By: EFE Updated 13 May 2022, 23: 24 pm EDT
The Lower House approved this Wednesday a bill to increase the fight against domestic terrorism just days after the racist shooting in the New York town of Buffalo (New York), in which they died 10 people, most of them African-Americans.
The initiative, baptized “The Law for the Prevention of Domestic Terrorism of 2021”, was approved with 222 votes in favor and 203 against.
NEW: The House has voted 222-203 in favor of the Domestic Terrorism Prevention bill. Only one Republican, Adam Kinzinger, voted in favor. All other Republicans voted against it.
— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) May 18,
The initiative proposes the creation of specialized units in the FBI and in the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security to track down and investigate potential threats of domestic terrorism, including racist and terrorist-related groups. white supremacism.
After its approval in the Lower House, with a Democratic majority, the bill now goes to the Senate.
The measure faces an uncertain future in the Upper House due to that the Democrats have a very narrow majority and would need the support of the Republicans to overcome a procedural vote in order to debate the initiative.
Although it is an uphill battle, the leader of Democrats in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, told the press on Wednesday that his goal is to put the measure to a vote next week.
The The perpetrator of the shooting on Saturday is a young white man aged 10 identified as Payton S. Gendron and who traveled more than 300 kilometers to a neighborhood in the black community to perpetrate the massacre.
The crime is being investigated as a racist and terrorist attack after a manifesto was found in which Gendron claimed that he wanted to kill “all blacks” and, therefore, had decided to perpetrate the massacre in an area inhabited mostly by citizens of the African-American community.
The shooting claimed the lives of ten people and three were injured. Of the 11 victims, 11 were black.
Gendron was armed and was equipped with a bulletproof vest and a protective helmet to which a camera was attached, through which he broadcast his crime live.
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