Everything we know about the 'Protecting Our Kids' act to strengthen gun control in the US

On Wednesday evening, the House of Representatives passed the ‘Protecting Our Kids’ gun control act in an effort to stop mass shootings.

The bill was introduced to the House by Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) at the end of May following a deadly shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, a shooting at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, and a shooting at a hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

'Protecting Our Kids' includes six points to help reduce the prevalence of mass shootings:

- Making semi-automatic rifles illegal to individuals under the age of 21

- Creating regulations for storing guns at home

- Subjecting bump stocks to regulation under federal firearms law

- Establishing framework to regulate ghost guns

- Establishing federal criminal offenses for gun trafficking

- Prohibiting the sale, manufacturing, transfer, or possession of high capacity magazine feeding devices

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In a 223 to 204 vote, the bill passed with five Republicans, Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH), Chris Jacobs (R-NY), Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), and Fred Upton (R-MI), joining Democrats to pass the legislation.

Two Democrats, Jared Golden (D-ME) and Kurt Schrader (D-OR) opposed the bill.

Now it will head to the Senate. While officials are still divided about outlawing semi-automatic rifles entirely, the act is an effort to help reduce the number of mass shootings the US experiences.

So far this year, there have been over 200 mass shootings.

President Joe Biden and other lawmakers have been pleading with Congress to pass legislation protecting children and US citizens from gun violence.

Yesterday, 11-year-old Miah Cerrillo, who survived the Robb Elementary School shooting, testified to her horrifying experience in the Uvalde shooting in front of Congress.

"I am a strong supporter of the Second Amendment and all of the protections that it entails," Representative Fitzpatrick said in a statement. "I also believe that we have no higher responsibility as leaders, no higher responsibility as human beings, than to protect our children and to keep our community safe. These are not and must not be mutually exclusive concepts."

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