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Monday 13 June 2022
Continued from Front to conduct background owning voters to derail gun
In a consequential devel- checks of buyers. Convict- control drives in Congress.
opment, 20 senators, in- ed domestic abusers who The agreement represents
cluding 10 Republicans, re- do not live with a former a lowest common denomi-
leased a statement calling partner, such as estranged nator compromise on gun
for passage. That is poten- ex-boyfriends, would be violence, not a complete
tially crucial because the barred from buying fire- sea change in Congress.
biggest obstacle to enact- arms, and it would be a Lawmakers have demon-
ing the measure is probably crime for a person to legal- strated a newfound desire
in the 50-50 Senate, where ly purchase a weapon for to move ahead after say-
at least 10 GOP votes will someone who would not ing their constituents have
be needed to attain the qualify for ownership. shown a heightened desire
usual 60-vote threshold for Congressional aides said for congressional action
approval. Demonstrators calling for gun control march across the Brooklyn billions of dollars would be since Buffalo and Uvalde,
"Families are scared, and it Bridge, Saturday, June 11, 2022, in New York. spent expanding the num- but Republicans still op-
is our duty to come togeth- Associated Press ber of community mental pose more sweeping steps
er and get something done health centers and suicide that Democrats want and
that will help restore their of gun buyers under age money to states to enact prevention programs. But Sunday's agreement omits.
sense of safety and security 21 available when they un- and put in place "red flag" they said some spending These include banning as-
in their communities," the dergo background checks. laws that make it easier to decisions are unresolved, sault-style firearms such as
lawmakers said. The group, The suspects who killed 10 temporarily take guns from as are final wording on ju- the AR-15 style rifles used in
led by Sens. Chris Murphy, Black people at a grocery people considered poten- venile records and other Buffalo and Uvalde, or rais-
D-Conn., John Cornyn, R- store in Buffalo and 19 stu- tially violent, plus funds to gun provisions that might ing the legal age for buying
Texas, Thom Tillis, R-N.C., dents and two teachers at bolster school safety and prove contentious. them. AR-15s are popular
and Krysten Sinema, D-Ariz., an elementary school in mental health programs. Yet underscoring election- and powerful semi-auto-
produced the agreement Uvalde were both 18, and Some people who informal- year pressures from Buffalo matic weapons that can
after two weeks of closed- many perpetrators of re- ly sell guns for profit would and Uvalde, the parties' fire high-capacity maga-
door talks. cent years' mass shootings be required to obtain fed- shared desire to demon- zines and have been used
The compromise would have been young. eral dealers' licenses, which strate a response to those in many of the nation's
make the juvenile records The agreement would offer means they would have shootings suggested mo- highest-profile slaughters in
mentum toward enact- recent years. One of them,
ment was strong. the killing of 49 people at
Senate Majority Leader the Pulse nightclub in Or-
Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., lando, Florida, occurred six
called the accord "a good years ago Sunday.
first step to ending the per- Democrats have also want-
sistent inaction to the gun ed to ban high capacity
violence epidemic" and magazines and to expand
said he would bring the required background
completed measure to a checks to far more gun
vote as soon as possible. purchases. None of those
Senate Minority Leader proposals has a chance in
Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Congress.
who has supported the Highlighting that, the Dem-
talks, was more restrained. ocratic-controlled House
He praised the bargainers' approved sweeping bills
work and said he is hoping this past week barring sales
for a deal that makes "sig- of semiautomatic weap-
nificant headway on key ons to people under age
issues like mental health 21 and large-capacity
and school safety, respects magazines, and giving fed-
the Second Amendment, eral courts the power to
earns broad support in the rule when local authorities
Senate, and makes a differ- want to remove guns from
ence for our country." people considered dan-
The agreement was quickly gerous. Currently, only 19
endorsed by groups that states and the District of
support gun restrictions in- Columbia have red-flag
cluding Brady, Everytown laws. Those measures will
for Gun Safety and March go nowhere in the Senate,
for Our Lives, which orga- where Republicans can
nized rallies held around block them.
the country on Saturday. The last major firearms re-
The National Rifle Asso- strictions enacted by law-
ciation said in a statement makers was the 1994 as-
that it opposes gun control sault weapons ban, which
and infringing on people's Congress let expire 10 years
"fundamental right to pro- later.
tect themselves and their For years, congressional
loved ones," but supports Republicans representing
strengthening school secu- rural, pro-gun voters have
rity, mental health and law blocked robust restrictions
enforcement. The group on firearms purchases, cit-
has long exerted its sway ing the Constitution's Sec-
with millions of firearms- ond Amendment.q