WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate bargainers announced a bipartisan framework Sunday responding to last month’s mass shootings, a modest breakthrough offering measured gun curbs and bolstered efforts to improve school safety and mental health programs.
The proposal falls far short of tougher steps long sought by President Joe Biden and many Democrats. Even so, if the accord leads to the enactment of legislation, it would signal a turn from years of gun massacres that have yielded little but stalemate in Congress.
Leaders hope to push any agreement into law quickly — they hope this month — before the political momentum fades that has been stirred by the recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas.
The compromise would make the juvenile records of gun buyers under age 21 available when they undergo background checks. The suspects who killed 10 people at a grocery store in Buffalo and 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde were both 18, and many of the attackers who have committed mass shootings in recent years have been young.
The agreement would offer money to states to implement “red flag” laws that make it easier to temporarily take guns from people considered potentially violent, and to bolster school safety and mental health programs.
And it would take other steps, including requiring more people who sell guns obtain federal dealers’ licenses, which means they would have to conduct background checks of purchasers.
Biden said in a statement that the framework “does not do everything that I think is needed, but it reflects important steps in the right direction, and would be the most significant gun safety legislation to pass Congress in decades.”
Given the bipartisan support, “there are no excuses for delay, and no reason why it should not quickly move through the Senate and the House,” he said.
-
Neighbors split over hole in Indianapolis neighborhood
Over 18 months ago, a new resident purchased a previous state-owned lot. The development had hit a road bump which left the lot with a hole full of dirt, bricks, and trash.
Hoosier family shares how their loved one died while on Medicaid waiting list
FSSA created the waitlist to solve budgetary issues. But now, families are stuck asking questions and not getting answers.
Emerson Avenue roadwork between Stop 11 and County Line roads is complete
Travelers between Stop 11 and County Line Road say they don’t miss the orange barrels and traffic delays that started in 2021.
Silver Alert cancelled for missing 70-year-old man from Vincennes
The Indiana State Police has cancelled a Silver Alert declared for a 70-year-old man who was missing from Vincennes, Indiana.
