Biden signs bipartisan gun control bill into law
Washington, Jun 25 (EFE).- President Joe Biden signed into law on Saturday the first significant piece of gun control legislation in the United States in 30 years.
“God willing, it’s going to save a lot of lives,” he said after putting his signature to the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.
“While this bill doesn’t do everything I want, it does include actions I’ve long called for that are going to save lives. It funds crisis intervention, including red-flag laws,” the president said, referring to regulations that allow authorities to seize guns from people deemed to be a danger to themselves or to others.
Crafted by senators from both parties, the bill passed the evenly divided Senate late Thursday and was approved by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives hours later.
Lawmakers acted in response to the May 24 massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, where an 18-year-old man used a semi-automatic rifle to kill 19 students and two teachers.
In that regard, Biden noted that the new law “requires young people ages 18 to 21 to undergo enhanced background checks” to purchase firearms.
A few weeks before the school massacre, a white teenager motivated by racial antagonism fatally shot 10 Black people at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York.
But it was the killings in Uvalde that spurred Sens. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, and John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, to begin work on a proposal capable of garnering sufficient support to pass. EFE arc/dr
