WASHINGTON – The Senate voted 65 to 33 late Thursday to pass the bipartisan arms control bill, the most significant arms bill in nearly 30 years.
Republican Sen. John Cornin of Texas, who co-chaired Democrat Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, told the Senate Thursday that the law “corresponds” to last month’s shooting at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, and an elementary school in Buffalo. Uwalde, Texas – which killed a total of 31 people, including 19 children – in a “positive and positive way”.
“I don’t believe we can do anything about what we’ve seen in Uwalde and seen in too many communities,” Cornin said. “Doing nothing is an abdication of our responsibility as representatives of the American people here in the United States Senate.
The bill will now be sent back to the House of Representatives, where President Nancy Pelosi has promised to take it quickly. Although minority leader Kevin McCarthy has called on Republicans to vote against the bill, it is expected to be approved by the Democratic-controlled House.
“First thing tomorrow morning, the rules committee will meet to push this life-saving legislation to the floor,” Pelosi said in a statement Thursday night.
Although the bill does not represent all the arms control measures President Biden has called for, he is expected to sign the bill.
Sen. John Cornin, R-Texas, arrives to meet with Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., And Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., Arrive for more bipartisan talks on how to tackle gun violence at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, June 15, 2022. J. Scott Applewhite / AP
In a statement issued after the vote, Mr Biden called on the House to “immediately vote on this bipartisan bill and send it to my desk”.
“Tonight, after 28 years of inaction, bipartisan members of Congress have come together to listen to the call of families across the country and pass legislation to tackle the scourge of gun violence in our communities,” he said. “Families in Uwalde and Buffalo – and too many tragic shootings before – demanded action. And tonight we acted.
The Republicans who voted for the bill are Senator Roy Blunt; Richard Burr; Shelley Moore Capito; Bill Cassidy; Susan Collins; John Cornin; Johnny Ernst; Lindsay Graham; Mitch McConnell; Lisa Murkovski; Rob Portman; Mitt Romney; Tom Tillis; Pat Tumi; And Todd Young.
McConnell said the Senate’s passage of the law, as well as the repeal of New York’s Supreme Court earlier Thursday, had led to “two remarkable victories.”
“I am proud of these two complementary victories that will make our country freer and safer at the same time,” the Senate minority leader said. “Americans who obey the law will go to bed tonight with significantly stronger rights under the Second Amendment than they had this morning, while the new health railings around convicted criminals and mental illness are now about to become law.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer tweeted that he was “pleased that we are finally taking significant action on guns for the first time in nearly 30 years to protect communities.”
Senate negotiators released the framework earlier this month and unveiled the bill Tuesday, after which the upper house took the first step in moving the bill into a bipartisan procedural vote.
The law tightens checks on prospective gun buyers under the age of 21, closes the so-called “boyfriend door,” clarifies the definition of a federal-licensed firearms dealer, and creates criminal penalties for straw purchases and arms trafficking. It also provides $ 750 million in grants to encourage states to implement crisis response programs and provides approximately $ 1 billion in federal funding to strengthen mental health services for children and families and harden schools.
The Senate measure does not live up to what Mr Biden called for and is significantly narrower than a package of bills passed by the House this month. This legislation will raise the minimum age for the purchase of a semi-automatic rifle from 18 to 21 years and will prohibit high-capacity cartridges. It also promotes the safe storage of firearms and establishes requirements governing the storage of firearms in residential areas.
While House of Representatives legislation included many of the proposals advocated by Mr. Biden, it would not gain enough support from Republicans to cross the 60-vote threshold for the bill to be passed in the Senate.
Democrats in the bipartisan debates in the upper house acknowledged that their proposal was more appropriate, but said the reduced package was more likely to win Republican support.
The bill opposes the National Weapons Association, which said in a statement Tuesday that the proposals set out in the legislation could be “abused to restrict legal arms purchases, violate the rights of law-abiding Americans and use federal dollars to fund weapons.” control measures adopted by state and local politicians’.
Republican leaders in the House of Representatives also said the Senate plan was part of efforts to undermine the rights of law-abiding Americans in the Second Amendment. But McConnell, who voted in favor of the bill, told the Senate Wednesday that the legislation “offers sensible solutions without overriding the rights of law-abiding citizens.”
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