WASHINGTON (AP) – The chamber is working quickly to put its stamp on gun law in response to the mass shootings in Texas and New York by 18-year-old attackers who used semi-automatic rifles to kill 31 people, including 19 children.
The guerrillas’ positions were clear during a court hearing on Thursday on legislation that would raise the age limit for buying semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21. The bill will also make it a federal crime to import, manufacture or possess high-capacity fillers and create a grant program to buy back such magazines.
It is based on the administrative actions of the administration, prohibiting high-speed devices with “butt” and “ghost weapons”, which are assembled without serial numbers.
Democratic legislation called the Protection of Our Children Act was quickly added to the bill after the school shooting last week in Uwalde, Texas. Voting by the full Chamber may come as early as next week.
However, since almost all Republicans are in opposition, the actions of the House of Representatives will be mostly symbolic, simply pointing to gun control lawmakers before this year’s election. The Senate is taking a different course, with a bipartisan group seeking a compromise on gun safety legislation that could gain enough support from the Republican Party to become law. The talks are making “rapid progress”, according to Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, one of the Republican negotiators.
New York Democrat Gerold Nadler, a Democrat who chaired the House Judiciary Committee, defended his House’s proposals Thursday as popular with most Americans. He rejected Republican criticism.
“You say it’s too early to take action?” That we are “politicizing” these tragedies in order to introduce new policies? “Nadler said. “It’s been 23 years since Columbine. Fifteen years from Virginia Tech. Ten years after Sandy Hook. Seven years from Charleston. Four years from the Parkland and Santa Fe Synagogues and the Pittsburgh Tree of Life.
“Too soon? Friends, what the hell are you waiting for?”
Ohio lawmaker Jim Jordan, another Republican on the committee, said no one wanted a new tragedy. But he insisted that the House of Representatives bill would do nothing to stop the mass shootings.
“We need to understand seriously why this is still happening. “Democrats are always focused on restricting the rights of law-abiding citizens, instead of trying to understand why this evil is happening,” Jordan said. “Until we understand why, we will always mourn the loss without facing the problem. It’s our job to see why. “
A key feature of the House bill is that those who buy semi-automatic weapons must be at least 21. Only six states require someone to be at least 21 years old to buy rifles and shotguns. The shooters in Uwalde and Buffalo, New York, were both 18 and used AR-15 weapons.
Steve Cohen’s spokesman, D-Tenn., Said it must be a red flag when an 18-year-old wants to buy an “assault weapon.”
“What they want on their 18th birthday is a weapon of attack?” They have a problem, which means we have a problem, which means that these 19 children and their parents and these two teachers have a problem forever, “Cohen said, referring to the victims in Uwalde.
Representative Dan Bishop, RN.C., cited a ruling last month by the U.S. Court of Appeals that California’s ban on the sale of semi-automatic weapons to adults under the age of 21 is unconstitutional.
“I can tell you this, and let me be clear, you will not be harassing your way to depriving Americans of their fundamental rights,” Bishop said.
The hearing included emotional pleas from Democratic lawmakers for Congress to respond to the mass shootings after years of stagnation over gun issues, one of the most compelling, coming from the Republic of Georgia’s Lucy Macbatt.
She recalled how her son Jordan was shot and killed at a gas station by a man who complained about the loud music he listened to. She said she dreamed of who he would become. She said racialism led to his death and the deaths of 10 black Americans in Buffalo last month and was “replaying with casual insensitivity and despised frequency” in the United States.
“We all understand that the killing of our children cannot continue,” McBatt said. “And we have solutions that most Americans believe in. They are common sense compromises that will keep American children alive.
Any legislative response to the Uwalde and Buffalo shootings will have to go through an evenly divided Senate, where support from at least 10 Republicans will be needed to reach a final vote. A group of senators is working privately this week, hoping to find consensus.
The ideas being discussed include expanding gun control checks and promoting red flag laws that allow family members, school staff and others to go to court and provide orders requiring police to seize weapons from people, who are considered a threat to themselves or others.
A broader bipartisan group of nearly 10 senators spoke again Wednesday, a “very productive conversation,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Said in an interview.
“There is a tenor and a tone, as well as a real discussion on the substance that looks different,” he said.
Blumenthal is working with a Republican member of the group, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, on a proposal to send resources to the states for red flag laws. He said he was “excited and encouraged” by the group’s response.
“It’s really time for our Republican counterparts to reconcile or shut up,” Blumenthal said. “We’ve been this way before.”
President Joe Biden was asked Wednesday if he was convinced Congress would take action on weapons legislation.
“I served in Congress for 36 years. “I’m never entirely sure,” Biden said. “It simply came to our notice then. I have not been involved in the negotiations as they are ongoing. “
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Associated Press authors Lisa Mascaro and Zeke Miller contributed to this report.
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