Senator Casey: Gun Reform Bill ‘Significant Step Forward’
POINT TOWNSHIP, NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY – U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) says the recent bipartisan gun reform bill signed by President Biden is a ‘significant step forward.’ He said this during his visit to the Valley for the CSVT ribbon cutting ceremony.
Sen. Casey is especially happy with the bill expanding background checks for juveniles, “So if someone’s 18 and they want to get a high power weapon of war, their juvenile records can be examined. It’s not the full scope of background check legislation I support, but it’s a step forward.”
Casey also is big fan of new funding for red flag laws, “Someone who’s threatening people or indicating they might engage in violence, that matter is brought before the court and in full compliance with due process makes the determination to remove a weapon from someone who shouldn’t have it, at least for a period of time, up to five years. That alone is significant, and at the state level, $750 million for that.”
He also says there’s an ‘unprecedented’ amount of funding for mental health, “Make sure that mental health treatment can be provided at a community level for the first time in a lot of communities because of the new authorizing legislation, but also the appropriations that are in this bill. In this context, they’ll be more money down the road, assuming appropriators agree.”
President Biden signed the bipartisan bill following mass shootings in Buffalo, NY and Uvalde, Texas. The country saw its latest mass shooting during a July 4 parade in a Chicago suburb.
