(The hill) – The House on Wednesday approved a sweeping gun package in response to last month’s mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, that killed more than 30 people and reignited pressure for gun legislation in The capitol.
The package, called the Protect Our Children Act, passed in a vote of 223-204. A Republican did not vote.
Two Democrats, Representatives Jared Golden (Maine) and Kurt Schrader (Oregon), defied the party by opposing the measure. Five Republicans — Representatives Adam Kinzinger (Illinois), Anthony Gonzalez (Ohio), Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Chris Jacobs (New York) and Fred Upton (Michigan) — endorsed him.
The legislation consists of seven separate provisions intended to address gun violence in the United States. The House voted on the individual provisions separately, all of which passed the House primarily on party-line votes. However, the overall package is the only legislation that will be sent to the Senate for consideration, where it faces opposition from the Republican Party.
A bipartisan group of senators has engaged in its own negotiations to reach a consensus on tougher gun legislation.
The House package would raise the minimum age to purchase a semiautomatic firearm from 18 to 21, ban civilian use of ammunition magazines with more than 15 rounds, and enact new federal criminal offenses for gun trafficking and false purchases of firearms. fire, when an individual who cannot pass a background check purchases a gun through a proxy.
It also seeks to require that ghost guns (firearms that cannot be traced and have no serial number) undergo background checks and receive serial numbers, impose a civilian shock stock ban, and tighten gun stockpiling. in homes where minors may have access to firearms
In addition, the package requires the attorney general to submit a report to congressional committees on individuals who have been found ineligible to purchase a firearm through a background check.
The passage of the legislation comes just over two weeks after a shooter opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, killing 19 students and two adults. Ten days before that, a gunman fatally shot 10 Black people at a Buffalo grocery store.
“America is in the midst of a shocking epidemic of gun violence that should shock everyone’s conscience and has devastated children, families and communities. We must address it with the fierce urgency of now,” Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (DN.Y.) said on the House floor during the package debate Wednesday.
“It is not right that mass murder has become a way of life in the United States of America. That is why we must pass comprehensive gun violence prevention legislation, decisively address this epidemic, and enable America to be the best version of itself,” he added.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) asked her colleagues to support the measure, making a particular appeal to Republicans, without addressing them by name.
“For those for whom a moment of silence is enough because they don’t have the courage to vote to protect children, I would say that their political survival is wholly insignificant to the survival or compared to the survival of our children. ,” she said.
However, most Republicans disagreed with the overall package. In a memo to House Republican lawmakers Tuesday, the office of Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) recommended that conference members vote against the legislation, arguing that the measure “flagrantly violates the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens and impedes Americans’ ability to defend and protect themselves and their families.”
In the House of Representatives on Wednesday, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, reiterated that stance.
“What happened in Uvalde, Buffalo, Tulsa is as bad as it could get and our hearts go out to those communities and families that have been affected in such a terrible way. But the answer is not to destroy the Second Amendment. But that’s exactly where the Democrats want to go,” Jordan said.
“What this bill does is take away the Second Amendment rights, God-given rights, protected by our constitution, from law-abiding American citizens. That is what this legislation does, and that is why we must oppose it,” he added after him.
Some Republicans have called for measures to increase school safety in the aftermath of the Uvalde shooting. Others have encouraged measures that address mental health.
Rep. Richard Hudson (RN.C.) made those arguments during Wednesday’s debate.
“I ask my colleagues across the aisle to put aside this partisan agenda. Instead, help me strengthen schools. Help me intervene with students in mental health crises before they reach a critical point,” he said.
The package faces some resistance in the Senate, where at least 10 Republicans are needed to overcome a legislative filibuster.
However, there has been bipartisan opening in the upper house to states that enact red flag laws, strengthen a national criminal background check system, and provide funding for mental health treatment.
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