The House of Representatives passed a wide-ranging gun control bill in response to recent mass shootings, but the proposals have almost no chance of being approved in the Senate and becoming law.
The new bill comes following multiple mass shootings, including shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York.
The bill raises the age limit for buying a semi-automatic rifle and prohibits the sale of ammunition magazines with a capacity of more than 15 rounds. In the House, the legislation passed mostly on party lines, passing 223 to 204.
But there’s pretty much no chance that the Senate will pass the measure. The Senate is pursuing negotiations that are focused on other issues, such as mental health programs, school security, and background checks.
The House bill will, however, give Democrat lawmakers a chance to show exactly what policies they support, especially in the run-up to the November elections.
The vote came after there was heart-wrenching testimony in a House committee from recent shooting victims and family members. One witness was an 11-year-old who covered herself with a dead classmate’s blood in order to avoid being shot dead at the Uvalde elementary school mass shooting.
The seemingly never-ending string of mass shootings and the cycle of rhetoric has rarely gotten Congress to actually implement any kind of change. But the horrific shooting of 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde has brought efforts to the forefront for both parties.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that the House vote was making history by making progress, but it is unclear what will happen to the House’s bill after yesterday’s vote, considering that Republicans are mostly staunchly opposed to it.
Republicans see any gun reform as somehow destroying the second amendment, and therefore are attempting any other angle to address mass shootings besides the weapons used in them.
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