Domestic Terrorism bill passed by US House in the wake of mass shooting in Buffalo, New York

On Wednesday night, the House passed a bill to boost federal resources for preventing domestic terrorism after the racist mass shooting took place in Buffalo, New York.

As a result of the 222-203, nearly party-line vote, Congress has responded to rising pressure to tackle white supremacist attacks and gun violence. This is a major crisis that erupted after two mass shootings happened over this weekend. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, the only Republican who voted for the measure, is a member of the congressional committee that is currently investigating the attack that took place on the US Capitol.

Democrats have been trying to pass legislation for a long time. A similar measure was passed by the House in 2020, but it got stalled in the Senate. However, owing to a lack of general support in the Senate for gun-control legislation, Democrats are rather focusing on a broader federal approach to domestic terrorism to stop mass shootings.


Rep Brad Schneider, who first introduced the measure in 2017, said that they in Congress can't stop certain people spreading dangerous, hateful replacement theory ideology on the radio and television. Assault weapons haven't been outlawed by Congress.

Congress can prevent future Buffalo shootings by passing the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act this week.

White extremist terrorism is on the rise, and the House bill could help close the gaps in intelligence-sharing among the Homeland Security, Justice Department, and FBI so that officials can better monitor and respond to it.

Acts of domestic terrorism are already investigated, prevented, and prosecuted by all three federal agencies under current law.

In addition to creating interagency tasks to combat white supremacy, the bill would require each agency to establish a specific office dedicated to those tasks. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill would cost about $105 million over five years, almost all of it going toward hiring staff.