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U.S. Congress passes bipartisan gun safety bill

STORY: The U.S. House passed a significant gun safety bill on Friday, for the first time in three decades.

PELOSI: "The motion is adopted."

It came a day after a Supreme Court ruling that moved to broadly expand gun rights, ruling that Americans have a constitutional right to carry handguns in public.

Friday’s bill in Congress does not go as far as Democrats, including U.S. President Joe Biden, had hoped for.

It does not ban sales of assault-style rifles or high-capacity magazines.

However, it does take some steps that would help states keep guns out of the hands of those deemed to be a danger to themselves or others and block gun sales to those convicted of abusing unmarried intimate partners.

Democrat and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi:

"All of us who have met with survivors in the wake of the tragedies have heard their message loud and clear: we must do something. Today, in their honor, we heed their powerful cry, sending the major gun violence prevention legislation to President Biden's desk for signature.”

Gun control has long been a divisive issue in the United States with multiple attempts to place new controls on gun sales failing time after time until Friday.

What some Democrats called a modest, first-step bill followed mass murders last month at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York and an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

The House voted 234-193 on Friday’s bill.

Only 14 Republicans backed the measure.

Republican House lawmaker Jim Jordan argued that the bill infringed on the constitutional right to ‘keep and bear arms’ that conservatives say should be broadly protected.

"Today they (Democrats) are coming after Americans' law-abiding American citizens' Second Amendment liberties... They can take your gun. They can take your guns. They can take away your Second Amendment rights. And then you have to petition to have a subsequent hearing where you get them back."

The White House said President Biden will sign the bill into law on Saturday morning.