRA has a goal of reaching 500,000 women members by 2014 -- so right now, women make up less than 10 percent of the organization. More than half of the electorate, of course, are women.

The gun lobby helped defeat a Senate gun bill that would have expanded background checks to cover all commercial gun sales -- a less aggressive measure than banning assault weapons and a policy that polls show most Americans support.

NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre drove the convention with aggressive rhetoric on that issue -- he said that President Barack Obama's background check bill "ordered the law-abiding to participate in a maze of regulation that could criminalize lawful firearms transactions and potentially create a massive government list of every gun-owning citizen in the country."

But Foster took a notably softer tone in her interview with NBC News.

"When it comes to expanding background checks, we all want people to be safer. These laws that have been proposed recently have not been effective to that end, unfortunately," Foster said. "We all want people to be safer, we all want to protect our children. That is absolutely critical in our society."

From the beginning of the post-Newtown focus on gun control, Republicans -- with behind-the-scenes advice from groups like the NRA -- have put women front and center in their fight against new restrictions. At the first major hearing on gun control after Newtown, Republicans invited Gayle Trotter of the Independent Women's Forum to testify -- and she told the committee stories about women who used guns to protect themselves.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., underscored the point, arguing that women need high capacity magazines to appropriately defend themselves.

"My basic premise is that one bullet in the hand of a mentally unstable person or a convicted felon is one too many. Six bullets in the hands of a mother protecting her twin 9-year-olds may not be enough," he said.

That, in turn, drew a response from Vice President Joe Biden, who told a Google hangout he would advise his wife to use a shotgun, instead.

"You don't need an AR-15," he said. "Buy a shotgun. Buy a shotgun."

Biden is continuing to push for new gun control laws. Supporting him are groups like Moms Demand Action, which had members protesting the NRA Convention. They argue that women want more restrictions, and are planning a week of activism surrounding the upcoming Mother's Day holiday.

"I think every mother knows where she was when she heard about Newtown," said Michelle Green, who heads the Houston chapter. "It resonated so much and mothers want to take care of their children."

Related stories:

• 'Stand and fight': NRA convention gets call to arms for 2014 election
• Republican politicians pay tribute to NRA clout at annual meeting

This story was originally published on Tue May 7, 2013 12:27 PM EDT

In an indicator of the continued influence of the nation’s largest gun-owners’ group, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, and other Republican politicians addressed the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting in Houston Friday, celebrating the defeat of gun legislation in the Senate, assailing the media, and offering a strong defense of the powerful lobbying organization.

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin speaks during the 2013 NRA Annual Meeting and Exhibits at the George R. Brown Convention Center on May 3, 2013 in Houston, Texas.

Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate, delivered a wide-ranging attack not just on President Barack Obama, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and other proponents of gun control measures, but on what she portrayed as attempts to curtail all personal freedoms.

In the wake of the Newtown, Conn., shootings, Palin accused Obama and other gun control proponents of emotionally manipulating voters and “exploiting emotion for their own agenda.” And news media organizations, she said, are “the reliable poodle-skirted cheerleaders for a president who writes the book on exploiting tragedy.”

In a reprise of her use of a 7-Eleven “Big Gulp” as a prop during the Conservative Political Action Conference to mock Bloomberg’s ban on large-sized sodas, she displayed a pack of cigarettes at the NRA event to poke fun at the mayor’s call for banning store displays of cigarettes.

Alluding to the defeat of a Senate measure two weeks ago to expand background checks for gun buyers, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas told the crowd that gun control measures a month ago had “looked like an unstoppable freight train” but that they and fellow gun owners across the nation had mobilized to stop it in a victory that was “truly amazing.” But he said Obama and his allies have said “that they intend to come back at us” with another attempt to pass gun legislation in the Senate.

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Attendees walk on the show floor during the 2013 NRA Annual Meeting and Exhibits at the George R. Brown Convention Center on May 3, 2013 in Houston, Texas.

“We must do everything we can to stop violent crime,” the Texas Republican said, as he accused the Obama administration of not doing enough to prosecute felons and fugitives who try to buy guns as well as criminals who use a gun in the commission of a crime.

Cruz also challenged Vice President Joe Biden, who like Cruz is a potential 2016 presidential contender, to an hour-long debate on how to stop crime. “If Vice President Biden really believes the facts are on his side … I would think he would welcome the opportunity to talk about the sources, the causes of violent crime and how we do everything humanly possible to stop it.”

Chris Cox, the head of the group’s Institute for Legislative Action, said in Friday’s session that since Newtown, “We’ve seen the politicians, the national media, and their billionaire supporters attack us, ridicule us, and, worst of all, blame us for the acts of violent criminals and madmen.”

