WASHINGTON: For the first time in thirty years, the US House of Representatives enacted important gun safety legislation on Friday. President Joe Biden is anticipated to sign it into law.
The day following a Supreme Court decision that dramatically increased gun rights, the House voted in favor of the bill by a vote of 234 to 193. The motion received the support of 14 Republicans, with no Democratic opposition. Major law enforcement organizations backed it, and the National Rifle Association and US gun manufacturers suffered a rare setback as a result of its ratification.
Following a late-night Thursday Senate vote to adopt the bill 65-33, with 15 Republicans voting yes, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the House took action.
With numerous attempts to impose new restrictions on gun sales failing time and time again until Friday, gun control has long been a contentious topic in the United States.
Following deadly shootings this month at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, and an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, lawmakers passed what some Democrats described as a modest, first-step plan.
During the discussion, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi remarked that the Act “includes multiple significant initiatives to save lives, not only from horrific mass shootings but also from the daily carnage of gun crime, suicide, and sad accidents.”
