Political | Process

“Our plan saves lives while also protecting the constitutional rights of law-abiding Americans. We look forward to earning broad, bipartisan support and passing our commonsense proposal into law,” said a statement released by the group, which is led by Sens. Chris Murphy (D., Conn.) and John Cornyn (R., Texas) as well as Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D., Ariz.) and Thom Tillis (R., N.C.).

In a crucial sign of support, 10 Republicans signed on to the agreement. Negotiators have been working to gain enough support to pass legislation in the 50-50 Senate, where any bill would need significant bipartisan backing to reach the 60 votes needed to advance.

All Democrats would likely support the legislation, meaning at least 10 Republicans would need to back a final bill.

The Republicans who signed on to the framework were Sens. Cornyn and Tillis, joined by Roy Blunt of Missouri, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Rob Portman of Ohio, Mitt Romney of Utah and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.

Hurdles remain to final legislative text, including how much to spend on the programs. Still, the framework puts lawmakers on course to advance the most expansive bipartisan measure addressing gun violence since the assault weapons ban in 1994, which lapsed a decade later.

While many Democrats have sought more sweeping measures including bans on assault-style weapons and limits on magazine capacity, President Biden and party leaders have indicated they would support a narrow deal in the face of broad GOP opposition to measures limiting gun ownership.

Lawmakers have ruled out raising the age to buy assault-style weapons, such as AR-15s, to 21 years old from 18. Democrats and some Republicans had indicated support for such a measure, but it lacked broader GOP backing.

There was also little GOP appetite for banning such weapons altogether, which President Biden had called for.