WASHINGTON – Proclaiming that “lives will be saved,” President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan gun bill Saturday designed to keep guns away from dangerous people, one month after a horrific shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
“At a time when it seems impossible to do anything in Washington, we are doing something important,” Biden said in brief remarks at the White House, praising the gun bill as the most important law of its kind in “the last 30 years.” ”. .”
Citing a litany of mass shootings from Las Vegas to Parkland, Florida, Biden said people have long urged the government to “do something” about the gun problem.
“How many times have you heard that?” Biden said. “Just do something; for God’s sake, just do something. Well, we did today.”
The new law improves background checks on young gun buyers between the ages of 18 and 21. It encourages states to develop more and better “red flag” laws that would deny guns to people deemed dangerous.
It also adds dating partners to the list of domestic abusers barred from purchasing firearms, closing the so-called “boyfriend loophole.” Biden cited new crackdowns on gun trafficking and bogus purchases.
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Biden signed the bill into law just before his scheduled departure for Europe and a series of meetings with world leaders about Russia’s war against Ukraine.
After signing the bill, Biden quietly said that “God willing,” the new law will help “save a lot of lives.”
The signing of the bill comes just over a month after the murders in a primary school in Uvalde,the latest in a string of mass shootings in recent decades.
The new law lacks broader elements sought by Biden and congressional Democrats, including an assault weapons ban. Republicans opposed those proposals, calling them an invasion of the Second Amendment.
A smaller group of Republicans agreed to this stripped-down gun bill, enough to pass it in the Senate and avoid filibuster.
Gun rights groups still protested the final product. “These measures were rushed through with vague language and overbroad definitions to appease gun control supporters in Congress,” the National Rifle Association said.
Some Democrats said they wanted the law to go further, but supported it as better than nothing. They also promised to keep pushing for more gun restrictions in the future.
It remains the largest federal gun control bill in decades.
“This bill doesn’t do everything we need to end gun violence,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., “but doing nothing was the most extreme option on the table.”
Gun control organizations that have lobbied the government for years praised the new legislation.
John Feinblatt, president of the organization Everytown for Gun Safety, called it “a long overdue step to address a public health crisis that has made us a nation of survivors, many of whom have turned their pain into action.” and their actions in one move.”
Citing Republican support for the gun bill amid a deadlock on other issues, Biden also called for bipartisan action on other fronts.
“If we can compromise on guns,” he said, “we should be able to compromise on other critical issues around veterans’ health care, cutting-edge American innovation and much more.”
Reference-www.usatoday.com