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Congresswoman Veronica Escobar (TX-16) voted to pass and spoke in support of H.R. 7910, the Protecting Our Kids Act.  

This life-saving piece of legislation will make a significant difference in the fight against gun violence in our country.

“Gun safety legislation is common-sense, wildly popular, and long overdue,”  Congresswoman Escobar said. “Our nation’s gun violence epidemic has taken too many lives and left a devastating impact on communities like El Paso and Uvalde. The Protecting Our Kids Act includes reforms which are long past due.  I only hope my Republican colleagues in the Senate understand the gravity and urgency of the gun violence epidemic and take action. We can’t save every life that might be taken by gun violence, but my God, we have to try.” 

The Protecting Our Kids Act will save lives by:  

• Raising the purchasing age for semi-automatic weapons from 18 to 21 years old;  

• Cracking down on gun trafficking and straw purchases to get illegal guns off of our streets;  
• Subjecting ghost gun purchases to background check requirements;  
• Strengthening safe storage requirements to protect children from accidental shootings;  
• Closing the bump stock loophole to ban these deadly tools from civilian use;  
• Outlawing high-capacity magazines, which have been the accessory of choice in the bloodiest mass shootings in our country; and  

• Requiring an annual report of demographic data of those being determined to be ineligible to purchase guns. 

Today’s legislation is part of long-standing actions House Democrats have taken to combat gun violence since taking the Majority in 2018. House Democrats have twice passed H.R.8, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act and H.R. 1446, the Enhanced Background Checks Act. Together, these bills would secure universal background checks for all gun purchases – supported by nearly nine in ten Americans. 

The final vote in the House for the Protecting Our Kids Act was 223-204 and full text can be found here.

Tomorrow, the House will consider the Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order Act, which will save lives by: 

• Keeping guns out of the hands of those who pose a threat to themselves or others by implementing a nationwide extreme risk law; and  
• Encouraging states to enact their own extreme risk laws.  

The final text of H.R. 2377, the Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order Act, can be found here.