The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a gun-control measure called the "Protecting Our Kids Act". It would raise the minimum age to buy a semi-automatic rifle from 18 to 21 and would strengthen penalties for gun trafficking.
"We have to act, by passing common sense measures like raising the age to 21 to buy an assault-style weapon, banning high-capacity magazines, and increasing safe storage...that will save lives. This legislation, the Protecting our Kids Act, will save lives," said Rep. Colin Allred, D-Dallas.
Democrats in the House who supported the measure said it was a response to a series of mass shootings around the country, including the school shooting in Uvalde.
"The Protecting Our Kids Act is in fact a solution to horrible and vicious problems," said Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston.
The bill passed with support from only five Republicans in the House of Representatives. It is unlikely to pass in the Senate.
Senators have been discussing their own legislative response to the recent shootings. Senator John Cornyn, R-Texas, has been leading those negotiations.
"We are making steady progress. It is early in the process, but I'm optimistic about where things stand right now," Cornyn said.
The Senate bill will likely be more narrowly focused. Preliminary indications are it will focus on school safety, mental health treatment and possibly some improvements to the existing system of background checks for gun buyers.
"We're looking at taking steps to encourage states to upload juvenile records into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. This is standard practice in some, but not most, states. And it's easy to see why it's important. If we're uploading information about adults' mental health adjudications but we don't have access to juveniles’ mental health adjudications, to me, that's a problem," Sen. Cornyn said.
"I think this is a common sense way to make sure that the National Instant Criminal Background Check databases are complete and they're accurate. That's not about expanding the system. That's about making sure the system we have actually works."
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