- Biden praises the deal as a step in the right direction
- The deal follows the massacre at a school in Texas, the shooting in Buffalo
WASHINGTON, June 12 (Reuters) – In a potential breakthrough on the first major new U.S. gun law in decades, a bipartisan group of senators announced Sunday an agreement on a framework for a firearms safety bill with enough support from the Republican side to move closely. divided Senate.
The plan, praised by President Joe Biden, includes support for state red flag laws that protect firearms from potentially dangerous people, tougher criminal checks on gun buyers under the age of 21, and repression of “straw purchases” by humans. who buy weapons for others who could not pass inspection.
Created after last month’s massacres at a primary school in Uwalde, Texas and a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, the framework is far less ambitious than proposals by Biden and other Democrats to ban semi-automatic assault rifles and high-capacity magazines. or at least raising the minimum age for purchasing those from 18 to 21.
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Democrat Sen. Chris Murphy, who co-chaired Republican Sen. John Cornin, said “the hard work is behind us” after three weeks of intense negotiations, although “a significant amount of work” remains. Murphy said he hopes to pass the Senate by early August or earlier.
“We will work to write a (legislative) text first (Monday) this morning,” Murphy told Reuters.
The deal came a day after tens of thousands of people gathered in Washington and around the United States to call on lawmakers to pass legislation to reduce gun violence. Read more
Although an important breakthrough, the agreement does not guarantee that the legislation will be approved. Lawmakers still need to devise a legislative language that can attract enough votes to move to both the Senate and the House of Representatives, each closely controlled by Democrats.
The Republican opposition has played an important role in thwarting Democrat-backed arms control proposals in Congress since the 1994 ban on assault weapons, which expired a decade later.
The United States has the highest rate of firearms deaths among the world’s richest nations. But it is a country where many value gun rights, and the second amendment to its constitution protects the right to “hold and bear arms.”
Sunday’s announcement marks the most far-reaching progress in arms reform talks in Congress since 2013, when legislation failed in the Senate following the 2012 Connecticut Elementary School massacre. a career in the Senate on arms control following this tragedy.
“Our plan saves lives while protecting the constitutional rights of law-abiding Americans,” Murphy and Cornin said in a joint statement.
The group that agreed to the framework included 10 Republicans, nine Democrats and one independent who is meeting with Democrats.
Demonstrators hold placards as they take part in the March for Our Lives, one of a series of national protests against gun violence, in Washington, DC, June 11, 2022. REUTERS / Joshua Roberts / File photo
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A spokesman for the National Arms Association said the influential firearms protection group would not take a position on the framework until the detailed legislative text is finalized. She said the NRA would oppose any effort to deprive Americans of their right to bear arms.
Proponents of gun control cited Sunday’s announcement as evidence of the weakening of the NRA, a group closely linked to the Republicans, amid growing public concern about gun violence.
“There was a common wisdom that politicians thought you couldn’t get through the NRA. Otherwise, you would have paid, “Christian Hane, Brady’s vice president of arms control, told Reuters.
FILIBUSTROV PRAGUE
With 10 Republicans showing support, that would go beyond the Senate’s “filibuster” rule, which requires 60 of the 100 senators to agree to propose most of the legislation. Republicans who oppose the plan are expected to build procedural hurdles in an attempt to block it.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has stopped accepting the framework, but said he hopes for progress in the bipartisan talks.
Biden welcomed the agreement on Sunday.
“It is not doing everything I think is necessary, but it reflects important steps in the right direction and would be the most important arms security legislation that Congress will pass in decades,” Biden said in a statement. “With bipartisan support, there are no excuses for the delay and the reason why it should not pass quickly through the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he wanted to move the bill forward quickly once the legislative details were finalized. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also backed the deal, saying in a statement: “As long as more is needed, this package will take steps to save lives.”
The measure will provide federal funding to encourage states to pass “red flag” laws that keep guns away from people whom the court has identified as posing a significant danger to themselves or others.
Congress will provide more funding to expand mental health programs, including those implemented in schools, and will have to strike at those who evade gun licensing requirements or illegally buy weapons on behalf of others – transactions, called “straw shopping”.
The plan will also require new government checks on people under the age of 21 trying to buy guns so that juvenile mental health records can be reviewed, along with checks with state and local law enforcement agencies.
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Report by Richard Cowan in Washington and Brendan O’Brien in Chicago; Edited by Will Dunham and Scott Malone
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