US Senate passes first gun control bill, its most significant gun legislation in 3 decades

The most important piece of gun legislation in 30 years was passed by the US Senate.

The bill follows deadly shooting sprees last month at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket and a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school that left 31 people dead.

On June 23, the legislation was approved by the upper body of Congress with the support of 15 Republicans and 33 Democrats.

Before US President Biden can sign the plan into law, it must now pass the House of Representatives.

The president urged House members to “promptly vote on this bipartisan bill and deliver it to my desk” in a statement issued following the vote.

“Tonight, after 28 years of inaction, bipartisan members of Congress came together to heed the call of families across the country and passed legislation to address the scourge of gun violence in our communities,”  Biden said.

“Families in Uvalde and Buffalo — and too many tragic shootings before — have demanded action. And tonight, we acted.”

The reforms include tougher background checks for buyers younger than 21 and $15bn (£12.2bn) in federal funding for mental health programs and school security upgrades.

It also calls for funding to encourage states to implement “red flag” laws to remove firearms from people considered a threat.

And it closes the so-called “boyfriend loophole” by blocking gun sales to those convicted of abusing unmarried intimate partners.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has vowed to take the bill through the House quickly, despite Republican leader Kevin McCarthy urging his members to vote against the bill.

“First thing tomorrow morning, the Rules Committee will meet to advance this life-saving legislation to the floor,”  Pelosi said after the vote.

The bill is also significant because it is the first time in decades that proposed reforms have received this level of support from both Democrats and Republicans. Historically, efforts to strengthen US gun laws have been blocked by the Republican party.

All 50 Democrats, including the party’s most conservative members, Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, were joined by deal-making Republicans, including the party’s Senate Leader Mitch McConnell and close Trump ally Lindsey Graham.

The US has the highest rate of firearms deaths among the world’s wealthy nations – more than 20,900 people have been killed in gun violence in the US this year, including through homicide and suicide, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a non-profit research group.