Rock star Ted Nugent – an (ahem) outspoken advocate of Second Amendment rights – is attending President Obama’s State of the Union address tonight as the guest of Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Tex., who released this photo a few hours ago:

It hardly seems five and a half years have passed since we wrote about the “Motor City Madman” directing some heated rhetoric (and some anatomy?) at Obama and others who support gun control. At a concert in Oroville, Nugent gave this diatribe:

“…I was in Chicago last week I said—Hey Obama, you might want to suck on one of these you punk? Obama, he’s a piece of shit and I told him to suck on one of my machine guns, let’s hear it for them. And then I was in NY and I said hey Hillary—you might want to ride one of these into the sunset, you worthless bitch. Since I’m in California, how about Barbara Boxer, she might wanna suck on my machine gun. Hey, Dianne Feinstein, ride one of these you worthless whore. Any questions? FREEDOM!

Classy, no?

Some California lawmakers now embroiled in the nation’s gun-control debate will bring gun-violence victims with them as guests to President Obama’s State of the Union address tonight.

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who has introduced S. 150, a bill to reinstate an updated and expanded federal ban on assault weapons, will host Josh Stepakoff, 20.

Stepakoff was six years old in 1999 when he was shot in the leg during the North Valley Jewish Community Center shooting in Granada Hills, near Los Angeles. The gunman was a white supremacist who fired more than 70 rounds from a semi-automatic assault rifle, injuring five people including three young children.

Now a Cal State Northridge student, Stepakoff is a member of the board of Women Against Gun Violence and is involved with Mayors Against Illegal Guns and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

“Josh is a remarkable young man whose life was forever changed by a senseless act of mass gun violence.” Feinstein said in a news release. “Since his tragic experience, Josh has become a voice for young victims across the country. It is important for members of Congress to see the faces behind these tragedies of gun violence.”

Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Napa, who led House Democrats’ gun-violence task force, will host Elvin Daniel of McHenry, Ill., whose sister, Zina Daniel, was shot and killed by her husband in October inside the Azana Salon and Spa in Brookfield, Wisc. Two others were killed and four were injured in the shooting.

“Whether you’re an NRA member like Elvin, a hunter and gun owner like me, or one of the millions of Americans who have never fired a gun, we can all agree that we need to do everything we can to keep firearms out of the hands of those who shouldn’t have them,” Thompson said in a news release. “Elvin has dedicated himself to helping the victims of gun violence and it is my high honor to host such an extraordinary man at the State of the Union.”

Shortly before she was killed, Zina Daniel had been granted a restraining order against her husband which prohibited him from purchasing a gun. Nonetheless, he was able to buy a .40-caliber semi-automatic handgun online two days after the restraining order was issued. In Thompson’s news release, Daniel noted his sister’s killer “was able to buy a firearm from a private seller without a criminal background check.

“As a gun owner and an NRA member, I support common-sense reforms to fix our broken gun laws,” Daniel said. “It’s time for our leaders in Washington to act, so that others do not have to experience the grief I’ll live with for the rest of my life.”

Other lawmakers bringing relatives of gun-violence victims at the State of the Union include Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I.; Rep Diana Degette, D-Colo.; Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn.; Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-N.M.; Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I.; Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y.; Rep. Eleanor Norton, D-D.C.; Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo.; Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va.; Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz.; and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

The president’s State of the Union address will be broadcast live at 6 p.m. Pacific Time on most channels. I’ll be tweeting at @Josh_Richman, and later posting some reactions here.

Guess which two U.S. Senators top the list of those most likely to be swing votes in favor of gun control bills?

Hint: Not California’s.

While Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer are considered gimmes for such legislation (and in fact are often among its authors), it’s U.S. Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., and U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., who topped the Sunlight Foundation’s swing-vote list as most likely to vote yea. Max Baucus, D-Mont., came up as the Democrat among the swing votes who’s most likely to oppose gun control bills, while John McCain, R-Ariz., was the Republican swing vote most likely to oppose.

“Absent a major pressure campaign to push senators to support gun control legislation, the political calculus points against the Senate passing any reform,” study authors Lee Drutman and Zander Furnas wrote on the foundation’s blog

Sunlight collected relevant data on 26 senators (19 Democrats, 2 Independents and 5 Republicans) whom it saw as potentially conflicted on a gun vote. That is, any Republican who didn’t get at least an A rating from the NRA, and any Democrat who didn’t get an F rating. The researchers then created a 0-through-10 scoring system on factors that could lead to a higher likelihood of opposing gun control legislation, including:

More contributions by gun rights groups to the senator in the last election (and fewer contributions to the senator’s opponent);

A lower Obama vote share in the 2012 election in the senator’s state; and

More registered firearm and “destructive device” dealers, manufacturers, importers and exporters per 100,000 residents in the senator’s state.

