The Senate’s bipartisan gun deal is an encouraging first step
No sooner had a bipartisan group of Senate negotiators announced on Sunday they had reached a tentative deal on a package of safety and gun-related measures than the criticism and second-guessing began. One common refrain was that the package was too modest. We’d also like to see more. But this agreement, if passed by Congress, would be the most significant piece of gun-safety legislation in more than 25 years, and for that, it should be applauded.
The 20 senators — 10 Democrats and 10 Republicans — have put together a framework that would join some new gun restrictions with new investments in school security and mental health services. Among the gun provisions: incentives for states to pass and implement red-flag laws to remove firearms from potentially dangerous people; stricter gun background checks for people between the ages of 18 and 21 to include a mandatory search of juvenile justice records; and closing what is known as the “boyfriend loophole” to bar dating partners — not just spouses — from owning guns if they have been convicted of domestic violence. Under the deal, billions of new federal dollars would go to mental health care and school security programs.
“Families are scared, and it is our duty to come together and get something done that will help restore their sense of safety and security in their communities,” said the statement signed by the senators, who have worked closely to find some common ground in the weeks since the back-to-back mass shootings at a New York grocery store and a Texas school galvanized national sentiment for action to be taken. Sunday’s announcement came a day after thousands of Americans turned out in D.C. and across the country in support of gun control. The proposal has not been written into legislative text, and that can be a fraught process with no guarantee of final action. But the willingness of Democrats and Republicans to negotiate and find agreement on an issue that has so deeply divided the two parties for so long is noteworthy and a hopeful sign our government is not completely broken.
President Biden quickly embraced the deal, saying: “Obviously, it does not do everything that I think is needed, but it reflects important steps in the right direction, and would be the most significant gun safety legislation to pass Congress in decades.” Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., pledged to put a bill on the floor as soon as possible once legislation is written. Senate Minority Leader Mitch Mcconnell, R-KY., released a statement praising the negotiators but stopped short of pledging to support an eventual bill.
Like Mr. Biden, we think other reforms are needed. Notably, addressing the danger posed by assault weapons and high-capacity magazines — either banning them or, at the very least, raising the minimum age for buying them from 18 to 21, the same as is required for handgun purchases. But the compromise that has been worked out — credit to Sens. Chris Murphy, D-conn., and John Cornyn, R-tex. — is reasonable and meaningful. No, it won’t save all lives lost to gun violence, but it will save some. We urge Congress to approve it.