gun safety

Biden signs gun safety bill into law : NPR

Biden signs gun safety bill into law : NPR
Biden signs gun safety bill into law : NPR

President Biden signs into law the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act gun safety bill, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Saturday as first lady Jill Biden looks on.

Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP


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Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP


President Biden signs into law the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act gun safety bill, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Saturday as first lady Jill Biden looks on.

Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP

President Biden on Saturday signed into law the first major gun safety legislation passed by Congress in nearly 30 years.

The signing comes just over a month after the mass shooting at a Texas elementary school killed 19 children and two adults. That attack came 10 days after a racist mass shooting at a Buffalo, N.Y., supermarket killed 10 Black people.

“While this bill doesn’t do everything I want, it does include actions I’ve long called for that are going to save lives,” Biden said just before signing the measure.

“Today, we say more than enough. We say more than enough,” he added. “At a time when it seems impossible to get anything done in Washington, we are doing something consequential.”

The legislation, which passed the House

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Senators reach a bipartisan deal on gun safety legislation : NPR

Senators reach a bipartisan deal on gun safety legislation : NPR
Senators reach a bipartisan deal on gun safety legislation : NPR

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Senators have reached a deal on gun control legislation.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

A bipartisan group of Senate negotiators say they have reached a deal on a package of safety and gun-related measures narrowly focused on preventing future shootings similar to the one in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 children and two teachers were killed in their school.

The proposal, which has not been written into legislative text, includes money to encourage states to pass and implement so-called “red flag” laws to remove guns from potentially dangerous people, money for school safety and mental health resources, expanded background checks for gun purchases for people between the ages of 18 and 21 and penalties for illegal straw purchases by convicted criminals.

The agreement has the support of at least 20 senators who worked closely over the past several weeks to find the areas of common ground that could pass the closely divided Senate. The group includes 10 Republicans, meaning a final bill could potentially garner the 60 votes necessary to overcome a filibuster.

The negotiators called it a “commonsense” proposal that would reduce the threat of violence across the country.

“Our plan increases needed mental health resources, improves school safety and support for students, and helps ensure dangerous criminals

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