The gun safety bill released by a bipartisan group of senators on Tuesday is a modest piece of legislation. It does not include major items pushed by Democrats and gun control groups such as bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
But it could still be a breakthrough effort in a Congress where gridlock so often rules the day. If it passes, both Republicans and Democrats could appeal to voters this fall by pointing to action taken in the wake of the worst school shooting in a decade, in contrast to the political bickering and gradually fading interest that has followed other school shootings in the United States.
Why We Wrote This
For more than 25 years, Congress has faced gridlock on guns, even after school shootings. Here’s why this time may be different.
Experts called it the most significant move by Congress in decades to overhaul or tweak the nation’s gun laws. It shows how continued efforts to push even limited political change can pay off, they said.
“This is 26 years in the making, this framework. … This is a really meaningful step toward ending a period of inaction that cost too many lives,” says Nick Suplina, senior vice president for law and policy at Everytown for Gun Safety.
Washington
The gun safety bill released by a bipartisan group of senators on Tuesday is a modest piece of legislation. It does not include major items pushed by Democrats and gun control groups such as bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
But it could still be a breakthrough effort in a Congress where gridlock so often rules the day. If it passes, both Republicans and Democrats could appeal to voters this fall by pointing to action taken in the wake of the worst school shooting in a decade, in contrast to the political bickering and gradually fading interest that has followed other school shootings in the United States.
Experts called it the most significant move by Congress in decades to overhaul or tweak the nation’s gun laws. It shows how continued efforts to push even limited political change can pay off, they said.
Why We Wrote This
For more than 25 years, Congress has faced gridlock on guns, even after school shootings. Here’s why this time may be different.
“This is 26 years in the making, this framework. … This is a really meaningful step towards ending a period of inaction that cost too many lives,” says Nick Suplina, senior vice president for law and policy at Everytown for Gun Safety.
Bill targets individuals, not guns
As outlined by lawmakers in an 80-page draft bill, the new Bipartisan Safer Communities Act focuses less on guns per se than on human factors that deal with gun acquisition and possession.
That is because moves for greater legal control of gun hardware stands virtually no chance of passage in the current closely divided Senate. But in the wake of the Uvalde tragedy, the more limited approach, crafted by a small bipartisan group of senators, appears able to attract the 10 Republican votes that would enable it to overcome a filibuster. In a preliminary vote on Tuesday night, 14 GOP senators voted to allow the bill to proceed to debate.
“We know there’s no such thing as a perfect piece of legislation,” said Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas and a leader of the bipartisan group. “We are imperfect human beings. But we have to try, and I believe this bill is a step in the right direction.”
Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, shown talking to reporters in the Capitol June 21, 2022, has said he felt a responsibility to act after the Uvalde school shooting. If it passes, the bipartisan bill he helped negotiate would be the first gun safety legislation since the mid-1990s.
The main provisions of the bill closely follow an outline of proposals released earlier this month.
The proposed legislation would enhance background checks on prospective gun purchasers under the age of 21, with a limit of 10 days for officials to review mental health records. It would also provide millions of dollars to states to help them pay for crisis protection programs such as extreme risk protection orders – often called “red flag” laws – that allow law enforcement to temporarily take the guns of people deemed a risk to themselves or others.
The law would close the so-called boyfriend loophole, adding serious dating partners to a federal law that bars domestic abusers from buying guns. The bipartisan group’s progress snagged for a time on the difficulties of defining a “dating partner.” Ultimately, they settled on simple language – “a recent or current dating partner” – that will allow courts to make a final decision based on the details of particular relationships involved.
Senators agreed to steer millions more in taxpayer money to mental health resources for schools and communities, and to strengthen school security. They also toughened penalties for people convicted of illegally purchasing a gun for someone barred from owning firearms.
“[The vote was] part of a widespread belief that we really need to do what we can do,” said Republican Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, a member of the bipartisan group, on Wednesday. “There was a significant interest on both sides, and at the White House, of figuring what we we could do, and do something.”
Closing the boyfriend loophole will “definitely reduce” intimate partner homicides, according to Daniel Webster, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions. Red flag laws can prevent not just shootings of others but suicides as well, he adds.
The impact would have been greater if they had expanded background checks to all private firearms sales, and had more extensive bans for under-21 ownership of guns, according to Dr. Webster.
“But these measures are important,” he writes in an email.
Both parties can point to solutions
None of the 10 Republican senators who signed on to the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act are likely to face pushback from conservative voters on their actions. Four of them are retiring: Senator Blunt, Rob Portman of Ohio, Richard Burr of North Carolina, and Patrick Toomey of Pennsylvania. The other six are not up for reelection in 2022.
Senator Cornyn was booed at a Texas state GOP convention last week. Delegates approved a resolution condemning the gun agreement he was then negotiating. But Mr. Cornyn has been in the Senate since 2002 and won 76% of the vote in his 2020 Republican primary. As senior senator in the state where the Uvalde school shooting occurred, he has said he feels a responsibility to respond to the tragedy. A teenage gunman killed 19 elementary school children and two teachers on May 24 in what the Texas Department of Public Safety this week characterized as an “abject failure” on the part of police.
“I pressed every senator to make their own decision … but I’m grateful we got a solid vote,” said Senator Cornyn before getting on an elevator Wednesday. “We’re off to the races.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has come out in favor of the bill, calling it a “common sense package of popular steps.” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says the legislation is “urgently needed” and predicts it will pass by the end of the week.
What this reveals is that, in the wake of Uvalde, gun violence prevention has become politically important, says Mr. Suplina of Everytown for Gun Safety.
“Americans are demanding action on this issue,” he says.
The modest nature of the action was foreordained. Senator Cornyn said going in that larger measures, such as a ban on high-capacity magazines, were off the table. The closely divided Senate meant anything that could pass a filibuster would have to draw significant support from both sides of the aisle.
Both sides will be able to frame it as a positive going forward, says Mary Layton Atkinson, a professor of political science at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and author of “Combative Politics.”
Republicans will say they acted on something America cares about without overreaching. Democrats will say they acted on something America cares about and proved they are not coming for Republicans’ guns.
“Both Democrats and Republicans will use it as a win going into the 2022 elections,” says Professor Atkinson.
The bill isn’t going to solve America’s gun violence problem. The nation has more guns than people, points out David Brady, a political science professor at Stanford University who is working on a book about political parity and its effect on policy gridlock.
But for quite some time Congress has been unable to do anything about guns, despite the relative popularity of many gun control measures. Professor Brady says this move could be important because something is better than nothing – and because it could show that gun lobby groups are not all-powerful, after all.
“So in the long run it strikes me as a first step toward legislation that will do even more,” he says.