A new Democratic majority on guns

77 Democrats voted against assault ban in 94 & nearly as many vs Brady Bill in 93. Today’s level of unity would have been unimaginable even a decade ago. But the Dem center of gravity has shifted unequivocally to metropolitan America which enables more unity on issues like this https://t.co/B8nq3LKGnK

— Ronald Brownstein (@RonBrownstein) February 27, 2019

The House on Wednesday passed a bill expanding federal background checks for gun purchases and transfers, the first major new firearm restrictions to advance in a generation.

The Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019, which passed 240-190 with mostly Democratic votes, is unlikely to be considered in the Senate, where Republicans hold a 53-seat majority. President Trump also has issued a veto threat Tuesday for the expanded background checks bill.

But amid loud applause in the House, Democrats and gun-control advocates celebrated Wednesday’s vote as the first significant congressional movement on tightening access to firearms since the 1990s. The outline of the bill approved by the House was first sketched out in the days after the 2012 killing of elementary school students and teachers in Newtown, Conn., only to fail a key Senate test vote months later.