The White House signaled today that President Obama, who has seldom shown much appetite to fight with the powerful National Rifle Association, did not intend to make a push for stricter gun controls in the wake of the shootings in Aurora, Colo. 
 
 "The president's views on this are, as he has stated and as he spelled out in the op-ed that was published in an Arizona newspaper, which is that he believes we need to take steps that protect Second Amendment rights of the American people but that ensure that we are not allowing weapons into the hands of individuals who should not, by existing law, obtain those weapons," White House press secretary Jay Carney said on Air Force One as the president flew to Colorado. 
 
 The op-ed to which Carney referred was published in the Arizona Star in March 2011, two months after the shootings in Tucson, Ariz., in which six people were killed and 13 - including now former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords - were wounded. The president in that op-ed called for a focus on "sound and effective steps that will actually keep those irresponsible, law-breaking few from getting their hands on a gun in the first place." 
 
 This included a push to strengthen the National Instant Criminal Background Check System with better state data by rewarding those states that "provide the best data - and therefore do the most to protect our citizens," and making the system "faster and nimbler" with "an instant, accurate, comprehensive and consistent system for background checks to sellers who want to do the right thing, and make sure that criminals can't escape it." 
 
 This wouldn't have had any impact on the alleged Aurora shooter, since James Holmes had no criminal record, save for one speeding ticket. All indications are that he purchased his weapons perfectly legally. 
 
 "The president's view is that we can take steps to keep guns out of the hands of people who should not have them under existing law," Carney said. "And that's his focus right now." 
 
 Many Democratic officeholders - and voters - in key battleground states oppose gun control. On CNN this morning, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper said, "if it wasn't one weapon, it would have been another. I mean, he was diabolical. If you look at what he had in his apartment and what his intentions were… If there were no assault weapons available, and no this or no that, this guy is going to find something, right? He's going to know how to create a bomb." 
 
 Get more pure politics at ABC News.com/Politics and a lighter take on the news at OTUSNews.com 
 
 Asked about the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004, which might have covered one of the weapons used by the shooter, and perhaps a large capacity ammunition feeding device, Carney suggested that there was no new push for the ban to be renewed. 
 
 "The President is focused on doing the things that we can do that protect Second Amendment rights, which he thinks is important, but also to make it harder for individuals who should not, under existing law, have weapons to obtain them," Carney repeated. 
 
 Asked if the president believed "gun control should now have sort of a larger role in the campaign," Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, "I think this stage where this is so fresh and new for so many people, including the people in Colorado, who are still mourning the loss of their loved ones, will be for a long time, many people are still recovering, we're still learning what exactly happened here and more details - that's where our focus is right now. And so it's really too early to say how this will play. And again, we're just taking it day by day. That's what our focus is today." 
 
 - Jake Tapper ||||| National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre charged on Sunday that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's rhetoric on gun reform is "reckless" and "insane." 
 
 "He's going to find out that this is a country of the people, by the people and for the people and he can't spend enough of his [money] to try to impose his will on the American public. They don't want him in their restaurants, they don't want him in their homes, they don't want him telling them what food to eat - they sure don't want him telling them what self-defense firearms to own. And he can't buy America," LaPierre said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "He's so reckless in terms of his comments on this whole gun issue." 
 
 Host David Gregory asked about whether LaPierre was prepared for Bloomberg seemingly gearing up to become the left's alternative to the NRA by going after candidates in 2014 races who opposed gun reform legislation. 
 
 "We have people all over, millions of people, sending us 5, 10, 15, 20 dollar checks telling us to stand up to this guy that says that we can only have three bullets, which is what he said. Stand up to this guy that says ridiculous things like, 'The NRA wants firearms with nukes on them.' I mean it's insane the stuff he says," LaPierre said. 
 
 Read more about: Michael Bloomberg, NRA, Wayne LaPierre, Gun Control, Second Amendment ||||| White House press secretary Jay Carney on Sunday said President Obama was committed to preventing gun crimes by relying on “existing law,” two days after a mass shooting in Colorado sparked renewed debate about gun control. 
 
 Obama arrived in Colorado Sunday afternoon to meet with victims of the shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, which left 12 dead and dozens injured. 
 
