Rep. Johnson Votes to Pass Critical Gun Violence Prevention Legislation in Judiciary Committee

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday evening, the House Judiciary Committee passed a series of bills to help respond to gun violence -- H.R. 1186, the Keep Americans Safe Act; H.R. 1236, the Extreme Risk Protection Order Act of 2019; and H.R. 2708, the Disarm Hate Act, all passed out of committee on a strict party-line vote.

House Judiciary IP Subcommittee Chairman Hank Johnson (D-GA) issued the following statement on H.R. 1236:

"This is commonsense legislation that would protect people who would be a harm to themselves and others," Rep. Johnson said. "This is critical legislation that would have a meaningful impact on our nation's tragic suicide epidemic. We need this bill to protect the public and those who would use resort to suicide using a firearm."

| Watch Rep. Johnson's statement here: https://youtu.be/xHouwI4Ip3Y |

H.R. 1186, the Keep Americans Safe Act passed by a vote of 23-16. The legislation, introduced by Rep. Ted Deutch, would ban high capacity ammunition magazines. These magazines are a critical feature that makes many assault weapons particularly lethal.

H.R. 1236, the Extreme Risk Protection Order Act of 2019 passed by a vote of 22-16. This legislation introduced by Rep. Salud Carbajal and amended to include H.R. 3076, similar legislation by Rep. Lucy McBath, provides incentives through grants for states to adopt laws providing for Extreme Risk Protection Orders to prevent those deemed a risk to themselves or others from accessing firearms. The legislation also establishes a procedure for obtaining Extreme Risk Protection Orders in federal court.

H.R. 2708, the Disarm Hate Act, passed by a vote of 23-15. The legislation, introduced by Rep. David Cicilline, includes those convicted of violent misdemeanor hate crimes in the list of categories of individuals who are prohibited from possessing firearms, and who would be prohibited from doing so through background checks.

These are not the first firearm safety bills passed out of the committee this year. On February 6, 2019, the House Judiciary Committee held a historic gun violence prevention hearing. Watch here.

On February 13, 2019, the House Judiciary Committee passed H.R. 8, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019 by a vote of 23-15 and H.R. 1112, the Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2019 by a vote of 21-14. The full House passed these bills on February 28, 2019.