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US House of Representatives votes to raise age to buy assault rifles to 21


House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) speaks at a rally with gun violence prevention organizations, gun violence survivors and hundreds of gun safety advocates demanding the use of legislation. gun, toppling the US Capitol in Washington, June 8, 2022.

Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters

The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a sweeping gun bill that would raise the minimum age to buy an assault rifle in the US from 18 to 21, though the law doesn’t stand much of a chance in the Senate.

The bill, called the Protecting Our Children Act, would also ban the sale of high-volume magazines and set new rules governing proper home firearm storage. The council approved it in a 223-204 vote.

The House of Representatives had previously voted 228 to 199 to include the purchase age provision – under close scrutiny following two recent massacres carried out by 18-year-olds – in the broader bill. . Democrats supported the proposal in a largely partisan vote: Five Republicans supported the measure, while two Democrats opposed it.

The package is a collection of several laws designed to restrict access to guns and other hand-held devices in the wake of last month’s mass shootings in Buffalo, New York and Uvalde, Texas, which left 31 Americans die.

Another component of the law, known as the Non-Decentralized Guns Act, would strengthen regulations around so-called ghost guns, or those without serial numbers. Tracking ownership and possession of firearms without serial numbers is much more difficult for law enforcement.

While a majority of Democrats in the House are expected to pass stronger gun laws, their success is largely symbolic. Senate Republicans, who have the power to block the legislation with a vote that needs 60 votes to pass, have united in opposition to the House’s restrictions on guns and will block the step. its advancement.

A 50-50 split in the Senate, with Vice President Kamala Harris leading the key vote, means Democrats have to convince 10 Republicans to endorse any legislation. A bipartisan group of senators is negotiating a narrower compromise bill that they say would increase background checks, improve mental health services and increase school security.

Political analysts say the May 24 elementary school massacre in Uvalde, Texas, or the May 14 racist riots at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, are likely triggers. enough support for the bill passed by the House of Representatives.

A gunman at Robb Primary School in Uvalde shot 19 children and two teachers to death, while attackers have the majorityy Black neighborhood in Buffalo killed 10. Both gunmen are 18 years old and carry AR-15-style assault rifles.

Parents of the victims, law enforcement officials and an 11-year-old Uvalde shooting survivor appeared before Congress on Wednesday to urge lawmakers to pass new gun laws.

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Kimberly Rubio, the mother of 10-year-old Lexi Rubio’s murder, told lawmakers she didn’t want her daughter to be remembered as “a number”.

Rubio told the House Oversight Committee: “She’s smart, compassionate and athletic. She’s quiet, shy unless she has an opinion to say.” “Somewhere out there, there’s a mother listening to our testimony and thinking, ‘I can’t even imagine their pain,’ without knowing that one day our reality will be. It’s hers. Unless we act now.”

After two massacres, Senate leaders Chuck SchumerDN.Y. and Mitch McConnellR-Ky., blessed bipartisan talk in the upper room on a series of new narrower gun rules.

Sen. Chris Murphya Democrat from Connecticut, and Sen. John Cornyna Republican from Texas, is leading those discussions, which have so far focused on stronger background checks and red flag laws.

Red flag laws allow family members, colleagues, or the police to ask a court to seize an individual’s firearm for a certain period of time if the person is deemed a threat to themselves or the public. they.

Bipartisan ideas in the Senate – while much less stringent – are the Democrats’ best shot at sending any gun legislation to the President’s desk Joe Biden for signatures into law. The president, who has called on federal lawmakers to pass any stricter gun legislation, met with Murphy on Tuesday to discuss bipartisan negotiations.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday said Biden supports red flag legislation and stricter background checks.

“We understand not every component of what the president is calling for can prevent all tragedies,” Jean-Pierre said. “But we have to take it step by step, and we have to move forward, and we have to do something.”

Aides said that despite overwhelming support from Democrats in Congress and the White House, the new gun legislation faces difficulties in the Senate because the vast majority of Republicans will never now voting on gun bills is even a little stricter.

Cornyn acknowledged that political reality from the Senate floor on Wednesday afternoon, but struck an upbeat tone about the negotiations between the parties.

“I’m happy to talk about this topic, we’re making steady progress. It’s still early in the process, but I’m optimistic about where things are going,” he said. “What am I optimistic about? I’m optimistic that we can pass a bill in the Senate, it can pass the House and it will be signed by President Biden. And it will become law of the land. band.”

The Texas Republican said he was focused on the importance of ensuring youth access to mental health services and schools have adequate security procedures.

He also noted that another idea being considered is legislation that would require states to upload juvenile records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.

“Because this young man in Uvalde had turned 18 and had nothing to see through his juvenile records, he passed a background check. It was as if he were born on his twelfth birthday. 18 and nothing that happened before that is important,” Cornyn said. “That’s clearly a problem.”



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