Also speaking Friday were Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum -- two other possible contenders for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016.

Santorum praised gun owners saying that -- in the wake of Newtown -- “when the entire tide of the national media and the popular culture was trying to erode a fundamental freedom, you stood tall -- as unpopular as it seemed -- you stood for the truth.”  

Two weeks ago, the NRA scored a major victory when the Senate rejected an amendment sponsored by two senators who had gotten NRA backing in their past campaigns, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., and Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa.

The Manchin-Toomey amendment would have required background checks on would-be firearms purchasers at gun shows at which 75 or more firearms were available for sale.

Under current law, although background checks are required to buy a weapon from a federally licensed dealer, no check is needed for those who buy from a private gun owner or at gun shows or similar events.

While most Republican senators opposed the Manchin-Toomey measure, three GOP senators in addition to Toomey himself voted for it. And while most Democratic senators voted for it, five Democrats voted no, including two who are up for re-election next year, Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Sen. Mark Begich of Alaska.

This story was originally published on Fri May 3, 2013 3:44 PM EDT

Although Washington’s battle over gun control ground to a sudden halt earlier this month, proponents of overhaul legislation say the fight is far from over. But while the political ground may have shifted, there is no denying the massive sway of the National Rifle Association and the perception that the window of opportunity to strengthen gun laws in the wake of the Newtown shootings has closed.

Following the Senate's vote to block consideration of legislation to expand background checks to gun sales online and at shows, the NRA and its pro-gun allies seem as powerful as ever, especially among Republicans and Democrats representing conservative-leaning states.

President Barack Obama had embraced gun control as a centerpiece of his second-term agenda following December's massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, but the NRA was still able to beat back a bipartisan proposal on background checks that was watered down considerably from the types of reforms the White House first espoused.

But supporters of new gun laws assert that their failure last week was only temporary, and that they can still prevail in the long term.

"They've [the NRA] been around since 1871, and virtually unopposed for a generation. You don't dislodge that kind of influential force very quickly," said Mark Glaze, the director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the pro-gun control group founded and funded by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

"The gun lobby's been around for a very long time, and it's going to take members of Congress a long time to learn that the ground has shifted under them," Glaze added.

Indeed, public opinion appears to be on the administration's side. Fifty-five percent of Americans said in April's NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll that they support tougher gun laws -- roughly the same number who expressed a similar sentiment in the weeks following Newtown.

But after the NRA's victory last week, in which the Senate fell six votes short of advancing a bipartisan compromise on background checks, political observers ask the inevitable question: If not now, then when?

The administration's gun proposals were far less robust than the package Obama debuted before his State of the Union address. Democrats have all but abandoned efforts to outlaw high-capacity ammunition clips and reinstate a ban on assault weapons, votes on each of which failed last week in the Senate.

Related: Toomey's background check plan shy of 60 votes

Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Pat Toomey, R-Pa., had crafted a scaled-back measure to expand background checks, but they struggled to unite even Democrats -- especially those from red states who face re-election next fall -- behind the effort. Before last week's vote, victims of gun violence including former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and the families of the Newtown shooting victims swarmed Capitol Hill in an all-out lobbying blitz. And Bloomberg's group launched considerable advertising efforts in recent weeks to combat the NRA's influence.

But even under these relatively promising (political) conditions, Obama and gun control advocates fell short – though their “failure” was in part due to Republican dissenters’ demand that each proposal clear a filibuster-proof, 60-vote threshold. (Otherwise, Manchin-Toomey would have passed with 54 votes.)

The gun bill’s inability to advance is a testament to the enduring influence of the NRA, even though the gun-rights group has faced some ridicule for the far-from-polished performance of its executive vice president, Wayne LaPierre, in opposing any new gun control initiative.

LaPierre has blamed violent video games and rap music -- both cultural cues from the 1990s -- as much as anything for recent incidents of gun violence. And his far from serious counter proposal to the administration has been to place an armed security guard in every school in America.

And yet, few GOP and red-state senators have been willing to cross the NRA, which has doggedly opposed expanding background checks (despite having backed the exact same proposals over a decade ago). Even if the Senate legislation were to muster enough support for passage, it is more difficult to conceive of how it would manage to survive in the Republican-held House of Representatives.

And while proponents of stricter gun laws privately say they never expected to win a renewed ban on assault weapons or limits on magazine capacity, the defeat of even the background checks bill registered as a disappointment. But those same proponents argue that they’re in gear for a long battle, and won’t give up their fight.

“There's no question it's going to take some time to turn this around, and the electoral part is some of the mix. We'll see how November 2014 goes,” Glaze said. “We will do whatever’s necessary.”

And already, the Democratic donor class has taken note.

