LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- After Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell threw his weight behind a Senate proposal on several gun reforms on Tuesday, a Louisville gunsmith said he hopes it will help reduce crime.
McConnell, R-Kentucky, said he hoped an outline of the accord, released Sunday by 10 Democrats and 10 Republicans, would be translated into legislation and enacted. It was an announcement that boosted momentum for the action by Congress on an issue that has deadlocked lawmakers for three decades.
“If this framework becomes the actual piece of legislation, it's a step forward, a step forward on a bipartisan basis," McConnell told reporters. He said the proposal “further demonstrates to the American people” that lawmakers can work together on significant issues “to make progress for the country.”
The bipartisan gun agreement would, for the first time, make the juvenile records of gun buyers under age 21 part of required background checks. Money would be sent to states for mental health and school security programs and for incentives to enforce or enact local "red flag" laws that let authorities win court approval to temporarily remove guns from people considered dangerous.
McConnell said he's "comfortable with the framework" of the proposal, and would support seeing it passed quickly "if the legislation ends up reflecting what the framework indicates."
Some who stand directly in the middle of the Second Amendment think Congress is headed in the right direction.
"Every time the Senate or the House comes out with some kind of bill, most people will be frantic, just like any kind of food shortage," Louisville-based master gunsmith Richard Stone said.
Stone owns Ole G's Gunsmithing, which repairs antique and general firearms. He said there is no shortage of firearm business in the area — legally or illegally.
"I hate to say it, but you have a lot of crime with firearms because it's an easy tool to use," he said.
Stone said he hopes gun safety reforms will reduce crime, but also the stigma surrounding high-volume sellers.
"People think we don't do background checks. That's not true," he said. "Every time we sell firearms, they fill out the form and we do a background check online or call it in.
A recent poll found that 70% of Americans want laws to reduce gun violence. But McConnell made clear on Tuesday that he would only go so far in restricting firearms, saying that including state and local juvenile records in background checks for the youngest guy buyers was “a step in the right direction.”
The alleged shooters in Buffalo, where 10 people were killed, and Uvalde, where 19 school children and two teachers were slain, were both 18 years old, a common profile for many mass shooters.
McConnell said the proposal “further demonstrates to the American people” that lawmakers can work together on significant issues “to make progress for the country.”
The framework also broadens the type of domestic abusers who'd be prohibited from buying guns, require more firearms sellers to conduct background checks and impose tougher penalties on gun traffickers.
Senators hope to translate the broad agreement into legislation in days in hopes that Congress could approve it before leaving for its July 4 recess, but both sides acknowledged that it is a difficult process that could come with disputes and delays as some Republicans expressed unhappiness with the plan, saying they were waiting for a version of the bill to come out.
A final agreement on overall legislation would be expected to receive solid support from Democrats. It would need at least 10 GOP votes to reach the Senate’s usual 60 vote threshold, and McConnell’s backing raised hopes that Republican support would grow.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he would schedule votes on the legislation as soon as it is ready.
Congress' last major gun measure was an assault weapons ban that took effect in 1994 but expired 10 years later.
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