WASHINGTON (AP) – The Senate on Thursday pushed for a bipartisan bill on armed violence on the verge of approval, as it voted to stop Republican obstructionism against the measure, paving the way for a broader response from the government. Congress in decades to the brutal career of the nation. mass shootings.
After years of delays in GOP procedures that derailed Democratic efforts to curb firearms, Democrats and some Republicans decided Congress inaction was unsustainable after last month’s riots in New York and Texas. . It took weeks of closed-door talks, but a group of senators from both sides emerged with an 80-page compromise that incorporated an incremental but shocking move.
The measure would tighten background checks for younger gun buyers, maintain the firearms of more domestic violence offenders, and help states establish red-flag laws that make it easier for authorities to take weapons from people considered dangerous. It would also fund local school safety, mental health and violence prevention programs.
Thursday’s call that ended the blockade of conservative Republican senators was 65 to 34, five more than the required 60-vote threshold. Final approval of the $ 13 billion measure was expected over the weekend with a vote in the House below. The timing was uncertain, but Congress was scheduled to leave the city over the weekend for a two-week break.
Fifteen Senate Republicans joined the 50 Democrats, including their two independent allies, to vote to push through the legislation.
The day turned out to be bittersweet for advocates of reducing armed violence. Underlining the enduring power of conservative citizenship, the right-wing Supreme Court issued a decision extending the right of Americans to bear arms in public. Judges invalidated a New York law that required people to prove the need to carry a weapon before obtaining a license to do so.
The Senate vote highlighted the risks facing Republicans challenging pro-arms party voters and the National Rifle Association. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Todd Young of Indiana were the only two of 15 candidates for re-election this fall. Of the rest, four are retiring and eight will not face voters until 2026.
Revealingly, GOP senators who voted “no” included potential 2024 presidential candidates such as Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Ted Cruz of Texas, Josh Hawley of Missouri and Tim Scott of South Carolina. Some of the party’s most conservative members also voted “no,” including Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Mike Lee of Utah.
The election year package fell far short of the tougher gun restrictions Democrats have sought for years, including bans on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition used in the Buffalo killings. New York, and Uvalde, Texas. However, the deal allowed leaders on both sides to declare victory and show voters they know how to commit and make the government work, while leaving room for each side to appeal to its main supporters.
“This is not a cure for all the ways in which armed violence affects our nation,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., whose party has made restrictions on weapons a target for decades. “But it’s a long-awaited step in the right direction. It’s important, it will save lives.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., In a nod to the Second Amendment right to bear arms that drives many conservative voters, said “the American people want to protect their constitutional rights and that their children are safe in school. ” He said they “want these two things at once, and that’s what the bill will have achieved before the Senate.”
While the Senate measure was a clear breakthrough, the prospects for continuity of the Congressional movement on gun brakes are weak.
Only a third of the Senate’s 50 Republican senators supported the measure and strong Republican opposition is certain in the House. Leading House Republicans called for a “no” vote in an email from GOP No. 2 leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana, who called the bill “an effort to slowly break the rights of the second amendment.” of law-abiding citizens “.
Both chambers, now tightly controlled by Democrats, could be run by the GOP after the November midterm elections.
In a statement, President Joe Biden said Uvalde residents told him when he visited that Washington had to act.
“Our children in schools and our communities will be safer thanks to this legislation. I ask 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 10 days earlier, a white man accused of being motivated by racism killed 10 black grocery buyers in Buffalo. Both shooters were 18 years old, a youth profile shared by many mass shooters.
The talks were led by Senators Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Thom Tillis, RN.C. Murphy represented Newtown, Connecticut, when an assailant killed 20 students and six Sandy Hook Elementary School staff members in 2012, while Cornyn has been involved in previous gun talks following the mass shootings in his state and is in near McConnell.
The bill would make available local youth records of people between the ages of 18 and 20 during mandatory federal background checks when attempting to purchase weapons. These exams, currently limited to three days, would take a maximum of 10 days to give federal and local officials time to search for records.
People convicted of domestic abuse who are current or former romantic partners of the victim would have been prohibited from acquiring firearms, closing the so-called “groove of the groom”.
Currently, this prohibition only applies to people who are married to the victim, who live, or who have had children with the victim. The compromise bill would extend this to those who are considered to have had “a serious ongoing relationship.”
There would be money to help states enforce red flag laws and for other states without them for violence prevention programs. Nineteen states and the District of Columbia have these laws and Cornyn, whose state did not, demanded the inclusion of all states during the negotiations.
The measure expands the use of background checks by rewriting the definition of federally licensed arms dealers needed to carry them out. Sanctions for arms trafficking are strengthened, billions of dollars are provided for behavioral health clinics and school mental health programs, and there is money for school safety initiatives, though not for staff to use a “dangerous weapon.”