Take, for instance, former White House chief of staff Bill Daley’s op-ed on Monday in the Washington Post, in which he excoriated Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., of betraying him on the issue of guns.

“So I’ll have some advice for my friends in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles: Just say no to the Democrats who said no on background checks,” Daley wrote. 

This story was originally published on Tue Apr 23, 2013 3:53 AM EDT

Four months and four days after the Newtown shootings, the U.S. Senate has indefinitely shelved major gun legislation. 

The move follows the 54-46 defeat of a compromise to expand background checks, the most critical of a series of amendments that failed to pass the Senate on Wednesday.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced the decision on the floor Thursday. He said he spoke to President Barack Obama and the two agreed the best way to move forward was to “hit pause.”

“Yesterday, President Obama said it was a shameful day for the Senate, and it probably was,” Reid said. “But we should make no mistake. This debate is not over. In fact this fight is just beginning.”

But realistically, Senate aides privately say, the issue is done with for now. Even pieces of the plan that might have passed with wide bipartisan support -- making gun trafficking a federal crime, improving school safety and addressing mental health -- will be set aside.

"This was a real emotional, everybody was involved," said Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who led efforts for a compromise on background checks. "They’ll look at it and take a little time, take a breather and make a decision."

Manchin said his compromise would have passed the Senate if the National Rifle Association hadn't threatened to dock lawmakers' grades with the organization if they voted for the amendment.

"If it wasn't scored, it would get 70," Manchin said.

Now, the political reckoning begins. Gun control advocates -- from the president on down -- were angry with Wednesday's outcome and urged Americans to keep up pressure on lawmakers who voted against it.

"Speaking is physically difficult for me. But my feelings are clear: I’m furious," former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords wrote in a New York Times opinion piece published after the vote. Giffords was shot at a Tucson grocery store as she met with constituents in 2011.

Win Mcnamee / Getty Images

Father of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victim, Mark Barden introduces President Barack Obama as former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Vice President Joe Biden and family members of the Newtown shooting victims look on in the Rose Garden of the White House on April 17, 2013.

Of the senators who voted no, she wrote: "I’m asking citizens to go to their offices and say: You've disappointed me, and there will be consequences."

Visibly angry, Obama on Wednesday said even members of his own party voted out of fear of the gun lobby.

"A lot of Republicans had that fear, but Democrats had that fear, too.  And so they caved to the pressure, and they started looking for an excuse -- any excuse -- to vote 'no,'" Obama said.

Giffords' group, Americans for Responsible Solutions, insists they'll be a force in the upcoming 2014 elections, remembering this vote the same way the NRA will.

"It's a target-rich environment after yesterday, as we'd say in the military," Mark Kelly, Giffords' husband, told reporters at the National Press Club.

NBC's Kelly O'Donnell, Mike Viqueira and Ali Weinberg contributed to this report. 

Related story:

• First Thoughts: Why the gun measure was defeated

This story was originally published on Thu Apr 18, 2013 2:59 PM EDT

Despite an impassioned push by President Barack Obama and an emotional lobbying effort by the families of mass shooting victims, proponents of a compromise measure to expand gun background checks on Wednesday fell six votes short of passage in the Senate. 

The vote on the amendment was 54 to 46. Sixty votes were needed for the amendment to be adopted. 

The deal was the result of a deal struck between Republican Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia. It would have extended existing background check rules to gun sales made online and at gun shows.

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and her husband and retired astronaut Mark Kelly join Sen. Joe Manchin and Sen. Pat Toomey in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill April 16, 2013 in Washington.

Speaking in the Rose Garden after the vote, a visibly frustrated Obama decried the defeat of the measure as parents of victims of last year's Newtown school shootings and former congresswoman Gabby Giffords looked on. 

"All in all, this was a pretty shameful day for Washington," he said sternly, urging backers of gun control to continue the fight. 

Slamming critics who said that victims were used as "props," Obama said that their voices and experiences should have been welcomed, adding that gun lobbyists "willfully lied" about the consequences of the background check measure. 

As the bill was defeated, Patricia Maisch -- a survivor of the Tuscon shooting that targeted Giffords -- yelled "Shame on you!" from the Senate gallery. 

After the vote, Maisch said outside the chamber that she screamed when she realized the amendment had been defeated. 

"They need to be ashamed of themselves," she said. "I think the ones who voted no ... they have no soul. They have no compassion for the experiences that people have lived through, gun violence, who have had a child or a loved one murdered."

Although backed by many victims of gun violence, including the Newtown families, the legislation was vehemently opposed by the National Rifle Association, who said it infringed on the rights of gun owners. 

