Manchin: Bipartisan bill best chance at gun safety reform
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CHARLESTON -- U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin said with at least 10 Republican senators on board, he doesn't see Democratic senators putting a wrench in the bipartisan deal reached Sunday on gun safety reform.
Manchin, D-W.Va, spoke with West Virginia reporters in a virtual briefing Monday morning to discuss the details of a new gun safety package reached after agreement between 10 Republican and nine Democratic U.S. Senators. The provisions of the package were released Sunday.
"It's a start," Manchin said from his office on Capitol Hill. "It's a bipartisan gun safety proposal based around children; how do we keep our children safe? If we can't even do that, God help us all. No one should have to think about their children going to school or their grandchildren going to school in the morning and being in harm's way and maybe not coming home."
Manchin said some minor details are still being negotiated before a final bill is presented to the full U.S. Senate. Assuming that the 10 Republicans part of the bipartisan negotiating group stay on board, the gun safety package would have enough bipartisan support to get to the 60 votes needed for cloture -- to avoid a filibuster and allow the bill to be considered.
Yet, it's possible that Democratic senators who may be more in favor of cracking down on guns after a series of high-profile mass shooting events over the last few weeks. Manchin said he doesn't believe that more anti-gun Democrat in his caucus will block this package in favor of something more robust.
"There's quite a few in the Democratic caucus who just really don't understand gun culture because they don't own guns, so yeah, they would do a lot more," Manchin said. "That's not going to happen and they understand that. They will say this is good."
The bipartisan gun safety proposal includes several programs and funding mechanisms for mental health and wrap-around services in schools, provisions to include those convicted in domestic violence cases or under domestic violence restraining orders in the federal background check program, and cracking down on individuals not in compliance with requirements for federally licensed firearms dealers.
Some of the package's major provisions include new enhanced background checks for gun purchasers between the ages of 18 and 21 by utilizing juvenile and mental health records to determine eligibility. The package includes increased penalties for anyone who purchases guns through straw purchases for the purpose of trafficking guns. And it includes grant funding for states that pass red flag laws.
The bill is in response to two mass shootings last month. An 18-year-old gunman killed 21 people, including 19 children, at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. The attack followed a mass shooting in Buffalo, N.Y., where a young gunman killed 10 people at a grocery store in a Black neighborhood.
"I think after Sandy Hook no one believed that could ever happen again. Well, it did, and now the thinking is oh my god, when is the next tragedy going to happen? I think this has really gotten everybody into action."
Speaking Monday during his virtual briefing at the State Capitol Building, Gov. Jim Justice was asked about the bipartisan gun safety package that Manchin helped negotiate. Justice said he is withholding judgment on specific provisions, though he did praise Republican and Democratic lawmakers for working together.
"I think it's good when any of our politicians in D.C. decide to work together and see if we can get across the finish line where we can adopt some federal law that works for all of us," Justice said. "As far as red flag laws go, the key to the whole thing … is proper due process. We don't want to be invaded upon if individuals don't have due process. With all of that, we just have to wait just a little bit and see exactly, if anything, really does come down from Washington in regards to this."
Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com.