The US Senate Tuesday advanced a gun safety measure aiming to address and prevent gun violence by a vote of 64-to-34, clearing the way for further consideration of the bill.
The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act aims to enact a variety of measures, including enhanced background checks for gun purchasers under 21 years of age, the implementation of state crisis intervention programs, and millions of dollars for school safety funding. It will also close the “boyfriend loophole,” which allowed people convicted of misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence that did not live with their victims to retain ownership of firearms.
Republican US Senator Pat Toomey spoke in support of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, stating that “[t]his bipartisan gun safety bill protects the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens while taking steps to make our communities safer.”
Similarly Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham said, “will help us avert a mass killing [rather] than prevent a law-abiding citizen from losing their constitutional right to keep and bear arms.”
The bill will still need to pass both the US Senate and House of Representatives and be signed by the President in order to become law.
