On Wednesday, Congressman Adam Schiff issued the following statement after the House voted to pass the Protecting Our Children Act, a comprehensive package of gun safety laws:

“It has been a heartbreaking month in America. Mass shooting after mass shooting after mass shooting. Too many people are mourning the loss of too many loved ones. And far, far too many of these innocent victims have been children – who woke up one morning for a day of learning and play and never made it home to their parents.

“These tragedies aren’t inevitable or unpredictable. We have the power to stop them. We just need to take action. That’s exactly what the House began today by passing the Protecting Our Children Act – a package of commonsense gun safety measures that will help prevent more children from getting shot and more mothers and fathers from suffering the unthinkable: the loss of their child. Each of the elements of this gun reform package is supported by the vast majority of the American people.

“As this legislation now makes its way to the Senate, I want to remind my colleagues this must be just the start. I want an assault weapons ban and to strip away the immunity of the gun industry. I want universal background checks and more. We must do everything we can to get gun safety legislation over the finish line, and this moment demands bold, courageous action. We must finally put ourselves on a path to end to this national nightmare.”

The Protecting Our Children Act will:

• Raise the purchasing age for semi-automatic weapons from 18 to 21 years old
• Establish new federal offenses for gun trafficking and the use of “straw purchasers” – those who purchase a gun for someone else who typically cannot pass a background check, such as a convicted felon or minor
• Subject ghost gun purchases to background check requirements
• Strengthen safe storage requirements to protect children from accidental shootings
• Close the bump stock loophole to ban these deadly tools from civilian use
• Outlaw high-capacity magazines
• Require an annual report of demographic data of those being determined to be ineligible to purchase guns