On June 25, President Biden signed S.2938, the “Bipartisan Safer Communities Act,” into law. The bill, which passed the U.S. Senate 65-33 on June 23, and the House 234-193 on June 24, is the first significant gun safety legislation passed by Congress in decades.
Critics on both sides of the aisle decried the bill as either not going far enough or an attack on the Second Amendment. Let’s examine what the bill entails and how it’ll impact Colorado.
What does the Gun Control Law Do for Us?
On June 21, U.S. Senators Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), and John Cornyn (R-Texas) released the following statement on S.2938, “Today, we finalized bipartisan, commonsense legislation to protect America’s children, keep our schools safe, and reduce the threat of violence across our country. Our legislation will save lives and will not infringe on any law-abiding American’s Second Amendment rights. We look forward to earning broad, bipartisan support and passing our commonsense legislation into law.”
Specifically, S.2938:
- Sets aside $750 million for states to establish and implement red flag laws.
- Closes the “boyfriend loophole,” which previously allowed domestic abusers to have guns if:
- The abuser wasn’t the abused spouse.
- The abuser didn’t have children with the abused.
- The abuser didn’t live with the abused.
- Allows the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) additional time to conduct reviews for those ages 18-21 applying to purchase a gun.
- Requires firearm dealers to register to become Federally Licensed Firearm dealers, which then requires the dealer to conduct background checks per federal law.
- Includes roughly $13 billion in new spending to expand school security, mental health programs and access.
- Makes “straw purchasing” of firearms a felony, allowing prosecutors to target illegal gunrunners.
- Earmarks $250 million for community-based violence prevention initiatives.
What it doesn’t do
Before the Senate passed the “Bipartisan Safer Communities Act,” the National Rifle Association (NRA) announced its opposition to the bill, stating it “does little to truly address violent crime while opening the door to unnecessary burdens on the exercise of Second Amendment freedom by law-abiding gun owners.”
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) also stated, “With only moments to review, no committee hearings, and no regular order, a vote was held with implications concerning an essential constitutional right. The American people deserve better from the world’s ‘greatest deliberative body.’”
The bill’s Discussion Draft was 80 pages long, meaning many senators didn’t have time to thoroughly read and absorb the proposed law’s context prior to voting. However, even with the constrained time and the NRA opposition, enough Republican senators felt confident enough to vote for the bill.
That’s likely because S.2938 doesn’t:
