The House of Representatives approved this Wednesday a bill that seeks to increase the minimum age for the purchase of semi-automatic rifles to 21 years and prohibit the sale of ammunition magazines with a capacity of more than 15 rounds, in response to the recent killings in Buffalo, New York and in Uvalde, Texas.
The legislation is unlikely to become law as it does not have enough support to pass the Senate, which is meanwhile discussing its own proposal in response to the massacres to improve mental health programs, bolster school safety and increase background checks to purchase firearms.
However, the House bill sends a message to voters in November about the positions of Democrats and Republicans on gun control, which according to polls enjoy broad support among the electorate.
Speaker of the House of Representatives, California Democrat Nancy Pelosi, during a rally in favor of gun control on June 8, 2022. Susan Walsh / AP
“We can't save every life, but by God, shouldn't we try?
United States, we hear you and today in the House of Representatives we are taking the actions you demand,” said Representative Veronica Escobar, a Democrat from Texas.
"Take note of who is with you and who is not."
The vote on Capitol Hill came the same day a House committee heard heartbreaking testimony from some of the victims of the Uvalde school shooting, including an 11-year-old girl, Miah Cerrillo, who covered herself in blood. of her companions so that the murderer would believe that she was dead and not shoot her.
The cycle of mass shootings in the United States has not led Congress to pass comprehensive gun reform.
However, the attack on the Robb elementary school in Uvalde, which cost the lives of 19 children and two teachers, has reactivated the debate between the two main parties.
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"It's disgusting, it's disgusting that our children are being forced to live in this constant fear," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
Pelosi said the vote "would make history by making progress."
But it's not clear that the measure will have a future in the Senate after Wednesday's vote.
“The answer is not to destroy the Second Amendment, but that is exactly where the Democrats want to go,” said Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.
[It is not true that the arms industry has immunity for the destruction caused by its weapons]
The Senate is currently discussing its own bills to deal with gun violence.
For Democrats to pass a bill they need the support of at least 10 Republicans and vice versa.
A dozen senators from each party met privately Wednesday in hopes of reaching a compromise but concluded they needed more time before they could take some modest steps.
The House bill combines several proposals that Democrats had articulated before the latest shootings that shocked the country.
The suspects in the Uvalde and Buffalo attacks were only 18 years old when they bought the semi-automatic rifles used in the killings.
The bill would increase the minimum age to purchase these types of weapons to 21 years.
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“A person under the age of 21 cannot buy a Budweiser beer.
We should not allow anyone under the age of 21 to buy an AR-15 weapon of war,” said Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif.
Republicans, for their part, have pointed out that the California appeals court declared unconstitutional a state law that prohibited the sale of semi-automatic weapons to adults under 21 years of age.