 The shooting has thrust the issue of gun control into the national spotlight with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg calling on both presidential candidates to better enforce gun laws on the books and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) calling for a renewal of the assault weapons ban. 
 
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 In a gaggle aboard Air Force One, en route to Colorado Carney struck a cautious tone, saying the president “believes we need to take steps that protect Second Amendment rights of the American people but that ensure that we are not allowing weapons into the hands of individuals who should not, by existing law, obtain those weapons," according to a White House transcript. 
 
 “There are a number of steps that have been taken and a number of others that can be taken to accomplish that goal,” said Carney, touting the administration’s efforts to increasing the number and effectiveness of “background checks.” 
 
 “The president's view is that we can take steps to keep guns out of the hands of people who should not have them under existing law. And that's his focus right now,” reiterated Carney. 
 
 Asked about a renewed push to revive the assault weapons ban, Carney said there had been “opposition to that since it expired within Congress.” 
 
 The president touched down at Buckley Air Force base Sunday afternoon, where he was met by a delegation including Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D), Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan, the state’s Democratic Sens. Mark Udall and Michael Bennet, and Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D). 
 
 After leaving the air base, Obama’s first stop was to the University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora where he met with families of those killed in Friday’s attack, according to a White House pool report. 
 
 Speaking aboard Air Force One, deputy communications director Jen Psaki said the “tragic events” had changed the “tone” of the presidential campaign between Obama and GOP candidate Mitt Romney. Psaki said the visit to Aurora was a “big priority for the President, to visit with the families, to do that as soon as it was possible and made sense on both sides.” 
 
 The tragic shooting which happened early Friday morning forced both Obama and Romney to pause their campaigns. Obama returned to Washington after delivering remarks on the killings at what was scheduled to be a campaign rally in Florida. Romney spoke briefly about the incident at Bow, N.H. before cancelling the rest of his events. 
 
 Both candidates are scheduled to return to the campaign trail on Monday. Obama will address the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) convention in Reno, Nev. and attend multiple events that evening in Oakland, Calif., including a private dinner and later a reception at the Fox Theater. 
 
 Romney is headed to a fundraiser in Irvine, Calif., and will then address the VFW convention on Tuesday. 
 
 Psaki said campaign commercials in Colorado which were pulled after news of the shooting will remain off the air at least through Monday. But she added that the president’s speech in Reno was an “official event,” where Obama would discuss national security issues. 
 
 The White House says Obama has been kept updated on developments as Aurora police continued their investigation and entered suspect James Holmes’s home, which was rigged with explosives early Sunday. 
 
 Carney said the administration would “continue to work with local law enforcement officials,” and said the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was providing assistance to local agencies. 
 
 Holmes, 24, the lone suspect in the killings, is believed to have entered the movie theater after midnight on Friday and opened fire before being apprehended by officials. 
 
 In his weekly address Saturday, Obama said he and federal law enforcement agencies would do “everything necessary to bring whoever’s responsible for this heinous crime to justice” and called on the public to turn to “prayer and reflection.” ||||| The nation is tentatively moving toward a new debate over increased restrictions on guns in the aftermath of the second-deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history on Friday. 
 
 And while legislating guns has gotten less and less popular in recent years, some are suggesting that the killings of 20 young children in Newtown, Conn., have so shifted the gun control paradigm that Congress can and should act now. 
 
 Below, we look at six people who would play a major role in that action, if it happens: 
 
 * President Obama: The president has so far approached the gun control issue with some caution, saying Friday that such discussions could wait and speaking only in broad terms about potential legislation during his public appearances since the tragedy. But the president has some political capital to burn right now, and his tone suggests somebody who thinks it's time for action. The question is how much of that political capital he is willing to spend it on such a difficult issue. Polls have consistently shown the American people moving against increased gun restrictions in recent years. Obama hasn't tipped his hand, but any effort to create new restrictions would almost surely need his full-throated support. 
 
