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(The Hill) – A handful of House Republicans bucked their party to vote for gun legislation on Wednesday, supporting measures that were introduced after the mass shootings in Buffalo, N.Y. and Uvalde, Texas last month.
The marquee piece of legislation that cleared the chamber was the Protecting Our Kids Act, a package of bills that seek to tighten gun restrictions. Among the provisions are raising the minimum age to purchase a semi-automatic weapon from 18 to 21 and banning civilians from using high-capacity magazines.
The legislation is doomed in the Senate because of widespread GOP opposition. The package passed the House in a largely party-line vote of 223-204. One Republican did not vote.
Five Republicans broke from the party in supporting the measure: Reps. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.), Anthony Gonzalez (Ohio), Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Chris Jacobs (N.Y.) and Fred Upton (Mich.).
Kinzinger, Gonzalez, Jacobs and Upton are all not seeking reelection this year. Jacobs bowed out of seeking another term last week after he came under fire within the party for expressing support for an assault weapons ban.
The lawmakers voted for the package despite party leadership advocating against the legislation. Minority Whip Steve Scalise’s (R-La.) office sent a memo to House GOP offices on Tuesday encouraging members of the conference to vote “no” on the sweeping measure.
“In the wake of the senseless, malevolent shootings seen in recent months, the Majority has thrown together this reactionary package comprised of legislation that egregiously violates law-abiding citizens’ 2nd Amendment rights and hinders Americans’ ability to defend and protect themselves and their families,” the memo read.
In addition to voting on the entire package, the House also held votes on each individual provision. The full package, however, is the only piece of legislation that will be sent to the Senate for consideration.
Last week, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said the House would vote on each provision “to place Republicans on record on each of these issues relating to gun safety.”
Six of the seven provisions passed in largely party-line votes, with only a handful of Republicans joining Democrats. The last provision, however, had widespread bipartisan support. It orders the attorney general to submit a report to congressional committees detailing individuals who could not purchase a firearm because they failed a background check.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, recommended that members vote against the first six provisions, but signaled support for the final one.
Kinzinger, Fitzpatrick and Jacobs supported all six provisions that Jordan recommended the conference oppose. A number of other Republicans joined the trio in voting for some of the individual measures.
The provision that would impose a ban on bump stocks for civilians received the most GOP support among the measures that Jordan recommended voting against.
The initiative passed in a 233-194 vote, with 13 Republicans bucking the party: Reps. Mike Turner (Ohio), John Katko (N.Y.), Anthony Gonzalez (Ohio), Chris Jacobs (N.Y.), Nicole Malliotakis (N.Y.), Chris Smith (N.J.), Maria Salazar (Fla.), David Valadao (Calif.), Ken Calvert (Calif.) David Joyce (Ohio), Kinzinger, Upton and Jacobs.
The provision that calls for raising the minimum age for purchasing a firearm from 18 to 21 cleared the House in a 228-199 vote. Ten Republicans supported that effort: Turner, Katko, Upton, Gonzalez, Fitzpatrick, Kinzinger, Jacobs, Malliotakis, Smith and Salazar.
The list of GOP defectors was similar for the measure to mandate that untraceable firearms and guns without serial numbers, also referred to as ghost guns, undergo background checks and receive serial numbers.
The House passed the provision in a 226-194 vote, with eight “yes” votes: Fitzpatrick, Kinzinger, Jacobs, Katko, Malliotakis, Upton, Gonzalez and Smith.
On a provision creating new federal crime offenses for gun trafficking and straw purchases of firearms, which is when people who are not able to clear background checks purchase firearms through a proxy, 7 Republicans bucked the party to support the measure in a 226-197 vote.
Fitzpatrick, Kinzinger, Malliotakis, Gonzalez, Jacobs, Salazar and Katko all voted “yes.”
Four Republicans voted for the provision that calls for prohibiting civilian use of ammunition magazines that have more than 15 rounds: Kinzinger, Jacobs, Upton and Fitzpatrick. The measure passed in a 220-207 vote.
The provision that received the least GOP support seeks to bolster safe storage of guns in homes where minors may have access to the firearms. Kinzinger, Fitzpatrick and Jacobs were the only GOP defectors. The effort, however, ultimately cleared the House in a 220-205 vote.
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Worse than Facebook Jail!
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Community advisers on Los Angeles’ s transit agency are seeking to replace the sheriff’s department that patrols hundreds of miles of train and bus routes with “care-based support” to alleviate perceived racism.
This comes despite a crime surge last year, with homicides up 29% in the county area patrolled by the sheriff and 12% within the city limits — a 14-year high .
The most recent example occurred last weekend when a train passenger was nearly burned to death by an arsonist who sprayed him with gasoline and lit him on fire. Fellow passengers extinguished the blaze, but the suspect ignited him a second time, Sheriff Alex Villanueva told the Washington Examiner.
“They’re woke. They worship at the altar of wokeism, believing cops are detrimental to the system and passengers are afraid of the cops,” Villanueva said of the agency’s Public Safety Advisory Committee. “They believe passengers want to avoid coming in contact with ‘oppressive’ law enforcement.”
Villanueva said the committee’s recommendation to the entire Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority , otherwise known as Metro, would mean “the bullies are celebrating everywhere.”
The committee was created as a county response to the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020. Fourteen community activists were appointed, who started on a mission to get rid of the sheriff’s department under a “defund the police” mindset, said Capt. Shawn Kehoe, who supervises the 315 deputies assigned to Metro.
On May 4, the committee unanimously agreed to craft a letter to the full Metro board asking for the sheriff’s $66 million annual contract to be shifted to “non-police alternatives.” This follows an April 1 letter from the American Civil Liberties Union to Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins, opposing “racially harmful intelligence gathering” by the sheriff that is not welcoming to “Black, indigenous, and riders of color.”
Instead of law enforcement, Metro should employ “resources for community healing, health, and prevention services to help reverse historical injustices of our outdated, broken criminal justice system,” the letter read.
Wiggins did not respond to a request for comment, nor did Mayor Eric Garcetti, who appointed her.
During the meeting, committee member Mohammad Tajsar , an ACLU attorney, criticized Villanueva for attacking the committee by calling it a “woke advisory board.” He named about a dozen topics that Villanueva battled in the media, including reinstating fired deputies and pushing back against mandated vaccines.
“This is just a handful of scandals plaguing this department, and every week there are different ones, and it seems so completely corrupt and rotten from its core. … It seems to me the only logical thing to do is for this particular body to recommend to Metro that they not contract with the sheriff,” Tajsar said.
Kehoe said the committee started a renewed push against the sheriff when Metro hired a retired FBI agent proficient in data analysis as its chief safety officer. Computer data allows law enforcement to increase patrols in crime hot spots, and the transit system is no different.
The committee would rather have police be reactive instead of proactive — responding to crimes after they happen, Kehoe said.
“That’s what’s happening nationwide in public transit,” he said. “It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. We take cops off, there is an increase in calls.”
Meanwhile, the man who sustained second-degree burns over half his body is at a burn center intensive care ward and is expected to survive. Deputies were not on that particular train when the attack happened, but when it stopped in Pasadena, police arrested Christine Ciaccio, 38. She is homeless and has a string of drug-related convictions going back at least a decade, said arson detective Alex Miller.
Ciaccio was charged with attempted murder and is being held on $1 million bail, according to court records.
The 70-year-old victim is in great physical shape and rides his bike often, which helped him to survive.
“Our victim is extremely lucky to be alive,” Miller said. “He was lucky to have three good Samaritans to render aid. If they hadn’t been there, he would’ve died.”
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My new theme song about this issue! Grumpy