US campaigners have welcomed a potential cross-party deal on gun safety reforms, but also stressed that the proposals do not go far enough.
“This is progress even if small,” said David Hogg, who is a survivor of the 2018 Parkland school shooting in Florida. “It’s a great first step but that’s just what it is,” Mr. Hogg told the media, adding that “No single policy is going to stop every shooting but this policy could stop the next Parkland and that’s a good step”.
Ex-lawmaker, Gabrielle Giffords, injured in a 2011 shooting in Arizona, said it is an “important step forward”. Giffords, who suffered a severe brain injury, also gave a tentative welcome to the proposals. In a post on Twitter, she said the agreement “could be the first time in 30 years that Congress takes major action on gun safety. This deal represents that it’s still possible to cut through politics and deliver for the American people”.
In checking the details of the plan, includes tougher checks for buyers under the age of 21 and cracking down on illegal gun purchases. They were announced by a cross-party group of US Senators on Sunday, June 12, 2022. Crucially, the proposals are supported by 10 Republicans, meaning they have the numbers to be voted into law. President Joe Biden also said the plans were “steps in the right direction” but they fell far short of what he and many Democrats are calling for.
Earlier Attempts on Gun Laws
Previous attempts to tighten gun laws in the US, which has the highest rate of firearm deaths among the world’s wealthy nations, failed to get the required support in Congress. Tens of thousands of protesters rallied across the US on Saturday, June 11, 2022, to call for stricter gun laws in the wake of two mass shootings.
Moms Demand Action, a gun-control advocacy organisation, tweeted that “Our grassroots army is ready to fight like hell to make sure it becomes law. 26 years for federal action on gun safety is unacceptable”. Senate Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, said he was “pleased” by the development and that he wanted to move a bill quickly to a Senate vote once legislative details were worked out. However, the Republican Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell, stopped short of endorsing the proposals, but said the proposals showed “the value of dialogue and cooperation”.
The National Rifle Association of America (NRA), a powerful gun-rights advocacy group, said it would respond once the full text of the reforms is released. However, the group stressed that it would “continue to oppose any effort to insert gun control policies, initiatives that override constitutional due process protections & efforts to deprive law-abiding citizens of their fundamental right to protect themselves/loved ones into this or any other legislation”.
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