The measures include a ban on the sale of semi-automatic weapons to anyone under the age of 21, but these need to be overturned in the Senate.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a series of measures regulating the sale of guns that had to be turned down in the Senate.
The new measures will block the sale of semi-automatic weapons to under-21s and ban large-capacity magazines.
However, despite gun control making the news after a series of mass murders in the US, Republican opposition in the Senate is expected to overturn the bill.
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Hours before the vote, survivors of the Uvalde school massacre gave emotional testimonies to MPs that brought some to tears. 21 people, including 19 children, were killed in a gun attack on a primary school in Texas.
At the hearing, an 11-year-old girl said in her pre-recorded testimony that she had smeared the blood of a classmate on herself to pretend to be dead, and described the moment the gunman shot her teacher in the head.
The Uvalde attack and other recent mass killings have sparked new gun control talks in the US Senate, but Democrats need at least 10 Republicans to pass the new legislation.
Conservatives want to protect the constitutional right to bear arms and oppose limiting sales of assault rifles like the one used in the Uvalde attack.
‘God-given Rights’
The House of Representatives passed Wednesday’s sweeping bill, dubbed the “Protecting Our Children Act” by lawmakers, by a vote of 204 to 223, with only five Republicans joining the Democrats in support of the project.
In addition to tighter controls on gun sales, the law will also introduce a scheme that would allow local government to compensate people who deliver high-capacity magazines, strengthening existing regulations regarding untraceable guns called “impact magazines.”
However, measures cannot become law until approved by the Senate.
“The United States has lost more children to gun violence than any other cause. Doesn’t that embarrass you?” Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi said during a debate over the bill. “Imagine that there are more children in our country who die from gun violence than from any other cause? These stories are tragically so prevalent in America today.”
But House Republicans say the bill is an attack on citizens’ constitutional right to own firearms.
“The Speaker of the House began by saying that this bill is to protect our children,” said Ohio Republican Jim Jordan. “But this bill doesn’t do that. The second amendment this bill does is take away their rights from law-abiding American citizens whose God-given rights are protected by our Constitution.”
Bilateral talks are underway in the Senate on more moderate measures that could win enough Republican support to pass some changes to the law.
But one Republican, Texas Senator John Cornyn warned Wednesday that there are “points of contention everywhere.”
Only a small fraction of 50 Republican senators seem open to the new gun law. The senators are expected to reach a final agreement by the end of the week.
Proposals with the most public support include a law banning people with mental illness or criminal records from purchasing firearms, and more extensive background checks for other buyers.
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source: Noticias
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