The US Senate has passed a gun control bill, the most significant firearms legislation in nearly 30 years.
BBC reports that the Senate has also imposed tougher checks on young buyers and encouraged states to remove guns from people considered a threat.
In what was a rare bipartisan breakthrough on gun control measures, 15 Republicans joined Democrats in the Senate to approve the bill.
It still needs the endorsement of the lower house before being signed into law by President Joe Biden.
A vote in the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives is expected soon.
President Biden urged a quick vote “on this bipartisan bill” despite it falling far short of his demands.
Gun control activists and most Democrats would also like to see far more stringent measures on gun control.
“Tonight, after 28 years of inaction, bipartisan members of Congress came together to heed the call of families across the country and passed legislation to address the scourge of gun violence in our communities,” Mr Biden said.
The bill came after mass shootings last month at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, and a primary school in Uvalde, Texas, that left 31 people dead.
Gun carrying rights
In a related development, The conservative-dominated US Supreme Court struck down a New York law restricting gun-carrying rights, in its most important judgement on guns in over a decade.
A recent BBC report says the court ruling expands gun rights amid a fierce national debate over the issue.
The decision, which jeopardises similar regulations in states like California and New Jersey, is expected to allow more people to carry guns legally.
About a quarter of Americans live in states that could be affected if their own gun restrictions are challenged.
The court found that a New York law requiring residents to prove “proper cause” – or a good reason – to carry concealed firearms in public violates the US Constitution.
Justice Clarence Thomas, writing on behalf of the six conservative judges who make up the court’s majority, ruled that Americans have a right to carry “commonly used” firearms in public for personal defence.
The three liberal justices – Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Stephen Breyer – dissented, meaning they disagreed with the majority opinion.
The court’s decision clears the way for legal challenges to similar restrictions in Maryland, California, New Jersey, Hawaii and Massachusetts.
It comes amid political divisions over how to address gun violence, which were deepened by high-profile shootings at a primary school in Uvalde, Texas, and a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, last month.
Thursday’s ruling came as new legislation that would tighten access to firearms passed the US Senate.
Disappointment
President Biden said he was “deeply disappointed” by the Supreme Court’s decision, which he said, “contradicts both common sense and the Constitution and should trouble us all”.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said he would review other ways to restrict gun access, such as by tightening the application process for buying firearms and looking at bans at certain locations.
“We cannot allow New York to become the wild, wild west,” he added.
The National Rifle Association (NRA) celebrated the judgement.
The gun lobby had helped back plaintiffs in the case, Robert Nash and Brandon Koch – two New Yorkers who had applied for a concealed carry permit but were denied them, despite having licences for recreational gun ownership.
More than 390 million guns are owned by civilians in the US. In 2020 alone, more than 45,000 Americans died from firearms-related injuries including homicides and suicides.
