“Rep. Carolyn Maloney said she received death threats Tuesday at her upper East Side office warning her not to move forward with gun control legislation,” the New York Daily News reports. She told the Daily News: “They said they were going to kill me.” More: “The Democratic congresswoman was so disturbed by the three menacing phone calls — which came about an hour apart — that she skipped a dinner Tuesday night of the Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts, where she was supposed to present an award. ‘I couldn’t go. Who knows what could happen?’ Maloney told the Daily News. ‘I think any member of Congress would be scared after what happened to my good friend Gabby Giffords.’”
“A bill requiring California residents to produce identification when purchasing ammunition cleared an Assembly committee on Monday,” the New York Daily News writes.
The Daily News: “An NRA-backed panel would mandate background checks for armed guards it wants in schools, even as the group fights legislation to require background checks for gun purchases.”
“One of the key GOP Senators that Dems are quietly trying to win the support of on expanded background checks is John McCain. His backing would make it significantly easier to pass the proposal through the Senate with real bipartisan support — which in turn would make it more likely that House Republicans would allow a vote on it.So it seems highly significant that McCain previously supported closing the private seller loophole — so much so that he actually cut ads in support of the idea, claiming: ‘With rights come responsibilities,’” the Washington Post’s Greg Sargent reports.
USA Today: “Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois announced his support Tuesday for same-sex marriage, becoming the second Republican to endorse marriage equality.”
“Sen. Rand Paul, the tea party favorite and possible 2016 presidential candidate, is raising money for a conservative gun rights group that’s targeting fellow Republicans, including House Majority Leader Eric Cantor,” Politico reports. “And when one congressman complained, the message from Paul’s camp was: too bad.”
And seriously, here’s why they formed: “The Kentucky Republican has lent his name to fundraising pitches for the National Association for Gun Rights, a group that says the National Rifle Association is too willing to compromise on gun rights.”
Menendez watch: “Two maids allege that FBI agents from Miami tried to brow-beat them into making incriminating statements against U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, during questioning about alleged sex parties at the Dominican Republic resort home of a South Florida doctor who hosted Menendez numerous times,” the Miami Herald reports. “The maids, both employees of Dr. Salomon Melgen, have asked the Dominican National Police to investigate the FBI’s interrogation of them, saying they were illegally detained and felt threatened during the interviews in February in La Romana.”