Senate rejects concealed weapons

In another sign of the change in Washington, the US Senate this afternoon rebuffed the gun rights lobby and rejected a measure that would have allowed carrying concealed weapons across state lines.

The 58-39 vote fell two shy of the 60 needed to approve the provision, which was offered as an amendment to a defense spending bill, the Associated Press reports.

UPDATE: New England senators split on the measure.

Republicans Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, and Republican Judd Gregg of New Hampshire voted to allow the cross-state concealed weapons,

Independent Joe Lieberman and Democrat Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, Democrat John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, Democrat Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Democrats Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, and Democrat Patrick Leahy and independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont voted against the measure.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts missed the vote.

Overall, 20 Democrats and 38 Republicans voted for the measure, and 35 Democrats, two Republicans, and the two New England independents voted against it.

While gun rights backers, who have held sway in Congress in recent years, pushed hard for the measure, gun control groups argued that the proposal would force states with tough gun laws -- like Massachusetts -- to welcome gun-toting residents from states with weaker laws.

"Well, common sense won over -- won over extremism today in the United States Senate," Senator Frank Lautenberg, a New Jersey Democrat, told reporters after the vote. "The vote indicated that some change at least has come to the Senate, has come to the government. And we at least were able to put the NRA-designed program to rest for the moment. And it was a very -- very important thing."

"The special interests were defeated," he added. "Communities are safer. And the amendment was, in my view, one of the most dangerous pieces of legislation on the Senate floor in recent memory. All of us here worked very hard, others as well. It took everybody's effort, and it was, in the final analysis, a really close call. But the fact is that we were able to defeat this measure."

Added Senator Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat: "Had this amendment passed, safety in America would have decreased, plain and simple. Lives were saved were the defeat of this amendment. The legislation went much further than the previous attempts by the gun lobby to do things. It would have done nothing less than take our state's gun laws and rip them up. That's what it would have done. We know the gun lobby is strong. We know they will be back. We know we have to be vigilant. But this shows that the Senate can rise to the occasion when the law just so overreaches that it puts police officers and sheriffs and citizens in dire difficulty."

National Rifle Association executive vice president Wayne LaPierre, pointing out that a majority voted for the measure, called the vote an "important step forward" in its campaign to bring "right to carry" across the nation. It is in 40 states, he said.

"We're going to keep coming back. The American public wants the law," he said on MSNBC.

The vote follows Tuesday's Senate vote to back President Obama and the Pentagon -- and buck the defense industry and its congressional allies -- by cutting money for additional F-22 fighters.