U.S. President Joe Biden delivers a speech on U.S. immunization progress following a visit to the District of Columbia Department of Health’s (DC Health) coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination clinic, during a speech in the Roosevelt Room at The White House in Washington, USA, June. 21, 2022.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
Chairperson Joe Biden signed the nation’s most significant gun reform bill in decades into law early Saturday after years of stalled efforts to tighten gun laws.
Biden’s signature came just a day later The Legislature of the House of Representatives passed bipartisan bill in an effort to limit gun access to the youngest buyers, domestic violence offenders and others who may pose a risk to their communities. The bipartisan Safer Communities Act would also fund school mental health and safety programs.
The Senate passed the matter late on Thursday.
“While this bill doesn’t do everything I want it to, it includes actions I’ve long called for to save lives,” Biden said before signing the bill.
Lawmakers have scrambled to find a solution to the recent spate of gun massacres following mass shootings at a grocery store, Buffalo, New York and an elementary school in Texas last month.
The new law strengthens background checks for gun buyers between the ages of 18 and 21. Youth’s ease of access to firearms came under tighter scrutiny after an 18-year-old armed with an assault-style rifle carried out mass shootings in both Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas.
Lawmakers have worked to close the so-called boyfriend protection loophole and restrict gun ownership to domestic violence offenders who are not married to their partners. It also establishes grants to states to encourage red flag laws, allowing police or relatives and acquaintances to petition the court for a firearm dismantling order if the individual is deemed dangerous.
In addition, the bill would fund youth mental health and school safety programs. Republican gun rights advocates have argued that those issues, rather than the prevalence of guns, have fueled the US gun violence pandemic. Democrats have also long lamented the underfunding of mental health programs.
“I know there’s more work to be done, but this is an epic day,” Biden said.
– CNBC’s Jacob Pramuk contributed to this report.
