The package represents the most significant new federal legislation to address gun violence since a 10-year assault weapons ban that expired in 1994, though it doesn’t ban any guns and falls far short of what Democrats and polls say. show that most Americans want to see.
However, that is expected to happen after 14 Republicans voted to promote the bill in an initial vote Tuesday night.
Once the Senate breaks a filibuster, it will pave the way for a final approval vote.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called for the bill to pass this week, though the exact timing of the final vote has yet to be determined. A final vote in the Senate could come Thursday if all 100 senators agree to a time agreement. It will take place on a simple majority threshold.
The House would then have to accept the bill before it can become law.
The legislation arose in the wake of the recent tragic mass shootings at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, which was located in a predominantly black neighborhood.
A bipartisan group of negotiators went to work in the Senate and released the legislative text on Tuesday. The bill, titled the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, was published by Republican Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Democratic Senators Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.
Lawmakers are now rushing to pass the bill before leaving Washington for the July 4 recess.
The fact that the text of the bill has been finalized and that the legislation now appears to be ready to pass the Senate is a huge victory for the negotiators who came together to reach an agreement.
Reaching a bipartisan agreement on major gun legislation has been notoriously difficult for lawmakers in recent years, even in the face of countless mass shootings across the country.
“For too long, political games in Washington on both sides of the aisle have stalled progress in protecting our communities and keeping families safe and secure,” Sinema said Wednesday in a Senate speech.
“Placing blame and exchanging criticism and political attacks became the path of least resistance, but communities across our country that have experienced senseless violence deserve better than Washington politics as usual,” the Arizona Democrat said. . “Our communities deserve a commitment from their leaders to do the hard work of putting politics aside, identifying the problems that need to be solved, and working together toward common ground and common goals.”
Key provisions in the bill
This bill closes a years-old loophole in domestic violence law, the “boyfriend loophole,” which prohibited people convicted of domestic violence crimes against married partners, or partners with whom they shared children, or partners with whom they they cohabited, to have weapons. The old statutes did not include intimate partners who cannot live together, be married, or share children. The law will now prohibit anyone convicted of a crime of domestic violence against someone with whom they have a “continuing serious relationship of a romantic or intimate nature” from owning a weapon.
The law is not retroactive. However, it will allow those convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence to have their gun rights restored after five years if they have committed no other crimes.
The bill encourages states to include juvenile criminal records in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System with grants and implements a new protocol for checking those records.
The bill goes after people who sell guns as their primary source of income but have previously evaded registering as a federally licensed firearms dealer. It also increases funding for mental health and school safety programs.
Republican Party divided by the bill
A division has emerged among some prominent members of the Republican leadership in the House and Senate.
But even with House Republican leaders opposing the bill, there are already some House Republicans who have indicated they plan to vote for it, and it is hoped that the Democratic-controlled chamber will be able to pass the legislation once it is approved. be approved in the Senate.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised to “get it quickly to the floor” of the House once it gets through the Senate, “so we can get it to President Biden’s desk.”