Tom Coburn

WASHINGTON — Gun control efforts in Congress cleared a significant hurdle Wednesday as the Senate prepared to open what could be a weeks-long debate, even as opponents plotted a shift in strategy aimed at undermining a comprehensive package of...

WASHINGTON -- Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) on Wednesday announced a compromise on the centerpiece of gun legislation the Senate is to begin deliberating later this week -- an expansion of background checks that will cover most...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan deal seems imminent on expanding background checks to more gun buyers, an agreement that could build support for President Barack Obama's drive to curb firearms violence. Meanwhile, the Senate is ready for an opening...

WASHINGTON -- The Senate may begin voting as soon as Thursday on legislation intended to reduce gun violence, after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) decided Tuesday to initiate the procedural steps required to overcome a threatened filibuster by...

HARTFORD, Conn. — President Obama sought Monday to use the emotional pull of the Newtown school massacre to galvanize public support for his drive to pass stricter gun control measures, even as more than a dozen Republican senators promised to...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Talks between two influential senators have emerged as the most promising route for a bipartisan breakthrough on expanding federal background checks for gun buyers, a pivotal part of President Barack Obama's plan for combating...

When city or county firefighters have a family event or unexpected obligation pop up on a workday, their solution is familiar to most shift workers: They find a colleague willing to trade hours. But for the roughly 10,000 firefighters employed by the...

President Barack Obama pleaded with Congress last week to remember the victims of December’s schoolhouse shootings in Connecticut and tighten the nation’s gun laws. "Shame on us if we’ve forgotten," he said. "Don’t get squishy."...

In my Wednesday column, I reported on the gathering signs that President Obama's push for significant new gun control legislation is dead in the water -- mostly because the National Rifle Assn. has mounted opposition more intense than the support for...

President Obama pleaded with Congress last week to remember the victims of December's schoolhouse shootings in Connecticut and tighten the nation's gun laws. "Shame on us if we've forgotten," he said. "Don't get squishy." But four months after the...

WASHINGTON -- Earlier this month, I wrote that the Senate was making quiet progress toward passing a gun control bill that would make background checks mandatory on buyers in almost all gun purchases, including most sales between individuals. And that,...

Would you turn down a job paying $227,000 if all you had to do was look at animal photos in the National Geographic magazine? Of course not. And if you did, you'd be a certified moron. There can't be much stress in staring at animal photos, even of...