WASHINGTON, June 23 (Reuters) – A bipartisan package of modest arms security measures was approved Thursday afternoon in the U.S. Senate, although the Supreme Court broadly extended gun rights in ruling that Americans have the constitutional right to carry handguns in public to defend themselves.
The historic court ruling and Senate action on gun safety illustrate the deep division over firearms in the United States, weeks after mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York, killed more than 30 people, including 19 children. Read more
The Senate bill, passed in a vote of 65 to 33, is the first significant piece of legislation on arms control passed in three decades, in a country with the highest per capita gun ownership in the world and the highest number. great annual mass traits among rich nations.
Register now for FREE and unlimited access to Reuters.com
Sign up
“This bipartisan legislation will help protect Americans. Children in schools and communities will be safer to do so,” President Joe Biden said after the vote. “The House of Representatives should quickly vote on this bipartisan bill and send it to my desk.”
The bill, which supporters say will save lives, is modest: its more severe restriction on gun ownership would tighten background checks on potential gun buyers convicted of domestic violence or significant crimes as minors.
Republicans refused to commit to more radical gun control measures favored by Democrats, including Biden, such as banning assault rifles or high-capacity magazines.
“This is not a cure for the ways in which armed violence affects our nation, but it is a long-awaited step in the right direction,” Chuck Schumer, leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate, said before the vote.
Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling, driven by its Conservative majority, overturned New York State’s limits for carrying concealed weapons outside the home.
The court held that the law, enacted in 1913, violated a person’s right to “bear and bear arms” under the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Read more
In the Senate vote on Thursday afternoon, 15 Republicans joined the 50 Democrats to vote on the bill.
Democratic Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, applauded the passage of the bill and said in a statement that it would move forward in the House on Friday, with a vote as soon as possible.
House Republicans had ordered its members to vote against the bill, although because the House is controlled by Democrats, their support was not necessary for the bill to pass.
Biden will sign the bill.
The Senate action came weeks after a passionate speech by Biden, in which he declared “enough” of gun violence and urged lawmakers to act.
Surveys show that most Americans support new limits on firearms, demands that often increase after mass shootings like those that occurred in Texas and New York.
An attendee tests a gun on display at the National Rifle Association (NRA) annual convention in Houston, Texas, USA, on May 28, 2022. REUTERS / Callaghan O’Hare
Read more
Democrats warned Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling could have dire consequences for gun security across the country.
“The Supreme Court erred in sentencing,” Senator Chris Murphy, a senior Democratic negotiator on arms security legislation, said in an interview.
“I am deeply concerned about the court’s willingness to remove elected bodies from the ability to protect our constituents and this has serious implications for the security of our country,” said Murphy, Connecticut’s home state, where they died. 26 people. in a shooting in 2012 at an elementary school.
Conservatives advocate a broad reading of the Second Amendment, which they say limits most new restrictions on arms purchases.
The Senate’s 80-page Bipartisan Safer Communities Act would encourage states to keep guns out of the hands of those considered dangerous and would strengthen background checks on potential gun buyers convicted of domestic violence or significant crimes. as minors.
More than 20,800 people will die from armed violence in the United States in 2022, including homicide and suicide, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit research group.
‘MONUMENTAL GUIDANCE’
The Supreme Court ruling, written by Conservative Judge Clarence Thomas, stated that the Constitution protects “the right of a person to carry a gun to defend himself away from home.”
“This is a monumental victory for NRA members and gun owners across the country,” Jason Ouimet, executive director of the Rifle Association’s National Institute for Legislative Action, said in a communiqué.
“This ruling opens the door to properly change the law to the remaining seven states that do not yet recognize the right to carry a firearm for personal protection.”
In the Senate, Republican supporters of the new gun security bill said the measure does not erode the rights of law-abiding gun owners, who are among its most ardent voters.
“It doesn’t even affect the rights of the overwhelming majority of U.S. gun owners, who are law-abiding citizens with a healthy mind,” said Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who supports the legislation.
The bill provides funding to help states pass “red flag” laws to keep guns out of the hands of those who consider themselves a danger to themselves or others. It would also fund alternative intervention measures in the state where red-flag laws oppose and provide for improved school safety.
It closes the “groove of the groom” by denying the purchase of weapons to convicts for abusing their intimate partners in dating relationships, although if they have no further convictions or sanctions they will be allowed to buy again.
It also allows states to add juvenile criminal and mental health records to national background checks databases.
Senator John Cornyn, the main Republican negotiator on the bill, was booed last week while discussing its contents during a speech before a Republican Party convention in his home state of Texas.
Register now for FREE and unlimited access to Reuters.com
Sign up
Report by David Morgan, Andrew Chung and Moira Warburton; additional reports from Rose Horowitch, Katharine Jackson, Richard Cowan and Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Scott Malone, Alistair Bell and Jonathan Oatis
Our standards: the principles of trust of Thomson Reuters.