June 25 (UPI) — President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan gun violence bill into law early Saturday, saying he hopes it will “save a lot of lives.”
Joe Biden, joined by first lady Jill Biden, signed the legislation in the Roosevelt Room before departing the White House for his trip to Germany for the G7 summit.
The House approved the $13 billion Bipartisan Safer Communities Act by a vote of 234-193, with 14 Republicans voting with Democrats. The Senate advanced the bill Thursday with a filibuster-proof 65-34 vote.
“When it seems impossible to get anything done in Washington, we are doing something consequential,” Joe Biden said Saturday. “If we can reach a compromise on guns, we ought to be able to reach a compromise on other critical issues, from veterans healthcare to cutting edge American innovation to so much more.”
The bill 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 measure makes changes to the process when someone age 18 to 21 goes to buy a firearm, cuts off the so-called “boyfriend loophole” and encourages states to create or enhance red flag laws.
Joe Biden signed the last almost exactly one month after a shooting at a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school left 19 children and two teachers dead. A shooting at a grocery store in Buffalo, N.Y., which killed 10 people May 14, also renewed interest in gun legislation.
“God willing, it’s going to save a lot of lives,” Joe Biden said after signing the bill.
