Dems, GOP Cut Modest Senate Deal On Gun Control

Senate negotiators announced the framework of a bipartisan response to last month's mass shootings on Sunday (Monday, June 13, 2022, in Manila), a notable but limited breakthrough offering modest gun controls and increased efforts to improve school safety and mental health programs, Alan Fram reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Photo Insert: US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden console the family of the victims of the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement that the framework “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.”

Given the bipartisan support, “there are no excuses for delay, and no reason why it should not quickly move through the Senate and the House,” he said.

Leaders seek to enact any agreement quickly — this month, ideally — before the political momentum generated by the recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, disappears.

Participants warned that final details and legislative language are still being worked on, which might lead to further disagreements and delays. A significant event was the publishing of a statement by 20 senators, including 10 Republicans, urging passage.

This is important since the measure's largest roadblock will almost certainly be the 50-50 Senate, where at least 10 GOP votes would be required to reach the 60-vote barrier.

The compromise would make juvenile records of gun buyers under the age of 21 available during background checks.

The suspects in the killings of ten Black people at a Buffalo grocery store and 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde were both 18, and many of the perpetrators of recent mass shootings have been young.

The agreement would provide funds to states to enact and implement "red flag" laws that make it easier to temporarily take guns from people suspected of being violent, as well as funds to improve school safety and mental health programs.

Some people who sell guns for a living would be required to obtain federal dealer's licenses, which would require them to conduct background checks on buyers.

Convicted domestic abusers who do not live with a former partner, such as estranged ex-boyfriends, would be barred from purchasing firearms, and legally purchasing a weapon for someone who does not qualify for ownership would be a crime.

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