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WASHINGTON, D.C. - This week, Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-12) voted in support of H.R. 2377, the Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order Act, and H.R. 7910, the Protecting Our Kids Act, common-sense gun safety measures that will help keep guns out of the hands of those who seek to harm themselves or others, crack down on illegal gun trafficking, raise the age for purchasing semi-automatic weapons, strengthen safe gun storage, restrict access to untraceable "ghost guns" and more. 

"Over these last several weeks, we've seen innocent grocery store shoppers, school children, teachers, doctors, and more targeted by mass shootings," said Dingell. "Thoughts and prayers have never been enough to stop these tragedies. We cannot normalize our children dying. If we are going to seriously end the gun violence epidemic, we need to take a comprehensive approach that keeps guns out of the hands of those who are looking to harm themselves or others, and gives law enforcement the proper tools to keep our communities safe."

"This a deeply personal issue for me," Dingell continued. "As a child, I lived in a house with a man – my father – that should never have had a gun. Too many children are living the fear I did as a child, some don’t make it and if they do they live, fear and anxiety are a constant companion. If we fail to act, it will be a matter of when, not if, the next mass shooting occurs. We must get meaningful gun safety legislation done now."

Yesterday, Congresswoman Dingell spoke on the House floor in support of the Protecting Our Kids Act and shared her personal story of experiencing a persistent threat of gun violence in her household growing up. A video of the Congresswoman's full remarks is below:  

To view Congresswoman Dingell's floor speech, click here.

BACKGROUND: 

Gun violence in America is responsible for more than 40,000 deaths every year. Every day, 30 Americans are murdered with a gun – a number that rises to more than 100 when counting suicides and accidental shootings. In recent weeks, 31 people have been murdered and another 20 injured at the hands of two 18-year-olds legally armed with semiautomatic assault rifles. 

The Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order Act of 2022 will create a new grant program at the U.S. Department of Justice to be used to encourage more states to adopt extreme risk protection order laws. Extreme risk protection orders allow for the temporary removal of firearms from a person who has been deemed by a court to be dangerous to themselves or to others. Currently, 19 states and the District of Columbia have implemented extreme risk protection order laws.

The Protecting Our Kids Act will: 

• Raise the purchasing age for semi-automatic weapons to 21 years old. Currently, someone could buy a semi-automatic rifle, the weapon of choice in many mass shootings, at just 18 years old – yet you must be 21 to buy a less lethal handgun.
• Crack down on gun trafficking and straw purchases to get illegal guns off of our streets
• Subject ghost gun purchases to background check requirements.
• Close the bump stock loophole to ban these deadly tools from civilian use.
• Outlaw high-capacity magazines, which are designed for killing en masse and have been the accessory of choice in the bloodiest mass shootings.
• Strengthen safe storage requirements to protect children from accidental shootings

Require an annual report of demographic data of those being determined to be ineligible to purchase guns.