The bill was drafted after two mass murders took place in the U.S. in May. The shootings at a supermarket in Buffalo and at an elementary school in Yuvalde killed 31 people, more than half of them elementary school students.

After the Senate vote, U.S. President Joe Biden said, “Today, after 28 years of inaction, members of Congress from both parties came together to heed the call of families across the country to pass a bill to address gun violence in our community. Families in Yuvalda and Buffalo, too many past tragic incidents have demanded action. And today we are taking action.”

The new bill calls for increased funding for school security, major investments in mental health and suicide prevention programs, and additional spending on other crisis support services. There are also plans to impose more rigorous background checks for people between the ages of 18 and 21 who want to buy guns. Controls on the private arms trade would be greatly increased.

In addition, it is proposed to limit access to guns for those who pose a threat to themselves and others, in particular, a loophole will be closed, thanks to which people convicted of domestic violence could buy firearms. There are also plans to funnel significant money into state budgets to develop their own laws regarding restricting access to guns for potentially dangerous people and developing crisis-relief programs.

“For years, the extreme left has falsely claimed that Congress could solve the terrible problem of mass murder by amending the constitutional rights of law-abiding Americans. This bill proves that’s not the case. Our colleagues have put together a package of popular, common sense steps that will help make horrific incidents less likely without violating citizens’ constitutional rights under the Second Amendment,” said Republican Senator Mitch McConnell.

The new bill does not impose tough restrictions, but the American public calls the results of its consideration a victory for the Democratic Party, which for years has been advocating for stricter gun control.

American media noted that the previous law of similar importance was adopted in 1994. Then, gun manufacturers were prohibited to produce high-capacity magazines for civilian use and certain types of semi-automatic weapons, which fell under the definition of an assault rifle. The ban was in effect for 10 years, but it expired in 2004 and could not be extended due to opposition from the Republican Party. Today, only seven states and the District of Columbia have banned assault weapons.

The U.S. remains the country with the highest rate of firearm deaths among developed nations. Nearly 21,000 people died in 2022 – more than nine thousand homicides and about 12,000 suicides. According to the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive, there have been 280 mass murders since the beginning of the year.

The Democratic Party of the United States – and, as polls show, the majority of the country’s population – favor tightening existing gun control laws. Opponents of such measures (including the National Rifle Association of America) believe that any change in existing laws would violate the constitutional right of citizens to own guns, as enshrined in the Second Amendment to the Constitution. They fear that any concession would trigger new requirements and eventually lead to a total ban on guns.

One of their main arguments is that restrictions on gun ownership would not, in practice, prevent most mass murders. The example often cited is that of American Stephen Paddock, who in 2017 committed the most mass murder in U.S. history–then killed 59 people and injured more than 500. Paddock purchased his weapons legally – he passed all the necessary checks, he had no criminal record and no obvious signs of mental illness.

A growing number of people in the United States in recent years have argued that the problem of gun violence can only be solved by repealing the Second Amendment to the Constitution.

Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens has called for the repeal of the amendment, calling it a relic of the 18th century. Walter Shapiro, a scholar at the Brennan Center for Justice (New York University School of Law), said no reform would solve the existing problems of a society with some 400 million guns stored “in closets, glove compartments and nightstands.

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There are also regional taxes? We have a three-tiered tax system: city tax, state tax, federal tax. The rates vary everywhere.

Is it hard to figure out? No, it’s all built pretty logically. The most problematic part is determining the total amount of tax a company has to pay on different assets.

Does the company pay taxes on employees? Every U.S. resident declares and pays their own taxes.

How often do companies report? Annually by April 14. A U.S. certified public accountant is allowed to file the returns.

What if there is an error in the report? A mechanical error will be corrected by inspectors. When the problems are more global, the company resubmits the form where the mistake was made.

Are the penalties high? If a company doesn’t pay taxes and doesn’t submit a report, it will be fined 5% of the amount owed. With each month of delay, the penalty increases until it reaches 25 percent. If a company fails to pay, but reports, the penalty is much less – 0.3 percent.

Are companies using ways to reduce taxes? Yes, after all, the federal tax rate is quite impressive. For example, they divide the turnover into the turnover generated in the U.S. and the turnover generated outside of the U.S..

Do you have a unified tax code? At the federal level there is the Internal Revenue Code, plus each state has its own law.

Do the laws change often? Yes, with every election (smiles).

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It was passed by Congress on March 21, 1947. Then it took almost four more years for its ratification by state legislatures.

Previously, the limitation of the presidential legislature to two terms existed as an unwritten rule, which is generally characteristic of Anglo-Saxon political culture.

Franklin Roosevelt broke with tradition, which prompted the amendment. Society and legislators decided that, with all due respect to the deceased, this should not be allowed to happen in the future.

There is an opinion (a very common one) that the presence of such a restriction in a state constitution is one of the key differences between a genuine and a formal democracy.

According to supporters of forced removability, most voters instinctively fear change, forget that any other life is possible during a long period of rule by one person, and accept too readily that there is no alternative to the incumbent leader. And the latter, having at least a theoretical possibility of making his power last a lifetime, would resort to unworthy tricks and even crimes for the sake of it.

But there is also the opposite point of view: the will of the citizens should not be restricted, and people have the right to choose who and how many they want.

