DeLauro Commends Judiciary Committee Markup of Protecting Our Kids Act

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro today applauded the House Judiciary Committee for their vote to send the Protecting Our Kids Act package of gun legislation to the House floor. The full package, which contains safe storage legislation authored by DeLauro, will be voted on the floor of the House of Representatives next week.

"I applaud the House Judiciary Committee Democrats for moving quickly to approve legislation to better firearm safety and ensure we prevent avoidable mass shooting tragedies in the future," said Congresswoman DeLauro. "I am especially proud that this legislation includes Ethan's Law, legislation I introduced in the memory of Ethan Song – a teenager in Guilford, Connecticut who accidentally shot himself with an unsecured gun in early 2018. In Connecticut, we have passed Ethan's Law on a broad bipartisan basis to protect our state's kids. I am thankful to have worked side by side with Ethan's parents, Kristin and Ethan Song, who have tenaciously fought to protect and save other children. Their dedication knows no bounds. Today, the House Judiciary Committee took a critical step to make Ethan's Law the national standard for safe storage, and I look forward to voting in support of the Protecting Our Kids Act on the House floor next week."

The Protect Our Kids Act is comprehensive legislation which combines several sensible and overwhelmingly popular firearm safety proposals that, if signed into law, will scale back the scope of gun violence in the United States.

Congresswoman DeLauro submitted testimony before the House Judiciary Committee in support of the Protecting Our Kids Act. You can read her testimony here.

The Protecting Our Kids Act:

• Includes Rep. DeLauro's Ethan's Law, legislation that establishes requirements to regulate the storage of firearms on residential premises and create criminal penalties for violation of the requirements;
• Raises the lawful age to purchase a semiautomatic centerfire rifle from 18 to 21 years old;
• Establishes a new federal offense for the import, sale, manufacture, transfer, or possession of large capacity magazines, with exceptions for certain law enforcement uses and the possession (but not sale) of grandfathered magazines; and allow state and local governments to use the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program to compensate individuals who surrender large capacity magazines through a buyback program;
• Establishes new federal offenses for gun trafficking and straw purchases and authorize seizure of the property and proceeds of those offenses;
• Establishes voluntary best practices for safe firearm storage; award grants for Safe Firearm Storage Assistance Programs; and provide a tax credit for 10% of amounts received from the retail sale of safe storage devices;
• Builds on ATF's regulatory bump stock ban by listing bump stocks under the National Firearms Act (like machineguns), and ban the manufacture, sale, or possession of bump stocks for civilian use; and
• Builds on ATF's regulatory ban of ghost guns by ensuring that ghost guns are subject to existing federal firearm regulation by amending the definition of "firearm" to include gun kits and partial receivers and changing the definition of "manufacturing firearms" to include assembling firearms using 3D printing.

"Mass shootings are becoming far too familiar in the United States," continued DeLauro. "I will not sit idly by and let the death of children become commonplace. We have a duty as lawmakers to prevent these tragedies from happening ever again, and I will not stop fighting to pass gun safety legislation that keeps our children, schools and communities safe."