A bipartisan group of senators announced a deal Sunday on framework legislation to address a recent surge in gun violence in the U.S.
The proposed legislation includes funding for school safety resources, strengthened background checks for buyers under the age of 21, incentives for states to implement their own “red flag’ laws, penalties for straw purchases of firearms, and increased protections for domestic violence victims.
The bipartisan group was made up of 20 senators, including 10 GOP lawmakers, many of which are strong supporters of gun rights and political allies of the powerful National Rifle Association.
With support from those 10 GOP lawmakers, the legislation likely has the votes to overcome the 60-vote threshold to avoid a filibuster in the Senate.
Here are the Senate Republicans who are backing the bipartisan gun reform legislation.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas)
Cornyn was among the initial group of nine lawmakers who began discussing gun legislation after the mass shooting at a Uvalde, Texas Elementary school last month that left 19 students and two teacher dead.
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell appointed Cornyn as the GOP’s lead negotiator in the talks.
“The tragedies in Uvalde and elsewhere cried out for action,” Cornyn said in a tweet Sunday amid news of the bipartisan deal.
“I worked closely with my colleagues to find an agreement to protect our communities from violence while also protecting law-abiding Texans’ right to bear arms.”
Cornyn, who has an A+ rating from the NRA, had previously offered assurances that he would not support any legislation that restricted gun rights.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.)
Tillis also played an early role in the gun violence negotiations. He said he was not willing to support raising the age limit of purchasing an AR-15 to 21 years of age, which is high on the Democratic wish-list.
Shortly after the Uvalde shooting, Tillis warned against blaming mass shootings on the proliferation of guns in America.
“It’s horrible. And you know what we need to avoid is the reflexive reaction we have to say this could all be solved by not having guns in anyone’s hands,” he said, according to CNN.
“We can always talk about reasonable measures, but we also have to talk about better situational awareness. I’m almost certain that in the coming days or weeks, we’re going to find out that there were signs that this person was at risk.”
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Replies
This cannot happen, it opens the door to gun confiscation. We know how it goes, bunch of promises it will only affect the mentally ill, those who are qe3stionable, eventually they turn on us, calling their opposition qu3stionable.