House Takes Up Eight-Part Gun Reform Legislation After Uvlade Massacre

The House Judiciary Committee called for an emergency meeting on Thursday to discuss an eight-part gun control package following a violent past few weeks with mass shootings leaving 10 dead in Buffalo, New York, and taking the lives of 21 more in Uvalde, Texas.

Thursday’s session will serve as an opportunity for the Democratic-led committee to make final changes with the intention of sending it to the full House to vote on the “Protecting Our Kids Act” next week.

The package seeks to raise the age for buying semiautomatic rifles from 18 to 21 years old, make it unlawful to import, sell, manufacture, transfer or possess high-capacity magazines with a few exceptions and add to already existing storage and bump stock regulations.

The legislation is expected to face strong opposition in the Senate, which is split 50-50. Democrats would need to convince 10 Republicans to vote for it to avoid the filibuster.

“Every single time after one of these mass shootings, there are talks in Washington and they never succeed,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) said on ABC’s This Week in a Sunday appearance. “But there are more Republicans interested in talking about finding a path forward this time than I have ever seen” since the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

President Joe Biden also called Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell a “rational Republican.” Last week, McConnell indicated a willingness to work on bipartisan gun safety measures as he “encouraged” Texas Sen. John Cornyn (R) to meet with Murphy. The two senators met remotely on Tuesday to try to find something both sides will be willing to support and a plan to move forward.

“I think things have gotten so bad that everybody is getting more rational about it,” the President added as he spoke to reporters on Monday.