House passes gun control legislation

(Image credit: Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

published 9 June 2022

The House passed gun control legislation on Wednesday evening that would raise the age limit for purchasing a semiautomatic rifle and ban the sale of magazines with a capacity of more than 15 rounds.

The vote was 223 to 204, mostly along party lines. The package was crafted in response to the recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, with the vote taking place just hours after a student who survived the Uvalde massacre and the parents of victims testified before lawmakers. A pediatrician who treated several of the children who were shot described their bodies as being "pulverized" and "decapitated" by bullets.

Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) said lawmakers might not be able to "save every life, but my God, shouldn't we try? America we hear you, and today in the House we are taking the action you are demanding. Take note of who is with you and who is not." Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) was one of the Republicans who opposed the measure, saying, "The answer is not to destroy the Second Amendment, but that is exactly where the Democrats want to go."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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