Eight Republican Pa. Reps. Voted Against Raising the Minimum Age to Purchase an Assault Rifle

Jane Harman, of Takoma Park, Md., center, holds a sign with an AR-15 crossed out on it, as she attends a gun safety reform rally, Monday, June 6, 2022, outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

By Patrick Berkery

June 9, 2022

Brian Fitzpatrick was the only GOP Congressman from Pennsylvania to vote for the Protecting Our Kids Act, which would also ban the sale of large-capacity magazines, and institute new regulations regarding at-home gun storage.

An expansive gun bill that would raise the minimum age to purchase an assault rifle in the US from 18 to 21 passed the House on Wednesday, despite the efforts of all but one of the nine Republicans representing Pennsylvania in Congress.

US Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick was the only Pennsylvania Republican to vote in favor of the Protecting Our Kids Act, which would also ban the sale of large-capacity magazines, and institute new regulations regarding at-home gun storage.

The Democratic-majority House approved the legislation in a mostly party line 223-204 vote. Fitzpatrick was one of only five Republicans who supported the measure, while two Democrats opposed it.

The bill faces long odds in the Senate, where Republicans are committed to blocking any efforts by the House to strengthen gun laws.

The House earlier voted to include the purchasing age provision, after an 18-year-old gunman at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas shot 19 children and two teachers to death, while another 18-year-old targeted a mostly Black neighborhood in Buffalo where he killed 10 people in a supermarket. Both killers used AR-15 style assault rifles in the attacks.