What is Joe Biden’s new gun safety law?

PRESIDENT Joe Biden signed a new gun safety law into law on July 11, 2022, a week after the July 4 Highland Park shooting.

The bill is the first gun safety law to be passed by Congress in 30 years.

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What is the new Gun Safety Act?

The Gun Safety Act passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 234 to 193 to require states to pass warning signs that would remove guns from those seen as a threat to themselves or others.

The bill also closes the so-called boyfriend loophole, which prevents partners with a history of domestic violence from obtaining guns.

After signing the law into law, President Joe Biden said, “God willing, it will save many lives.”

The National Rifle Association says it opposes the bill.

A June 21 statement said, “This legislation can be abused to restrict legitimate gun purchases, violate the rights of law-abiding Americans and use federal dollars to fund gun control measures passed by state and local politicians.”

The bill was supported by 14 Republicans, who voted with Democrats to pass the bill.

Senator Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) chaired the Senate hearings and said before the House decision, “It’s not doing everything I want it to do.

“But what we are doing will save thousands of lives without violating Second Amendment rights.”

Is the Gun Safety Act enough?

Proponents of tighter gun restrictions say the Gun Safety Act isn’t enough.

The father of a Parkland shooting victim interrupted Biden’s speech after he passed the law to say he had been telling them to increase restrictions since his son was killed in 2018.

“We have to do more,” shouted Manuel Oliver before being escorted out of the White House.

Oliver’s son was killed when a gunman entered Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., killing 14 students and three staff members.

The speech was billed as a celebration of the new legislation, but Oliver said while he had no intention of interrupting the President, he was overcome with frustration.

“I’m starting to feel a lot of celebration, vibes, a lot of joy, collective joy, which isn’t the case [in] anyway what we should do. People die every day,” Oliver told ABC News Live.

“I lost my son … and it was the right moment to tell the President what I’m asking for,” he added.

Oliver compared the increased number of mass shootings in the US to the Covid-19 pandemic and said the government must treat them with the same urgency.

He told the outlet he met with Biden in April to discuss gun rights.

“That day, Joe Biden said to me, ‘You gotta keep doing what you’re doing, you gotta push out there, go after your goals,'” Oliver said. “And that’s exactly what I did yesterday.”

“We have to do more. I hope he has his way of doing that,” added Oliver.

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Why is the bill groundbreaking?

The Gun Safety Act is the first restriction introduced in 30 years after the 1994 legislation banned assault weapons.

The law was phased out ten years after it came into force, despite an increase in mass shootings.

But Mathew Littman, executive director of gun safety group 97 Percent, spoke about the possibility of enacting tougher gun laws, saying it might not be a reality.

“If gun owners aren’t on board, they have a very hard time getting anything done,” he told Deadline.

However, he said he believed future restrictions would come down to individual states and create a divide across the US.

“What you’re really going to see in this country is a divide between blue states and red states,” Littman said.

“It will be two completely different countries in many ways.”