WATCH: Joe Manchin fires back at the NRA

The gun-rights superpower helped negotiate Manchin's background-check bill, then sank it, then attacked the West Virginia Democrat on TV

Joe Manchin
(Image credit: MSNBC)

The Senate's package of gun control legislation prompted by the mass murder of 20 children at Sandy Hook Elementary School may or may not be dead, but the relationship between the National Rifle Association and former A-rated advocate Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) sure seems like it's on life support.

Sandy Hook, Manchin said in December, made him rethink his opposition to gun-safety legislation, and he pledged to sit down with his "friends at the NRA" and work out "a sensible, reasonable approach" to curbing gun violence. The NRA did indeed work with Manchin and Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) to draft a bill strengthening federal background checks on gun buyers.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.