In a statement, NRA-ILA executive director Chris Cox applauded the proposal's defeat: "This amendment would have criminalized certain private transfers of firearms between honest citizens, requiring lifelong friends, neighbors and some family members to get federal government permission to exercise a fundamental right or face prosecution," he said. "As we have noted previously, expanding background checks, at gun shows or elsewhere, will not reduce violent crime or keep our kids safe in their schools."

Four Republicans -- Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Susan Collins of Maine, Mark Kirk of Illinois and amendment author Toomey -- broke with the rest of the GOP to support the background check legislation. 

Four Democrats -- Sens. Max Baucus of Montana, Mark Begich of Alaska, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Mark Pryor of Arkansas -- voted against it. 

Those Democrats are now the targets of liberal groups vowing to advertise their 'no' votes. In a statement shortly after the defeat, Progressive Change Campaign Committee co-founder Stephanie Taylor slammed the four defectors. 

"Today, the Senate voted against the 91% of Americans who support background checks to stop gun violence," she said. "We'll be holding accountable Democrats who voted against their constituents by running ads in their states, featuring some of the 23,000 gun owners who have joined our campaign for common sense gun reform."

Also on Wednesday, the Senate voted down an amendment backed by Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California that would have banned "military-style" assault weapons; it was voted down 40 to 60. By a similar margin, a proposal to limit high-capacity ammunition magazines was also defeated. 

Opposition to changing the gun laws in previous weeks was so intense that some questioned whether the background check measure would even come to a vote Wednesday. Gun control backers won a surprisingly robust  bipartisan victory on a procedural vote last week that allowed debate on the background check deal.

Much of the momentum that fueled that brief victory was credited to the parents and relatives of children killed in the Newtown shootings last year. Newtown families lobbied extensively on the Hill, reportedly bringing several lawmakers to tears with deeply personal stories of the grief caused to their families when a lone gunman mowed down 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Some of the Newtown family members were present in the Senate gallery when the background check amendment was defeated. 

Giffords, who narrowly escaped death after being shot in the head in 2011, and her husband Mark Kelly slammed senators for "ignoring the will of the American people."

"We will use every means possible to make sure the constituents of these senators know that their elected representatives ignored them, and put Washington, D.C., special interest politics over the effort to keep their own communities safer from the tragedy of gun violence," they said in a statement.

Vice President Joe Biden, who has led the White House’s effort on the gun legislation after the Newtown shooting, presided over the Senate for the vote. 

Speaking during a White House-organized Google Hangout earlier Wednesday, Biden appeared to acknowledge that defeat was likely but assured supporters that victory was not lost forever. 

“If we don't get it today, we'll get it eventually,” he assured gun control supporters. 

"I see this as just Round One," Obama said in his Rose Garden remarks. 

Related stories:

• First Thoughts: Background check measure expected to fall short
• Senate background check compromise in peril as GOP opposition grows

NBC's Mark Murray contributed to this report. 

This story was originally published on Wed Apr 17, 2013 12:48 PM EDT

A new gun control law cleared a major Senate hurdle Thursday, with 16 Republicans voting with most of the chamber’s Democrats to begin the process of moving one of President Barack Obama’s top domestic initiatives through a long, legislative slog.

Senators voted 68 to 31, with a handful of Republicans joining most Democrats, on a procedural measure to begin consideration of a proposed gun law that would expand background checks for gun sales, and strengthen mental health and school safety programs.

The vote is just the opening step, though, of a debate that could stretch out for weeks and encounter any number of obstacles – namely, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives – before reaching Obama’s desk.

Thursday’s vote comes on the heels of a bipartisan Senate agreement on Wednesday on expanding background checks, the centerpiece of gun control advocates’ effort to strengthen rules on firearms following the December 2012 shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.

Two senators – Democrat Joe Manchin from West Virginia and Republican Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania – struck an agreement that would extend existing background check rules to gun sales made online, and at gun shows. (Manchin and Toomey said their plan would be offered as the first amendment to the underlying gun bill which senators called up today.)

Win Mcnamee / Getty Images

Sen. Joe Manchin speaks on the phone outside the weekly Democratic policy luncheon on April 9 in Washington.

While their accord prompted renewed hope of bipartisan action to advance new gun laws for the first time in years, their proposal (along with several other gun measures slated for consideration by Congress) still face stiff resistance from conservative Republicans and the influential gun rights lobby, the National Rifle Association.

The NRA released a letter late Wednesday saying it was “unequivocally opposed” to the new gun rules, including the Manchin-Toomey proposal. Their declaration may weigh heavily on lawmakers seeking the NRA’s support – or, at the very least, avoid being targeted by the group – in their re-election efforts next fall.

“Given the importance of these issues, votes on all anti-gun amendments or proposals will be considered in NRA’s future candidate evaluations,” wrote their chief lobbyist, Christopher W. Cox, in a letter to members of Congress.

