Gun Safety Bill to Biden's desk

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   IslandBitesposted 3 years ago

   The House passed a gun safety bill on Friday, sending the measure to President Biden’s desk and marking the first time in nearly 30 years Congress has approved major legislation to combat gun violence.
   
   The bill, dubbed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, passed in a 234-193 vote. Fourteen Republicans voted with Democrats in supporting the measure.
   
   The Senate approved the measure in a bipartisan 65-33 vote. Fifteen Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), joined all Democrats in supporting the measure in the upper chamber.

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   IslandBitesposted 3 years ago

   President Biden on Saturday signed the largest gun control bill in nearly 30 years less than 24-hours after it passed through the Congress with unusual haste.
   
   "Time is of the essence. Lives will be saved," Biden said in an address to the nation. "From Columbine to Sandy Hook to Charleston, Orlando, Las Vegas, Parkland, El Paso, Atlanta, Buffalo, Uvalde and for the shootings that happen every day in the streets. How many times have you heard that, ‘just do something, for God's sake just do something’?"
   
   "Today, we did," he added.
   
   “Today, we say more than enough. We said more than enough. It’s time when it seems impossible to get anything done in Washington, we are doing some consequential,” he said, joined at the podium by first lady Jill Biden. “I know there’s much more work to do. I’m never going to give up."
   
   "If we can reach compromise on guns, we ought to be able to reach a compromise on other critical issues, from veterans' health care to cutting edge American innovation and so much more. I know there's much more work to do, and I'm never going to give up, but this is a monumental day."
   
   The bill, known as the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, enhances background checks for gun purchasers between the age of 18 and 21. The bill encourages states to include juvenile records in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System with grants as well as implements a new protocol for checking those records. It makes obtaining firearms through straw purchases or trafficking a federal offense and clarifies the definition of a federally licensed firearm dealer. . It also increases funding for mental health programs and school security.
   
   It includes $750 million to help states implement and run crisis intervention programs. The money can be used to implement and manage red flag programs -- which through court orders can temporarily prevent individuals in crisis from accessing firearms -- and for other crisis intervention programs like mental health courts, drug courts and veterans courts.
   
   Additionally, it closes the so-called boyfriend loophole by barring individuals from possessing a firearm for at least five years if they are convicted of a misdemeanor crime of violence involving a current or former romantic partner. It extends the law that previously only applied to abuse against spouses, a person they share a child with or a cohabitating partner.

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      tsmogposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      This to me means there is hope after all. Simple as that.

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