Widgetized Section

Go to Admin » Appearance » Widgets » and move Gabfire Widget: Social into that MastheadOverlay zone

Senators in the US have reached an agreement to tighten gun laws

Posted by on 2022/06/13. Filed under Breaking News,Headline News,International. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

A bipartisan political group of 20 US senators said on Sunday they had agreed to tighten gun control laws, strengthen school security and fund more mental health care in the immediate aftermath of three mass shootings that shocked many Americans.

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut said of the agreement among 10 Democrats and 10 Republicans: “We reached an agreement… This will save lives.” If approved by Congress, it would be the first legislative deal in 30 years to try to curb America’s rampant gun violence.

Although the agreement does not include a ban on the sale of rapid-fire assault weapons, which are often the first choice of shooters in MASS shootings in the United States, Murphy said, “I think you’ll be surprised by the scope of our framework.” US President Joe Biden has called for a ban on the sale of assault weapons.

Murphy served as lead negotiators drafting legislation along with Democratic Senator Kristen Sinema of Arizona and Republican Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Tom Tillis of North Carolina.

In a statement, Biden said the framework “does not do everything I believe needs to be done, but it reflects an important step in the right direction and would be the most important gun safety legislation passed by Congress in decades.”

Given the bipartisan support, he said, “there is no reason for delay, and there is no reason not to move quickly through the Senate and the House.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called the deal “a good first step to end the continuing inaction on the epidemic of gun violence.” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who supported the negotiations, issued a statement Sunday saying he wanted an agreement that “makes significant progress on critical issues like mental health and school safety, respects the Second Amendment, enjoys broad support in the Senate, and brings change to our country.”
Schumer said he would bring the measure to a vote as soon as possible.

Us lawmakers have been deadlocked for years on new restrictions on gun sales, with Democrats almost unanimously calling for tighter restrictions and Republicans opposing them, saying any new laws would violate Americans’ constitutional right to own guns.

Sunday’s deal was notable because 10 Republicans agreed. In the past, 41 or more Republicans opposed gun control legislation, preventing the 50 Democrats from securing the 60-vote supermajority in the 100-member Senate needed to overcome a Republican filibuster against new gun restrictions.

“It’s not going to be easy to write this law and pass it through both chambers,” Murphy said. “We have a long way to go before Biden finally signs it into law.”
But he added: “We can do this. This time, failure cannot be an option.”

comments powered by Disqus