Senate passes most sweeping gun bill in decades, setting up House vote
Category: News & Politics
Via: perrie-halpern • 2 years ago • 27 commentsBy: Sahil Kapur and Dareh Gregorian
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday night passed the most sweeping gun bill designed to prevent gun violence in decades, a major victory for advocates and a rare defeat for the National Rifle Association.
The vote was 65 to 33, with all 50 Democratic-voting members and 15 Republicans, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, voting to send the bill to the Housefor a vote expected Friday.
"The United States Senate is doing something many believed was impossible even a few weeks ago. We are passing the first significant gun safety bill in nearly 30 years," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said immediately before the vote. "The gun safety bill we are passing tonight can be described with three adjectives: bipartisan, commonsense, lifesaving."
The measure would offer grants to states for "red flag" laws and crisis prevention programs. It would enhance background checks for people ages 18 to 21, opening the door to access to juvenile records. It also seeks to close the "boyfriend loophole" by keeping guns away from non-spouse dating partners convicted of abuse, with caveatsto restore their access under certain circumstances.
In addition, the legislation would clarify which sellers are required to register as firearm licensees, which would require them to conduct background checks on potential buyers. And it would toughen penalties for gun trafficking.
The bipartisan package now goes to the House, where Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., vowed in a statement Thursday that she will bring the "life-saving legislation" to a floor vote Friday and "send the bill to President Biden" for his signature.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said: "Shooting after shooting, murder after murder, suicide after suicide — for 30 years, Congress stood in its political corners and did nothing. But not this time. This will become the most significant piece of anti-gun-violence legislation Congress has passed in three decades."
Murphy negotiated the modest collection of policies with Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C.
"I'm encouraged about how much common ground we were able to find," Cornyn said. "People who've suffered unthinkable losses in some of these mass shootings incidents. But I want to tell them that their advocacy has turned their pain into something positive."
The NRA opposed the bill, arguing that it "falls short at every level."
"It does little to truly address violent crime while opening the door to unnecessary burdens on the exercise of Second Amendment freedom by law-abiding gun owners," the group said in a statement.
In recent days, numerous GOP supporters sought to debunk right-wing claims that the legislation would curtail Second Amendment rights, vowing it would preserve gun rights for law-abiding Americans and that it would go only after criminals.
"If you're pro-Second Amendment, you should be for this bill," said Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La.
The Senate voted the same day the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution provides a right to carry a gun outside the home, delivering a major win for the NRA.
President Joe Biden, who as a senator helped craft gun laws in the 1990s, said he is looking forward to signing the measure into law.
"I am glad to see Congress has moved significantly closer to finally doing something — passing bipartisan legislation that will help protect Americans," he said in a statement after the bill cleared a key test vote earlier Thursday. "Our kids in schools and our communities will be safer because of this legislation. I call on Congress to finish the job and get this bill to my desk."
In a separate statement, the White House said the legislation "would be one of the most significant steps Congress has taken to reduce gun violence in decades, giving our law enforcement and prosecutors new tools to prosecute gun traffickers."
Cornyn emphasized the limitation of the boyfriend loophole policy.
"Unless someone is convicted of domestic abuse under their state laws, their gun rights will not be impacted," he said this week. "Those who are convicted of non-spousal misdemeanor domestic abuse — not felony, but misdemeanor domestic violence — will have an opportunity after five years to have their Second Amendment rights restored. But they have to have a clean record."
The negotiations were prompted by mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, that killed a combined 31 people, including 19 schoolchildren. The shootings were 10 days apart, and there have been more mass shootings since then.
Tags
Who is online
40 visitors
My only concern is to insure due process with any red flag laws.
The potential for abuse there is astronomical.
Anyone making a false red flag accusation should be prosecuted and liable for damages
Agreed. It’s a very sticky wicket though. Potentially very subjective depending on ones biases.
Red flag laws could easily be weaponized in the family setting, against Vets, etc, etc.
Yeah, it would be a horrible American tragedy if someone was not allowed to have a gun, makes Theodore Dreiser's novel into a fairy tale.
they should do at least a year in lock up , that way they lose the rights permenently they attempted to falsely take from another .
As I read thru the bill, I was disheartened to see just how little is really in there. It pushes responsibility off to the states with a carrot of money to dangle, and it makes rather minor enhancements to existing law. I really don't see where this is going to make any real difference in preventing future shootings. But I guess it gives some of them something to campaign on for November, where they can say "they did something".
As it should be. The thought that one bureaucratic body like the Fed could come up with a reasonable one size fits all concept for this is nonsensical.
I agree with states rights, but I can still complain about this piece of puffery that the Senate just passed which in reality only gives them something for the campaign trail for November.
Knowing how some of our legislative bodies work, due process for any Red Flag laws they come up with will need to be vetted very carefully.
Very carefully. But I’m happy “States” will be the ones drafting them. Real happy.
agreed , that way like the money offeredto "develope" said red flag laws , thats when we the citizens can get with our elected reps and say what WE want , like making sure the legislation cant be weaponized for some reason , or a penalty for a blatantly false filing . so i expect those states that look into it , there may very well be some very interesting things that actually come out of 50 state legislatures .
And the House passed this bill 234 -193 so it will head to Biden's desk to be signed into law.
I guess the fact that it passed meant that a lot of lawmakers have actually decided that principle was more important than being bought by the NRA and the gun manufacturers, especially since re-election time is coming soon. Do I sound cynical? Yeah, absolutely.
well buzz , i went and checked to see who the republican signers were out of curiosity ( my state rep is Rep Liz Cheney ) and i about gave myself a hernia laughing , yup she voted for it , if she THOUGHT she had any chance of re -election , even with everything else she faces , this vote definitely put the nail in the casket with the voter of Wyoming . now going against the party is one thing , she might have garnered some sympathy votes from across the aisle from dems in the primary, but even wyoming dems are pretty protective about their firearms and those right s that pertain to them . basically today was the day she committed political suicide in this state .
we would've had sensible gun laws 2+ decades ago if it were republicans instead of kids getting dropped.
keep blovulating dev, you already admitted today your too old to do any of the shit you claim should be done so best you can do now is drink your dirty bong water and scrape resin , and live in your fantasy world . knowing it will never happen .
(I now laugh and fart in your general direction for your silliness)
Oh you know that comment up there about committing political suicide ? she actually vince fostered herself today with a double tap.
not only did she sign on to that bill , but she released a political ad aimed at wyo dems telling them how to switch party affiliation to vote for her in the primary, because without them , she will lose .tell me she has not seen the handwriting on the wall.
PBS just reported that she has a debate schedule against her main primary opponent , BUT it will be a closed debate with limited invited audience with no media and it wont be televised , all due to "safety concerns "
I dont think its her opponent hageman thats worried about safety during or after the debate ......
and a final note dev? im not a republican and havent been for 30 years so your veiled threats of death mean nothing to me .
That is one ignorant comment.
Tex, just saw that a village in colorado issued a silver alert , they claim to be missing one of their idiots .
THEY HAVE A RUNNER ...
LOL!!
A voter ID card should qualify as a CCW permit and give right to buy any legal gun. If they can't be trusted with a gun they can't be trusted to vote.
that MIGHT work as a firearms ID card but not as a carry card . an FID card would let you purchase , a carry would let you carry after doing what is normally considered required .