In the wake of a series of high-profile gun violence that shook the country earlier in the month, House Democrats will continue to push a slew of gun control proposals on Thursday.
Chair of the House Judiciary Committee Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., has summoned committee members from recess to mark up gun control legislation that combines eight separate proposals. In light of recent massacres in Texas and New York, Nadler plans to bring a package of new gun safety legislation to the House floor “as soon as practicable,” according to a spokesperson.
The most current and deadly attack occurred last Tuesday, when an 18-year-old shooting occurred at a primary school in Uvalde, Texas, killing 19 students and two teachers. That tragedy occurred barely ten days after another teenager in Buffalo, New York, shot and killed ten people at a store during a racist spree in a mostly Black neighborhood.
In the face of Republican resistance in the Senate, the Democratic-led measure is certain to collapse. Democrats, on the other hand, have expressed a glimmer of hope — however remote — that bipartisan conversations between senators may result in Congress enacting a more limited plan with bipartisan support. The list of measures that the House Judiciary Committee would review as part of the broader “Protecting Our Kids Act” was confirmed by a spokeswoman for Nadler.
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The united proposal would impose a slew of new restrictions on the sale and use of weapons and related gear.
The Raise the Age Act would raise the semiautomatic rifle purchase age from 18 to 21, while the Keep Americans Safe Act would make it illegal to import, sell, produce, exchange, or carry a large-capacity magazine.
Ethan’s Law would establish stricter storage regulations for guns in homes, particularly those with children, as well as tax incentives for secure storage equipment.
While it’s unknown when the package will be debated on the House floor, Nadler’s decision to reassemble the panel early indicates that House leadership intends to vote on the bill as soon as legislators return from their holiday break next week, while Democrats still have momentum.
It’s also uncertain whether House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and her deputy, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., want to vote on a single big package or break it down into its several parts and try to pass them on one at a time.
The package’s Republican opponents are a more certain bet.
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For years, Senate Republicans have stymied any movement on gun control legislation. They rejected gun-control legislation when they had the control, and they may now threaten an indefinite filibuster if Democrats fail to come up with the 60 votes needed to end the delaying strategy.
Four days just after a tragedy in his state, Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz rushed to Twitter to argue that “taking firearms away from responsible, law-abiding Americans would not make our country safer.”
“It’s a lot simpler to yell about firearms than it is to demand answers about where our culture is failing,” Cruz remarked on Saturday.
Any legislation that Nadler and other House Democrats attempt to enact will very certainly be doomed due to opposition from Cruz and other Senate Republicans. That is unlikely to stop Pelosi, who recognized on Wednesday that any gun legislation would face long chances in the Senate.
“We hope that the bipartisan negotiations currently taking place in the Senate will result in legislation that can save people and be acted on quickly,” she wrote in a letter to fellow Democrats.
“The Democratic House has enacted solid, rational gun-violence control legislation on several occasions,” she continued. “As we’ve told the brave survivors of gun crime time and time again, we’ll never stop till the job is done.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has intended the entire country to see when Republicans vote down gun control legislation. He stated that he is willing to hold votes on legislation that are almost certain to fail.
Senator Chris Murphy, D-Conn., is leading bipartisan backdoor gun legislation discussions, which Schumer has endorsed. He’s collaborating with Republicans such as Pat Toomey, Susan Collins, and Rob Portman, who have expressed support for more limited gun laws.
Nonetheless, in recent comments from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday, the likelihood of any gun control legislation — large or little — appeared to be slim.
Asked in Kentucky for an update on the bipartisan talks, McConnell said the main problem behind the shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde was mental illness, implying that Republicans would be open to legislation to address psychological services.
Democrats dispute the claim that lawmakers need to target mental illness more so than the availability of guns to reduce shooting violence in the U.S. They say that similar rates of mental illness in other developed nations across the globe prove that mental illness alone cannot fully explain the prevalence of mass shootings in the U.S.
McConnell said Senate talks on legislation designed to reduce school shootings are ongoing.
When asked about the bipartisan talks in Kentucky, McConnell said the main issue behind the massacres in Buffalo and Uvalde was mental illness, hinting that Republicans would support legislation to improve psychiatric treatment.
“We’re doing something,” McConnell said. “We had a committee chaired by Senator Cornyn on the Republican side and Senator Murphy on the Democratic side exploring how we would be able to work together to attack the problem, which is mental illness and school safety.” “We’ll pick up where we left off next week and expect to see some progress.”
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