The Supreme Court handed down a brief order on Tuesday that will prevent violent criminals and other individuals who are not allowed to have guns from evading a federal law requiring background checks for gun buyers. The vote was 5-4, with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joining the Court’s three Democratic appointees.

The case, known as Garland v. VanDerStok, concerns so-called “ghost guns,” dismantled firearms that are sold in ready-to-assemble kits.

U.S. President Joe Biden issued an executive order on Tuesday that reinforced background checks for gun buyers in what the White House is promoting as the most comprehensive policy the president can enact without Congress.

The order also aims to strengthen federal support for red flag laws passed in 19 states and the District of Columbia that intend to stop gun sales to people legally deemed dangerous to themselves or others.

President Joe Biden is expected to sign an executive order on Tuesday aiming to increase the number of background checks to buy guns, promote better and more secure firearms storage and ensure U.S. law enforcement agencies are getting the most out of a bipartisan gun control law enacted last summer.

House lawmakers gave final approval on Friday to the first the nation’s first new gun laws in nearly 30 years, sending a huge victory for Democrats to President Biden’s desk with the help of Republicans. 

In a 234-139 vote, the House passed a gun control bill that expands background checks to include juvenile records and incentivizes states to adopt “red flag” laws that are used to confiscate guns from people deemed dangerous by a judge. 

The Senate passed a bipartisan gun reform bill on Thursday in the wake of a slew of mass shootings in recent months, including the death of 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas in late May.

The Senate passed the most sweeping firearms legislation in decades, with a coalition of more than a dozen Republicans joining Democrats to provide new tools to deter mass shootings following deadly attacks around the nation.

The 65-33 vote capped a month of negotiations, led by Sens. Chris Murphy (D., Conn.) and John Cornyn (R., Texas), who were tasked by the leaders of their respective parties with finding a compromise on one of the most contentious topics in American politics.

The Senate on Thursday night passed the most sweeping gun bill in decades designed to prevent gun violence, a major victory for advocates and a rare defeat for the National Rifle Association.

The vote was 65 to 33, with all 50 Democratic members and 15 Republicans, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, voting to send the bill to the House.

It’s easy to despair watching Congress debate gun legislation, especially given that even with reforms our country will continue to be saturated in guns. By some counts there are about 400 million guns in the United States. Legislating — particularly given the Senate filibuster — is maddeningly slow and difficult.

Combine that with the GOP’s longtime unwillingness to consider real reform to the nation’s gun laws, and it’s surprising that Congress looks ready to pass a somewhat bipartisan gun bill at all.

With the country continually in mourning over gun violence — we keep seeing mass shooting after mass shooting after mass shooting — it’s time to find ways to prevent it, lest we remain the “only nation where this regularly happens.” Those solutions needn’t be new, and could perhaps be kind of banal, like the risk-based decision-making behind TSA PreCheck screenings.

President Biden on Thursday made an emotional appeal for ambitious new gun laws including a ban on military-style rifles, as lawmakers wrangled bitterly over how to prevent more bloodshed in America.

In an address to the nation, the president prodded Congress that “it is time to act” and repeatedly declared “enough” about the slaughters in schools and other mass shootings that have become all too routine in the U.S.