US Senate passes first gun control bill in decades

The US Senate has passed a gun control bill – the most significant firearms legislation in nearly 30 years.

The bill will now have to pass in the House of Representatives before President Biden can sign it into law.

The bill is also significant because it is the first time in decades that proposed reforms have received this level of support from both Democrats and Republicans

However, two-thirds of Republicans opposed the legislation, and all of those who backed it, except for Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski and Indiana’s Todd Young, will not face voters this year or have announced their intention not to seek re-election.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) has opposed the bill, and argued that it will not stop the violence.

The US has the highest rate of firearms deaths among the world’s wealthy nations – more than 20,900 people have been killed in gun violence in the US this year, including through homicide and suicide, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a non-profit research group.

The court found that New York’s requirement for residents to prove “proper cause” – or a good reason – to carry concealed firearms in public violates the Constitution.