WASHINGTON – Senate negotiators announced on Sunday that they have reached a bipartisan deal on a narrow set of weapons security measures with sufficient support to pass through the evenly divided hall, a significant step towards ending long-standing stalemate in Congress.
The agreement, proposed by 10 Republicans and 10 Democrats and approved by President Biden and senior Democrats, includes intensified background checks to give authorities time to check the minor and mental health records of any potential gun buyer under the age of 21 and provision that for the first time will expand the dating partners bar for domestic abusers who have weapons.
It will also provide funding for states to implement so-called red flag laws, which allow authorities to temporarily confiscate weapons from people considered dangerous, as well as money for mental health resources and to increase security and services. for mental health in schools.
The outline, which has not yet been finalized, is far from the extensive reforms that Mr. Biden, gun control activists and the majority of Democrats have long supported, such as a ban on assault weapons and universal scrutiny of the past. And it’s not as large as a package of weapons measures passed almost along party lines in the House last week that will ban the sale of semi-automatic weapons to people under the age of 21, ban the sale of high-capacity cartridges and enforce federal red flag law, among other measures.
But that represents significant progress, given deep party divisions over how to tackle gun violence and repeated failed efforts to approve Capitol Hill’s gun reform, where Republicans have been thwarting for years. Democrats welcomed the plan, which will also strengthen federal arms trafficking laws and ensure that all dealers carry out inspections as an opportunity to pass the most important gun safety legislation in decades.
“Today we announce common sense, a bipartisan proposal to protect America’s children, keep our schools safe, and reduce the threat of violence across our country,” the 20 senators, led by Christopher S. Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, and John Cornin, a Texas Republican, said in a joint statement. “Families are scared and it is our duty to get together and do something that will help restore their sense of security and safety in their communities.”
The support of 10 Republicans suggests that the plan could scale up an obstacle that no other proposal currently under discussion has been able to: attract the 60 votes needed to break through the Republican filibuster and survive to see vote up or down on the Senate floor.
Senator Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican and minority leader who has played a central role in halting gun security in recent years, praised what he called “forward” in the debate, although he was not committed to supporting the package.
“The principles they announced today show the value of dialogue and cooperation,” Mr McConnell said. “I continue to hope that their discussions will lead to a bipartisan product that makes significant progress on key issues such as mental health and school safety, respects the Second Amendment, wins broad support in the Senate and makes a difference for our country.
Assistants warned that until the legislation is finalized, it is uncertain that each component can attract the required 60 votes to move forward.
The outline includes a provision to deal with what is known as a ‘boyfriend door’, which would prohibit dating partners from owning a weapon if they have been convicted of domestic violence or have been the subject of a restraining order for domestic violence. Currently, only domestic abusers who are married, living with or parents of a child victim are prohibited from possessing firearms.
Republicans opposed the inclusion of a provision to address the boyfriend’s door in the re-enactment of the Violence Against Women Act, forcing Democrats to reject it to pass the law in March.
Mr Biden called on Congress to pass the bill quickly, saying “there are no excuses for delays”.
“Every day more and more children are killed in this country,” he said. “The sooner he comes to my desk, the sooner I can sign it and the sooner we can use these measures to save lives.”
The rare moment of a bipartisan agreement came just under three weeks after a gun massacre at a primary school in Uwalde, Texas that killed 19 children and two teachers, and about a month after a racist shooting in Buffalo that killed 10 black people. to the supermarket. Consecutive mass shootings have pushed the issue of gun violence to the forefront in Washington, D.C.
In an interview, Mr Murphy said the Senate had taken advantage of a moment when changes such as closing the door for the boyfriend – a provision that could not receive 60 votes earlier this year – were suddenly possible. “There’s a different mood in the American public right now,” he said. “There is a real panic among families and children that this country is getting out of control. That request gave us the opportunity. “
Mr Murphy said he hoped many more Republicans would eventually support the bill and that it would help “break this stalemate and show the country what is possible”.
But as an indication of the political risks Republicans see in adopting even modest gun security measures, none of the 10 who backed Sunday’s deal faced voters this year. The group includes four Republican senators who leave Congress later this year – Roy Blunt of Missouri, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Rob Portman of Ohio and Patrick J. Tummy of Pennsylvania – and five who are not re-elected for another four years: Mr. Cornin, Tom Tillis of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Utah Sen. Mitt Romney will face voters in 2024.
“I have worked closely with my colleagues to find an agreement to protect our communities from violence, while defending the right of law-abiding Texans to bear arms,” Cornin said in a statement on Twitter.
Democrats who signed Sunday’s statement included Mr. Murphy, as well as Senator Kirsten Cinema of Arizona, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Corey Booker of New Jersey, Chris Koons of Delaware, Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, Mark Kelly of New Mexico. Manchin III of West Virginia and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan. They were joined by Angus King, the Maine Independent. Mr Blumenthal and Mr Kelly will be re-elected in November.
The agreement was announced on the sixth anniversary of the mass shooting in Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, where a gunman killed 49 people in the deadliest shooting in modern American history.
Negotiators must now translate the broad principles of the framework into a legislative text, a far more burdensome process, and provide sufficient support in both chambers to make legislation law.
Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the leader of the majority, has vowed to put the agreement to a vote once the bill is finalized, calling it “a good first step towards ending persistent inaction against the gun violence epidemic that has hit our country.” ”
“We need to act quickly to improve this legislation, because if a single life can be saved, it is worth the effort,” Mr Schumer said in a statement.
Weapons security activists say they see the measures as significant progress, hoping to usher in a new era of bipartisanship.
“The fact that such a large group is coming together to do this shows that we are in a historic moment,” said T. Christian Hayne, vice president of policy at Brady: United Against Gun Violence. “I feel like a critical starting point for what I hope will be a new era in the prevention of gun violence.
Mr Hane said closing the door on dating partners, in particular, has long been one of his organization’s key priorities. “All of these things are significant,” Mr Hane said. “When you look at them together, you feel pretty significant.”
As pressure on Congress has been in effect in recent days, about a dozen senators – including veterans of failed attempts to reach such deals – have gathered at Zoom, on the phone and in the basement offices of Capitol Hill to reach an agreement before the Senate leaves. for a planned holiday for the fourth of July.
Party leaders signaled support for the discussions, even when Mr Schumer warned he would not allow them to continue in the summer before calling for a vote on arms control measures. Mr Murphy asked Mr Schumer to postpone the scheduling of a vote on more broadly approved arms control legislation by the House of Representatives, which Republicans opposed giving way to negotiations, and he repeatedly warned that his party will have to be rejected to ensure the necessary GOP supports any compromise.
Last week, the House voted almost along party lines to pass a far more substantial gun control bill, including raising the age for semi-automatic weapons and banning magazines containing more than 15 rounds, as well as the federal red flag law. With all but a handful of Republicans opposed, none of the measures had any chance of being approved in the Senate.
As an indication of the political risks that Republicans see in support of gun control measures, all but one of the five Republicans in the House of Representatives who backed the bill are also leaving Congress this year.
One of them, Representative Chris Jacobs, a New York Republican, abruptly rejected his candidacy for re-election to his suburb of Buffalo after facing a reaction to a federal ban on assault weapons.
We really need to work to restore some trust, to soften the rhetoric on both sides so that we can really …
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