House passes bipartisan gun safety measure, sends to Biden for signature

le Dig In The Democrat-controlled House on Friday passed a bipartisan gun safety bill, sending the measure to President Biden so he can sign the measure into law.

The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act cleared the chamber in a 234 to 193 vote. The Senate late Thursday passed the bill in a 65-33 vote.

The bill follows a string of mass shootings, among them the May 24 attack at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, during which 19 children and two teachers were killed.

A bipartisan group of senators, lead by Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn negotiated the compromise measure which avoids an assault weapons ban or magazine capacity limit but closes the "boyfriend" loophole and allocates funding for the prevention of mass shootings.

Cornyn's state bore witness to the Uvalde attack and his approval ratings have held steady amid his push for gun reform, despite the Republican stronghold traditionally supporting expansive gun rights.

To end the boyfriend loophole, the legislation prohibits a misdemeanor domestic violence offender with a "current or recent former dating relationship with the victim" from owning or purchasing a gun. The definition of a "dating relationship" will be left to the court's discretion.

Also included in the bill is an enhancement of background checks for gun buyers aged 18-21.

Republican House leadership stood squarely against the measure though 14 Republicans joined the Democrats in voting for the bill, according to CBS News.

In addition to the House members posted above.

The 15 Republican senators who supported the bill were:

Roy Blunt, Missouri
Richard Burr, North Carolina
Shelley Moore Capito, West Virginia
Bill Cassidy. Louisiana
Susan Collins, Maine
John Cornyn, Texas
Joni Ernst, Iowa
Lindsey Graham, South Carolina
Mitch McConnell, Kentucky
Lisa Murkowski, Alaska
Rob Portman, Ohio
Mitt Romney, Utah
Thom Tillis, North Carolina
Pat Toomey, Pennsylvania
Todd Young, Indiana

Just another “slice” in the gun control loaf! Just as Nelson “Pete” Shields said to do back in 1976.

Nelson T. ‘Pete’ Shields
Founder of Handgun Control, Inc.(Now the Brady Center)

“I’m convinced that we have to have federal legislation to build on. We’re going to have to take one step at a time, and the first step is necessarily — given the political realities — going to be very modest.

Of course, it’s true that politicians will then go home and say, ‘This is a great law. The problem is solved.’ And it’s also true that such statements will tend to defuse the gun-control issue for a time.

So then we’ll have to strengthen that law, and then again to strengthen that law, and maybe again and again. Right now, though, we’d be satisfied not with half a loaf but with a slice. Our ultimate goal — total control of handguns in the United States — is going to take time.

My estimate is from seven to ten years. The problem is to slow down the increasing number of handguns sold in this country. The second problem is to get them all registered. And the final problem is to make the possession of all handguns and all handgun ammunition — except for the military, policemen, licensed security guards, licensed sporting clubs, and licensed gun collectors — TOTALLY ILLEGAL.”

-Pete Shields, Chairman and founder, Handgun Control Inc., “A Reporter At Large: Handguns,” The New Yorker, July 26, 1976, 57-58

In 1984, they went after rifles and shotguns, something they said they had no interest in.

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