在...之后数周的谈判周二晚上，一个由两党参议员组成的小组宣布了该文本他们反对枪支暴力的妥协-支持精神健康和学校安全服务，适度改革枪支法律，包括加强禁止家庭虐待者拥有枪支，并提供激励措施，以扩大21岁以下潜在买家的联邦背景调查系统。
据两党领袖称，参议院将于周二晚上对该法案进行初步程序性投票，该法案可能很快在参议院获得通过。乔·拜登总统此前曾呼吁更强有力的枪支管制法包括共和党人拒绝的攻击性武器的彻底禁令。周二早些时候，他表示将等待对该法案发表评论直到它被引进后。
参议员们一直渴望保持他们协议的势头，该协议最初于6月12日粗略宣布，并引发了德州乌瓦尔迪的学校大规模枪击事件上个月。
国会还没有对枪支采取重大的立法行动大约30年后保守派议员长期以来一直不愿意在这个问题上努力，认为枪支管制是无效的，违反宪法的。但是在近几个月和近几年的许多类似屠杀之后，乌瓦尔迪的屠杀引发了新一轮会谈民主党人和共和党人在平分秋色的议院中。
康涅狄格和得克萨斯州的民主党人克里斯·墨菲和共和党人约翰·科宁，以及亚利桑那州的Kyrsten Sinema和北卡罗来纳州的Thom Tillis谈判的最终结果，“不会让所有人都满意，”科尔宁周二在法案文本公布前的一次发言中说。
“有些人认为这太过分了。其他人认为这还不够。我明白，”他说。“但妥协的本质和真正想要获得结果的本质要求每个人都努力找到我们可以找到的共同点。”
墨菲-也许是参议院的最直言不讳的支持者代表2012年桑迪胡克小学枪击案现场的枪支控制专家在科宁之后发表了自己的言论，他认为他们已经取得了重要进展。
墨菲说，这“不是装饰门面”。
“这项法案将拯救生命，”他继续说道。“这项法案将拯救成千上万人的生命。这将是每一个投票支持它的参议员都会感到骄傲的事情。”
周二晚上的程序性投票只是通过该法案的多日过程的第一步。最终投票的确切时间还不知道，但可能会在本周末进行，所有相关人员都希望在7月4日休会两周之前批准该立法。
第一项投票是开始辩论立法。由于民主党领导层的一些操纵，继续辩论只需要简单多数就可以推进。不过，这可能会成为该法案获得初步支持的风向标。与此同时，刚刚发布的法案仍在传阅，许多参议员还没有时间阅读。
目前还不清楚该软件包的总成本将于何时公布。
参议院多数党领袖查克·舒默(Chuck Schumer)和参议院少数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔(Mitch McConnell)都表示，他们支持该法案，这表明除非出现更多进展，否则该法案很可能会获得参议院的绝对多数。十名共和党人最初签署了6月12日的框架，尽管周二的法案文本仅由四名关键谈判者宣布。
麦康奈尔在一份声明中说:“我支持参议员科尔宁和我们的同事提出的法案文本。”“多年来，极左派错误地声称，国会只能通过践踏守法的美国人的宪法权利来解决大屠杀的可怕问题。这一法案证明了这一点。"
在周二的另一份声明中，舒默庆祝了该小组的工作，并表示他将“将这项拯救生命的立法提交参议院投票，最早今晚进行初步程序性投票，之后，我们将尽快进入最终通过阶段。”
然而，全国步枪协会表示反对“过于宽泛”的法案，该法案“在各个层面上都存在不足”
“这项立法可能被滥用来限制合法的枪支购买，侵犯守法的美国人的权利，并使用联邦资金资助州和地方政客采取的枪支控制措施，”该组织表示。"这项法案给政府官员留下了太多的自由裁量权。"
细节
立法文本中的关键条款专注于所谓的“男友漏洞”，即先前联邦禁止被定罪的家庭虐待者拥有枪支，以及扩大对18至21岁想购买枪支的人的联邦背景调查。
在他们周二的讲话中，也许反映了他们共同达成的协议的三角政治，柯宁和墨菲有时以不同的方式描述这些新措施和他们法案的其他部分。
作为美国广播公司新闻以前报告过在起草过程中，参议员们在两个问题上陷入了僵局:如何精心设计语言来填补“男友漏洞”以及如何落实资金来激励反暴力项目。
在周二的发言中，科宁解释了在他看来，立法者是如何解决这些问题的。
关于反暴力计划:根据Cornyn的说法，旨在激励各州实施所谓的“红旗”法律，从被认为对自己或他人构成危险的人手中清除枪支的资金将能够应用于任何数量的反暴力计划。
