GUN CONTROL DEBATE to begin in the Senate. Although the only gun control legislation that has even a remote chance of passage is the Manchin-Toomey compromise on background checks, I have advised my Senators (probably futilely) to vote against. Here's why:

Background checks currently apply only to transactions handled by the country's 55,000 licensed gun dealers. Advocates of expanding the system say too many sales – the exact proportion is unknown – escape the checks, which are supposed to keep weapons from going to criminals, the seriously mentally ill, and others.

The fact is that the efficacy of expanding background checks is unknown because the number of unchecked sales is unknown (the 40% number bandied about is patently absurd) and we do know that background checks -- even expanded background checks -- would not have stopped even one of the recent mass shooting.