The United States Senate has voted in favor of taking the first steps toward new gun legislation.
Lawmakers voted to speed up the passage of a bipartisan package of measures to tighten federal gun laws.
They agreed on a procedural measure that will allow the House to examine and vote on a bill this week. If approved, it will be the country’s first major arms legislation in decades.
The framework for a firearms security bill is a response to last month’s mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York.
The legislation includes provisions that would help states keep guns out of the hands of those who consider themselves a danger to themselves or others and close the so-called “boyfriend’s loophole” by blocking the sale of weapons to those convicted of abusing their unmarried partners.
However, the bill fails to raise the age limit from 18 to 21 for purchases of automatic assault weapons.
In both Texas and New York, gunmen were 18-year-olds using assault rifles that they bought themselves.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he expected the bill to pass this week, while Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democratic leader in talks to draft a legislative deal with Republicans, called it “The most significant piece of legislation against armed violence that Congress will have.” 30 years. “
Murphy added, “This is a breakthrough. And most importantly, it’s a bipartisan breakthrough.”
With the 100-seat Senate divided equally between the two parties, the legislation will need the support of at least 10 Republicans to overcome a procedural hurdle.
Analysis: Is America Too Divided to Deal with the Weapons Problem?
Fourteen Republicans joined the 50 Democrats to advance the vote on the legislation.
The country’s largest arms lobby, the National Rifle Association, said on Twitter that it opposed the legislation because it could be abused to restrict lawful arms purchases.
The statement from the politically powerful group could affect how many Republicans vote the measure.
A total of 19 schoolchildren and two of their teachers were shot dead in a murderous attack by Salvador Ramos, who dropped out of high school at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas last month.
A few days earlier, a gunman broadcast live a “racially motivated” mass shooting that killed 10 people at a Buffalo supermarket.
The incidents have sparked new calls for changes in gun law that have changed in the ten years since the deadliest shooting at a school in America – at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, where 26 died – have changed. very little.