WASHINGTON – The Senate on Thursday approached approving bipartisan legislation aimed at holding weapons in the hands of dangerous people as a small group of Republicans joined the Democrats to break through their party’s blockade and bring what would be the first Significant weapon safety measures in decades to the brink of passage.
Fifteen Republicans, including Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, joined the Democrats in a crucial test vote that paved the way for the Senate to pass the measure as early as Thursday. The 65-34 vote more than exceeded the 60-vote threshold needed to crack down on a Republican fraudster, shattering a three-decade series of failures in gun legislation. One Republican senator was absent.
New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, the leader of the majority, said he intends to submit the bill to the floor for a final vote by the end of the day, although the weather may change.
A spokesman for Nancy Pelosi of California said the House of Representatives would take swift action to clear it once the Senate makes a decision. White House officials said President Biden would sign the measure, calling it “one of the most significant steps Congress has taken to reduce gun violence in decades.”
“This is not a cure for all the ways in which violence with firearms affects our nation, but it is a long-overdue step in the right direction,” Mr Schumer said. “It’s important – it will save lives.”
The compromise, the product of an intense round of negotiations between a small group of Democrats and Republicans, misses many of the broad arms control measures that Democrats and activists have long called for. Negotiations erupted after several mass shootings – one at a grocery store in Buffalo and another at an elementary school in Uwalde, Texas – sparked protests across the country and prompted senators on both sides to find at least some common ground after decades of stalemate.
The result is the Two-Party Safer Communities Act, which will improve checks on potential buyers of weapons under the age of 21, extending the period from three to 10 days and allowing law enforcement to check juvenile and mental health files for the first time. .
It will also set aside $ 750 million in federal grant funding to help states enforce so-called red flag laws, which allow authorities to temporarily confiscate weapons if a court declares a person a danger to themselves. or for others, as well as for other intervention programs, including mental health courts.
And for the first time, it will include serious current or recent dating partners in a federal law that prohibits domestic abusers from buying firearms, closing what has become known as a boyfriend door.
In addition, the measure will increase criminal penalties for buying straw – buying and giving weapons to people who are prohibited from owning weapons – and trafficking in weapons.
In an effort to keep Republicans on board, Democrats have abandoned their arms control proposals, including a House bill that would ban the sale of semi-automatic rifles to people under the age of 21, ban the sale of high-capacity cartridges and federal red flag law. They also agreed that intensified inspections for younger buyers would expire in a decade, just as the assault ban did in 2004, leaving future congresses to bargain again whether to extend it.
However, the National Arms Association vehemently opposed the bill, saying in a statement that it “does little to tackle violent crime while opening the door to unnecessary burdens on the exercise of Freedom of the Second Amendment by law-abiding gun owners.” .
The legislation sets aside millions of dollars, mostly in grants, to address mental health in schools and communities, including $ 150 million for the national suicide hotline. It also provides funding to increase safety in schools.
Supporters of Republicans, facing considerable backlash from gun rights groups and a majority of their counterparts, were careful to underscore their success in keeping the bill’s scope narrow, including extending approval from the National Sheriff’s Association.
“Sheriffs see up close the daily carnage of gun violence by criminals and people suffering from mental illness,” the group wrote in a letter. “We appreciate the authors who have come together on a life-saving bill that is actually written in a way that allows states to work out their own unique answers to the questions raised by gun violence.”
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