Pelosi says House will vote on gun legislation next week

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Thursday that lawmakers will vote on a package of sweeping gun legislation next week.
• The package includes raising the age requirement for purchasing semi-automatic weapons from 18 to 21 years old.
• The House is also expected to vote on a separate bill next week that would implement“red flag” laws across the country.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced Thursday that the House will vote on a collection of sweeping gun legislation next week. The move comes following two mass shootings that left more than 30 people dead in Buffalo, N.Y., and Uvalde, Texas.

The package includes raising the age requirement for purchasing semi-automatic weapons from 18 to 21 years old and banning civilian use of high-capacity magazines and bump stocks. It also hopes to mandate that ‘ghost gun’ purchases should be subject to background check requirements.

The package also includes measures that would bolster firearm storage requirements and would disallow straw purchasing of guns — which is when someone who is unable to pass a background check buys a firearm through a proxy buyer, The Hill reported.

Pelosi sent a letter to her colleagues on Thursday, writing that the package “will make an enormous difference in our fight against gun violence.”

“Saving our children can and must be a unifying mission for our nation,” she wrote. “To all those in the Congress who would stand in the way of saving lives: your political survival is insignificant compared to the survival of our children. We will not rest until the job is done.”

The House vote will come less than a month after a white gunman opened fire at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, killing 10 people. More than a week later, an 18-year-old shooter killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and on Wednesday, a gunman fatally shot four people at a medical facility in Tulsa, Oklahoma. All three shooters used AR-15-style firearms.

Additionally, the House will also vote on a separate bill next week that would nationalize “red flag” laws that will seek to keep guns away from individuals who are regarded as a danger to themselves and others.

However, it is unlikely the Senate will pass all gun measures and head to President Biden’s desk. The leading piece of legislation appears to be the bill to establish “red flag” laws, which some Senate Republicans have expressed an openness to.

Source: The Hill