Bipartisan US Senate group unveils framework on gun safety reform

Washington, June 12

A bipartisan group of US senators announced on Sunday that it has agreed on a framework for potential legislation on gun safety, including support for state “red flag” laws, tougher background checks for firearms buyers under 21 and a crackdown on a practice called “straw purchases”.

“Our plan saves lives while also protecting the constitutional rights of law-abiding Americans,” the group, led by Democrat Chris Murphy and Republican John Cornyn, said in a statement. “We look forward to earning broad, bipartisan support and passing our commonsense proposal into law.” The talks followed a series of high-profile mass shootings in the United States, including one at a school in Uvalde, Texas, last month that killed 19 young children and one also in May in a Buffalo, New York, supermarket that killed 10 Black victims.

The agreement was announced a day after tens of thousands in Washington and at hundreds of other places across the United States rallied to demand that lawmakers pass legislation aimed at curbing gun violence. Reuters