Senators strike bipartisan gun deal, heralding potential breakthrough
A bipartisan group of Senate negotiators is set to announce Sunday that it reached a tentative agreement on legislation that would pair modest new gun restrictions with significant new mental health and school security investments — a deal that could put Congress on a path to enacting the most significant national response in decades to acts of mass gun violence.
Modest is the word for it. You can still buy an assault rifle at 18 (you have to wait ‘til you’re 21 to buy a handgun). All those pesky prairie dogs, you know.
Under the tentative deal, a federal grant program would encourage states to establish “red flag” laws that allow authorities to keep guns away from people found by a judge to represent a potential threat to themselves or others, while federal criminal background checks for gun buyers under 21 would include a mandatory search of juvenile justice records for the first time.
It does not include a provision supported by President Biden, congressional Democrats and a handful of Republicans that would raise the minimum age for the purchase of at least some rifles from 18 to 21. Handguns are already subject to a federal 21-and-over age limit.
Oh, yes, they included something for mental health care — but also something for the NRA (armed officers at schools, though not teachers):
Other provisions could funnel billions of new federal dollars into mental health care and school security programs, funding new campus infrastructure and armed officers.
Presumably, the “armed officers” will have been trained not to wait in the hallway for an hour while young victims bleed out.
And the headline should have bolded the word “potential”:
Key pitfalls remain: Only a handful of the 50 Republican senators were involved in the negotiating group, and under the Senate’s filibuster rule, at least 10 would have to join with the 50 members of the Democratic caucus to advance any legislation. Red-flag laws, in particular, have raised many conservative Republicans’ hackles, though negotiators said last week they believed there would be sufficient GOP support to pass any deal.
The people involved in the talks said it remained unclear how many senators would ultimately sign the statement Sunday morning. One said there were still hopes of having at least 10 Republicans on board, signaling a clear path to passage.
More than that, it’s not even a real bill yet. As the story says (way down in the middle), “the framework set to be announced Sunday amounts to a statement of principles, not a fully written bill.”
And Congress has only a little time left to act before the Independence Day recess.