Senators Announce Bipartisan Deal on Gun Safety Reforms

A group of 20 senators has announced a bipartisan agreement on gun safety reforms, which was brokered Senators Chris Murphy (D-CT), Krysten Sinema (D-AZ), Thom Tillis (R-NC) and  John Cornyn (R-TX) .

“Today, we are announcing a commonsense, bipartisan proposal to protect America’s children, keep our schools safe, and reduce the threat of violence across our country,” the senators announced in a statement. “Families are scared, and it is our duty to come together and get something done that will help restore their sense of safety and security in their communities. Our plan increases needed mental health resources, improves school safety and support for students, and helps ensure dangerous criminals and those who are adjudicated as mentally ill can’t purchase weapons. Most importantly, our plan saves lives while also protecting the constitutional rights of law-abiding Americans. We look forward to earning broad, bipartisan support and passing our commonsense proposal into law.”

While the deal falls short of what Democrats have been demanding in the aftermath of the country’s latest shootings, the Washington Post notes that “the gun provisions set out in the framework could, if enacted, represent the most significant new federal firearms restrictions enacted since the mid-1990s.” Here’s a list of the agreement’s provisions:

A bipartisan group of 20 senators has announced a new proposed gun and safety package with a number of provisions: pic.twitter.com/pfJueGRXiC

— Kevin Liptak (@Kevinliptakcnn) June 12, 2022

A bipartisan group of senators involved in the negotiations gave a statement on the agreement to Politico:

10 Republicans support it. So does Schumer:

“Once the text of this agreement is finalized, I will put this bill on the floor as soon as possible so that the Senate can act quickly to advance gun-safety legislation.”

— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) June 12, 2022

The White House released its own statement wherein President Joe Biden called for the agreement’s passage with all speed:

.@POTUS says he wants to sign the Senate gun agreement into law ASAP. “Each day that passes, more children are killed in this country: the sooner it comes to my desk, the sooner I can sign it, and the sooner we can use these measures to save lives.” pic.twitter.com/P8Z2xpQ8tC

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) June 12, 2022

Murphy, who was spearheading gun reforms on the Democrat side, put out a statement admitting the agreement won’t end gun violence, but insisting that it still represents “real, meaningful progress.”

9/ So grateful to @JohnCornyn @kyrstensinema @SenThomTillis @SenToomey @Sen_JoeManchin @SenBlumenthal @SenatorCollins @LindseyGrahamSC @ChrisCoons @TeamHeinrich @BillCassidy and others for their amazing work to get us this far.

— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) June 12, 2022

Watch above, via NBC.

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