WASHINGTON – Congress gave final approval Friday to a bipartisan compromise aimed at preventing dangerous people from accessing firearms, ending nearly three decades of congressional inaction on how to counter gun violence and tighten laws. ‘weapons of the country.
The House passed measure 234 to 193 a month after a gunman broke into an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and used a semi-automatic rifle to kill 19 children and two teachers, causing outrage throughout the country and a flurry of negotiations on Capitol Hill. The measure is now being addressed to President Biden, who is expected to sign it.
“This bipartisan legislation will help protect Americans,” he said in a statement Thursday evening. “Children in schools and communities will be safer because of this.”
Galvanized by the horror of the Texas shooting, as well as by a racist attack on a Buffalo supermarket that left 10 blacks dead in May, lawmakers reached an agreement that fell far short of gun control measures that Democrats have been asking for for a long time, but that was more expansive. that the steps Republicans have been willing to consider in the past given their hostility to any step that could curb access to guns.
The legislation will improve background checks on potential gun buyers under the age of 21, requiring for the first time that authorities have time to examine the records of minors, including those in mental health from the age of 16.
It provides millions of dollars for states to implement so-called red-flag laws that allow officials to temporarily confiscate weapons from people in court who are considered too dangerous to possess, and other intervention programs. And it strengthens laws against straw buying and arms trafficking.
In addition, the measure spends more federal money on strengthening mental health programs across the country and strengthening safety in schools. And the bill reinforces the federal ban on domestic abusers buying firearms, including couples from recent or current serious appointments, to close what has been called the groom’s loophole.
“Our success today will never be the end of this struggle, but this is a beginning,” said Rep. Lucy McBath, a Democrat from Georgia whose son was killed by a white man at a gas station on 2012. He added, “This gives us hope. This gives hope to America. This gives our communities the much needed hope we have been crying out for for years and years and years.”
Later, Mrs. McBath was moved in the House, wiping away tears as she hugged her fellow Democrats and celebrated the passage of the legislation. Applause erupted in the chamber when it became clear that the bill had garnered the most support.
The final passage of the measure came a day after 15 Republican senators joined Democrats to break a GOP obstruction to push the measure into the Senate, removing an obstacle that had proven insurmountable for most past efforts. to update gun laws after other terrible mass shootings.
The House passed the measure with an equally low margin of Republican support, as top GOP leaders urged its members to oppose the measure as a threat to the Second Amendment. Only 14 Republicans voted in favor of the legislation, joining all Democrats. Five of those Republicans are retiring and one, Rep. Tom Rice of South Carolina, recently lost his primary to a rival backed by Trump.
“As a mother and constitutional conservative, I am proud to support this sensible bill that will protect our children and limit violence without violating the rights of the Second Amendment of law-abiding citizens,” said Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, which has been largely. ostracized from his party for his role on the select committee of the House investigating the January 6 riot. “Nothing in the bill restricts the rights of responsible gun owners. Period.”
But most Republicans remained impatient with the efforts of their colleagues to emphasize the narrow scope of firearms provisions and investment in mental health resources.
“Today, they will come after our Second Amendment liberties, and who knows what will be tomorrow,” Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said about Democrats.
Rep. Rodney Davis, an Illinois Republican, recalled a shooting at a baseball field in Virginia that left Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the Republican whip, seriously injured and how he wished to have a gun with him to protect him. if that day.
“The actions on the ground that day consolidated my support for the Second Amendment,” Mr. Davis.
The final approval of the measure came after the Supreme Court overturned a New York state law limiting where gun owners could carry a firearm outside the home, a decision that affected to some Democrats who were elated by the success of the gun bill after decades of congressional failure on this issue.
“I was really in a state of exaltation about what happened yesterday in the U.S. Senate, a counterpoint to the dangerous decision of this Trump Supreme Court that they took yesterday,” California spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi told the his weekly press conference on Friday.
While some Democrats complained that the measure did not live up to its ambitions to ban the sale of high-capacity magazines or raise the age of purchase of assault weapons, it encouraged lawmakers to support the measure. as a substantial step towards these goals. Wearing an orange pants suit, the color of gun reform activists, which was visible throughout the Democratic side of the House, Ms. Pelosi personally closed the vote.
“As I tell members all the time with legislation, don’t judge it by what it doesn’t have, but respect it for what it is,” Ms. Hairy. “There is a lot to be respected in this legislation.”
The compromise was reached by a small group of Republicans and Senate Democrats, including Sen. Christopher S. Murphy of Connecticut and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, both Democrats, and John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, all of the Republicans.