“This is a monumental day,” Biden said at the White House. “God willing, many lives will be saved.”
The law includes provisions to help states keep guns out of the hands of people who are considered a danger to themselves or others and blocks their sale to those who have been legally convicted of abusing their partners.
The initiative, however, does not prohibit the sale of assault rifles or high-capacity magazines, both of which have been present in most of the recent massacres that have occurred in the United States.
Still, the legislation represents one of the most important advances in decades to restrict the access and impact of firearms in American society. In addition, the changes come a month after the massacre in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 children were killed in a school, most of them from the Hispanic community.
For Biden, the Democrats and the other progressive sectors of the country, the law should be a more resounding legislative victory, however, the spotlight continues to be on the decision of the Supreme Court to rescind federal protection of access to abortion.