 
 
 New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) is perhaps the most powerful gun control advocate in the country. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) 
 
 * Michael Bloomberg: The independent New York mayor was among the first to push for a debate about revamping the nation's gun control laws on Friday, and he has the added power of putting his (considerable sum of) money where his mouth is. Bloomberg spent millions of dollars through his super PAC in the 2010 election to support pro-gun control candidates of both parties, even defeating a pro-gun incumbent Democrat in Rep. Joe Baca (Calif.). A big reason both Republicans and Democrats balk at new gun control measures is because the National Rifle Association is hugely powerful and can play in a big role in a House race -- particularly in the primary -- and there's little in the way of a counterbalance. If gun control supporters believe Bloomberg and his allies might counter-act the NRA's influence, they might be more willing to stick their neck out. 
 
 * Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.): The California senator said Sunday that she will introduce a bill that would reinstate the assault weapons ban, a law that lapsed in 2004 and hasn't even made it to the floor of the Senate for renewal. She also led the effort to pass the original bill in 1994. She said in 2004 that the votes weren't there for a renewal, but she expressed optimism on Sunday that the bill could pass in the aftermath of the tragedy in Newtown. 
 
 * Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.): No member of Congress has a closer personal connection to this issue, with the possible exception of Rep. Ron Barber (D-Ariz.), who was wounded in the shooting in Tucson in 2011. McCarthy's husband was killed and her son was badly injured when a man opened fire on a Long Island commuter train in 1993. The tragedy led McCarthy to become a gun control activist and eventually propelled her to Congress. If there's anyone who can make a personal appeal on this issue and can claim a real connection to the events in Newtown, it's McCarthy. And her testimony -- along with Barber's -- could be a big part of a gun control push. 
 
 * Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah): In order for any gun legislation to pass, at least some Republicans need to be on-board -- particularly in the House, but also likely in the Senate. Finding a standard-bearer for gun control in today's GOP, though, is a tough job. The reason we name Hatch is because he has played ball with gun control advocates in the past, including in aftermath of the tragedy at Columbine in 1999, and also because he's got a reputation for bipartisanship. Having survived a primary challenge this year, Hatch has said he won't seek another term in 2018 and thus has considerable political latitude right now. 
 
 * Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.): While it will be hard for any gun control bill to get GOP votes, it will also be very difficult to get votes from Senate Democrats who face reelection in red states in 2014. And they are legion. Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) and Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) are all up in two years and will be very tough votes to get. And that doesn't include Democratic senators in pro-gun swing states like Mark Udall in Colorado and Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire. In fact, Reid himself comes from a pro-gun state, and his supporters actively sought the NRA's endorsement in his 2010 reelection bid. If those red state Democrats vote for a bill, it will be in large part because of Reid's leadership and because he took the leap with them. 
 
 Clinton suffers concussion, won't testify: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sustained a concussion after fainting early last week, and she will therefore not be testifying this week about the attack that killed four Americans in Benghazi, Libya. 
 
 Clinton has been suffering from a stomach virus that has grounded her travel plans. Her concussion wasn't disclosed for at least a few days, though. 
 
 In her stead, Deputy Secretary of State William Burns will testify Thursday to the House foreign affairs committee. 
 
 As we wrote before, Clinton has largely escaped any political problems stemming from the situation in Benghazi, even as Susan Rice has seen her potential nomination to replace Clinton scuttled. 
 
 The chairwoman of the House foreign affairs committee, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), said that Clinton will have to testify eventually. 
 
 Fixbits: 
 
 House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has reportedly offered to allow tax cuts for the wealthy to expire if Obama agrees to significant entitlement reform. He has also offered to take the debt limit fight off the table for the next year. 
 
 Bloomberg keeps pushing Obama to act on gun control, saying it should be atop his list of priorities. 
 
 Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) wants a national commission on gun violence. 
 
 Gun rights advocates didn't have much to say on the Sunday shows yesterday. And one who did, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), clarifies that he wasn't pushing for additional gun restrictions. 
 
 A new poll in Florida shows former governor Charlie Crist, who just recently became a Democrat, is the clear favorite to become that party's nominee for governor in 2014, topping 2010 nominee Alex Sink by double digits. 
 
 The Electoral College votes Monday, making Obama's reelection win official. 
 
 Former Massachusetts governor William Weld (R) doesn't sound like he would rule out being the GOP's backup plan if Scott Brown doesn't run in the likely special Senate election. 
 
 For what it's worth, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) can't run for both reelection and for president at the same time in 2016. While it would be legal in some states, it is not in Kentucky. 
 