And a group of Republican senators have vowed to slow down the legislation by offering a multitude of amendments to the gun legislation, and exhausting the hours of debate to which they are entitled for each amendment. Those conservative lawmakers are backed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who voted Thursday against even beginning formal debate on gun legislation.

First Read: Why immigration reform has a better chance than guns

"The senators who have vowed to filibuster this bill should be ashamed of their attempt to silence efforts to prevent the next American tragedy," said 33 family members of Newtown victims in a joint statement. "Their staunch opposition to sensible gun reform is an affront to the 26 innocent children and educators who were murdered in Newtown."

The Senate bill could also be undone by so-called “poison pill” amendments which Republicans could attach with the help of a few swing-state Democrats, but risk making the whole bill unacceptable to most other Democratic senators.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., highlighted a provision that would require states to recognize concealed carry permits from other states as an example of one such poison pill.

Nonetheless, the coming Senate debate will provide an exercise in posturing – both on the central proposal dealing with background checks, but also additional measures that are all but certain to fail, like a proposed renewal of the ban on assault weapons, and a ban on high-capacity magazine clips.

The debate will play out as new poll data showed that a majority of Americans generally favor stricter gun laws. A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Thursday found that 55 percent of Americans favor gun laws, versus 34 percent who prefer to keep the laws as they are now. Nine percent of Americans prefer less strict gun laws.

The popularity of these proposals has been a key point of emphasis in the administration’s demand that these measures receive a vote in Congress.

“I know that some of these proposals inspire more debate than others, but each of them has the support of the majority of the American people,” Obama said on Monday in Connecticut. “All of them are common sense. All of them deserve a vote.”

But even if these proposals were to successfully emerge from the Senate, gun legislation faces an uncertain future in the House, where Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has not pledged to bring up any Senate-passed bill for a vote.

“I think it's important for the Senate to do its work, and once they do their work we'll be happy to review it,” he said Wednesday on Capitol Hill.

At the same time, though, a bipartisan pair of House members is working on legislation which will mirror the Manchin-Toomey proposal, in hopes of winning organic support for this legislation in the House.

This story was originally published on Thu Apr 11, 2013 11:34 AM EDT

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

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

The NRA fights back -- with mixed success so far… How the Newtown tragedy changed politics (at least inside one party)… Will the Arkansas pipeline spill affect the Keystone decision?... Mark Sanford on the comeback trail… Will the DCCC get involved if he wins today’s GOP run-off?... Polls close at 7:00 pm ET… And the second round of SENATE MADNESS continues!!!

Michelle Mcloughlin / Reuters

Residents protest outside the National Shooting Sports Foundation in Newtown, Conn., March 28, 2013 after receiving robocalls from the NRA, trying to enlist them in efforts to defeat new statewide gun control proposals.

*** The NRA fights back – with mixed success: At 11:00 am ET, the National Rifle Association will unveil its details to arm school guards across the country. This comes as the NRA -- after the Newtown school shooting tragedy --- has decided to fight all the gun-control legislation as aggressively as possible, despite early indications that it might look the other way on the trafficking or background-check bills. And while it has enjoyed plenty of success so far at the federal level (the assault-weapons ban has no chance for passage, and even universal background checks appear to be on the ropes), the state level has been a different story. First, Colorado recently passed gun-control laws that places limits on ammunition clips and institutes a universal background check, and President Obama will travel to the state this Wednesday to highlight those new laws. And now Connecticut is on the cusp on passing gun-control measures. The Hartford Courant: “Easy passage of the legislative response to the Dec. 14 [Newtown] killings is expected in House and Senate votes scheduled for Wednesday, leaders of both the Democratic majority and Republican minority said after completing weeks of negotiations on the bill.” The measures include strengthening the state’s existing ban on semi-automatic weapons, restricting high-capacity magazines, and requiring background checks for all gun purchasers.

*** How Newtown did change politics (inside one party): While both Colorado and Connecticut are states that have recently witnessed high-profile gun tragedies, they have this other similarity: They’re controlled by Democratic governors and Democratic state legislatures. Some observers have noted that the Newtown shootings -- and the NRA’s response to them (like invoking the president’s daughters in a video) -- haven’t changed the politics of guns. But that’s not true where Democrats have control of the government. As the NRA seems headed toward victory this on the federal level, the question becomes: Has it permanently damaged its reputation with Democrats? After all, what made the NRA powerful was its bipartisan reach. If that disappears, will the organization have problems the next time there’s a Democratic House speaker and a supermajority in the Senate?

