Gun Control Debate 2013: Why Did the Senate Vote Against Background Checks?

Recent polls show nearly 90 percent of Americans favor background checks for firearms purchases, support that crosses party lines and remains high even among gun owners themselves.

Yet on Wednesday, the Senate voted down even the simplest attempts to increase background checks. The bill wouldn't have even affected private sales; in essence it only regulated sales at gun shows.

While 54 senators voted in favor of the bill, it needed 60 to pass, since the Senate requires a supermajority before moving on any legislation. Four Republicans joined the Democratic majority in supporting the bill.

But four Democrats crossed the aisle to oppose the bill: Max Baucus of Montana, Mark Begich of Alaska, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Mark Pryor of Arkansas. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid supported the bill but voted against it, in a procedural move that will allow him to propose it again if he can bring more senators on board at a later date.

But even if every Democrat had supported the bill, it still would have failed unless another Republican had bucked party politics. Instead, they opposed it for many of the same reasons some Democrats did: it would be political suicide for them if they support any new gun regulations.

The gun lobby, including the National Rifle Association and the gun-positive elements of the Tea Party, have vowed to mount primary challenges against any politicians who oppose them. While that doesn't work in blue states, it cows Democrats who have been elected in red states (note the "no" votes above).

But it also pushes Republicans in red states farther to the right, much farther than the general public, even in their own states. They have nothing to fear from Democratic opponents in states like Wyoming, but even more conservative challengers rise up to defeat moderates in primaries these days, as happened with several congressional candidates during the 2012 campaigns.

"Senators say they fear the N.R.A. and the gun lobby," wrote former Arizona rep Gabrielle Giffords in an editorial in the New York Times after the vote on Wednesday.

"A minority of senators gave into fear and blocked common-sense legislation that would have made it harder for criminals and people with dangerous mental illnesses to get hold of deadly firearms -- a bill that could prevent future tragedies like those in Newtown, Conn., Aurora, Colo., Blacksburg, Va., and too many communities to count," she wrote.

For now, nothing has changed, and American communities are as vulnerable as they were before.