Cornyn说，将由各州决定他们希望使用这些资金实施什么样的项目，是“红旗”法、精神健康法院、退伍军人法院、门诊治疗项目等等。他说，要获得联邦资金，这些项目都必须有“健全的正当程序保护”才能获得资格。
“我们不会引入全国性的‘红旗’法律，但我们会向危机干预项目提供与执法相关的拨款，无论你是否采用了红旗项目，或许你选择了不同的项目。这项拨款计划将为实施他们自己采纳的计划的每个州提供资金。
关于这个漏洞，Cornyn说，参议员们同意扩大男朋友的定义，以便其他类型的亲密伴侣被判犯有家庭暴力罪，被禁止拥有枪支。
他说，该法案包括允许那些被判犯有非配偶轻罪家庭虐待的人在五年后恢复枪支所有权，如果他们没有犯罪记录的话。
“我认为这是对犯了错误、犯了家庭暴力、被判轻罪的人的一种激励，让他们改正自己的行为，不再重犯，”他说。
他还详细说明了该法案的其他部分将如何实施。
随着对18至21岁的联邦背景调查的扩大，各州将控制他们愿意与系统共享的信息。但是Cornyn说，该立法为各州上传青少年记录“提供了一种激励”。
这项立法还包括“强化”学校安全和扩大国家心理健康机构的资金。
墨菲跟随科宁在参议院发言，从他的角度概述了该法案，并表示相信终点线已经不远，他说:“我相信，本周我们将通过立法，这将成为国会30年来通过的最重要的反暴力立法。这是一个突破。更重要的是，这是两党合作的突破。”
“这是一条达成妥协的艰难道路，但任何有价值的事情都不容易。妥协中没有人能得到他们想要的一切。对许多人来说，这个法案太少了。对其他人来说太多了。但这不是打勾练习，”他说。
虽然Cornyn建议为“红旗”法律提供资金也可以应用于一些反暴力项目，但墨菲强调，这些反暴力项目的选择是“狭窄的”
墨菲说:“正如参议员科尔宁所说，我们也将使这些资金有资格用于其他基于法院的反暴力干预措施，这对我们的共和党同事来说非常重要。”尽管如此，这一条款允许各州选择完全退出红旗法，转而选择其他反暴力措施。
墨菲还表示，允许那些家庭虐待者重新获得购买枪支的权利将只适用于初犯者，并有其他要求。
“第二，这项法案将确保家庭暴力者不能购买或拥有枪支。我们正在填补男朋友的漏洞，”他说。但他承认:“为了与州重罪恢复权保持一致，这项立法将允许个人在一段时间后能够恢复他们的权利，但仅限于初犯，并且只有在其间没有暴力犯罪的情况下。”
Murphy没有像Cornyn那样提到，各州将有能力选择与国家背景调查系统共享多少青少年记录信息，以供18至21岁的人购买武器。
“我们所知道的是，现代大众射手的年龄通常在18至21岁之间，”他说。“所以这个法案加强了背景调查...包括打电话给当地警察局，这一过程可能需要三天，如果有特别令人担忧的迹象需要调查人员采取后续行动，则可能需要10天。这种强化的背景调查将确保处于危机中的年轻买家再次接受调查，也许是在他们决定购买致命武器实施犯罪和他们有能力获得武器之间的一段短时间内。”
尽管民主党人在这项法案上已经开始变得明朗，墨菲仍将其吹捧为一个重要的步骤。
“本周，我们有机会打破30年的沉默，通过一项法案来改变我们的法律，拯救成千上万的生命。这是一种妥协。这是两党的妥协。这是一条前进的道路，共和党人和民主党人可以共同努力，解决这个国家面临的一些最棘手、最困难的挑战。
Senators unveil text of bipartisan deal on gun violence, setting up speedy vote
Afterweeks of negotiation, a bipartisan group of senators on Tuesday night announced the textof their anti-gun violence compromise-- a mix of support for mental health and school security services and modest reforms to gun laws, including strengthening the ban on domestic abusers possessing firearms and providing incentives to expand both the federal background check system for prospective buyers under 21.