*** Will the Arkansas pipeline spill affect the Keystone decision? We’re most likely just a few weeks from the Obama administration’s final decision on whether to give the Keystone XL pipeline a thumbs up or a thumbs down. And if you were placing bets on which direction the White House will go, most would say the smart money would be on Obama reluctantly approving the pipeline. But don’t underestimate the impact that this story might have on the approval process. “Exxon Mobil Corp continued efforts on Monday to clean up thousands of barrels of heavy Canadian crude oil spilled from a near 65-year-old pipeline in Arkansas, as a debate raged about the safety of transporting rising volumes of the fuel into the United States,” Reuters reports. Don’t forget: Just as the Obama administration opened up drilling along the Gulf Coast, the BP spill occurred. And as it was on the cusp of expanding nuclear energy, Japan happened. These events can have an impact. Timing is everything.

*** Sanford on the comeback trail: Following American politics can be fascinating. The latest example:  Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford’s political comeback. One minute, he’s the conservative darling standing up to the Obama administration and a possible 2012 presidential candidate. The next, he’s embarrassed and out of office after having an affair with an Argentine mistress when he’s supposed to be hiking the Appalachian Trail. Then he launches a political comeback by running for his old congressional seat, and the Conventional Wisdom maintains that he can’t break 50% in a run-off. But with the special congressional Republican run-off taking place today, the C.W. has turned due to a variety of reasons -- and Sanford appears poised to win the GOP nomination. And now the latest twist: The Democratic nominee for the May 7 general election, who just happens to be comedian Stephen Colbert’s sister, has released a poll showing her leading both Sanford and his run-off opponent, Curtis Bostic, in this conservative-leaning district. You can’t make this up.

*** Does the DCCC get involved? If Sanford wins today’s run-off in South Carolina -- the polls close at 7:00 pm ET -- the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee faces this question: Does it spend money (say $500,000) to help put Elizabeth Colbert Busch over the top? The DCCC tells us it’s evaluating the race. Make no mistake, Colbert Busch has this opportunity because of Sanford’s personal issues. And if she wins on May 7, it’s very likely she’ll have a difficult time holding onto the seat come Nov. 2014. So Democrats face this choice: Do they spend money to help win a temporary P.R. victory, knowing full well that it probably can’t hold onto the seat a year from now? Or do they sit back and consider the race a win-win, regardless of what happens next month? Colbert Busch needs the financial help, and that’s probably why her campaign released the poll yesterday -- to force the DCCC’s hand. Speaking of financial help, Stephen Colbert is hosting a fundraiser in DC for his sister on April 15.

*** Senate Madness -- yesterday’s results: In the 19^th Century bracket, Daniel Webster easily beat William Seward, Sam Houston edged Stephen Douglas, Charles Sumner blew out James Buchanan, and John C. Calhoun defeated Thomas Hart Benton. In the Mixed Era, Henry Clay beat Sam Ervin, Robert La Follette defeated George Norris, #14 seed Scoop Jackson upset #6 seed William Borah, and Henry Cabot Lodge prevailed over Arthur Vandenberg.

*** Senate Madness -- the 2^nd round continues: Today, the second-round contests take place in the 20^th Century bracket: LBJ vs. Robert Wagner, Richard Russell vs. John Sherman Cooper, Mike Mansfield vs. John Stennis, and Everett Dirsken vs. William Fulbright…. And they also take place in the Modern Era: Ted Kennedy vs. Robert Byrd, Hubert Humphrey vs. Ed Brooke, Jesse Helms vs. Joe Biden, and Daniel Patrick Moynihan vs. Bob Dole.

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Senators negotiating a bill mandating background checks for all gun buyers are privately expecting the National Rifle Association not to fight the measure -- provided the legislation does not require private gun sellers to maintain records of the checks, NBC News has learned.

If that requirement is met and key Republican negotiator Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma signs on, the powerful gun lobby has signaled to lawmakers that they would not actively oppose the bill -- and not count votes in favor of it as part of its highly influential NRA lawmaker ratings -- according to Senate aides familiar with the stalled negotiations.

Such a deal could clear the way for a universal background check bill, a central tenet of President Barack Obama's gun control initiative, to pass the Senate with significant Republican support. Odds of passage in the House would brighten significantly as a result.

The NRA denies being part of any agreement. "We do not take positions on hypotheticals. We will make our position known if and when legislation is introduced," said Chris Cox, the group's top lobbyist. 

The NRA is still adamantly opposed to expanding background checks to private sales. "To be clear, the National Rifle Association does not support legislation that would criminalize otherwise lawful transfers of firearms between law abiding Americans," Cox said.

EARLIER: Panel advances background check bill, but its path remains clear

Such a decision would mark the first major compromise from the group in the wake of the elementary school shootings that killed 26 in Newtown, Conn. The NRA has signed on to a bipartisan mental health bill and are talking to senators about gun trafficking legislation. But with an assault weapons ban not likely to pass, the background check bill is the main legislative fight over new gun restrictions.

