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Democrats and Republicans reach the first agreement in decades on US gun control

2022-06-22T00:53:53.394Z


The compromise, which still needs to be approved by the Senate, provides for improving background checks, but falls far short of Biden's aspirations in this regard


A group of Democratic and Republican senators reached an agreement on Tuesday to introduce greater control over the use of weapons in the United States.

It is the first consensus in decades on the matter between both parties and will allow, if it is finally approved by the Upper House, to limit the use of these by people with a history or with mental health problems.

The 80-page text is the result of several weeks of negotiations amid social pressure in light of the latest wave of armed violence, which has included a massacre in Buffalo, New York State, carried out by an 18-year-old who, armed with an assault rifle, showed up at a supermarket motivated by racist motives and killed 10 African-Americans, and for the murder at the hands of another 18-year-old of 19 students and two teachers of a Uvalde Elementary School (Texas).

Both events provoked the energetic reaction of the president, Joe Biden, who in a speech to the nation demanded that Congress take action on the matter.

Between what Biden and members of his party wanted (among other measures: raising the legal age to buy weapons from 18 to 21 years old and banning assault rifles and high-capacity cartridges) and what that handful of Senators average a remarkable distance.

But they have no choice but to settle.

To carry out the smallest compromise on the issue - the Second Amendment, which recognizes the right to use weapons and is one of the red lines of the Republican electorate - requires 60 votes in the Senate, by virtue of filibustering, which requires qualified majorities to carry out far-reaching laws.

The Democratic Party only has 50 seats at the moment, and it often doesn't even get all of its members to vote the same way.

Without going any further, in the latest attempt to get a rule out of the upper house to regulate the use of weapons, Senator Joe Manchin III, of West Virginia, who is accustomed to thinking outside the line established by party discipline, stood against the initiative.

The bill proposes to improve background checks, giving authorities up to 10 business days to review the mental health and juvenile behavior records of gun buyers under the age of 21.

It also provides federal funds to help states enforce so-called red flag laws, which allow authorities to temporarily seize guns from people deemed dangerous.

The measure also includes, for the first time, the prohibition of buying weapons from those guilty of a crime of sexist violence.

This has apparently been one of the issues that has sparked the most debate among legislators.

A race against the clock awaits them to pass the text, before the Senate takes its vacation in time to celebrate the 4th of July.

Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has promised the House will act quickly.

Biden, who when he was a senator managed to get the last restrictive law on the use of weapons in the country in 1994, has said that he supports the initiative and that he plans to sign the new law.

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Source: elparis

All news articles on 2022-06-22

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