New gun law has blocked over 500 firearms from being bought by young people, attorney general says

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 500 gun purchases have been blocked since a new gun law requiring stricter background checks for young people went into effect in 2022, Attorney General Merrick Garland said Friday, the day after a school shooting in Iowa left a sixth-grader dead.

The bipartisan law passed in June 2022 was the most sweeping gun legislation in decades and requires extra checks for any gun purchases by people under age 21. Those denied a gun purchase include a person convicted of rape, a suspect in an attempted murder case and someone who had been involuntarily committed for mental-health treatment, according to the Justice Department.

President Joe Biden applauded the news, calling it an important milestone.

“Simply put: this legislation is saving lives,” Biden said in a statement where he also called for additional measures such as universal background checks and a ban on firearms often referred to as assault weapons. The Democratic president said he was “proud to have taken more executive action than any president in history to combat gun violence in America, and I will never stop fighting to get even more done.”

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