WASHINGTON — Rep. Greg Pence, R-Indiana, voted against legislation in response to recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, that would raise the age limit for purchasing a semi-automatic rifle and prohibit the sale of ammunition magazines with a capacity of more than 10 rounds.
The legislation, which cleared the House in a series of votes Wednesday, has almost no chance of becoming law as the Senate pursues negotiations focused on improving mental health programs, bolstering school security and enhancing background checks, The Associated Press reported. But the House bill does allow Democratic lawmakers a chance to frame for voters in November where they stand on policies that polls show are widely supported.
Pence, who is seeking a third term in Congress, voted against every provision in the bill. He was asked specifically by The Republic about his position on the Protecting Our Kids Act and why he voted as he did.
“I have zero confidence that Nancy Pelosi and the far-left Democrats in Washington know how to protect Hoosier children from the next school violence situation,” Pence said in a written statement sent from his spokeswoman Hannah Osantowske. “Nancy Pelosi wants to mandate the failed policies of San Francisco in every home across Indiana and that is something I will never support. Left-wing Democrats in Washington have again showed they have no appetite at all to seek common ground and their allies in the media will once again fail to call them out for their partisan extremism.”
The vote came hours after a House committee heard wrenching testimony from recent shooting victims and family members, including from 11-year-old girl Miah Cerrillo, who covered herself with a dead classmate’s blood to avoid being shot at the Uvalde elementary school, according to wire reports.
The seemingly never-ending cycle of mass shootings in the United States has rarely stirred Congress to act. But the shooting of 19 children — including a 10-year-old boy who had relatives in Columbus — and two teachers in Uvalde has revived efforts in a way that has lawmakers from both parties talking about the need to respond.
“It’s sickening, it’s sickening that our children are forced to live in this constant fear,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
For the complete story, see Friday’s Republic.
