U.S. Senate votes to open debate on gun control

The U.S. Senate cleared the way on Thursday for an emotional, weeks-long debate on proposals to curb gun violence, rejecting an effort by conservative Republicans to block consideration of guncontrol legislation prompted by December’s Newtown school massacre.

The Senate voted 68-31 to open debate on U. S. President Barack Obama’s proposals to expand background checks for gun buyers, tighten restrictions on gun trafficking and increase funding for school security.

The Senate easily cleared the 60-vote hurdle needed to break a Republican filibuster on a bill that has sparked intense lobbying on both sides, including families of the Connecticut victims as well as the powerful gun lobby the National Rifle Association.

“The hard work starts now,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, said after the procedural vote to open debate, which won the support of 16 Republicans.

Twenty-nine Republicans and two Democrats voted to block the gun-control debate.

The legislation still faces many hurdles, including a weeks-long debate in the Senate featuring many amendments that could make the bill unacceptable to senators who now support it. And if it clears the Senate, it would face a tough rece tion in the Republican-led House of Representatives. No major gun legislation has passed the U.S. Congress since 1994. The vote to proceed with the bill came a day after a compromise agreement on background checks between prominent defenders of gun rights from each party — Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Republican Patrick Toomey of Pennsylvania.

That agreement to expand criminal background checks of gun buyers to include commercial sales made at gun shows and online was expected to boost bipartisan Senate support for the measure.

“It is a really important start,” Democratic Senator Christopher Murphy of Connecticut said before the vote, displaying photos of some of the victims of the Dec. 14 massacre of 20 children and six adults at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.