WASHINGTON — Congress on Friday gave final approval to a bipartisan compromise designed to stop dangerous people from gaining access to firearms, ending nearly three decades of Congressional inaction on combating gun violence and tightening up. of the country’s gun laws.
The House passed Measure 234 to 193 a month the day after a gunman stormed into an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas and used a semiautomatic rifle to kill 19 children and two teachers, sparking outrage across the country and a flurry of negotiations. over Capitol Hill. The measure now goes to President Biden, who is expected to sign it.
“This bipartisan legislation will help protect Americans,” he said in a statement Thursday evening. “Kids in schools and communities will be safer as a result.”
Fueled by the horrors of the Texas shooting, as well as a racist attack on a Buffalo supermarket that killed 10 black people in May, lawmakers struck a deal that fell short of the sweeping gun control measures that Democrats have long called for. had demanded, but was more extensive than the steps Republicans were prepared to consider in the past, given their hostility to any step that might curb access to guns.
The legislation will improve background checks for potential gun buyers under the age of 21, giving authorities for the first time time to investigate juvenile records, including mental health records from the age of 16.
It makes millions of dollars for states to implement so-called red flag laws that allow officials to temporarily seize weapons from people deemed too dangerous in court to possess, and other intervention programs. And it strengthens the laws against the purchase of straw and the trade in weapons.
In addition, the measure pours more federal money into supporting mental health programs across the country and strengthening safety in schools. And the bill tightens a federal ban on domestic abusers buying firearms, including recent or current serious dating partners, to close what has been called the loophole.
“Our success today will never be the end of this battle, but this is a beginning,” said Georgia Democrat Lucy McBath, whose son was shot and killed in 2012 by a white man at a gas station. She added: “This gives us hope. This gives America hope. This gives our communities much-needed hope that we have cried for years and years and years.”
Ms. McBath later got emotional on the House floor, wiping away tears as she hugged her Democratic colleagues and celebrated the passing of the legislation. Applause broke out in the chamber when it became clear that the bill had received a majority of support.
Final approval of the measure came a day after 15 Republican senators joined Democrats in breaking through a GOP filibuster to push the measure through the Senate, clearing a hurdle that had proved insurmountable for most previous officials. attempts to update gun laws after other horrific mass shootings.
The House passed the measure with an equally narrow margin of Republican support, as top GOP leaders urged their members to oppose the measure as a threat to the Second Amendment. Only 14 Republicans voted for the legislation, joining all Democrats. Five of those Republicans are retiring and one, South Carolina Representative Tom Rice, recently lost his primary to a Trump-backed challenger.
“As a mother and a constitutional conservative, I am proud to support this sensible bill that will protect our children and limit violence without infringing on the law-abiding Second Amendment rights,” said Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney, who has been largely banned from her party for her role on the House selection committee investigating the January 6 riots. “Nothing in the bill limits the rights of responsible gun owners. Period of time.”
But the majority of Republicans have been unmoved by efforts by their peers to emphasize the limited scope of the firearms regulations and the investment in mental health care.
“Today they come after our Second Amendment liberties, and who knows what tomorrow will be,” Ohio Representative Jim Jordan, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said of Democrats.
Rep. Rodney Davis, Republican from Illinois, recalled a shooting at a Virginia baseball field in which Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, the Republican whip, was seriously injured and how he wished he had a firearm with him for protection that day.
“The actions on the field that day reaffirmed my support for the Second Amendment,” said Mr. Davis.
The measure’s final approval came after the Supreme Court passed a New York state law restricting where gun owners could take a firearm outdoors, a decision that put a damper on some Democrats raved about the gun law’s success after decades. of congressional failure on the issue.
“I was in a really lofty state about what happened yesterday in the United States Senate — a counterpoint to the dangerous decision of this Trumpian Supreme Court they made yesterday,” California Speaker Nancy Pelosi said at her weekly news conference. on Friday.
While some Democrats complained that the measure fell short of their ambitions to ban the sale of high-capacity magazines or raise the purchase age for assault weapons, they encouraged lawmakers to support the measure as a substantial step toward those goals. . In an orange trouser suit – the color of gun reform activists, which was visible from the Democratic side of the room – Ms. Pelosi personally kept the mood quiet.
“As I always tell members with legislation, don’t judge it for what it doesn’t say, but respect it for what it is,” Ms Pelosi added. “There is a lot to respect in this legislation.”
The compromise was struck by a small group of Republicans and Democrats in the Senate, including Senators Christopher S. Murphy of Connecticut and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, both Democrats, and John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, both Republicans.