Interesting Facts

• The U.S. Constitution, adopted by a special convention in Philadelphia on September 17, 1787, and effective March 4, 1789, is the oldest in the world. Nevertheless, according to sociologists, 90% of Americans believe that it meets modern requirements.
• The American Constitution was written by 30 people in about 100 working days. It is also the shortest: a preamble, seven articles and 27 amendments, about 4,400 words in all, including the articles.
• The U.S. Constitution does not mention the word “democracy.”
• Restrictions on the time in power of the highest officials were first established in ancient Athens. In republican Rome, consuls and other magistrates were elected for one year, and could not hold the same office again until ten years later.
• After declaring independence on July 4, 1776, and winning the war with Britain, the United States remained an amorphous confederation for 13 years. The first president in the modern sense, George Washington, was elected in 1789. Before him, presidents were referred to as presidents of the unicameral Congress, who changed annually, had limited powers, and were not included in the official count.
• The two-term provision is considered part of Washington’s political will. He did not run for a third term in 1797, although, according to almost unanimous historians, he could have been reelected again and again and even proclaimed himself king. In his famous Farewell Address, however, Washington spoke of age and fatigue, not of a desire to set any precedent.
• “Unless a limitation on the period of service of the highest officer is established by the Constitution or tradition, he will de facto be made a lifetime,” Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1807.
• Before Franklin Roosevelt, Ulysses Grant, Grover Cleveland, and Theodore Roosevelt unsuccessfully attempted to run for a third term.

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Under the future law, these companies will be required to map at least 50 percent of their supply chain, starting with the production of raw materials. They would have to disclose their payroll, greenhouse gas emissions, water and chemical management and develop specific plans to reduce their environmental impact. Finally, companies will need to disclose the amount of materials they produce and, for example, how much cotton, leather or polyester they use. All this information must be available online.

Companies will be given 12 months to comply with the supply chain directive and 18 months to disclose impacts. If they are found to be in violation of the law, the companies will be fined up to 2% of annual revenue – these fines will go to a new Community Fund administered by the Department of Environmental Protection. New York’s attorney general will publish an annual list of non-compliant companies.

“As the global fashion and business capital of the world, New York State has a moral responsibility to serve as a leader in mitigating the fashion industry’s impact on the environment and society,” Ms. Biaggi said in a press release. She called the initiative a “groundbreaking piece of legislation” that aims to make New York a world leader in “holding the fashion industry ‘accountable. She also said that the law passed should ensure “the priority of labor, human rights and environmental protection.”

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The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution are generally referred to as the Bill of Rights. There are different versions explaining why provisions guaranteeing the political, civil, and procedural rights of citizens were not included in the text of the Constitution. According to one of them, most of these rights and freedoms, according to the authors of the Constitution, were so natural that they did not need to be mentioned separately. During the ratification process, however, state legislatures urged that the Constitution be amended to include guarantees of rights and freedoms. The states of North Carolina and Rhode Island refused to ratify the Constitution at all until the Bill of Rights was included. As a result, by December 15, 1791, the first ten amendments had been ratified by the required number of states. Thus, the first and most far-reaching change in the U.S. Constitution was the adoption of amendments that not only established a list of fundamental rights and freedoms, but also protected them from encroachment, including from their own government.

Of the subsequent amendments to the U.S. Constitution, the only absolutely unnecessary and destructive one was the 18th Amendment (adopted in 1919 and prohibiting “the manufacture, sale and transportation of intoxicating beverages for the purpose of their consumption” as well as their import and export from the United States. The consequences of 13 years of Prohibition were devastating: sharply reduced tax revenues, thousands of jobs lost as a result of the closure of bars and factories which produced alcohol, the impossibility to legally sell alcohol, which hurt the restaurant business. At the same time, organized crime and smuggling were rapidly gaining momentum. This is why the XXI amendment, which repealed the “dry law” in 1933, can be evaluated very positively.

All the other amendments were mostly aimed at either extending the rights of citizens, or at limiting or clarifying the competence and terms of state authorities, beginning with Amendment XI (1795), which established immunity from prosecution for parties to common law or equitable actions brought or pursued against one state by citizens of another state or by foreign nationals or subjects. The 13th Amendment (1865) abolished slavery, and the 14th Amendment (1868) provided an expanded definition of citizenship. The XVth Amendment (1870) prohibited racial discrimination in elections. The Nineteenth Amendment (1920) granted voting rights to women. The XXIII Amendment (1961) gave D.C. residents the right to run for president, the XXIV Amendment (1964) abolished the poll tax, and the XXVI Amendment (1971) lowered the voting age to 18.

The remaining amendments dealt with state agencies. The 12th Amendment (1804) changed the original procedure for electing the president and vice president and established an extraordinary procedure for electing the president. The 14th Amendment, already mentioned, includes a very noteworthy section 3, which provides that members of Congress, officers of the United States, and representatives of the three branches of state government who are sworn to uphold the Constitution and who have subsequently participated in sedition or rebellion against the United States, or have aided its enemies, may not be senators, representatives to Congress, or electors for president and vice president, nor hold any civil or military office established by the United States or a particular state. Amendment XVI (1913) expanded the taxing power of Congress, Amendment XVII (1913) introduced direct elections to the Senate, Amendment XX (1933) determined the end of terms of the President, Vice President, and members of Congress, as well as how the President would assume office. Amendment XXII (1951) limited the president’s term to two terms, while Amendment XXV (1967) clarified issues of presidential succession and the terms of the interim presidency.

The XXVII Amendment, which established that no law altering the compensation of Senators and Representatives in Congress should go into effect until after the next election to the House of Representatives, has a very interesting history. In 1789, President James Madison, one of the founding fathers of the United States, drafted 12 amendments to the Constitution (ten of which later became the Bill of Rights). One of the proposed amendments was approved by a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress, but initially only six states ratified it. It was this amendment that was finally ratified more than 200 years later, on May 7, 1992, and became the XXVII Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the most recent to date.

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