Later this week, the U.S. Senate is expected to pass a bipartisan plan that includes billions in additional financing for mental health services and could become the most comprehensive federal gun safety legislation in years.
On a procedural vote late Tuesday, the Senate voted 64-34 to begin debate on the gun control measure.
Before it could reach President Joe Biden’s desk, the measure would also need to be approved by the House, which has already passed more comprehensive legislation.
Republicans made up all 34 of the votes against the bill, even though Kentucky Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell cast a vote in favour of it.
Following two fatal mass shootings in May, calls for some sort of official response increased. A white supremacist in Buffalo, New York, targeted a Black community and murdered 10 Black individuals in a grocery shop.
19 children and two instructors were killed in Uvalde, Texas, making it the second-deadliest mass shooting after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School incident.
The “Bipartisan Safer Communities Act,” a Senate measure with eight elements, was negotiated by a group of 20 senators from both parties, including 10 Republicans, 9 Democrats, and one independent.
If approved, it would grant states $750 million to implement “red flag laws,” which allow the courts to temporarily take a handgun away from someone who poses a threat to self or others, as well as $11 billion in funding for mental health programmes for families and schools.
Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut and the bill’s chief negotiator, declared that the law would “strengthen background checks” and prevent dangerous individuals from obtaining firearms.
Additionally, the bill closes the “boyfriend” loophole. It mandates a five-year waiting time before allowing people found guilty of assaulting a love partner to purchase a handgun.
This individual will be taken from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System if no other crimes are committed.
The law would also mandate a background check that includes a look at juvenile and mental health records for anyone under 21 who wants to buy a handgun.
Furthermore, the law would prevent “straw purchases,” or the illicit sale of a gun on behalf of another person.
Senators “will move to the final passage as fast as feasible,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement. Despite not having everything Democrats desire, he continued, “This legislation is critically needed.”
Money for mental health
The law includes a sizable investment in mental health services, including $11 billion in funds to expand children’s access to mental health care through the Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Programs.
Funding for children’s mental health and that of their families under this law would:
Give paediatric care professionals who want to use mental health skills in their patient’s treatment access to $80 million in funding.
Spend $60 million over five years on professionals who treat children’s mental health training.
Allocate more than $120 million over four years to offer first responders and community members training on how to handle people with mental health conditions.
To enhance community mental health services, give states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories $250 million.
Allocation of $240 million over four years will help school-aged children become more aware of mental health issues, assist staff in recognising mental distress in students, and assist those students in connecting with programmes that can help them. Additionally, $28 million has been put aside as grants to help with trauma care in schools.
Increase funding for traumatised children and their families by $40 million over four years.
Allocate $150 million to help fund the establishment of the 24/7 9-8-8 Crisis and Suicide Lifeline for individuals who are in need.
The legislation would also increase access to mental health treatments in schools by:
Increasing the number of mental health experts for schools with districts that can prove a need for those services by $500 million under the School-Based Mental Health Services Grant Program.
Committing $500 million to the School-Based Mental Health Service Professionals Demonstration Grant to diversify and train the pool of school counsellors, social workers, and psychologists.
Putting $1 billion into Title IV-A to fund initiatives that enhance learning environments for students, like creating hospitable school environments through the use of research-based techniques.
Giving $50 million to the 21st Century Community Learning Centers programme, which supports summer and after-school programmes, with a new emphasis on initiatives for older children.
With the help of $300 million from the STOP School Violence Act, safety measures will be put in place inside and outside of schools, efforts to prevent school violence will be supported, and students and staff will receive training.
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act prohibits the use of funding for the training or provision of anybody with lethal weapons in schools.
In the Senate
Murphy, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Chris Coons of Delaware, Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, Mark Kelly of Arizona, Angus King of Maine, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan are the nine Senate Democrats and the one independent who were a part of the bipartisan group that developed the bill.
The bipartisan group of 10 senators includes John Cornyn of Texas, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Roy Blunt of Missouri, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Rob Portman of Ohio, Mitt Romney of Utah, and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.
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Kevin Cramer of North Dakota and Republican Sen. Toomey were the senators who did not vote on whether to begin debate on the gun bill.
However, Toomey, a member of the group made a statement in favour of it.
He said that the bill was “bipartisan” and “protects the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding individuals while taking actions to keep our communities safer.”
It will “stiffen background checks, offer federal funding for state crisis intervention programmes, strengthen penalties for trafficking in weapons and straw purchases, and invest in mental health and school safety.”
