Gun reform legislation makes progress in Senate

Democrat senator Chris Murphy says red-flag laws and background checks are part of the package under discussion.

Brad Fowler of San Antonio lights a candle for the 19 students and two teachers killed by a teenage gunman at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. Picture: AFP

The US Senate Democrat leading a push for new gun legislation said discussions over red-flag laws and background checks are making progress and that he expected a package of measures to be ready for debate this week.

Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut said overnight Sunday that he and Republican senator John Cornyn of Texas were working together to craft a package that will garner the 60 votes needed for any new legislation to advance and pass the Senate. He said they are looking at regulations Republican-led Florida adopted in 2018 as a template for nationwide proposals.

“On the table is red-flag laws, changes to our background-check system to improve the existing system, a handful of other items that will make a difference,” Senator Murphy told CNN. “The template for Florida is the right one, which is: Do some significant mental health investment, some school safety, money and some modest but impactful changes in gun laws. That’s the kind of package we’re putting together right now.”

Following the mass shootings at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and a supermarket in Buffalo, New York state, senators Murphy and Cornyn have led the effort to try to reach a consensus on gun-control measures. Finding common ground in the evenly divided Senate is critical for the legislation, with many Republicans resistant to restrictions.

Senators Murphy and Cornyn have said they were looking to reach a deal this week, when congress returns to work in Washington. Senator Murphy said he was uncertain if a vote would take place this week, “but we need to make decisions on whether or not we have a sustainable package in the next five days”. An issue that remains a point of contention is the purchasing age for semiautomatic rifles, which will likely not be included in the package under discussion.

Senator Murphy said that while his Republican Senate colleagues are interested in potentially raising the age requirement from 18 to 21, both sides continue to search for ways to change the requirements without preventing law-abiding citizens from accessing guns and infringing on their rights under the Second Amendment. “There is interest in taking a look at that age range, 18 to 21, and doing what is necessary to make sure that we aren’t giving weapons to anybody that has during their younger years a mental health history, a juvenile record,” he said.

Senator Murphy said those juvenile records often aren’t accessible when someone walks into a store to purchase a gun as an adult.

A leading Republican senator, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, said an expansion of background checks should be part of the package. “We all agree that violent criminals and deranged, dangerously mentally ill people shouldn’t have firearms,” said Senator Toomey, who sponsored a failed proposal to expand background checks in 2013 with Democrat senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia. “We need a mechanism to increase the likelihood that we’ll identify such a person and prevent them from buying a gun legally anyway. So that’s the idea behind expanding background checks,” he told CBS.

President Joe Biden stepped up his calls for legislation to reduce gun violence in a speech last Thursday. Mr Biden threw his support behind a broad set of measures, including a ban on assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines, which aren’t included in the Senate talks.

The Wall Street Journal