WASHINGTON (AP) – A modest but far-reaching measure of gun violence that was approved Friday, a vote that will send the measure to President Joe Biden and illustrate progress on the long-term unresolved issue and the deep-rooted guerrilla division that continues.
The Democrat-led House was about to pass the package a day after the Senate approved it with a bipartisan 65-33 advantage, with 15 Republicans joining all Democrats in support. The bill was drafted by senators from both parties after public outrage over the mass shootings last month in New York and Texas, but the vote in the far more ideological Chamber was expected to fall more sharply along party lines.
The measure will gradually tighten the requirements for young people to buy weapons, reject firearms from more domestic abusers and help local authorities temporarily take up arms from people who are considered dangerous. Most of its $ 13 billion spending will go to strengthening mental health programs and schools that have targeted Newtown, Connecticut, Parkland, Florida and many other infamous massacres.
And while the legislation omits far stricter restrictions that Democrats have long supported, it is the most influential measure of gun violence that Congress has approved since it passed an expired ban on assault nearly 30 years ago.
The election year bill was a direct result of the killing of 19 children and two primary school teachers in Uwalde, Texas, just a month ago, and the killing of 10 black shoppers days earlier in Buffalo, New York. Lawmakers returned from their districts after the shootings, saying voters were pushing for congressional action, a rage that many felt could not be ignored.
“No legislation can make their families or communities whole,” House of Representatives Judge Gerold Nadler, DN.Y .. said of the victims. “But we can act to protect others from the same trauma.”
For the Republican-dominated Conservatives, it all comes down to the right of the Second Amendment to the Constitution for people to have firearms, a protection that is key to many gun-owning voters.
“Today they come after our Second Amendment freedoms, and who knows what tomorrow will be like,” said Jim Jordan of Ohio, a leading Republican on the Judiciary.
It is impossible to ignore the comparison of the weapons votes during the week with several unpleasant decisions of the Supreme Court on two of the most burning issues of the cultural war in the nation. Judges on Thursday overturned a New York law that restricts people from carrying concealed weapons, and on Friday it overturned Rowe against Wade, removing the abortion protection that the case had provided for half a century.
Republicans in the upper house called for a “no” vote on the gun package. The leader of Party 2, Louisiana’s Steve Scalis, told his colleagues in an email that the bill was “an effort to slowly take away the rights of law-abiding citizens from the Second Amendment.”
That didn’t stop 15 Republicans in the Senate from supporting the compromise, but it still meant that less than a third of Republican senators supported the measure. And as Republicans in the House of Representatives are expected to strongly oppose it, the fate of future congressional action on weapons seems questionable, even when Republicans are expected to gain control in the House and possibly the Senate election in November.
The bill lacked favorite Democratic proposals, such as a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition refills used in the Buffalo and Uwalde killings. But the measure still allows both parties to declare victory, demonstrating to voters that they know how to compromise and get the government to work.
Still, Senate votes underscored the caution most Republicans are wary of opposing party voters for guns and firearms groups such as the National Shooting Association. Sensor Lisa Markowski of Alaska and Todd Young of Indiana were the only two of the 15 to be re-elected this fall. Of the remaining four, they are retiring and eight are not facing voters until 2026.
Significantly, Republican senators who voted no included potential presidential candidates in 2024, such as Ted Cruz of Texas, Josh Hawley of Missouri and Tim Scott of South Carolina. Cruz said the legislation would “disarm law-abiding citizens instead of taking serious measures to protect our children.”
Negotiations leading to the bill were led by Senator Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., John Cornin, R-Texas, and Tom Tillis, RN.C. Murphy represents Newtown, Connecticut, when an assailant killed 20 students and six employees at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, while Cornin was involved in previous gun talks following mass shootings in his state and is close to McConnell.
The bill will make local juvenile files available to people aged 18 to 20 during mandatory federal inspections when trying to buy a weapon. These inspections, which are currently limited to three days, will last up to a maximum of 10 days to give federal and local officials time to look for records.
People convicted of domestic violence who are the victim’s current or former romantic partners will be barred from acquiring firearms by closing the so-called “boyfriend door”.
This prohibition currently only applies to people who are married, live with or have had children with the victim.
There will be money to help countries enforce red flag laws and other countries without them to enforce violence prevention programs. Nineteen states and the District of Columbia have such laws.
The measure expands the use of background checks by rewriting the definition of federally licensed arms dealers required to carry them out. Penalties for arms trafficking have been increased, billions of dollars have been provided for behavioral health clinics and school mental health programs, and there is money for school safety initiatives, but not for staff using “dangerous weapons.”
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