The legislation, which the Senate was set to take up for an initial procedural vote on Tuesday night, could quickly pass the upper chamber, according to leaders from both parties. President Joe Biden, who had previously calledfor a more robust gun control law-- including an outright ban on assault-style weapons that Republicans rejected -- said earlier Tuesday he would wait to comment on the billuntil after it was introduced.
Senators have been eager to preserve momentum on their agreement, which was initially announced in broad strokes on June 12 and sparkedby the Uvalde, Texas, school mass shootinglast month.
Congress has not taken significant legislative action on gunsin some 30 yearsand conservative lawmakers have long been loath to work on the issue, arguing gun control is ineffective and unconstitutional. But the Uvalde killings -- following many other such massacres in recent months and years --spurred another round of talksbetween Democrats and Republicans in the evenly divided chamber.
The end result, as negotiated by Democrat Chris Murphy and Republican John Cornyn, of Connecticut and Texas, as well as Arizona's Kyrsten Sinema and North Carolina's Thom Tillis, "is not going to please everyone," Cornyn said in a floor speech Tuesday before the bill text was released.
"Some think it goes too far. Others think it doesn't go far enough. And I get it," he said. "But the nature of compromise and the nature of actually wanting to get a result requires that everybody try to find common ground where we can."
Murphy -- perhaps the Senate'smost vocal proponentof gun control, representing the site of the 2012 Sandy Hook school Elementary School shooting -- said in his own remarks after Cornyn that he believed they had made important progress.
It was "not window dressing," Murphy said.
"This bill is going to save lives," he continued. "This bill is going to save thousands of lives. This is going to be something that every single member of the Senate who votes for it can be proud of."
The procedural vote on Tuesday night is just the first step in a multi-day process to pass the bill. Exact timing for a final vote is not yet known but could happen toward the end of the week -- with all involved hopeful to approve the legislation before the two-week July 4 recess.
The first vote is to begin debating the legislation. Due to some maneuvering from Democratic leadership, proceeding to debate will only require a simple majority to advance. Still, it could prove a bellwether for initial support for the legislation. At the same time, the just-released bill continues to circulate and many senators haven't yet had time to read it.
It's also unclear when the package's total cost will be released.
Both Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said they supported the bill, indicating that it could well receive a super-majority from the Senate, barring more developments. Ten Republicans initially signed onto the June 12 framework, though the bill text on Tuesday was announced only by the four key negotiators.
"I support the bill text that Sen. Cornyn and our colleagues have produced," McConnell said in a statement. "For years, the far left falsely claimed that Congress could only address the terrible issue of mass murders by trampling on law-abiding Americans' constitutional rights. This bill proves that false."
In a separate statement Tuesday, Schumer celebrated the group's work and said he would "put this life-saving legislation on the Senate floor for a vote, with an initial procedural vote as soon as tonight and, following that, we will move to final passage as quickly as possible."
The National Rifle Association, however, voiced its opposition to the "overbroad" bill that "falls short at every level."
"This legislation can be abused to restrict lawful gun purchases, infringe upon the rights of law-abiding Americans, and use federal dollars to fund gun control measures being adopted by state and local politicians," the group said. "This bill leaves too much discretion in the hands of government officials."
The details
Key provisions in the legislative text focus on the so-called "boyfriend loophole" in a previous federal ban on convicted domestic abusers having guns and in expanding federal background checks for 18-to-21-year-olds who want to purchase a firearm.
In their speeches on Tuesday -- and perhaps reflecting the triangulated politics of the deal they had reached together -- Cornyn and Murphy sometimes described those new measures and other pieces of their bill in different ways.
