Newsman: President Joe Biden signed into law legislation aimed at preventing gun violence Saturday. In 30 years at the House, this is the most sweeping legislation. Biden signed the gun legislation moments before heading to Europe for a week of meetings with Group of Seven leaders in Germany and with NATO leaders in Spain. When he returns, he said, he plans to have an event at the White House with the lawmakers who helped pass the bill.
Biden called the signing of the legislation a “monumental day” and said it was proof that Democrats and Republicans could find common ground on important issues.
“God willing, it’s going to save a lot of lives,” he said.
“I know there’s much more work to do, and I’m never going to give up, but this is a monumental day,” Biden said. “God bless us with the strength to get the work left done.”
The Senate passed the first bipartisan gun safety bill in three decades on late Thursday night. The Bill was passed by a vote of 65-33.Fifteen Republicans voted with all Democrats in the chamber to pass the bill. Republican Leader Mitch McConnell supported the final passage, as he was expected to.
“When it seems impossible to get anything done in Washington, we are doing something consequential,” Biden said. “If we can reach a 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 to so much more.”
The Republicans who supported the measure were Sens. Richard Burr, Roy Blunt, Shelley Moore Capito, Bill Cassidy, Susan Collins, John Cornyn, Joni Ernst, Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell, Lisa Murkowski, Rob Portman, Mitt Romney, Thom Tillis, Pat Toomey and Todd Young.
The package is the first major piece of federal gun reform in almost 30 years.
“Tonight, after 28 years of inaction, bipartisan members of Congress came together to heed the call of families across the country and passed legislation to address the scourge of gun violence in our communities,” President Joe Biden said in a statement following the bill’s passage. “Families in Uvalde and Buffalo — and too many tragic shootings before — have demanded action. And tonight, we acted.”
The bill provides grants to states for “red flag” laws, enhances background checks to include juvenile records, and closes the “boyfriend loophole” by keeping guns away from unmarried dating partners convicted of abuse. It will also require enhanced background checks for people ages 18 to 21 and funding for youth mental health services.
President had pleaded with lawmakers to pass legislation tightening gun laws following the shootings in Buffalo, New York, and in Uvalde. But the bill stopped short of his call for Congress to ban assault weapons and to require background checks for all gun purchases, both of which are widely opposed by Republicans in Congress.
The bill gives Biden a win following two major blows from the Supreme Court over the past week. The court ruled Friday to overturn Roe v. Wade, eliminating a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion. And on Thursday, it struck down a New York law that required showing a special need to get a permit to carry a concealed handgun in public.
“I think the Supreme Court has made some terrible decisions,” Biden said when asked about those rulings by a reporter.
The bill’s passage was a massive shift in a Republican Party that has always been a firewall against any attempts to restrict gun rights.
“This bipartisan legislation will help protect Americans. Kids in schools and communities will be safer because of it. The House of Representatives should promptly vote on this bipartisan bill and send it to my desk,” Biden added.
The House will need to pass the measure before it can be signed into law, and it could take up the bill as early as Friday.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., promised to “swiftly” bring the gun safety package to the floor once it passes the Senate, “so that we can send it to President Biden’s desk.”
The Senate had voted earlier Thursday to cut off debate on the bill, which was crafted amid a disturbing uptick in shootings across the U.S. The same 15 Republicans had sided with all 50 members of the Democratic caucus to clear the procedural hurdle.
Senate rules generally require 30 additional hours of debate after the cloture vote, but Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he wanted to get unanimous agreement to dismiss that requirement and hold a final vote on Thursday.
On Wednesday, House Republicans had encouraged members to vote against the gun safety package.
“The bill throws emergency supplemental federal spending at states to encourage implementation of red flag laws and dramatically increases funding for numerous other grant programs, but the bill’s vague language contains insufficient guardrails to ensure that the money is actually going towards keeping guns out of the hands of criminals or preventing mass violence,” House Republican Whip Steve Scalise’s office wrote in a memo to Republican lawmakers obtained by ABC News.
Key aspects of the legislation include expanded federal background checks for buyers under the age of 21, financial incentives for states to pass “red flag” laws and other intervention programs and closing the so-called “boyfriend loophole.”
The bill comes with a $13.2 billion price tag, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office announced on Wednesday. According to the office, the bill will be fully paid for by once again delaying a Trump-era ban on prescription drug rebates in Medicare.
Both Schumer and Senate Minority Leader McConnell, R-Ky., backed the legislation — which was hammered out by a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the weeks after the tragic shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.he Senate’s passage of the gun safety bill comes the same day the Supreme Court struck down a New York law regulating concealed handguns in public that mandated residents demonstrate a specific need to carry a handgun outside of the home.