Still, Democrats have balked at this development: Leaving such a provision out, they say, would make the law toothless and would never earn support from gun control advocacy groups.

But without the record-keeping provision -- and the blind eye from the NRA -- Democrats would instead have to squeak their way to the 60 votes needed to pass in the upper chamber, potentially risking the whole package.

Both sides say it's tough to compromise on the issue of records. Coburn and the NRA argue that requiring private sellers to keep a record of each background check and gun sale would start down a slippery slope to a national gun registry. Gun control advocates, on the other hand, say enforcing any background check law would be all but impossible if records aren’t kept, and thus would have little impact on the criminals the bill is designed to target.

Jacquelyn Martin / Jacquelyn Martin / AP

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla. walks toward the Senate chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, Dec. 31, 2012.

"With about 90 percent of the public calling for a comprehensive background check system, the incentive to agree to a bill that only law abiding people will comply with, and that people we're trying to reach will ignore, is vanishingly small," said Mark Glaze, the executive director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a group headed by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

"Background checks do not and cannot lead to gun registration. It's a lie meant to muddy the debate and distract from our common goal -- saving lives with solutions that Americans support overwhelmingly," Mark Kelly, the husband of former Rep. Gabby Giffords, said in a Tuesday statement.

Coburn, who holds an "A" rating from the NRA, has been locked in closed meetings with Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., over the background check legislation.

Coburn and Manchin insist they're still talking, and Manchin said he was on the phone Tuesday with the NRA. He and Coburn have shared legislative language with the group as they've worked on an agreement.

"Tom Coburn and I come from a culture, a background, a culture of guns. So I think the NRA would respect and appreciate where we're coming from, with the understanding that we understand our NRA members," Manchin told NBC News on Tuesday. "I'm an NRA member, Tom's an NRA member, and they're looking at that. And hopefully we can find some common ground."

But the background check discussions with Schumer have stalled -- and the New Yorker is now reaching out in an effort to find another Republican who might be willing to sign on. The list includes moderates, like Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, and Republican senators who aren't running for re-election, like Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss.

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

Sen. Chuck Schumer boards an elevator at the U.S. Capitol on March 12, 2013 in Washington, D.C.

Sources familiar with the negotiations suggest that Schumer has only made a public break with Coburn because he's trying to convince groups on the left -- the Bloomberg group, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, and others -- that they need to give in on record-keeping in order to save a broader package.

Glaze said that's a no-go, indicating that his group -- backed by Bloomberg's billions -- would instead air ads in senators' home states attacking them for not going further in their quest to stop gun violence.

"We're going to take the time to get out into the country and have that conversation with members and their constituents, and we will see where we end up in the late summer," Glaze said.

Asked about the groups' position Tuesday, Manchin emphasized the realities of getting a bill passed.

"I respect their position, but basically, we have 535 members, and they all have certain concerns and considerations to be taken. If you want to pass something, you have to work within a, a compromise if you will, bipartisan arena," he said.

NBC's Mike Viqueira contributed. 

This story was originally published on Tue Mar 12, 2013 5:01 PM EDT

Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' words during a brief opening statement at a Senate hearing on gun violence were careful, slow and deliberate.

But they were firm: "Too many children are dying," she said Wednesday, breaking up the syllables during her testimony to open a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on gun laws.

Slideshow: Ariz. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords

"It will be hard, but the time is NOW," said Giffords, who has embarked on an arduous recovery after being critically wounded at Tucson Safeway while meeting with constituents in early 2011. "You. Must. Act. Be bold. Be cour-ag-eous. Amer-i-cans are count-ing on you."

Giffords has emerged as one of the leading gun safety advocates prompted by the December 2012 shootings in Newtown, Conn., that killed 20 elementary school children and 6 adults.

She walked into Wednesday's hearing, making a surprise appearance at the first gun-related hearing held in Congress since the Newtown shooting. Her husband, Mark Kelly, held her hand and carefully guided her to her seat in front of the Senate panel.

Related: Obama's gun plan begins slow, scrutinized trek through Congress

She spoke for just over a minute. Kelly, who was set to testify at length, helped her back out of the room.

"Gabby's gift for speech is a distant memory," Kelly planned to say later in the hearing. "She struggles to walk, and she is partially blind. Her right arm is completely paralyzed." 

Giffords and Kelly were to testify ahead of the National Rifle Association's Wayne LaPierre, as well as three other witnesses.

Updated 3:17 p.m. - Democrats looking to sustain public pressure for new gun laws in the wake of the Newtown shootings clashed Wednesday with Republicans and the National Rifle Association over universal background checks, a far less dramatic proposed change than an assault weapons ban or limits on high capacity magazines.

