The US House of Representatives passed a bill on Friday to restore an old text banning the possession of assault rifles and semi-automatic weapons, the first of its kind in years, amid growing anger over mass shootings that claim lives across the country.
The legislation was approved by 217 votes, while it was rejected by 213, and it will be sent to the Senate for a vote.
US President Joe Biden said the House of Representatives worked together to pass the bill, keep guns off the street, save lives and reduce crime in American society.
Biden urged - in a statement - the Senate to move quickly to vote on the law and send it to the White House to obtain the approval of the President and become a law once and for all.
Passing the bill requires 10 Republican senators and 50 Democrats to vote.
This possibility is unlikely because partisan divisions on the issue of weapons are wide.
Only two Republicans joined the Democrats in adopting the text.
In 1994, Congress succeeded in passing a law banning assault rifles and some high-capacity magazines for 10 years.
This law expired in 2004, and since then sales of these guns, touted by manufacturers as "sports rifles", have skyrocketed.
Over the past 10 years, sales of these weapons have generated more than $1 billion, according to a parliamentary report.
Save lives
Recently, calls for an arms embargo have increased on the impact of a number of deaths in mass shootings in different regions of the United States.
After 21 people were killed in a Texas school shooting, President Joe Biden called on Congress to at least raise the legal age to buy these guns to 21.
On Friday, the White House confirmed its support for a measure that would "saving lives."
"Every year 40,000 Americans die from gunshot wounds, and firearms have become the number one killer of children in the United States," he said in a statement.
So far, Republicans seem united in the face of this measure, which they see as a violation of the Second Amendment to the right to bear arms.
They have only agreed, under pressure, to support a very limited law strengthening the means to confiscate guns from violent spouses and strengthening the means to ensure mental health and the safety of schools.