President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law the most sweeping gun violence bill in decades, a bipartisan compromise that seemed unimaginable until a recent string of mass shootings, including the massacre of 19 students and two teachers. in an elementary school in Texas.
” Hurry up. Lives will be saved,” he said in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. Citing the families of gun victims he has met with, the president said their message was to do something about it. “How many times have we heard this? “Just do something. For the love of God, do something.” Today we did. »
The House gave final approval on Friday, after the Senate passed on Thursday. Mr. Biden acted just before leaving Washington for two summits in Europe.
“Today we say: ‘it’s more than enough’. It is time, when it seems impossible to do anything in Washington, that we do something substantial. »
The legislation will strengthen background checks on younger gun buyers, further prevent perpetrators of domestic violence from using firearms, and help states put in place laws that make it easier for authorities to take weapons to people deemed dangerous.
The President called the legislation a “historic achievement”.
Most of its $13 billion cost will help bolster mental health programs and help schools, which have been targeted in Newtown, Connecticut, and Parkland, Florida, and elsewhere in mass shootings. mass.
Mr. Biden indicated that the compromise reached by a group of senators from both parties does not achieve everything he wants, but that it includes measures long requested by the president and “that will save lives”.
“I know there’s still a lot of work to do and I’ll never give up, but it’s a monumental day,” said the president, who was accompanied for the signing by his wife, Jill, a teacher.
After sitting down to sign the bill into law, Joe Biden thought for a moment, then whispered, “God willing, this is going to save a lot of lives. »
He also said they would host an event on July 11 for lawmakers and families affected by gun violence. The president spoke of families “who have lost their souls to an epidemic of gun violence. They lost their child, their husband, their wife. Nothing is going to fill that void in their hearts. But they paved the way for other families to not have the experience, the pain and the trauma they had to go through. »
Mr. Biden signed into law the measure two days after Thursday’s Supreme Court decision striking down a New York law that restricted people’s ability to carry concealed weapons. And Saturday’s ceremony took place less than 24 hours after the High Court overturned the decision Roe v. wadewhich had legalized abortion nationwide for nearly five decades.
“Yesterday I spoke about the shocking Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. wade, Mr. Biden said. Jill and I know how painful and devastating the decision is for so many American women. »
He noted that the abortion decision reserves its regulation to states, some of which have already decided to ban abortion or will soon do so. Joe Biden said his administration “will focus on how it enforces it and whether or not it violates other laws, like deciding not to allow people to cross state lines to get medical services.” health “.
Asked by reporters if the Supreme Court was out of step with the country, Biden said he thought “the Supreme Court has made some terrible decisions. »
While the new gun law doesn’t include tougher restrictions long championed by Democrats, such as banning assault weapons and background checks on all gun transactions, it is the most impactful gun violence measure produced by Congress since enacting an expired assault weapons ban since 1993.
Enough Congressional Republicans have joined Democrats in supporting the measures after the recent massacres in Buffalo, New York and Uvalde, Texas. It took weeks of closed-door talks, but the senators reached a compromise.