 Must-reads: 
 
 "As Republicans ponder 2012 defeat, party’s philosophy hangs in the balance" -- Karen Tumulty, Washington Post 
 
 "The gun debate: Are the Newtown, Conn., killings a tipping point?" -- Chris Cillizza, Washington Post 
 
 "Chuck Hagel, John Kerry share similarities as expected Obama Cabinet nominees" -- Ann Gearan and Karen DeYoung, Washington Post 
 
 "Some tax hikes, spending cuts now seen as inevitable in January" -- Paul Kane, Washington Post 
 
 "A Political Brawler, Now Battling for Microsoft" -- Nick Wingfield and Claire Cain Miller, New York Times 
 
 "Republican Cash Held More Sway in State Contests" -- Nicholas Confessore and Monica Davey, New York Times ||||| Updated at 6:45 p.m. ET 
 
 NEW BOSTON, Texas A Texas woman has told investigators her husband may have sent ricin-laced letters to President Barack Obama, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Bloomberg's Washington-based gun control group, CBS News' Anna Werner reports. But the woman's husband has accused his wife, saying he was set up. 
 
 The couple was being questioned Friday at a home in New Boston, Texas. Investigators told Werner the wife knows specific details about the letters. 
 
 The FBI says no one has been arrested or named a suspect, but federal agents and postal inspectors have been looking for evidence at the home since Thursday and set up a tent in the front yard Friday afternoon. 
 
 FBI testing poisoned letters sent to president, NYC mayor How serious was the risk of ricin-tainted letters? 
 
 The Secret Service said Thursday that a suspicious letter addressed to Mr. Obama and intercepted before reaching the White House was similar to two threatening letters laced with the toxic poison that were sent to Bloomberg and his gun-control-advocacy group in Washington. 
 
 CBS News correspondent Bob Orr reported Thursday that, according to two sources, the letter sent to Bloomberg carried the following threat: 
 
 "You will have to kill me and my family before you get my guns. Anyone wants to come to my house will get shot in the face. The right to bear arms is my constitutional, God-given right and I will exercise that right till the day I die. What's in this letter is nothing compared to what I've got planned for you." 
 
 All three letters were postmarked May 20 from Shreveport, Orr reported. Shreveport is about an hour-and-a-half-long drive away from New Boston. 
 
 The developments come as yet another ricin-laced letter became known Thursday, mailed to Mr. Obama from Spokane, Wash., the FBI said. Authorities arrested a man May 22 in Spokane in connection with that letter, which was intercepted the same day. 
 
 It wasn't immediately clear whether the Shreveport-postmarked letter sent to Mr. Obama contained ricin. It was turned over to the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force for testing and investigation. 
 
 The two Bloomberg letters, opened Friday in New York and Sunday in Washington, contained an oily pinkish-orange substance that tested positive for the toxin. 
 
 New York Police Department Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Thursday the same machine or computer had produced the two letters to Bloomberg and the similar one to the president and that they may be identical. He referred specific questions to the FBI. 
 
 The FBI said in a statement that field tests on the letters were consistent with the presence of a biological agent, and the letters were turned over to an accredited laboratory for the kind of thorough analysis that is needed to verify a tentative finding. "More letters may be received," the statement said, without elaboration. 
 
 Bloomberg has emerged as one of the country's most important gun-control advocates, able to press his case with both his public position and his private money. 
 
 The New York letter was opened at the city's mail facility in Manhattan in a biochemical containment box, which is a part of the screening process for mayor's office mail. 
 
 "In terms of the processes and procedures that are in place now, we think they worked," Kelly said. "This is sort of an effect of the post-9/11 world that we live in that these checks and facilities are in place and the system worked." 
 
 The second letter was opened Sunday by Mark Glaze, director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the Washington-based nonprofit Bloomberg started. 
 
 The letter Glaze opened tested positive for ricin initially. The other letter to Bloomberg at first tested negative but tested positive at a retest Wednesday. 
 
 The postal workers union, citing information it got in a Postal Service briefing, said the letters bore a Shreveport, La., postmark. 
 
