President Biden signs into law the most significant gun safety law in three decades
President Joe Biden on Saturday signed the most significant gun violence bill – the first significant federal bill on gun safety in decades. The president called it “a historic achievement.”
The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act passed the lower chamber by a vote of 234-193.
“Time is of the essence. Lives will be saved,” he said in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. Citing the families of shooting victims he has met, the president said, “Their message to us was, ‘Do something.’ How many times did we hear that? ‘Just do something. For God’s sake, just do something.’ Today we did.”
The legislation materialized after a recent series of mass shootings, including the massacre of 19 students and two teachers at a Texas elementary school.
The gun safety reforms include:
- Tough background checks for buyers younger than 21
- Makes gun trafficking and straw purchases distinct federal crimes for the first time
- Provides billions for mental health services and closes the so-called “boyfriend loophole” to prevent convicted domestic abusers from purchasing a firearm for five years
- Support the creation of crisis intervention court programs. $750 million in federal grants to incentivize states that create so-called red flag laws, which allow guns to be temporarily confiscated from people deemed dangerous by a judge
