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Will DOMA be repealed?

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Washington, DC — The Senate narrowly defeated a national impacting gun measure sponsored by Republican Senator John Thune of South Dakota "to allow citizens who have concealed carry permits from the State in which they reside to carry concealed firearms in another State that grants concealed carry permits, if the individual complies with the laws of the State."

The vote held this late morning was 58-39, with 60 votes needed for passage, and was not strictly along party lines.  20 Democrats, many who are in tight re-election races in pro-gun states, joined 38 Republicans in supporting the amendment to the 2010 defense authorization bill. 

Gun control advocates and big city mayors such as Richard M. Daley of Chicago and Michael Bloomberg of New York City were opposed to this measure based on safety and law enforcement concerns, but more than one senator voted against the measure citing concerns of state's rights.  Senator Kristin Gillibrand (D-NY), who voted no, issued a statement: "…laws that are right for New York are not necessarily right for South Dakota, and vice versa." Gillibrand further added: "It is wrong for the federal government to overrule a state's ability to enact reasonable, constitutional gun laws…" Should the federal government overrule local hate legislation banning same sex marriage on the same theory?

LGBT blogs have been feisty, some stating that the two issues are completely separate, but some see the parallel.  If an individual state's gun laws are not subject to federally mandated recognition, how about a state's gay marriage laws? A marriage between a man and a woman performed in one state must be recognized by every other state under the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the United States Constitution.  States must respect "public acts, records, and judicial proceedings" of other states under this clause.

However, Congress in 1996 passed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defines marriage as a union of a man and a woman for federal purposes and expressly grants states the right to refuse to recognize a same-sex marriage performed in another state.  U.S. Supreme Court rulings from early in the country's history have sided with federal statute rather than the constitutional provision.  A few court challenges to DOMA have been filed, but none have been ruled on directly at this point.

Many states have their own marriage definition laws (known as "mini-DOMA's").  In their ruling of earlier this year (Varnum v. Brien), the Iowa Supreme Court affirmed a lower court ruling its state's "mini-DOMA" unconstitutional which led to legalized same sex marriage in the state. 

Conversation with congressional strategists suggests that Congress is unlikely to take up a repeal of DOMA, preferring to see how the courts rule and avoiding likely constituent backlash. 

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