WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate easily passed a bipartisan gun violence bill on Thursday that seemed unthinkable just a month ago, paving the way for eventual Congressional approval of what will be lawmakers’ broadest response to violence in the country in decades. group shots
After years of delays in GOP procedures that have hampered Democrats’ efforts to block guns, Democrats and some Republicans have decided that congressional inaction cannot continue after the attack in New York and Texas last month. It took several weeks of closed negotiations, but a bipartisan group of senators reached a compromise that announced a gradual but effective move to stop the bloodshed that regularly shocked the country but no longer shocked it.
The $13 billion measure will tighten background checks for the youngest gun buyers, keep guns away from more domestic violence offenders, and help states pass red flag laws that will make it easier for the authority to confiscate guns from people deemed dangerous. . It will also fund local school safety, mental health and violence prevention programs.
The election year package is a far cry from the stricter gun restrictions Democrats have been pushing for years, including the ban on assault weapons and the high-capacity ammo magazines used in the murders in Buffalo, New York and Uvalde, Texas. But the agreement allows leaders of both sides to declare victory and show voters they know how to make concessions and run the government, giving both sides an opportunity to reach out to their key supporters.
Having targeted gun restrictions for decades, DN.Y. “This is not a panacea for all the ways gun violence is affecting our country,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. “However, this is a very late step in the right direction. “Passing this gun safety law is really important and will save lives,” he said.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, said, referring to the Second Amendment’s right to carry firearms to many conservative voters, “American citizens want their constitutional rights protected and their children safe at school.” . “They want to work together and that’s what the bill will get in the Senate,” he said.
The day has been bittersweet for advocates of gun violence reduction. Emphasizing the robust strength of the conservative regime, the right-wing Supreme Court ordered an extension of Americans’ right to bear arms in public. The judges broke a New York law that required people to prove they had to carry a gun before they could get a license.
The final pass vote was 65-33.
Hours ago, Senators voted 65-34 to end the arrogance of conservative Republican Senators. That’s five more than the required 60 vote threshold. The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on the measure on Friday, and its approval seems imminent.
In that vote, 15 Senate Republicans joined all 50 Democrats, including two of their independent allies, in voting to advance the bill.
That vote, however, highlighted the dangers Republicans face in challenging pro-gun party voters and pro-gun groups like the National Rifle Association. Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Todd Young of Indiana are just two of 15 candidates to be reelected this fall. Of the remainder, four have retired and eight will not appear before the voters until 2026.
Interestingly, GOP senators who voted “no” included potential presidential candidates in 2024, such as Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Ted Cruz of Texas, Josh Hawley of Missouri, and Tim Scott of South Carolina. Some of the more conservative party members also voted no, including Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky and Mike Lee of Utah.
While the Senate proposal is a clear victory, the outlook for continued congressional gun control is uncertain.
Less than a third of the 50 Republican Senate Senators supported the proposal, and there was strong Republican opposition in the House of Representatives. House Republicans called for a no vote in an email from Republican Party leader #2 Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana described the bill as “an attempt to gradually reduce the rights of law-abiding citizens set forth in the Second Amendment.”
Both houses, currently tightly controlled by the Democrats, will be well controlled by the Republican Party after the midterm elections in November.
President Joe Biden said in a statement that the people of Uvalde told him during his visit that Washington needed to act. “With this law, our children will be safer in schools and communities. “I urge Congress to finish the job and bring this bill to my desk,” Biden said.
The Senate action came a month after a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers in Uvalde. Just a few days ago, a white man was accused of racial motive for killing 10 black grocery customers in Buffalo. Lawmakers from both parties said both shooters were 18 years old, had a youthful profile common in many mass shootings, and that the close timing of the two murders and victims could determine many of the voters’ calls to action.
The negotiators were Senators Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Kirsten Cinema of Arizona, John Cornyn of Texas and Tom Tillis of North Carolina. Murphy represented Newtown, Connecticut when a criminal killed 20 students and six Sandy Hook Elementary School staff in 2012, while Cornyn has been involved in past gunfights since the shootings in her home state and near McConnell.
Murphy said the measure would save thousands of lives and provide “an opportunity to prove to the weary American people that democracy is not too corrupt to rise today.”
“I don’t believe there is anything we can do about what we’ve seen at Uvald and elsewhere,” Kornin said.
The bill would present local registrations of minors between the ages of 18 and 20 during a mandatory federal background check when they try to purchase a firearm. These reviews, currently limited to three days, will take a maximum of 10 days to give federal and local authorities time to search for records.
The so-called “boyfriend gap” will be closed by prohibiting the use of firearms by people convicted of domestic violence who are current or former romantic partners of the victim.
This prohibition currently only applies to persons who are married, living with or having children with the victim. The Settlement Act will expand this to those who are deemed to have a “severe lasting relationship”.
It will help states enforce red flag laws, and there will be money for violence prevention programs for other states where those laws don’t exist. 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 perform them. Gun-trafficking penalties are stricter, billions of dollars are allocated to psychiatric clinics and school mental health programs, and money is allocated for school safety initiatives, but not for staff using “dangerous weapons.”
Source: Breitbart
