House of Representatives approves gun control bill after attacks in Buffalo and Yuvalde

The House of Representatives approved a gun control bill that would raise the age limit for buyers of semiautomatic rifles and ban the sale of magazines with a capacity of more than 15 rounds.

The bill was approved by congressmen after mass shootings in Buffalo, N.Y., and Yuvalde, Texas. Even so, the bill combines provisions proposed by Democrats even before the tragedies in those cities.

That said, the bill has almost no chance of becoming law: members of the Senate, whose support is needed to pass it, are discussing other measures in the context of gun control, which include improving mental health programs, strengthening safety measures in schools and strengthening background checks on gun buyers.

The bill was preceded by a House committee meeting in which politicians heard testimony from survivors and relatives of those killed in the Yuvalde shooting. One of the most emotional speeches was that of Mia Cerillo: the 11-year-old high school student was forced to smear herself with the blood of a dead classmate to prevent her shooter from noticing her.

Authorities say the suspects in the Yuvalda school shooting and the Buffalo supermarket shooting were each 18 years old when they bought the semiautomatic weapon used in the attacks. The bill, on the other hand, would raise the minimum age for buying such weapons to 21.

A person under 21 cannot buy a beer. Nor can people under 21 be allowed to buy an AR-15 assault weapon.