Worthy Christian News > US News > House passes array of gun reform bills, unlikely to succeed in Senate

House passes array of gun reform bills, unlikely to succeed in Senate

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – The House has passed a compilation of eight gun reform bills, but the legislation is not expected to succeed in the Senate due to a lack of Republican support, the Washington Examiner reports.

The Democrat-sponsored Protecting Our Kids Act was approved 223-204 Wednesday in an effort to tackle America’s chronic mass shooting crisis.

The Protecting Our Kids Act includes provisions for raising the age at which certain semi-automatic rifles can be purchased from 18 to 21, banning the “import, sale, manufacture, and possession of large-capacity magazines,” and increasing regulations on the storage of guns, the Examiner said.

In statement from the floor of the House ahead of the vote on the bill, House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) said: “Day after day, we see more lives lost to gun violence in our schools, on our streets, in our houses of worship, in our homes, touching every region of the country, and we hear from our constituents crying out for us to take action. Today, we heed that call. HR 7910, the Protecting Our Kids Act, is comprehensive legislation to address the scourge of gun violence, a blight that killed nearly 45,000 Americans in 2020 alone.”

Republicans have historically opposed gun control legislation, citing concerns about infringements on Second Amendment rights to keep and bear arms.

“What happened in Uvalde [May 24 Texas school shooting], Buffalo [May 14 New York supermarket shooting], and Tulsa [June 1 Oklahoma hospital shooting] is as wrong as wrong could be, and our hearts go out to those communities and those families who have been impacted in such a terrible way, but the answer is not to destroy the Second Amendment,” Republican Rep. Jim Jordan said in a statement.

However, although the Act is expected to meet strong Republican opposition in the Senate, bipartisan senators have said it is possible a narrower form of gun control bill could be agreed that would attract the 60 votes needed to overcome the filibuster, the Examiner reports.