 Louisiana State Police spokeswoman Julie Lewis said state authorities have deferred to the FBI and have not opened an investigation. The Shreveport postal center handles mail from Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas, so the letter could have come from any of those states, Lewis said. 
 
 The people who initially came into contact with the letters showed no symptoms of exposure to the poison, but three officers who later examined the New York letter experienced minor symptoms that have since abated, police said. The mayor visited the mailroom on Thursday but made no public comments on the topic. 
 
 On Wednesday, he said he didn't know why they were sent. 
 
 One of the letters "obviously referred to our anti-gun efforts, but there's 12,000 people that are going to get killed this year with guns and 19,000 that are going to commit suicide with guns, and we're not going to walk away from those efforts," said Bloomberg, adding that he didn't feel threatened. 
 
 According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ricin is a poison found naturally in castor beans. Symptoms can include difficulty breathing, vomiting and redness on the skin depending on how the affected person comes into contact with the poison. 
 
 The letters were the latest in a string of toxin-laced missives, but authorities would not say whether the letters to Bloomberg and Mr. Obama were believed to be linked to any other recent case. 
 
 In Washington state, a 37-year-old was charged last week with threatening to kill a federal judge in a letter that contained ricin. On Thursday, the FBI said a suspicious letter containing ricin was mailed to Mr. Obama from Spokane on the same day similar ricin-tainted letters were mailed to the judge and to a post office. A fourth letter, sent to nearby Fairchild Air Force Base, continues to undergo testing, officials said. 
 
 About a month earlier, letters containing the substance were addressed to Mr. Obama, a U.S. senator and a Mississippi judge. One of the letters postmarked in Memphis, Tenn., was traced back to Tupelo, Miss., and a Mississippi man was arrested. 
 
 Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino founded Mayors Against Illegal Guns, which now counts more than 700 mayors nationwide as members. It lobbies federal and state lawmakers, and it aired a spate of television ads this year urging Congress to expand background checks and pass other gun-control measures after the school shooting in Newtown, Conn. The background check proposal failed in a Senate vote in April, and other measures gun-control advocates wanted  including a ban on sales of military-style assault weapons  have stalled. 
 
 Separately, Bloomberg also has made political donations to candidates who share his desire for tougher gun restrictions. His super PAC, Independence USA, put $2.2 million into a Democratic primary this winter for a congressional seat in Illinois, for example. Bloomberg's choice, former state lawmaker Robin Kelly, won. ||||| President Obama, along with Sandy Hook families, Vice President Joe Biden, and former Rep. Gabby Giffords, responded to the U.S. Senate failing to pass gun-control legislation by vowing to continue the fight for background checks. 
 
 WASHINGTON — Sen. Pat Toomey lent his name to the most meaningful federal gun bill in two decades but failed to change Republican colleagues' minds. The political pressure outweighed overwhelming public support, even the pleas of Sandy Hook Elementary School parents. 
 
 With a single vote Wednesday afternoon, the gun control legislation died, ending days of drama centered on the Pennsylvania politician with conservative bona fides. 
 
 A bipartisan deal on background checks, considered the most likely new gun law to pass, fell six votes short of the 60 needed to clear a procedural hurdle in the U.S. Senate. The vote was 54-46. Subsequent efforts, including a restriction on larger ammunition magazines, also failed in later voting. 
 
 An angry President Barack Obama stood outside the White House with former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, a gunshot survivor, and the families of the 20 children and six adults killed at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn. 
 
 "All in all, this was a pretty shameful day for Washington," Obama said, insisting the effort "is not over. Sooner or later, we are going to get this right. The memories of these children demand it. And so do the American people." 
 
 Mark Barden, the father of a victim of the Newtown shootings, said as Obama looked on: "Our hearts are broken. Our spirit is not. We always knew this would be a long road. We don't have the luxury of turning back." 
 
 But Toomey, who threw his political weight into working with his Senate friend Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., on a compromise to expand background checks to commercial firearms sales over the Internet and at gun shows, said that for him it's time to move on. 
 
 "I did the best I could. I wish it had passed, but the Senate has spoken and these things happen," Toomey told The Morning Call immediately after the vote on his amendment. "It's always worth it to do the right thing … no regrets." 
 
 The fiscally conservative Lehigh County Republican arrived in the Senate three years ago focused on economic issues, and said Wednesday that's where he will be redirecting his energies now. 
 
