A bipartisan coalition of senators on Sunday reportedly reached an agreement on gun legislation, encompassing gun trafficking, enhanced background checks, funding for mental health and school safety, and other items.
“We have a deal. Today a bipartisan group of 20 Senators (10 D and 10 R) is announcing a breakthrough agreement on gun violence – the first in 30 years – that will save lives,” Democratic senator Chris Murphy (Conn.) tweeted Sunday.
The framework includes funding to help states pass and implement crisis intervention orders, known as red flag laws, that will allow law enforcement to confiscate weapons from people deemed dangerous, Murphy noted.
The package would also allocate “billions in new funding for mental health and school safety,” he said, “including money for the national build out of community mental health clinics.”
It also targets the “boyfriend loophole,” the closing of which would prevent violent spouses or domestic abusers from acquiring a firearm if they are convicted of abuse against their partner.
Coming on the heels of the House’s passage of a measure that would raise the minimum age required to buy a semi-automatic rifle from 18 to 21, this package includes an enhanced background check for under 21 gun buyers.
“Young buyers can get the gun only after the enhanced check is completed,” Murphy said.
The legislation also aims to provide “clarification of the laws regarding who needs to register as a licensed gun dealer, to make sure all truly commercial sellers are doing background checks,” he added.
In May, Murphy spearheaded talks with a bipartisan group of ten senators, who agreed to negotiate legislation aimed at curbing gun violence in the United States after a series of recent mass shootings shocked the nation.
In May, an 18-year-old gunman entered an elementary school fourth-grade classroom in Uvalde, Texas and massacred 19 children and two teachers with a legally purchased AR-15.