Here’s how the list shook out:

Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO) 10
Sen. Mark Steven Kirk (R-IL) 10
Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) 9.12
Sen. Mary L. Landrieu (D-LA) 8.71
Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM) 8.5
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) 8.35
Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-WV) 7.65
Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-VT) 7.64
Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) 7
Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) 6.99
Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) 6.86
Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) 6.59
Sen. Angus King (I-ME) 6.38
Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT) 6.34
Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) 5.95
Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-IN) 5.82
Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) 5.68
Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK) 5.02
Sen. Daniel Coats (R-IN) 4.78
Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD) 4.1
Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) 3.71
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) 3.55
Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-WV) 2.93
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) 1.03
Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) 0
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) 0

“Since our baseline assumption is that Republicans will tend oppose gun control, and Democrats will tend to support it, the scores we provide are not comparable between parties. A Democrat with a score of five and a Republican with a score of five, are unlikely to have the same probability of supporting gun control legislation,” the authors noted. “Rather, we offer the scores as a way of comparing between members of the same party.”

See the Sunlight Foundation’s infographic on this, after the jump…
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California’s U.S. Senators have laid their bet with Maryland’s over the outcome of Super Bowl XLVII between the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens this coming Sunday, Feb. 3 in New Orleans.

U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., and U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., fired the first shot with a trash-talking letter promising the Ravens will “stomp” the 49ers.

“You can be sure we’ll be cheering on Ray Lewis and the whole team in his last game as the Ravens fly high to victory!” the Maryland senators wrote. “In fact, we’re so confident in our Ravens that we’re willing to wager a world-class feast: some delicious Faidley’s crab cakes, Berger cookies and a cold bottle of Heavy Seas beer to wash down the delicious taste of defeat. And so they won’t look ruffled after the Ravens prevail, Senator Barb will even throw in a can of one of Baltimore’s favorite hair sprays.”

“We’re looking forward to a great game,” Mikulski and Cardin concluded. “While the 49ers may come in red and gold, they’ll be seeing nothing but purple when they leave!”

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., swiftly took up the challenge, expressing “full confidence that the San Francisco 49ers will strike gold – and the Baltimore Ravens will flutter away in defeat – as we claim our sixth Super Bowl title.”

Feinstein and Boxer noted the 49ers continues a “tradition of excellence under reigning NFL Coach of the Year Jim Harbaugh and talented athletes who play with grit and heart, from our explosive young quarterback Colin Kaepernick and powerhouse running back Frank Gore to a hard-nosed defensive unit that is the envy of the entire league.”

”Of course, San Francisco sports fans have had many opportunities to cheer on our teams in championship games in recent years. In fact, after the San Francisco Giants swept the Detroit Tigers in the World Series in October, we enjoyed celebrating with Michigan chocolates and wine courtesy of Senators Levin and Stabenow, who were kind enough to make a similar wager,” Feinstein and Boxer wrote. “Now we look forward to once again enjoying the spoils of victory, and we can’t wait to sample savory Maryland crab cakes, Baltimore beer and Berger Cookies after the 49ers complete their quest for a sixth title.”

“In return, we are proud to bet some delicious Dungeness crab, Napa Valley wine, San Francisco’s finest sourdough bread and a selection of Northern California cheeses,” they wrote. “We feel that it is only fitting that crab is on the menu since you are likely to be feeling very crabby after a tough loss by your Ravens.”

Even as one of California’s U.S. Senators was busy today introducing a new federal assault weapons ban bill, the other was introducing three bills to strengthen school safety – including efforts that jibe with calls for more armed guards in schools.

“We owe it to our children and our grandchildren to ensure that they are safe when they are at school,” U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said in a news release. “This legislation would give local communities and schools that want to strengthen security the opportunity for new resources and tools to help keep students safe.”

The School Safety Enhancements Act would strengthen and expand the Justice Department’s existing COPS Secure Our Schools grants program, providing schools with more money to install tip lines, surveillance equipment, secured entrances and other important safety measures.

The program now requires a 50 percent local match, but Boxer’s bill would let the Justice Department reduce the local share to 20 percent for schools with limited resources. The bill also creates a joint task force between the Justice Department and the Education Department to develop new school safety guidelines, and would boost the Secure Our Schools authorization from $30 million to $100 million.

