House Passes Gun Control Bills Following Buffalo And Uvalde Shootings
On Wednesday (June 8), the Democratic-led House passed legislation to tighten America’s gun laws.
According to CBS News, the legislation passed mainly along party lines (223-204), with five Republicans joining all but two Democrats. On Thursday, the lower chamber also approved 224-202 legislation that would allow family members and law enforcement to obtain an extreme risk protection order from a federal court to temporarily remove access to firearms to those deemed dangerous to themselves or others.
The “Protecting Our Kids Act” is a package of eight bills that cleared the House Judiciary Committee along party lines last week. It would raise the minimum age to purchase a semiautomatic rifle from 18 to 21 years old and ban large-capacity magazines.
While the bill passed in the House, it faces an uphill battle for clearance in the 50-50 Senate. 60 votes are required for the bills to overcome a filibuster and advance.
The legislation also incentivizes safe storage of firearms, establishes requirements regulating storage of guns on residential premises, and builds on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms' regulatory ban on bump stocks.
The passage of the bills comes after members of the Oversight and Reform Committee heard heart-wrenching testimony from a fourth grader who survived the shooting at Robb Elementary shooting in Uvalde, along with others who lost loved ones in Texas and Buffalo, N.Y.