 "We have a lot of other issues we have to deal with," Toomey said. "Chief among them is getting our fiscal house in order. I'll be getting back to that." 
 
 Though he stuck his neck out for no tangible end result, his bipartisan effort will be remembered not as a failure, pundits said, but as an attempt to do something amid political gridlock. Obama again praised Toomey and Manchin by name. 
 
 T.J. Rooney, the former chairman of Pennsylvania's Democratic Party, said he was proud of Pennsylvania's Republican senator. 
 
 "You cannot and should not take away the fact that our senator did something out of the box and extraordinary and is deserving of our praise for that," he said. "He shouldn't feel it's a fool's errand or a loss. His courage is a symbol for what is possible." 
 
 D.C.-based consultant John Brabender, who has run Rick Santorum's political campaigns, said the net result for Toomey will be positive. 
 
 "Even within the Republican Party, many will look at him as a commonsense Republican, and I think there will be moderate Republicans in the eastern side of the state who will say, 'I actually have more in common with him now.' That means he looks at every issue one at a time, instead of always taking the Republican position, and a lot of voters respect that," Brabender said. 
 
 But there are gun-rights Republicans in Pennsylvania and elsewhere who are angry with Toomey, and he started the fence-mending even before Wednesday's vote. He had kept an open dialogue with those in opposition throughout the pre-deal negotiating process, and he gave two pre-vote interviews to conservative publications, one in-state and one national. 
 
 On the Senate floor, several Republicans cast their votes against Toomey after patting him on the back, as if to show there were no hard feelings. 
 
 Vice President Joe Biden, who wrote gun control legislation during the Clinton era, presided over Wednesday's vote. New Jersey Democrat Frank Lautenberg, absent most of the year due to serious illness, was wheeled in to vote. But neither one's presence was enough to pass the amendment. 
 
 Neither were the families of shooting victims at Sandy Hook; the Aurora, Colo., movie theater; Virginia Tech; and Tucson, Ariz. All watched from the gallery as their lawmakers voted. 
 
 When the Toomey/Manchin amendment failed on the very first vote, Patricia Maisch — who had knocked an ammunition clip out of the hand of the man trying to assassinate Congresswoman Giffords — yelled down at the senators, "Shame on you." ||||| A Chicagoland special House election to replace disgraced former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. has suddenly become Ground Zero of the national gun control debate, courtesy of anti-gun crusader Mike Bloomberg. 
 
 The billionaire New York City mayor’s super PAC is poised to dump at least $2 million into the race, sources told POLITICO — a staggering sum for a single House race that’s meant to thwart a National Rifle Association-aligned Democrat who was cruising along as the frontrunner until a barrage of Bloomberg-financed attack ads hit the airwaves. 
 
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 The massive independent expenditure by Independence USA PAC dwarfs what any of the 17 Democratic candidates have raised themselves. It’s a none-too-subtle statement of Bloomberg’s intention to take on the NRA after the Newtown, Conn. school shooting — though it’s debatable how much of a test case it is since the NRA is staying out of the race. 
 
 (PHOTOS: An interview with Michael Bloomberg) 
 
 The bulk of Bloomberg’s cash has financed an air war against Debbie Halvorson, a former one-term congresswoman and longtime ex-state legislator with an “A” rating from the NRA. The lone white candidate in the Democratic field, she’s hoping that her base of suburban and rural voters in the southern outskirts of the district — who by and large favor gun rights — will be enough to give her the small plurality it will take to win. 
 
 The Democratic primary is on Feb. 26. The general election is all but irrelevant given the district’s heavy Democratic makeup. 
 
 “I believe that substantial expenditure by the forces doing battle with gun violence will likely send a real … loud warning to a lot of members of Congress that it’s no longer safe to side with the NRA — that’s really what’s going on here,” said Robert Creamer, a partner at Democracy Partners who has followed the race. 
 
 Indeed, gun control advocates believe that defeating Halvorson would send a message nationally that the climate has changed in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre in December. 
 
