The final vote was 65 to 33, with 15 Republicans joining Democrats in support of the measure, marking a major breakthrough on one of the most controversial policy issues in the country. The bill will then go to the House for a vote before it can be sent to President Joe Biden for signature.
The two-pronged arms deal includes millions of dollars for mental health, school safety, crisis intervention programs and incentives for states to include juvenile records in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
The package amounts to the most significant new federal legislation to tackle gun violence since the expired 10-year assault weapons ban of 1994 — though it doesn’t ban guns and falls far short of what Democrats and polls show most Americans want to see.
There were a few dozen people in the Senate gallery ahead of the final vote. Senators had noted that gun violence survivors, relatives and groups were on hand to watch the historic mood in the room.
The ruling highlights the conflicting political forces surrounding the issue at all levels of government as the judiciary implements the widest expansion of gun rights in a decade, just as the legislature looks on track to deliver its most significant gun security package in nearly 30 years.
A Critical Mood That Needed GOP Support
The gun safety bill had moved one step closer to passage in the Senate earlier in the day after a critical vote passed the measure with Republican backing.
The GOP’s “yes” votes include all 10 Senate Republicans who signed an initial arms safety framework agreement: John Cornyn of Texas, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Roy Blunt of Missouri, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana , Susan Collins of Maine, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Rob Portman of Ohio, Mitt Romney of Utah and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania. Four of the ten original Republican supporters are retiring this year: Blunt, Burr, Portman and Toomey.
Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, who sit in the GOP leadership, also voted to pass a filibuster on the bill.
Other notable GOP voices include Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Todd Young of Indiana, who were not among the 10 Republicans who initially signed up to support the framework and will be re-elected in November.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced late Thursday, after the bill passed the Senate, that the House would consider it Friday.
The legislation came in the wake of recent tragic mass shootings at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and at a convenience store in Buffalo, New York, in a predominantly black neighborhood.
A bipartisan group of negotiators set to work in the Senate and unveiled the bill on Tuesday. The bill — titled the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act — was released by Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina and the Democratic Sens. Chris Murphy from Connecticut and Kyrsten Sinema from Arizona.
Lawmakers rushed to pass the bill before leaving for the July 4 recess.
The fact that the text of the law was final and the legislation now appears poised to pass the Senate is a major victory for the negotiators who struck a deal together.
Reaching a bipartisan agreement on key gun laws has been notoriously difficult for lawmakers in recent years, even despite numerous mass shootings across the country.
“For too long, political games in Washington on both sides of the aisle have held back progress toward protecting our communities and keeping families safe,” Sinema said in a speech on the Senate floor on Wednesday.
Blaming and trading political barbs and attacks has become the path of least resistance, but the communities in our country that have experienced senseless violence deserve better than politics in Washington, as usual, said the Arizona Democrat. “Our communities deserve the dedication of their leaders to put in the hard work of putting politics aside, identifying problems to be solved, and working together toward common ground and common goals.”
Main provisions in the bill
This bill closes a years-old domestic violence loophole — the “boyfriend loophole” — which affects individuals convicted of domestic violence against married partners, or partners with whom they shared children or partners with whom they cohabitated, excludes having guns. Old statutes do not include intimate partners who do not live together, are married, or share children. Now the law prohibits possession of a weapon by anyone convicted of domestic violence against someone with whom they have an “ongoing serious relationship of a romantic or intimate nature.”
The law has no retroactive effect. However, it will allow those convicted of domestic violence crimes to regain their gun rights after five years if they have not committed other crimes.
The bill encourages states to include juvenile records in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System with grants and implements a new protocol for checking those records.
The bill will go after individuals who sell guns as their primary sources of income, but who have previously evaded registration as federally licensed firearms dealers. It also increases funding for mental health and school security programs.
GOP divided over the account
A split has developed between some prominent members of the House and Senate GOP leadership.
But even with House GOP leaders opposing the bill, there are already some House Republicans who have indicated they intend to vote for it, and the Democrat-controlled chamber is expected to be able to pass the legislation once it is in place. the Senate passed.
This story and headline were updated Thursday with additional developments.
Daniella Diaz and Tierney Sneed of CNN contributed.