"My problem with background checks is you're never going to get criminals to go through universal background checks," Wayne LaPierre, CEO and chief lobbyist for the NRA, said at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on gun violence, the first since President Barack Obama laid out new measures to curb gun crime. "None of it makes any sense in the real world."

Related: Obama's gun plan begins slow, scrutinized trek through Congress

The obvious drama in the packed hearing room lasted over four hours, with passions running well beyond the normal staid congressional panel. The emotion was heightened by the presence of some major iconic figures in the battle over whether – and how – to tighten federal regulation of firearms.

LaPierre sat at the opposite end of the witness table from Mark Kelly, the husband of former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Critically wounded at a shooting in Tucson in 2011, Giffords opened the hearing with a dramatic plea, haltingly asking Congress to "do something to prevent gun violence."

Susan Walsh / AP

Mark Kelly, husband of former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords; David Kopel, law professor at Strum College in Denver; Baltimore Police Chief James Johnson; Gayle Trotter, senior fellow with the Independent Women's Forum; and National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre, are sworn in on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013, prior to testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on gun violence.

"My wife would not have been sitting here today if we had stronger background checks," Kelly told the committee later in the hearing. 

Under current law, people can buy guns through a private seller without getting a background check. It's commonly referred to as the "gun show loophole." The Obama administration's proposal to close this loophole by requiring background checks for all sales of firearms dominated much of Wednesday's hearing.

Related: Giffords 'Too many children are dying … you must act'

The exchanges at the hearing illustrated the sharp political divide over changing the nation's gun laws – and the difficulty in enacting any of the more dramatic new measures included in the package the White House is pushing, which includes an assault weapons ban and limits on high capacity magazines.

"The deaths in Newtown should not be used to put forward every gun control measure that has been floating around for years," said Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, the committee's ranking member.

"Emotion often leads to bad policies," said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who called the 1994 assault weapons ban a "singularly ineffective piece of legislation."

Even Chairman Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from rural Vermont, did not explicitly endorse the assault weapons ban that Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., introduced last week. But he did call for background checks, sharply challenging LaPierre on the subject.

Slideshow: Ariz. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords

The NRA's position on background checks is a switch from the organization's position 14 years ago. "We think it's reasonable to provide mandatory instant criminal background checks for every sale at every gun show. No loopholes anywhere for anyone," LaPierre told a congressional panel in 1999.

A place where there was some common ground: gun trafficking. 

“We may be able to work together to prevent straw purchasers from trafficking in guns,” Grassley said, a sentiment echoed by others on the panel.

The obvious legislative hurdles -- on display Wednesday -- help explain why Democrats are relying on a campaign-like strategy and a series of public events to try to ratchet up public demand for stricter regulations on firearms. Giffords' story makes her a compelling public advocate.

"Too many children are dying," she said Wednesday, breaking up the syllables during her testimony.

"It will be hard, but the time is now," said Giffords, who has embarked on an arduous recovery since she was shot in the head, affecting her speech. "You. Must. Act. Be bold. Be courageous. Americans are counting on you."

She walked into Wednesday's hearing, her husband holding her hand and carefully guiding her to her seat in front of the Senate panel.

She spoke for just over a minute; her husband helped her back out of the room.

"Gabby's gift for speech is a distant memory," Kelly said later. "She struggles to walk, and she is partially blind. Her right arm is completely paralyzed."

In trying to counter the emotional testimony, Republicans repeatedly praised Giffords’ perseverance and focused on trying to raise doubts about whether the measures Democrats had proposed to combat gun violence would work. They insisted current gun laws aren't being prosecuted effectively.

“This discussion, I sit here and listen to it, and my reaction is how little it has to do with the problem of keeping our kids safe and how much it has to do with the decadelong, two decadelong, gun ban agenda when we don’t even enforce the laws on the books,” LaPierre said.

Wednesday's hearings were the first in a planned series of sessions on gun laws. Leahy said Wednesday that he plans to begin the process of crafting a gun package in his committee next month. With Obama and Vice President Joe Biden publicly making the case for new laws, gun control advocates expect any action to begin in the Senate; the Republican-controlled House of Representatives has shown little appetite for taking up the issue.

In the wake of Newtown, a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll showed that 56 percent of Americans believe gun laws should be more strict. The survey showed just 7 percent believe gun restrictions should be less strict.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Tuesday that he planned to bring gun legislation to the Senate floor -- though with an open process that could allow senators to make changes. Such a process would likely make it harder to pass the bill.

“It’s very clear that there’s going to be a bill brought out of the committee, brought to the Senate floor, and there will be an amendment process there,” Reid said. He added that senators would be allowed to “bring up whatever amendments they want that deal with this issue.”