“We have said more than enough”, warns the US president regarding a new regulation that toughens the sale of weapons to young people between 18 and 21 years old but fails to restrict the trade in assault rifles among the population
The president of the United States, Joe Biden, put his signature on Saturday in the so-called Bipartisan Act for Safer Communities. This is the first legal initiative that limits, albeit timidly, the conditions for the possession of firearms for 30 years. The president himself praised it as a “monumental” rule.
“Time is of the essence. Lives are going to be saved,” Biden continued, referring to the new law. In addition, he announced that after his trip to Europe – this Sunday he arrived in the German town of Schloss Elmau to participate in the G7 meeting and next Tuesday he will land in Madrid to attend the NATO summit – he will convene the congressmen who have promoted this law and relatives of victims of violence with firearms.
“Today we have said something more than enough. We have said more than enough. At a time when it seemed impossible to do something in Washington, we have been able to do something relevant (…). I know there is much to do. I’m not going to give up,” Biden added after signing a long-awaited law on gun control, according to Europa Press.
In fact, this legislation comes largely in response to the recent series of brutal gun attacks that have hit the United States. The most shocking were the massacre of children in a school in Uvalde (Texas) and the attack on several African-Americans in a supermarket in Buffalo (New York).
Support from ‘rogue’ Republicans
The initiative was definitively approved on Friday by 234 against 193 votes and also had the support of 14 Republican congressmen considered “rebels” in the conservative party that is still led by the controversial former president Donald Trump. In the Senate, it was validated by a vote of 65 to 33 on Thursday night, also with the support of 15 Republicans, including Republican spokesman Mitch McConnell.
The measures included in the new law, which has a budget of 12,300 million euros (13,000 million dollars), toughen the criminal record check of buyers of weapons between 18 and 21 years. They also make gun trafficking more difficult and clarify the definition of a federal gun sales license.
In addition, the new regulations will finance school safety, mental health and violence prevention programs. However, Biden aspired to tougher restrictions and even to recover the ban on the sale of assault weapons among the population, something that he has not finally achieved due to lack of sufficient support.
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