Gun bill nears passage after Senate gets past GOP delays
WASHINGTON — The Senate pushed a bipartisan gun violence bill to the brink of passage Thursday as it voted to halt a Republican filibuster against the measure, clearing the way for Congress’ most far-reaching response in decades to the nation’s run of brutal mass shootings.
After years of GOP procedural delays that derailed Democratic efforts to curb firearms, Democrats and some Republicans decided congressional inaction was untenable following last month’s horrific rampages in New York and Texas.
It took nearly a month of closed-door talks but a group of senators from both parties emerged with an 80-page compromise. The measure would toughen background checks for the youngest gun buyers, keep firearms from more domestic violence offenders and help states implement “red flag” laws that make it easier for authorities to take weapons from people deemed dangerous. It would also fund local programs for school safety, mental health and violence prevention.
Thursday’s roll call ending the blockade by conservative GOP senators was 65-34, five more than the 60 votes needed. Final passage of the $13 billion measure was expected by week’s end with a House vote to follow, though timing was uncertain.
“This is not a cure-all for all the ways gun violence affects our nation,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., whose party has made gun restrictions a goal for years. “But it is a long overdue step in the right direction.”
“The American people want their constitutional rights protected and their kids to be safe in school,” said Senate Minority
Leader Mitch Mcconnell, R-KY., in a nod to the Second Amendment that drives many conservative voters. “They want both of those things at once, and that is just what the bill before the Senate will have accomplished.”
Thursday’s vote occurred minutes after the right-leaning Supreme Court issued a decision expanding the right of Americans to carry arms in public.
Senate action came after a gunman on May 24 killed 19 students and two teachers in Uvalde. Ten days earlier, a white man accused of being motivated by racism killed 10 Black grocery store shoppers in Buffalo. Both shooters were 18.
The talks were led by Sens. Chris Murphy, D-conn., Kyrsten Sinema, D-ariz., John Cornyn, R-texas, and Thom Tillis, R-N.C. Murphy represented Newtown, Connecticut, when an assailant killed 20 students and six staffers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, while Cornyn has been involved in past gun talks following mass shootings in his state and is close to Mcconnell.
The bill would make the local juvenile records of people 18 to 20 years old available during required federal background checks when they attempt to buy
guns. Those examinations, currently limited to three days, would last up to a maximum of 10 days to give federal and local officials time to search records.
People convicted of domestic abuse who are current or former romantic partners of the victim would be prohibited from acquiring firearms, closing the so-called “boyfriend loophole.”
That ban currently only applies to people married to, living with or who’ve had children with the victim.
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 “red flag” laws and Cornyn — whose state does not — demanded the inclusion of all states during the negotiations.
The measure expands the use of background checks by rewriting the definition of the federally licensed gun dealers required to conduct them. Penalties for gun trafficking are strengthened, billions of dollars are provided for behavioral health clinics and school mental health programs and there’s money for school safety initiatives, though not for personnel to use a “dangerous weapon.”