House panel advances gun bill after mass shootings

A House panel advanced legislation Thursday that would raise the age limit for purchasing a semi-automatic rifle from 18 to 21 as Democrats moved quickly to put their stamp on gun legislation in response to mass shootings in Texas and New York.

The vote came as President Joe Biden gave a prime-time speech about the shootings and told Americans, “Let's hear the call and the cry, let's meet the moment, let us finally do something."

In addition to raising the age limit for purchasing semi-automatic rifles, the bill also would make it a federal offense to import, manufacture or possess large-capacity magazines and would create a grant program to buy back such magazines.

The final vote to advance the bill was 25-19, with Democrats accounting for all the yes votes and Republicans accounting for all the no votes.

The Democratic legislation, called the Protecting Our Kids Act, was quickly added to the legislative docket after last week's school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.