Press Release

Representative Ami Bera, M.D. (CA-07) today voted for H.R. 7910, the Protecting Our Kids Act, a package of bipartisan and commonsense provisions to reduce gun violence and save lives.

"Gun violence has reached a crisis point in our country. From Uvalde, Texas to our own communities in Sacramento, far too many lives are being taken and families ripped apart because of the gun violence epidemic that is sweeping our nation," said Representative Bera, who previously served as Chief Medical Officer for Sacramento County. "As a doctor, I swore an oath to do no harm and spent my career battling illness and death. Firearms are now the leading cause of death among children and teens in the United States, and it would go against my oath as a doctor, congressman, and father not to take the steps required to save our children from senseless gun violence. Enough is enough. It's a public health imperative that we take immediate action to end gun violence and save lives."

The Protecting Our Kids Act brings together several commonsense and broadly supported policy solutions to this national crisis:

• Raise the Age Act - Raises the lawful age to purchase certain semi-automatic centerfire rifles from 18 to 21 years old.
• Prevent Gun Trafficking Act - Designed to combat illegal gun purchases and transfers including through establishing "straw purchases" of guns as a federal offense.
• Untraceable Firearms Act - Closes the ghost gun loophole by amending the definition of "firearm" under federal law to include gun kits and partial receivers and by changing the definition of "manufacturing firearms" to include assembling firearms using 3D printing technology.
• Safe Storage of Firearms – Establishes requirements for safe storage of firearms in homes and criminal penalties for violating. It would also require the Attorney General to establish best practices for the safe storage of firearms and create grant programs for states to develop safe storage programs
• Closing the Bump Stock Loophole Act - Builds on the 2018 rule by defining bump stocks and listing them under the National Firearms Act so that they are regulated the same as machine guns.
• Keep Americans Safe Act - Prohibits the importation, sale, manufacture, transfer, or possession of a magazine that holds more than 15 rounds of ammunition, unless an individual falls under a particular exception.
• The package would also require the Department of Justice to annually report on demographic data of persons who were determined to be ineligible to purchase a firearm based on the background check performed by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).

Representative Bera has long called for commonsense fixes to our nation's gun laws that will lead to safer communities and help reduce the raging gun violence epidemic in America.