WASHINGTON –
President Joe Biden on Saturday signed the largest gun violence bill in decades, a bipartisan compromise that seemed unimaginable until a recent series of mass shootings, including the massacre of 19 students and two teachers at a Texas elementary school.
“Time is of the essence. Lives will be saved, “he said in Roosevelt’s White House room. Referring to the families of the shooting victims he met, the president said: “Their message to us was ‘Do something.’ How many times have we heard this? “It simply came to our notice then. For God’s sake, just do something. “We did it today.”
The House of Representatives gave its final approval on Friday, following the Senate’s adoption on Thursday, and Biden acted just before leaving Washington for two summits in Europe.
“Today we say, ‘More than enough,'” Biden said. “It is a time when it seems impossible to do something in Washington, we are doing something important.
The legislation will tighten checks on the youngest gun buyers, protect firearms from more perpetrators of domestic violence, and help states introduce red flag laws that make it easier for authorities to take weapons from people who are recognized as dangerous.
The president called it a “historic achievement.”
Most of its $ 13 billion cost will help strengthen mental health programs and relief schools that have been targeted in Newtown, Connecticut and Parkland, Florida, and elsewhere in mass shootings.
Biden said the compromise reached by a bipartisan group of senators from both parties “does not do everything I want”, but “it includes actions I have long called for that will save lives”.
“I know there is still a lot of work to be done and I will never give up, but this is a monumental day,” said the president, who was joined by his wife, Jill, a teacher, for the signing.
After sitting down to sign the bill, Biden sat thoughtfully for a moment, then muttered, “By dominance, it will save many lives.”
He also said he would host an event on July 11 for lawmakers and families affected by gun violence. The president speaks of families “who have lost their souls in an epidemic of violence. They have lost their child, their husband, their wife. Nothing will fill this void in their hearts. But they have taken the path so that other families do not have the experience and pain and the trauma they had to go through. “
Biden signed the measure two days after the Supreme Court ruling Thursday repealed a law in New York that restricts people from carrying concealed weapons. And Saturday’s ceremony came less than 24 hours after the Supreme Court overturned Rowe’s ruling against Wade, which legalized abortion across the country for nearly five decades.
“Yesterday I talked about the shocking decision of the Supreme Court to overturn Rowe against Wade,” Biden said. “Jill and I know how painful and devastating the decision is for so many Americans. I mean so many Americans.”
He noted that the decision on abortion leaves the implementation of the states, some of which have already banned abortion or will soon do so. Biden said his administration “will focus on how it is administered and whether or not they violate other laws, such as the decision not to allow people to cross state borders to receive health services.”
Asked by reporters if the Supreme Court had been broken up, Biden said: “I think the Supreme Court has made some terrible decisions.” He walked away without answering further questions, noting, “I have a helicopter waiting for me to take off.”
Although the new gun law does not include stricter restrictions long held by Democrats, such as a ban on assault weapons and background checks on all firearms deals, it is the most influential measure of violence produced by Congress since its adoption. of a long-overdue attack. arms ban in 1993
Enough Republicans in Congress have joined Democrats in support of the aftermath of the recent riots in Buffalo, New York and Uwalde, Texas. It took weeks of closed-door talks, but the senators compromised.
Biden signed the bill just before leaving Washington for a summit of the Group of Seven Leading Economic Powers – the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan – in Germany. He will later travel to Spain for a NATO meeting.
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