Calling it a “pretty shameful day for Washington,” President Obama is blasting Senators who formed an insurmountable roadblock for what is actually a pretty meager piece of bipartisan gun control legislation. 

A visibly disgusted Chief Executive appeared in the White House Rose Garden with surviving families of the Newtown, Connecticut Elementary School Massacre and with former Rep. Gabby Giffords, herself shot in the shot in another massacre 2 years ago.  Obama audibly scoffed at the Senators who voted in fear of the political power of the National Rifle Association rather than in solidarity with voters.  The President said the gun lobby and its allies "willfully lied" about the legislation.  Mark Barden, father of a murdered child from the Sandy Hook School bloodbath, vowed that this issue is not going to go away.

Mr. Obama pointed out that 90 percent of the voters including 80 percent of Republicans approved of the “Manchin-Toomey Amendment”, which would have extended criminal background checks on gun sales made in private or at gun shows.  That’s it:  No confiscations, no limits, no bans.  Just keeping weapons out of the hands of loons and criminals.

The US Senate actually voted 54-46 to approve the amendment, but because of a parliamentary quirk that Senate leader Harry Reid won’t get rid of, it required a 60-vote “supermajority” to pass.  So much for majority rule.  The bitter defeat has some Democrats grumbling that Reid either needs to change the rules, step aside as leader, or leave town.

Tucson shooting survivor Patricia Maisch yelled “shame on you” from the balcony of the Senate immediately after lawmakers rejected the bill.   Maisch is the white-haired grandmother who stopped the gunman in the Gabby Giffords shooting from killing more people in Arizona in 2011 by grabbing his spare clip of bullets when he tried to reload.  For violating decorum in the Senate, this brave hero was escorted from the building by Capitol Cops.  By the way, had the Manchin-Toomey Amendment been law before the Arizona shooting, dimwitted gunman Gerald Loughner would not have gotten his weapons, at least not the same way.

Although most Democrats supported the amendment and most Republicans opposed it, there were crossovers from each party.  At the grassroots level, anger is building at these Democrats who’d rather keep their jobs and placate pro-gun voters than stop the next massacre in America, and many are talking about “primary challenges” to end their candidacies before the next general elections.