Democratic and Republican senators from the United States presented a minimum agreement to increase gun control, all this after the latest massacres in different parts of the country.
A group of united states senators announced this Sunday an agreement in principle to increase control over firearms in the country, which proposes minimum measures after the mass shootings in a supermarket in Buffalo (New York) and in a school in Uvalde (Texas).
In a statement, the group of senators, both Democrats and Republicans, indicated that the agreement includes a review of the gun buying process for those under 21 (the perpetrators of the Buffalo and Uvalde shootings were both 18).
The package of measures also extends to the entire country the so-called “danger alert” (“Red Flag”) laws, already in force in states such as California, New York and Florida. These allow activating a legal procedure to confiscate the firearms of those who represent a danger to third parties or to themselves.
The group of senators who reached the agreement consists of 10 Democrats and 10 Republicansso that it is foreseeable that it will obtain the necessary support to be approved in the full Senate, where the Democrats enjoy a very narrow majority and need Republican support to marry almost any initiative.
Another of the measures included in the package is designed to put an end to what has come to be baptized as “the void of the boyfriend”, by which until now if someone is accused of domestic violence without being married, he is allowed to continue to own weapons, something that is not the case for married people.
In addition to slightly restricting access to weapons to certain people and under what circumstances, the agreement also includes more funding for mental health resources and to strengthen security in schools. These are two things that gun advocates insist on every time there is a media shootout in the US.
The deal is significant in that it has bipartisan support – if approved, it would be the largest legislative reform on firearms in thirty years – but it remains very far from the proposals of the White House and of the majority of representatives of the Democratic Party, much more restrictive.
Shortly after the deal was announced, the US president, Joe Bidenissued a statement in which he described the agreement as a “step in the right direction”, but regretted that it “obviously” does not include all the measures that he considers necessary.
“Each day that passes, more children are murdered in this country. It is important that the agreement reaches my office as soon as possible so that I can ratify it and we can use these measures to save lives, “he said.
Before reaching the oval office to be ratified by the president, the agreement must be presented as a bill and be approved in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.