The U.S. Senate has passed a gun control bill, for the first time in nearly 30 years.
The Senate bill, approved in a 65-33 vote, is said to be the first significant gun control legislation to pass in three decades, in a country with the highest gun ownership per capita in the world and the highest number of mass shootings annually among wealthy nations.
In a rare bipartisan breakthrough on gun control measures, 15 Republicans joined Democrats in the Senate to approve the bill.
The bill is set to impose tougher checks on young buyers and encourage states to remove guns from people considered a threat.
It was however reported that it still needs the endorsement of the lower house before being signed into law by President Joe Biden.
The U.S. President said 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 the communities.
The landmark court ruling and Senate action on gun safety illustrates the deep divide over firearms in the United States, weeks after mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York, killed over 30 people, including 19 children.