Sen. Kyrsten Sinema says gun agreement succeeds for Arizona

PHOENIX – A bipartisan agreement on gun safety legislation meets U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s two main objectives, saving lives and protecting Second Amendment rights, the Arizona Democrat said Thursday.

“I’m proud to say that we’ve got a package that we feel achieves both of those goals,” Sinema told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Arizona’s Morning News.

A bipartisan group of senators announced the framework Sunday. The response to May mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, offered modest gun curbs and stepped-up efforts to improve school safety and mental health programs.

Sinema cited data that shows young men “who tend to be mass shooters, almost always have a history of living through this kind of violence and trauma at home.”

The group of lawmakers’ goal was “to figure out what are things we can reasonably do to help reduce that exposure to violence and trauma and also to make sure that we’ve got strong mental health resources through community behavioral clinics, through school resources to help kids grow and learn, to expand telehealth services,” she said.

President Joe Biden said the bargain did not do everything needed but that it reflected important steps in the right direction.

The agreement would offer money to states to enact and put in place “red flag” laws that make it easier to temporarily take guns from people considered potentially violent, plus funds to bolster school safety and mental health programs.

Negotiations to close the “boyfriend loophole,” in which convicted domestic abusers who do not live with a former partner would be barred from buying firearms, are ongoing.

“We’re still working out the details of that provision,” Sinema said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

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