The U.S. Senate has approved a bipartisan gun violence bill in response to the run of brutal mass shootings. The measure would toughen background checks for youngest gun buyers and keep firearms away from more domestic violence offenders.
The Senate voted 65-33 to approve bipartisan gun-safety legislation, considered the most significant breakthrough on the issue in three decades, Bloomberg reported.
The $13 billion measure would help states put in place red flag laws that make it easier for authorities to take weapons from people adjudged dangerous.
It would also fund local programs for school safety, mental health, and violence prevention.
The bill comes a month after a mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, at an elementary school and a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, where 31 people were killed.
The bill will now be sent to the Democrat-dominated House of Representatives, where it is likely to sail through, after which it will be sent to U.S. President Joe Biden for his approval.
The legislation improves the national background check system, including giving states incentives to upload juvenile records to allow better reviews of gun purchasers aged 18 to 21.
The bill would also provide stiff new federal criminal penalties for people who make straw purchases and traffic guns to be used in a crime or illegally evade licensing requirements.
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