May 19, 2024
House Democrats plan push for 8 restrictive gun bills after Texas and New York mass shooting massacres

House Democrats plan push for 8 restrictive gun bills after Texas and New York mass shooting massacres

House Democrats unveiled plans on Tuesday to introduce eight separate bills aimed at reducing gun violence after last week’s Texas school massacre and the racist rampage in Buffalo.

The Judiciary Committee, led by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), plans to take up a package of bills dubbed the Protecting Our Kids Act, including measures to raise the age to purchase semi-automatic rifles to 21 from 18 and ban most high-capacity magazines.

Other bills would tighten background checks, enact stricter rules for storing guns, and beef up penalties for gun trafficking and so-called “straw man” purchases to evade rules. A so-called “red-flag law” would allow the confiscation of guns from people with mental health issues.

The bills, which could come up for votes either together or individually next week, are almost all dead on arrival in the Senate, where gun-friendly Republicans can use their filibuster power to block them.

Even though the measures are doomed to fail, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other top Democrats want to show they are at least trying to take action against gun violence.

An 18-year-old gunman legally bought an AR-15 assault weapon that killed 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas last week. Before that, another 18-year-old legally obtained an assault rifle that was used to gun down 10 Black shoppers in a Buffalo, New York supermarket.

Democrats want to force Republicans to take uncomfortable votes against all the measures, which they oppose as improper infringements on gun rights or liberal virtue-signaling that wouldn’t stop future rampages.

Leaders may even force separate votes on each bill in order to gain valuable political ammunition against the GOP lawmakers who will inevitably side with the gun lobby despite the wide public demand for action to stop the mass killings.

Senate leaders are separately talking about far more modest proposals like somehow pushing states to enact their own red-flag or background check laws.

There is nowhere near enough support from congressional Republicans for broader gun measures popular with the public — like a new ban on assault-type weapons or universal background checks on gun purchases. Still, Democratic advocates hope meaningful measures could still pass.

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