A bipartisan group of senators announced Sunday that they'd agreed to an outline of a gun legislation package that could reverse years of congressional inaction on proposals to reduce mass shootings. The deal includes "red flag" laws and enhanced background checks on prospective gun buyers, NBC News reports. It does not include raising the minimum age for purchasing certain rifles from 18 to 21, per the Washington Post, which had the support of President Biden and others, including some Republicans. Although the proposals are modest compared with what many Democrats wanted, passage could still represent a breakthrough in the congressional stalemate over gun control, per Politico. The senators agreed on:
"Red flag" laws: A grant program would be used to encourage states to approve such legislation, under which guns could be kept from people once a judge found them to be a potential danger to themselves or others.
Background checks: The process would be expanded for those ages 18 to 21. State and local criminal records would be checked before clearance, as would state providers for mental health information that could be disqualifying.
Spending: Billions more could be put toward mental health care, school security, and new campus infrastructure. More armed officers would be hired.
"Our plan saves lives while also protecting the constitutional rights of law-abiding Americans," the senators said in a statement. But the deal is an "agreement on principles, not legislative text," a Republican Senate aide cautioned. "The details will be critical for Republicans, particularly the firearms-related provisions," the aide told Politico. warned. "One or more of these principles could be dropped if text is not agreed to." Ten GOP senators signed on, per CNN; that's the number of Republican votes needed to get around a Senate filibuster. (More gun laws stories.)
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