The School Resource and Safety Officer Act would use community policing strategies to prevent violence and improve student safety by making grants available for local governments to put trained, sworn career law enforcement officials at schools. Cities and school districts that meet the requirements could receive grants of up to $200,000 for each “School Resource and Safety Officer.”

The Save Our Students (SOS) Act would let the federal government reimburse governors who want to use National Guard troops to help ensure that our nation’s schools are safe. It’s modeled after a successful National Guard program in place since 1989 that lets governors use guardsmen to aid law enforcement efforts related to drug interdiction activities; under this bill, guardsmen could support local law enforcement efforts to keep schools safe, such as helping with security upgrades or relieving local police so officers can do more patrols at schools.

Boxer noted the National Guard has said it is “particularly well suited for domestic law enforcement support missions” because it is “located in over 3,000 local communities throughout the nation, readily accessible, routinely exercised with local first responders, and experienced in supporting neighboring communities.”

U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer has reintroduced a bill that would blunt the ability to use the nation’s debt limit as a political bargaining chip, as Republicans have in recent years.

Congressional Republicans say they won’t approve raising the debt limit – the legal limit on the government’s borrowing, now at $16.4 trillion – unless Democrats and President Obama agree to deficit-reduction measures; the Democrats say raising the debt limit is a matter of paying bills on money we’ve already spent, and the threat of defaulting will wreck the world’s confidence.

The House is expected to vote later today on House Republicans’ plan to suspend enforcement of the debt limit through mid-May, giving everyone some time to cool off, reposition themselves and negotiate after the recently avoided “fiscal cliff.”

Boxer, D-Calif., said her S.57, the USA AAA Credit Restoration Act, would establish a predictable and fair process for considering an increase in the debt limit in order to avoid a default that would have catastrophic impacts on the global financial system and the U.S. economy.

“The last time Republicans threatened to default on our nation’s debt, consumer confidence plummeted, our country lost its AAA credit rating and it cost taxpayers more than $18 billion,” Boxer said in a news release. “This bill will bring sanity to future debt limit debates by laying out a clear, orderly process for raising the debt ceiling while allowing all voices to be heard.”

The bill she reintroduced Tuesday would set clear timetables for the Administration to request a debt limit increase and for Congress to consider it. On the day the President submits his budget to Congress each year, the Treasury Secretary would have to submit to Congress and print in the Federal Register the amount by which the debt limit must be increased for the following year. The Administration’s request would become law automatically unless Congress voted to disapprove of the debt limit increase under an expedited procedure.

Boxer said the measure is modeled on provisions in the Budget Control Act proposed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., during 2011’s debt limit debate.

The debt limit has been raised about 100 times since 1940, more often under Republican presidents than under Democrats. President Ronald Reagan holds the record, at 18 debt-limit increases; no other president has exceeded 10, and Obama is now seeking his seventh.

From Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Napa, who chairs House Democrats’ task force on gun violence:

“The president and our task force agree that we need a comprehensive approach to reduce and prevent gun violence. Executive action can and should be part of the process, and many of the executive actions announced today will have a positive influence on reducing gun violence. Now it’s time for Congress to step up and do what needs to be done to save lives. Many of the policies that will have the greatest impact on reducing gun violence will require Congressional action.

“During the next several weeks our task force will examine the president’s proposals and the proposals of others. We will continue meeting with stakeholders on every side of this issue. And we will develop a comprehensive set of policy proposals that both respect peoples’ 2nd Amendment rights and help keep our communities safe from gun violence.”

From the National Rifle Association:

“Throughout its history, the National Rifle Association has led efforts to promote safety and responsible gun ownership. Keeping our children and society safe remains our top priority.

“The NRA will continue to focus on keeping our children safe and securing our schools, fixing our broken mental health system, and prosecuting violent criminals to the fullest extent of the law. We look forward to working with Congress on a bi-partisan basis to find real solutions to protecting America’s most valuable asset – our children.

“Attacking firearms and ignoring children is not a solution to the crisis we face as a nation. Only honest, law-abiding gun owners will be affected and our children will remain vulnerable to the inevitability of more tragedy.”

From Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, who has introduced a bill to regulate ammunition sales in California:

“I applaud President Obama for presenting a comprehensive plan that will help reduce the gun violence ravaging our communities and, hopefully, stop the rash of mass shootings that have become an all-too-common occurrence.

“California has tough gun laws but our ability to address gun violence is undermined when one can bypass California rules by crossing state lines. Federal action is needed to ensure the effectiveness of our state laws.

“As public opinion shows, strong support for gun control exists nationally in favor of enforcement and regulations to bulletproof our communities from devastating gun violence.”

From Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms:

“Suddenly Mr. Obama wants to get more criminal and mental health records into the NICS background check data base and get a permanent director for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Where has he been for the last four years?

“Perhaps he was too busy during his first term, while his administration was running thousands of assault rifles, millions of rounds of ammunition and countless high capacity magazines to violent criminals and drug cartel thugs through his administration’s Fast & Furious program. Now he wants to take away our Second Amendment rights when he and his friends have put more assault weapons in the wrong hands than all of organized crime?

“These firearms have been used not only to kill a Border Patrol agent, but also hundreds of people including women and children. This policy has resulted in more deaths and carnage than all the mass shootings in the United States in last ten years.

“The measures being proposed by the president will not prevent a repeat of the Sandy Hook tragedy, and he knows it. The initials ‘B. O.’ stand for more than Barack Obama. They stand for the bad odor of his blame game.”

Lots more, after the jump…
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A California gun-rights leader sarcastically thanked U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein this morning for driving more people into the arms of the National Rifle Association with her promise to reinstate a federal assault weapons ban – and said the NRA is actually too liberal for his tastes.

Minutes later, news began to break about a shooting at a Kern County high school.

California Right to Carry president Charles Nichols of Torrance claimed in an e-mail that NRA leaders are “dancing with joy” as “100,000 people have joined the so called gun-rights organization in the last 18 days thanks to the ultra-liberal leftist Senior Senator from the left-coast state of California who announced that she will soon be introducing a bill that would either ban or require the registration of nearly every handgun, rifle and shotgun ever made. That’s a minimum of $2,500,000.00 into the coffers of the NRA from new memberships sold in just the last 18 days alone.”

But Nichols wrote that the NRA is unlikely to spend a lot of money fighting the legislation, and claimed the NRA has been too soft on past legislation and lawsuits.

“Ironically, the NRA also supports Gun Free School Zones despite what its spokesmen may say on TV,” he wrote. “What the NRA says to the public and what it says in legal briefs are two completely different things. … Senator Feinstein thinks it would be drastic but I suspect many members of the NRA believe that gun free zones should be abolished along with prohibitions on carrying loaded firearms in public.”

I got that email at 9:27 a.m. The Associated Press reports the shooting at Taft Union High School in Taft (near Bakersfield) happened around 9 a.m.

“Today comes word of another tragic shooting at an American school. I have visited this school over the years—in fact, my own father attended Taft Union,” Feinstein, D-Calif., wrote later this morning. “At this moment my thoughts and prayers are with the victims, and I wish them a speedy recovery. But how many more shootings must there be in America before we come to the realization that guns and grievances do not belong together?”

President Obama yesterday re-nominated 33 people for federal judgeships – including three for seats in California – whose original nominations had languished without action in the last Congress.

“Several have been awaiting a vote for more than six months, even though they all enjoy bipartisan support,” Obama said in a news release. “I continue to be grateful for their willingness to serve and remain confident that they will apply the law with the utmost impartiality and integrity. I urge the Senate to consider and confirm these nominees without delay, so all Americans can have equal and timely access to justice.”

Among those nominated again were San Francisco attorney William H. Orrick II, for a seat here in California’s Northern District; Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Beverly Reid O’Connell, for a seat in the Central District; and Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Troy Nunley, for a seat in the Eastern District.

U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., had recommended Orrick and Reid to the White House after an interview and vetting process by a bipartisan advisory committee, while U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., did the same for Nunley.

“I urge my colleagues to move swiftly to confirm these talented nominees, who are desperately needed to serve in judicial emergency districts,” Boxer said Thursday.

Orrick from 2009 to 2012 served as a counsel and deputy assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Division; earlier he was a litigator at the San Francisco firm of Coblentz, Patch, Duffy and Bass for 25 years. Obama nominated him June 11 and he was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Aug. 2, but he never got a floor vote.

O’Connell has sat on the Los Angeles superior court bench since 2005; earlier, she had been an assistant U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles since 1995. Obama nominated her Nov. 14, but she never had a Judiciary Committee hearing.

Nunley has sat on the Sacramento superior court bench in 2002; earlier, he was a deputy state attorney general from 1999 to 2002, a Sacramento deputy district attorney from 1996 to 1999, in private practice from 1994 to 1996, and an Alameda County deputy district attorney from 1991 to 1994. Obama nominated him June 25 and he was approved by the Judiciary Committee on Dec. 6, but he never got a floor vote.

So the Senate reached a deal and House Republicans nixed it. Happy new year!

Have at it, commenters, but remember to keep it clean and impersonal.