WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate late on Thursday night approved the bipartisan bill to strengthen gun control, hammered out after the Buffalo and Uvalde shootings last month.
The senators’ vote came as the US Supreme Court ruled for the first time on Thursday that the US Constitution protects the individual right to carry handguns in public places for the purpose of self-defense.
The bill won 65 to 33 votes, becoming the most significant anti-gun violence legislation to be approved in decades.
“This legislation will protect Americans. Children will be safer because of it,” US President Joe Biden said after the vote. “The House of Representatives should quickly pass this bipartisan law and send it to me.”
However, the text is less ambitious than expected, its main provisions aimed at strengthening background checks on people wishing to buy firearms.
The text was approved by 15 Republicans and 50 Democrats. It will be considered in the House of Representatives on Friday, and a vote will come as soon as possible, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement.
(Reporting David Morgan, Andrew Chung and Moira Warburton, with contributions from Rose Horowitch, Katharine Jackson and Richard Cowan; French version Camille Raynaud)