 With the NRA steering clear, the air waves are awash in Bloomberg’s millions without any significant response. Still, Bloomberg’s ad onslaught comes as a number of Democrats have urged him to become a counterweight to the NRA when it comes to political spending, and as his aides have met with President Barack Obama’s advisers about coordinating on gun control efforts. 
 
 (Also on POLITICO: Obama: Chicago gun toll 'Newtown every 4 months') 
 
 A Bloomberg adviser said he made the decision to spend the money “without blinking.” 
 
 “The fact that it’s a special election, the fact that it’s in the middle of a national debate over the president’s plan … [there is an] understanding that it’s both a bellwether and a harbinger.” 
 
 Devora Kaye, a spokeswoman for the PAC, said the group is trying to seize “distinct window of opportunity” to make headway on gun control while the public is paying close attention. 
 
 “We must and we will continue to be aggressive in informing voters across the country about the necessity of electing leaders who will stand up to the NRA and help pass the president’s gun reform package,” she said. 
 
 An NRA spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 
 
 Bloomberg, who until this week had only gone after Halvorson, is now backing Democratic state lawmaker Robin Kelly. A number of other members of the Illinois congressional delegation are also rallying around Kelly, who released internal data showing her inching ahead of Halvorson in the wake of the Bloomberg ads. 
 
 (Also on POLITICO: Bloomberg's D.C. footprint explodes) 
 
 Bloomberg also backed a handful of candidates last year in general elections in House districts, largely over the gun issue. But that was before the schoolhouse massacre. ||||| CLOSE White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the Trump administration is open to a conversation about semi-automatic weapons and bump stocks, but it's still too early to talk about any potential changes in policy. USA TODAY 
 
 Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, speaks to the Conservative Political Action Conference in February. (Photo: SHAWN THEW, EPA-EFE) 
 
 WASHINGTON — The National Rifle Association said Sunday it opposes any legislation to ban the use of "bump stocks" on semi-automatic weapons — even as it has said some regulation may be necessary. 
 
 On Sunday morning talk shows, the gun lobbying group said the Trump administration, not Congress, should take action on the devices. Under the Obama administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms permitted the sale of the devices in 2010. 
 
 Bump stocks have taken center stage in the gun control debate after the Las Vegas shooter apparently used them last week to convert semi-automatic rifles into fully automatic weapons mimicking machine guns. 
 
 "It’s illegal to convert a semi-automatic to a fully automatic. The ATF ought to look at this, do its job and draw a bright line," NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre said on Face the Nation. 
 
 Allowing Congress to take action, LaPierre said, risks turning the bill into "some kind of Christmas tree" to advance other gun control measures that could impact both semi-automatic and automatic weapons. "If you fuzz the line, they're all at risk and we're not going to let that happen," he said. 
 
 But Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said Congress needs to close the loophole. She introduced a two-page bill last week that would ban bump stocks, trigger cranks or similar devices within six months, with an exception for government or military use. 
 
 "Regulations aren't going to do it. We need a law," Feinstein told Face the Nation. "It can't be changed by another president. Right now we're seeing one president change actions of a president that came before him, and that would happen in this area. And I hope that Americans will step up and say, 'Enough is enough. Congress, do something.'" 
 
 She said she has 38 cosponsors on such a bill — but all are Democrats. 
 
 House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said last week that bump stocks are "something we need to look into." But conservatives in his conference are already saying they're opposed to legislation. 
 
 Rep. Steve Scalise — himself wounded by gunfire at a June 14 congressional baseball practice — told NBC's Meet the Presshe also opposes any congressional action on "bump stocks." 
 
 “Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi already said she wants it to be a slippery slope,” he said. “She doesn't want to stop at bump stocks. They want to go out and limit the rights of gun owners.” 
 
 The White House hasn't said where it comes down on that issue. "We'll be looking into that over the next short period of time," President Trump said Thursday. 
 
 Trump's statement came as police on Sunday said they found a note in the hotel suite of Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock that apparently showed the calculated distance from his window to the shooting victims below — as well as the trajectory of bullets from the height of his 32nd-floor room. 
 
 Members of the SWAT team that stormed Paddock's room noticed the note on a nightstand near his shooting platform, CBS' "60 Minutes" reported Sunday. 
 
 Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2yRjOvd ||||| The nation's largest gun-rights lobby called Friday for armed police officers to be posted in every American school to stop the next killer "waiting in the wings." 
 
