US Congress Passes Biggest Regulatory Bill in Decades

by time news

To great applause, the US Congress adopted a law on Friday June 24 aimed at implementing firearms regulation. Supported by members of both parties, this regulation is the most important in nearly 30 years in a country plagued by shootings.
Firearms in the United States: a significant step towards additional controls

After the Senate on Thursday, the House of Representatives approved a package of measures introducing new gun limitations and dedicating billions of dollars to mental health and school safety.

Removal of weapons for dangerous people

The parliamentary initiative was launched after the Uvalde massacre, which killed 21 people including 19 children in a Texas elementary school at the end of May, and that of Buffalo in New York State, during which 10 black people were killed. were killed in a supermarket in mid-May.

The text highlights in particular the support for laws, State by State, which would allow the weapons they possess to be removed from the hands of people deemed dangerous. He also wants to strengthen criminal and psychological background checks for gun buyers between the ages of 18 and 21 and introduce better control of the illegal sale of weapons, and the funding of programs dedicated to mental health. But the proposed measures fall far short of what President Joe Biden wanted, such as banning assault rifles.

Accord rare

In a deeply divided America, an agreement in Congress between elected Democrats and Republicans is indeed rare, especially on this very divisive subject. Among the elected Republicans in the House, 14 exceeded the instructions of their leader Kevin McCarthy to vote in favor of the bill.

The vote came a day after the predominantly conservative Supreme Court struck down « restrictions » the carrying of weapons provided for since 1913 by a law of the State of New York. This long-awaited ruling clearly affirmed for the first time that Americans have the right to carry guns outside their homes.

In reaction to the passage of the gun violence law, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was pleased that the upper house had “did something many thought impossible just a few weeks ago: we passed the first landmark gun safety law in 30 years”. His Republican counterpart Mitch McConnell had believed that this law would make the United States safer “without our country being less free”.

As soon as the text was unveiled, the NRA, the powerful arms lobby, expressed its opposition to the text, judging on the contrary that it could be used to “restrict purchases of legal weapons”.

You may also like

Leave a Comment