Bipartisan Gun Violence Bill: What Passage Would Mean In California

CALIFORNIA— Senators representing California voted for a bipartisan gun violence bill that passed the Senate 65-33 Thursday. The bill now heads to the House.

The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act would strengthen background checks for the youngest firearms buyers, expand the definition of a gun seller and impose new penalties on gun traffickers. It could also give California and its communities a share of $15 billion to improve school safety and fund mental health initiatives.

The legislation would also make $750 million available to the 19 states and the District of Columbia that have “red flag” laws to make it easier for them to temporarily take away firearms from people who have been adjudged to be dangerous, and to other states with violence prevention programs. To receive the money, a state with a red flag law would have to have a legal process in place for the gun owner to fight the removal of the firearm.

Two-thirds of people were said to know of the state’s red flag law, according to a Pew poll done in 2020.

California’s red flag law permits certain people to get a gun violence restraining order, according to the San Francisco district attorney’s office. This refers to a person who has been deemed a threat to themselves or someone else, the office said.

If the Senate approves it on a final vote, the Democratic-controlled House is expected to do the same in short order, making it the most significant curb on firearms since an assault weapons ban in the 1990s that was allowed to expire.

Both California senators Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla voted yes on the bill with additional hopes.

“I just filed an amendment to the Senate's bipartisan gun bill that would raise the age to purchase an assault weapon to 21,” Feinstein tweeted.

“Work is far from over. This bill will make our communities safer, but it does not include other lifesaving measures that we need to end the scourge of gun violence across the country,” Padilla stated in a news release. “I will keep fighting to ensure that children feel safe at school and people don’t live in fear of being shot in a grocery store, movie theater, house of worship, or anywhere in their community.”

Fourteen Republicans joined 48 Democrats and two allied independents in voting for the landmark legislation, crafted in response to a supermarket shooting that killed 10 Black people at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, and the killing of 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas.

Agreement on the 80-page bill came nine days after a committee of 20 senators — 10 Democrats and 10 Republicans — reached an agreement on the framework.

One sticking point was the “boyfriend loophole.” Current federal law prohibits people convicted of domestic abuse from purchasing a firearm only if they are living with, married to, or have a child with their partner. The proposed legislation would expand restrictions to include domestic violence offenders who have been in a “continuing relationship of a romantic or intimate nature” with their victims.

The legislation falls short of measures President Joe Biden and other Democrats sought, such as the reinstatement of an assault weapons ban and restrictions on high-capacity ammunition magazines, but it represents a breakthrough and could turn the midterm elections into an incendiary culture war.

The Uvalde shooting, in particular, had the power that previous mass shootings hadn’t to sway some Republicans to support gun violence legislation.

“I saw a level of fear on the faces of the parents and the children that I spoke to that I’ve never seen before,” Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy, the lead Democratic bargainer, told The Associated Press.

He told the AP his colleagues have encountered anxiety among voters “not just for the safety of their children, but also a fear about the ability of government to rise to this moment and do something, and do something meaningful.”

The bill, Murphy said, would “save thousands of lives.” Before entering the Senate, his House district included Newtown, Connecticut, where 20 children and six staff members perished in a 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The Republicans’ top bargainer, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, said of the agreement: “Some think it goes too far, others think it doesn’t go far enough. And I get it. It’s the nature of compromise.

“I believe that the same people who are telling us to do something are sending us a clear message, to do what we can to keep our children and communities safe,” he added. “I’m confident this legislation moves us in a positive direction.”

Kentucky Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said the legislation is “a commonsense package of popular steps that will help make these horrifying incidents less likely while fully upholding the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.”

The National Rifle Association, which has spent decades derailing gun control legislation, denounced the bill.

“It falls short at every level. It does little to truly address violent crime while opening the door to unnecessary burdens on the exercise of Second Amendment freedom by law-abiding gun owners,” the gun lobby group said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.