Manchin, Toomey Prepare to Unveil Gun Deal  —  A bipartisan group of Senate negotiators signaled Tuesday night that it has reached a deal in principle on expanding background checks to include more gun sales, in what was widely seen as the major sticking point on the biggest gun control legislation to reach the floor since 1994.

Reid plows ahead on gun control legislation  —  Democrats are confident they have the votes to bring gun control legislation to the Senate floor this week.  But getting the votes to pass the bill later this month will be much harder.  —  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) …

The gun control vote and Harry Reid's problem  —  A senior Senate Republican observed today on the anti-gun legislation, “It's hard to say what [Sen. Harry] Reid will even bring up.  He could opt for some watered-down nothing burger, I suppose.  Hard to say, [but] he's in a conundrum.”

Senator To Newtown Families: The Gun Debate Has Nothing To Do With You  —  As the Senate prepares to take up a comprehensive gun safety bill on Thursday, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) told reporters that the coming debate will have nothing to do with the families of the victims from Newtown, Connecticut.

North Korea actions called ‘clear and direct threat’ to U.S. security  —  (CNN) — The top U.S. commander in the Pacific called repeated North Korean violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions forbidding the “building and testing” of long-range ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons …