A bipartisan group of Senate negotiators released the text of their bill to combat gun violence following a string of recent mass shootings, including one at a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said he expects to pass the bill this week.
The Senate voted 64-34 on Tuesday to advance the legislation, two hours after the text was released, with 14 Republicans voting in favor. The bill would grant funding for states to implement red flag laws or other crisis prevention measures, enhance some background checks, and close the so-called boyfriend loophole: a gap in federal law barring spouses, but not dating partners, convicted of domestic abuse from gun ownership. The bill would also provide funding for some mental health resources and school safety measures.
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Sens. Chris Murphy (D-CT), John Cornyn (R-TX), Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), and Thom Tillis (R-NC) said in a joint statement that they “finalized bipartisan, commonsense legislation to protect America’s children, keep our schools safe, and reduce the threat of violence across our country.”
“Our legislation will save lives and will not infringe on any law-abiding American’s Second Amendment rights,” the senators said. “We look forward to earning broad, bipartisan support and passing our commonsense legislation into law.”
Murphy’s office said the bill, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, is fully offset and lines up with a framework agreement previously announced by the group — and it has the support of enough senators to meet the chamber’s 60-vote filibuster threshold.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) offered his support for the bill after the text became available.
“I support the bill text that Sen. Cornyn and our colleagues have produced,” McConnell said in a statement. “For years, the far left falsely claimed that Congress could only address the terrible issue of mass murders by trampling on law-abiding Americans’ constitutional rights. This bill proves that false. Our colleagues have put together a commonsense package of popular steps that will help make these horrifying incidents less likely while fully upholding the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.”
McConnell had previously indicated that he supported the framework agreement and would support the bill if the legislative text lined up with the framework.
In a statement, Schumer said, “I will now put this life-saving legislation on the Senate floor for a vote, with an initial procedural vote as soon as tonight and, following that, we will move to final passage as quickly as possible.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and President Joe Biden previously backed the agreed-upon framework, signaling that the bill is likely on track to become law.
In remarks on the Senate floor earlier Tuesday, Cornyn said, “What we’re trying do is prevent dangerous individuals from unleashing violence on their communities, and one way of achieving that goal is through more robust crisis intervention programs.”
Cornyn said the bill also provides “increased protection for domestic violence victims.”
“It shouldn’t matter whether a person is married to their abuser if the abuser is convicted of domestic violence,” he said. “And many people have what I will call ‘nontraditional relationships.’”
Cornyn said the bill “doesn’t limit law-abiding gun owners’ rights unless somebody is convicted of domestic abuse under state laws. Their gun laws will not be impacted.”
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The negotiations on the narrow Senate bill began when Murphy took to the Senate floor to seek bipartisan cooperation on gun violence measures in the wake of the Uvalde shooting.