As ABC Newspreviously reported, senators had been stuck during the drafting process on two points: how to craft language to close the "boyfriend loophole" and how to implement funds to incentivize anti-violence programs.
In his floor remarks Tuesday, Cornyn explained how, in his view, lawmakers worked their way out of those problems.
Regarding the anti-violence programs: According to Cornyn, funds intended to incentivize states to implement so-called "red-flag" laws to remove guns from people deemed to be a danger to themselves or others would be able to be applied to any number of anti-violence programs.
It will be up to states to decide what sort of program they want to use the funds to implement, be it a "red flag" law, mental health courts, veterans courts, outpatient treatment programs and more, Cornyn said. To qualify for federal funds, any of these programs will have to have "robust due process protections" to qualify, he said.
"We are not going to introducing a national 'red flag' law but we are providing availability of law enforcement related grants to crisis intervention programs whether you've adopted a red flag program or not perhaps you've chosen something different. This grant program will give every state funding that implements programs that they themselves have adopted," Cornyn said.
On the loophole, Cornyn said the senators agreed to expand the definition of a boyfriend so that other types of intimate partners convicted of domestic abuse are barred from gun ownership.
He said the bill includes language that allows those convicted of non-spousal misdemeanor domestic abuse to have their gun ownership rights restored after five years if they have a clean record.
"This is an incentive, I think for people who have made a mistake, committed domestic violence, and received a misdemeanor conviction to straighten up their act and not repeat it," he said.
He also gave details on how additional parts of the bill will be implemented.
With the expanded federal background checks for 18-to-21-year-olds, states will control what information they are willing to share with the system. But Cornyn said the legislation "provides an incentive" for states to upload juvenile records.
The legislation also includes funds to "harden" school security and expand the nation's mental health apparatus.
Murphy followed Cornyn on the Senate floor to outline the bill from his perspective and expressed confidence that the finish line was near, saying, "I believe that this week we will pass legislation that will become the most significant piece of antigun violence legislation congress will have passed in 30 years. This is a breakthrough. And, more importantly, it is a bipartisan breakthrough."
"This was a hard road to get to this compromise, but nothing worthwhile is easy. And nobody in a compromise gets everything they want. This bill will be too little for many. It'll be too much for others. But it isn't a box-checking exercise," he said.
While Cornyn suggested that funding for "red flag" laws could also be applied to some number of anti-violence programs, Murphy emphasized those anti-violence program options were "narrow."
"As Sen. Cornyn said, we will also make those dollars eligible for a narrow range of other court-based anti-violence interventions, something that was very important to our Republican colleagues," Murphy said. Still, this provision could allow states to opt entirely out of red flag laws, choosing other anti-violence measures instead.
Murphy also said that allowing those who are domestic abusers to get their right back to purchase a gun will only apply to first-time offenders and have other requirements.
"Second, this bill is going to make sure that no domestic abuser can purchase or own a gun. We are closing the boyfriend loophole," he said. But he acknowledged: "To be consistent with state felony restoration rights, this legislation will allow individuals to be able to get their rights back after a period of time, but only for first-time offenders and only if there are no crimes of violence in the intervening time."
Murphy did not mention, as Cornyn did, that states will have the ability to choose how much juvenile record information is shared with the national background check system for those ages 18 to 21 seeking to purchase a weapon.
"What we know is the profile of the modern mass shooter is often in the 18-to-21-year-old range," he said. "So this bill has enhanced background checks ... including a call to the local police department, a process that can take up to three days, up to 10 days if there are particular signs of concern that investigators need to perform follow-up on. That enhanced background check is going to make sure that younger buyers who are in crisis have another check performed, perhaps a short period of time in between their decision to buy a lethal weapon to perform a crime and their ability to get that weapon."
Despite the capitulations from Democrats that are already starting to become clear on this bill, Murphy touted it as a major step.
"This week we have a chance to break this 30-year period of silence with a bill that changes our laws in a way that will save thousands of lives. It is a compromise. It is a bipartisan compromise. It is a path forward to the way that both Republicans and Democrats can work together to address some of the most vexing, most difficult challenges this nation faces," he said.