 Under a flag at half-staff and a Christmas tree, traffic piles up along a main road in Newtown, Conn., Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) (Associated Press) 
 
 The National Rifle Association broke its silence Friday on last week's shooting rampage at a Connecticut elementary school that left 26 children and staff dead. 
 
 The group's top lobbyist, Wayne LaPierre, said at a Washington news conference that "the next Adam Lanza," the man responsible for last week's mayhem, is planning an attack on another school. 
 
 "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," LaPierre said. 
 
 He blamed video games, movies and music videos for exposing children to a violent culture day in and day out. 
 
 "In a race to the bottom, many conglomerates compete with one another to shock, violate, and offend every standard of civilized society, by bringing an even more toxic mix of reckless behavior and criminal cruelty right into our homes," LaPierre said. 
 
 He refused to take any questions after speaking. Still, though security was tight, two protesters were able to interrupt LaPierre's speech, holding up signs that blamed the NRA for killing children. Both were escorted out, shouting that guns in schools are not the answer. 
 
 More than a dozen security officers checked media credentials at various checkpoints and patrolled the hotel ballroom. 
 
 LaPierre announced that former Rep. Asa Hutchison, R-Ark., will lead an NRA program that will develop a model security plan for schools that relies on armed volunteers. 
 
 The 4.3 million-member NRA largely disappeared from public debate after the shootings in Newtown, Conn., choosing atypical silence as a strategy as the nation sought answers after the rampage. The NRA temporarily took down its Facebook page and kept quiet on Twitter. 
 
 Since the slayings, President Barack Obama has demanded "real action, right now" against U.S. gun violence and called on the NRA to join the effort. Moving quickly after several congressional gun-rights supporters said they would consider new legislation to control firearms, the president said this week he wants proposals to reduce gun violence that he can take to Congress by January. 
 
 Obama has already asked Congress to reinstate an assault weapons ban that expired in 2004 and pass legislation that would stop people from purchasing firearms from private sellers without a background check. Obama also has indicated he wants Congress to pursue the possibility of limiting high-capacity magazines.
– Michael Bloomberg was today busily putting his mouth where his money will be tomorrow, Politico reports, when he kicks off a $12 million ad blitz targeting 13 senators considered vulnerable on gun control. Appearing on Meet the Press, the New York City mayor said "we are going to win" measures supporting heightened background checks, and dismissed Harry Reid's abandonment of an assault weapons ban, saying, "I don't think we should give up on" it. He did, however, concede that "people have different views about assault weapons than they do about background checks." Bloomberg's rhetoric, meanwhile, has the NRA's Wayne LaPierre seeing red, calling his comments "reckless," "ridiculous," and "insane." Americans "don't want him in their restaurants, (and) they sure don't want him telling them what self-defense firearms to own. And he can't buy America," LaPierre fumed. Elsewhere on the Sunday dial, as per Politico: More LaPierre: "We're looking to get better enforcement [of] the federal gun laws. We're looking at laws that beef up the penalties on straw purchases and illegal trafficking, which we want prosecuted." Karl Rove: "Let's be clear about this. This is prompted by the Sandy Hook murders. Those guns were legally purchased with a background check. Let's be very careful before trampling on the rights of people. If you want to get something done, then stop scaring people." California AG Kamala Harris: "The folks in DC have to reject a false choice that suggests that you're either in favor of the Second Amendment or that you're in favor of reasonable and common sense gun laws. You can be both. I as a career prosecutor have personally seen cases of both police officers and innocent babies being killed by assault weapons. There is no reasonable basis for having those on our streets." Mike Rogers on Syria's chemical weapons: It's "abundantly clear that red line has been crossed. Now is the time." Yet, "if Assad goes next week, this is mass chaos." Bloomberg on President Obama's Israel trip: "I think this is going to go down in history as one of the few trips that an American president has made to Israel where there really were deliverables. He got Israel and Turkey talking to each other and restoring diplomatic relations. And I think that's crucial for the security of that whole area." Rand Paul on 2016: "The country is suffering, 12 million people out of work. So I want to be part of the answers to it. Whether or not that actually is me specifically running for president, I don't know that yet."