U.S. Senate advances first significant gun legislation in decades

The bill stops short of raising the age limit from 18 to 21 on purchases of automatic assault weapons

The U.S. Senate took an initial step towards passing the country's first major gun-control legislation in decades on Tuesday, galvanized by two mass shootings in a nation that has long struggled to curb chronic gun violence, Qazet.az reports.

Senators voted to speed passage of a bipartisan package of measures to toughen federal gun laws.The Senate is expected to vote on the 80-page bill this week before a two-week recess.

The bill unveiled on Tuesday does not go as far as Democrats, including President Joe Biden, had sought. Still, if passed, it would be the most significant action to combat gun violence to emerge from Congress in years.

The legislation includes provisions that would help states keep guns out of the hands of those deemed to be a danger to themselves or others and close the so-called boyfriend loophole by blocking gun sales to those convicted of abusing unmarried intimate partners.

After mass shootings at a New York grocery store and a Texas elementary school that authorities said were committed by teenagers, the legislation would allow states to provide juvenile records to the national background check system for gun purchases.

The bill stops short of raising the age limit from 18 to 21 on purchases of automatic assault weapons. The shooters in both Texas and New York were 18-year-olds who used assault rifles they bought themselves.