The United States House of Representatives passed several new gun laws on Wednesday, which will raise the age to buy semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21.
Gun legislation has been at the top of headlines as of late, and legislators are working to respond to the horrific mass shootings across the country.
The legislative package named the Protecting Our Kids Act was passed by a 223-204 vote, with all but two Democrats voting to pass it and five Republicans supporting it.
The package will now head to the Senate, where it is not expected to pass, with experts saying that the 60 votes needed aren't attainable. However, less broad legislation is expected to receive bipartisan support and overcome any potential filibuster.
The Protecting Our Kids Act was written by Democrats and is another effort from the party to enact tougher limitations on guns.
Following the passage of the package, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, shared at an event that the legislation was common sense.
"Why? Why would someone be against raising the age so that teenagers do not have AK-47s?" Pelosi asked. "Yes, they say mental health issues. Yes, we want to address mental health issues. Other countries have mental health issues. They don't have a gun violence epidemic."
While speaking before the House, Pelosi took shots at some of her Republican colleagues who had said high-capacity clips and semi-automatic weapons were used to kill different vermin. But she disagreed, saying that they were "designed for massacre."
Across the aisle, GOP lawmakers did not seem as supportive of the package, calling it the "Unconstitutional Gun Restrictions Act" in an email to offices, NBC News reported.
House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana, shared with reporters that the legislation doesn't get to the root cause of the issue, saying lawmakers need to take a different approach.
"Airplanes were used [on 9-11] as the weapon to kill thousands of people and to inflict terror on our country. There wasn't a conversation about banning airplanes," Scalise told reporters, comparing the events of September 11th to mass shootings.
On top of the package raising the minimum age for buying semi-automatic weapons, it will also ban large-capacity ammunition feeding devices and toughen penalties for gun trafficking and "straw purchases."
Other issues it would tackle include establishing residential gun storage rules, creating criminal penalties for violations, requiring registration for bump-stock-type devices, and modifying the definition of a "ghost gun" subject to regulation.
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