WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of senators overcame some last-minute hurdles and released legislative text Tuesday on a slender set of provisions to fight gun violence, together with state funding to implement “red flag” legal guidelines and enhanced background checks.
“Today, we finalized bipartisan, commonsense legislation to protect America’s children, keep our schools safe, and reduce the threat of violence across our country,” Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, said in a joint statement along with Sens. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C.
“Our legislation will save lives and will not infringe on any law-abiding American’s Second Amendment rights. We look forward to earning broad, bipartisan support and passing our commonsense legislation into law,” they added.
Cornyn stated earlier Tuesday that the senators agreed to deal with the so-called boyfriend loophole by limiting gun rights for non-spouse courting companions who’re convicted of home abuse.
“Unless someone is convicted of domestic abuse under their state laws, their gun rights will not be impacted,” he said on the Senate floor. “Those who are convicted of non-spousal misdemeanor domestic abuse—not felony, but misdemeanor domestic violence—will have an opportunity after five years to have their Second Amendment rights restored. But they have to have a clean record.”
The legislation will offer red flag grants to every state, including those that do not adopt red flag laws, which can be used on other crisis prevention programs designed to prevent individuals in crisis from resorting to violence, said Cornyn, the chief GOP negotiator.
The boyfriend loophole and red flag provisions were the last two major sticking points between the core senators: Murphy, Cornyn, Sinema and Tillis.
“We are closing the boyfriend loophole,” Murphy said. “This provision alone is going to save the lives of so many women who unfortunately die at the hands of a boyfriend or an ex-boyfriend who hunts them down with a firearm.”
Murphy said the bill enhances background checks for people between the ages of 18 and 21, allowing up to three days to conduct checks, and an extra 10 days if there are signs of concern. He said it will contain tougher penalties for gun trafficking and “clarify” which sellers must register as a federal firearm licensee, which would force them to conduct background checks. And he said the bill expands money for mental health and school-based health.
The National Rifle Association quickly announced its opposition to the bill, arguing in a statement that the legislation “does little to truly address violent crime while opening the door to unnecessary burdens on the exercise of Second Amendment freedom by law-abiding gun owners.”
The evenly split Senate is expected to hold a procedural vote on the legislation as early as Tuesday night, with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., saying he hopes to pass the bill this week. The initial vote would only require a simple majority to begin processing the legislation.
It remains to be seen whether there will be 60 votes to ultimately break a filibuster and end debate on the bill later in the voting process.
Schumer said in a statement that he “will now put this life-saving laws on the Senate ground for a vote, with an preliminary procedural vote as quickly as tonight and, following that, we’ll transfer to final passage as shortly as doable.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who has lengthy opposed harder gun legal guidelines, issued a quick assertion after the text was launched, saying, “I support the bill text that Senator Cornyn and our colleagues have produced.”
“Our colleagues have put together a commonsense package of popular steps that will help make these horrifying incidents less likely while fully upholding the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens,” he added.
If the laws passes the Senate, it might then head to the House, the place Speaker Nancy Pelosi has praised the define of the deal as a step ahead.
The bipartisan group labored over the weekend after negotiations hit a snag over a dispute on find out how to shut the so-called “boyfriend loophole” involving gun rights for abusive companions. As not too long ago as Thursday, Cornyn stated he was “frustrated” at how the talks had been progressing.
The timing of the deal offers lawmakers hope the Senate might vote on the bundle earlier than they depart Washington this week for the two-week July 4th break.
The bipartisan group of negotiators struck a deal on a framework for the laws final week, however had been struggling on the precise language for the invoice.
The talks had been prompted by mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, that killed a mixed 31 folks, together with 19 college youngsters.
