Senate Passes Bipartisan Gun Bill, Breaking a Decades-Long Impasse

[maestrob]

COMMENT: Too little, too late!

The compromise, the product of an intense round of talks between a small group of Democrats and Republicans, omits many of the sweeping gun control measures that Democrats and activists have long called for.

Toiling to keep Republicans on board, Democrats left out their marquee gun control proposals, including a House-passed measure that would prohibit the sale of semiautomatic rifles to people younger than 21, a ban on the sale of high-capacity magazines and a federal red flag law. They also agreed that the enhanced background checks for younger buyers would expire after a decade, just as the assault weapons ban did in 2004, leaving future Congresses to haggle anew about whether to extend it.

But it included substantial breakthroughs beyond what Democrats had initially thought possible when they set out to find a modest deal that could, at the very least, show that Congress was capable of responding to national crisis.

“I’ve never seen families and kids and parents as scared as they were after Uvalde,” Senator Christopher S. Murphy of Connecticut, the lead Democratic negotiator, said on Thursday. They were scared for their children’s safety, he said, “but they were also scared that their government was so fundamentally broken that it couldn’t step up and address the one thing that matters most to anybody in this country — the safety of our kids.”

Mr. Murphy said that while the legislation fell short of everything Democrats would like to pass, it provided “an answer that allows us to tell families all across this country that the era of inaction is over.”

The bill would set aside $750 million in federal grant funding to help states implement red flag laws and for other crisis intervention programs, including mental health courts.

In another change long sought by activists against domestic violence, it would include serious current or recent dating partners in a federal law that bars domestic abusers from being able to purchase a firearm, closing what has become known as the boyfriend loophole. The ban currently applies only to people who have been married to, have been living with or have a child with a victim.

The legislation would set aside millions of dollars, largely in grants, to address mental health in schools and communities, including $150 million for the national suicide hotline. It also would provide $300 million for school safety programs, including bolstering security and funding school resource officers.

Besides Mr. McConnell, the Republican support came from centrists, longtime veterans of previous failed negotiations, and notably, lawmakers just a couple of years into their latest term. Just two of the 15 Republicans, Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Todd Young of Indiana, are facing voters in November, and four are retiring.

In trying to make their case to Republicans, Mr. McConnell and Senator John Cornyn of Texas, his handpicked emissary to the talks, conducted a poll of 1,000 gun-owning households across the country and found that most supported the key elements. A solid majority backed increasing federal funding for states to maintain or implement red flag laws, and more than 80 percent supported closing the boyfriend loophole and allowing law enforcement to have more time to examine juvenile and mental health records.

That was not enough for most Senate Republicans, however, who argued that the measure would infringe upon the rights of gun owners.

“I’m angry that these horrific crimes keep happening, but I’m also angry that this august chamber plays political games,” said Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, who teamed with Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, the No. 3 Republican, in an unsuccessful effort to strip out the gun-related measures and divert federal funds to mental health and school safety programs.

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