House Weighs 8 New Gun Laws

House Democrats want to move quickly on new gun laws in the wake of the Uvalde, Texas, elementary school shooting and the House Judiciary Committee has scheduled a Thursday special session to iron them out.

There are eight new laws on the table for emergency markup with the goal of getting the bills to the House floor "ASAP" a committee aid told The Hill.

The bills will strike at gun trafficking, safe storage of firearms, bans on bump stocks, and raising the legal age to buy certain semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21, according to the report.

The House is currently in recess, but the special session of the House Judiciary Committee shows Democrats are serious about moving quickly to push through new gun control measures after a gunman murdered 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.

House Democrats hold a slight majority and can move bills to the Senate, where a 50-50 split and a 60-vote threshold to overcome a filibuster figure to require bipartisan work with Republicans who are far more protective of the Second Amendment right to bear arms.

As much as the House can work on Democrat-led legislation, the rules of Congress might require them to find a middle ground with at least 10 Republican senators.

First, House Democrats figure to structure the bills as they see fit and force Republicans in a midterm election year to put their name on a vote.

There are already some bills approved by the House to expand background checks before gun sales, with plans next week to vote on a new "red flag" law that would be designed to keep Americans who might be deemed potentially violent from legally purchasing a firearm.

Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Ga., sponsored the latter bill to expand the power of the courts to ban certain Americans from buying or possessing firearms if the judge deems them to be a threat to themselves or others. There are already 19 states with red-flag laws, and the bill would expand them nationwide.

Republicans have been reluctant in the past to vote to give courts more authority over a constitutionally protected right. Most of the 19 states, save for Florida, Indiana, and Nebraska, are considered blue states.

Among the other gun laws to be marked up in the emergency session is a ban on new sales of high-capacity magazines, and new restrictions on "ghost guns," according to The Hill.

Not included in the plans is a ban on AR-style semi-automatic rifles.

Also not discussed in the House Judiciary docket are Republican solutions to harden schools, including mandating single point-of-entry, training and arming teachers, or requiring armed guards at schools.

• Florida Lawmakers Showed That Gun Reform Possible​
• Expanded Background Checks Not 'Common Sense' Fix for Mass Shootings