House Democrats aim to pass gun control legislation by early June

House Democrats will try to advance a raft of gun-control bills on Thursday in the wake of two high-profile mass shootings that rocked the nation earlier this month.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., has called lawmakers back from a break to mark up gun legislation that combines eight separate bills. He aims to bring a suite of new gun-safety laws to the House floor “as soon as possible,” a spokesman said, in light of the two gruesome mass shootings.

The more-recent and deadlier attack occurred on Tuesday, when an 18-year-old gunman shot 19 children and two teachers to death at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. That massacre came just 10 days after another teenager killed 10 shoppers at a supermarket in a racist rampage in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Buffalo, New York.

The Democratic-led package will likely fail in the face of Republican opposition in the Senate. However, Democrats have acknowledged a hope — however slim — that bipartisan talks in the Senate can lead to lawmakers passing a more limited bill with support from both parties.

Nadler’s spokesman confirmed the list of bills the House Judiciary Committee will consider under the broader “Protecting Our Kids Act.” Those bills include:

• The Raise the Age Act
• Prevent Gun Trafficking Act
• The Untraceable Firearms Act
• Ethan’s Law
• The Safe Guns, Safe Kids Act
• The Kimberly Vaughan Firearm Safety Storage Act
• Closing the Bump Stock Loophole Act
• The Keep Americans Safe Act

The combined bill would introduce a range of regulations on the sale or use of firearms and associated equipment.

The Raise the Age Act would increase the purchasing age for semiautomatic rifles from 18 to 21 years, while the Keep Americans Safe Act would outlaw the import, sale, manufacture, transfer or possession of a large-capacity magazine.

Ethan’s Law would create new requirements for storing guns at homes, especially those with children, and provide tax credits for secure storage devices.

While it’s unclear when the omnibus will arrive on the House floor, Nadler’s move to reconvene the committee early signals that House leadership wants to vote on the legislation soon after lawmakers return from break next week, while Democrats still have momentum behind them.

Also unclear is whether House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and her deputy, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., want to vote on a single massive bill or break it into its several components and attempt to pass parts piecemeal.

Republican opposition to the package is more certain.

Senate Republicans have for years blocked progress on any gun-safety legislation. They opposed…