![]() ![]() Guerrero’s testimony, asking his colleagues to “imagine for a second that a shooter with an AR-15 goes into your child’s school” and “leaves a hole the size of a basketball in their chest, or leaves their head decapitated off their body.” Representative Joaquin Castro, Democrat of Texas, drew on Dr. “Take responsibility for your irresponsible position,” he thundered at Republicans from across the House floor. What this bill does is take away Second Amendment rights, God-given rights, protected by our Constitution, from law-abiding American citizens.”Įarlier in the debate, a furious Representative Jamie Raskin, Democrat of Maryland, accused Republicans of advancing a “completely false vision of the Second Amendment.” “The speaker started by saying this bill is about protecting our kids,” said Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee. Republican leaders had advised their members to vote the measures down, and reminded them that a coalition of conservative groups, including Heritage Action and the National Rifle Association, would be rating lawmakers on their votes. House Republicans stayed united in opposing the legislation, casting it as an ineffective remedy to mass shootings and claiming it would restrict the rights of responsible gun owners. “Isn’t it reasonable to do everything we can to ensure those guns don’t fall into the hands of individuals intent on inflicting carnage on children?”īut the fierce debate on the House floor reflected the vast gulf between the two parties on gun control. ![]() 4 Democrat, said at a news conference at the Capitol. “It’s unacceptable that in the United States of America, gun violence is the leading cause of death for children,” Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the No. Both were carried out by 18-year-old gunmen using legally purchased AR-15-style weapons. The section of legislation banning high-capacity magazines - defined by Democrats as carrying 15 rounds or more - picked up relatively scant support in the House, with only four Republicans supporting the provision, and four Democrats opposing it.ĭemocrats underscored the urgency of moving quickly to enact stricter gun control laws, pointing to the killing of 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, and the racist shooting massacre in Buffalo that had claimed the lives of 10 Black people just 10 days earlier. The measure to raise the age to 21 to purchase semiautomatic rifles garnered 10 Republican votes in favor, though two Democrats opposed it. The provision to close a loophole and effectively ban bump stocks garnered the most bipartisan support, with 13 Republicans voting to support the measure. The bill passed on Wednesday would prohibit the sale of semiautomatic rifles to people under the age of 21, ban the sale of magazines that hold more than 15 rounds of ammunition, and establish stricter requirements regulating the storage of guns in homes.ĭemocratic leaders broke the package into its component parts, forcing House Republicans to take a vote on each of the seven provisions to put them on the record against every proposal. Roy Guerrero, a pediatrician who treated many of the victims in Uvalde, described to lawmakers how he saw children’s bodies “pulverized” and “decapitated” by bullets.īut the wrenching testimony quickly gave way to political reality on Capitol Hill, where Republicans split bitterly with Democrats over their gun control proposals, both in the committee and during votes on the legislation later in the day. The 223-to-204 vote came hours after parents and children affected by mass shootings across the country - including an 11-year-old from Uvalde, Texas, who survived a massacre at her school by smearing herself in a classmate’s blood and pretending to be dead - delivered wrenching testimony to a House committee, urging Congress to act on gun violence. Jason Andrew for The New York TimesĪ divided House on Wednesday approved a wide-ranging package of gun control legislation in a party-line vote, but the measures were all but certain to go nowhere in the evenly divided Senate, where negotiations continued on more modest proposals that could draw the bipartisan support necessary to move forward. ![]() Lawmakers voted 223 to 204 to advance a package of gun control legislation, but the measures are unlikely to pass in the evenly divided Senate.
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