President Joe Biden on Saturday signed a gun control bill that 29 Republicans joined Democrats to support.
In the Senate, the bill was supported by 15 Republicans, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Sens. John Cornyn of Texas, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Mitt Romney of Utah, USA Today reported.
McConnell said on the Senate floor that the bill “would make our communities and schools safer without laying one finger on the Second Amendment for law-abiding citizens. Its key provisions are hugely popular with the American people.”
The 14 Republican House members who supported the bill included Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio.
The bill makes background checks stiffer for gun buyers between the ages of 18 and 21, according to The Hill. It also broadens the ban on domestic abusers getting a gun — which currently covers spouses — to anyone convicted of violence against a romantic partner.
The law doles out $750 million to help states administer what are known as red flag laws, which give courts the power to take away legally owned guns from those the court can be persuaded are a threat to themselves or others.
Funding for mental health treatment is included in the bill.
Biden said at the bill signing that the legislation “doesn’t do everything I want.”
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“Time is of the essence. Lives will be saved,” he said.
“From Columbine to Sandy Hook to Charleston, Orlando, Las Vegas, Parkland, El Paso, Atlanta, Buffalo, Uvalde and for the shootings that happen every day in the streets. … How many times have you heard that? ‘Just do something. For God’s sake, just do something.’ Well, today we did.”
The bill caused divisions in the Republican ranks.
“To the Republican senators who are helping Biden take away our rights: We will remove you from office,” GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia posted on Gettr.
“This is the biggest Republican sellout. … These Republicans, they’re everything wrong with the Republican Party,” she said in a video included in the post.
Erich Pratt, senior vice president of Gun Owners of America, noted that the passage of the bill came days after Second Amendment rights were upheld by the Supreme Court.
“On the heels of a landmark ruling that restored the historic rights of gun owners across the country, Democrats teamed up with RINO Republicans to pass the most radical gun control package in a generation,” he said in a statement.
“The fight has just begun, and GOA and our partners stand ready to defeat this unconstitutional package in court, and to ensuring that the Republicans who helped pass this abomination, many of whom hail from the most pro-gun states in the nation, are never given the privilege of serving in elected office again.”
