The House of Representatives on Friday approved historic bipartisan gun legislation, the first new firearms laws passed in three decades.
The legislation easily passed the Senate on Thursday night, and with its passing in the House will now be sent to President Joe Biden to be signed into law.
The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act contains the biggest changes to American gun laws in nearly 30 years.
It passed the House by 234-193, with 14 Republicans voting along with Democrats, CBS News reported.
According to reports, the bill will increase background checks from Americans under 21 buying guns, give billions to mental health services and for enhanced school security, close a loophole allowing those convicted of domestic abuse from buying a firearm for five years, and also will give $750 million in state grants for crisis intervention programs.
It also creates new criminal penalties for gun trafficking and straw purchases, in which someone buys a firearm for someone else not legally allowed to purchase one.
The legislation passed both chambers in historic votes, nearly 30 years after the last major gun measures went through Congress.
The legislation was spurned on by tragic mass shootings in Buffalo, New York and Uvalde, Texas in recent weeks, with a bipartisan group of lawmakers, led by Chris Murphy (D-CT) and John Cornyn (R-TX), working together to see its passage.
The measure does not go as far as Biden asked for in terms of gun reforms, but on Thursday after it passed the Senate, he called for its swift passage through the House.
"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," Biden said.
"Families in Uvalde and Buffalo – and too many tragic shootings before – have demanded action. And tonight, we acted. This bipartisan legislation will help protect Americans. Kids in schools and communities will be safer because of it. The House of Representatives should promptly vote on this bipartisan bill and send it to my desk."
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)