Rep. Greg Stanton voted Thursday in the House Judiciary Committee to advance H.R. 7910, the Protecting Our Kids Act—a comprehensive gun violence prevention package aimed to help prevent future mass casualty shootings.

“Congress has failed to act on gun violence for far too long, and the human toll is devastating. I always have and will continue to support common-sense reforms to keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn't have them while respecting the rights of law-abiding citizens,” Stanton said.

Stanton said that is working with House leadership to amend one component of the package as it moves to the floor: Limiting capacity for magazines for handguns to 10 rounds.  Legislation should reflect the difference between the lethal capacity of semiautomatic rifles and handguns, he said, and the capacity limit for handguns should exceed 10 rounds so that it does not prevent responsible gun owners from effectively using widely-purchased handguns to protect their homes.

The Protecting Our Kids Act would

  • Raise the lawful age to purchase a semiautomatic centerfire rifle from 18 to 21 years old;
  • Establish new federal offenses for gun trafficking and straw purchasers and authorize seizure of the property and proceeds of the offense;
  • Establish requirements to regulate the storage of firearms on residential premises as well as criminal penalties for violation of the requirements;
  • Build on ATF’s regulatory bump stock ban by listing bump stocks under the National Firearms Act and statutorily banning the manufacture, sale, or possession of bump stocks for civilian use; and
  • Build on ATF’s regulatory ban of so-called 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.

The bill now heads to the House floor.